With the first session on October 26, and the latest on December 14th, the class of 2018 has been getting used to the new SAT prep classes. Newly implemented this school year, the Junior class has and will be receiving these SAT prep classes once a month preceding the April SAT they will be taking through LOLHS.

After having discussed the classes via email with vice principal Ms. Manfredi, I received a response written by both herself as well as Mr. Wygonik. In the response it was stated that “College Planning Partnerships”, the company who is teaching these classes, “was employed by the district because they are experts”. In the response, Ms. Manfredi and Mr. Wygonik also expressed that they felt it was imperative for students and teachers alike to gain as much knowledge about the new SAT, given that the 2016-17 school year will only be the second year of its implementation.

They also stated that while they are aware that teaching 60 students in the library or auditorium “is not ideal for learning, [they] felt that providing all students with an equal opportunity to participate in an SAT preparatory class free of charge would truly be a beneficial prospect”.

Sharing a few goals for the classes as well, our principals stated that the goal for this year involves providing teachers with an in-depth look at question format and types of questions that are present on the SAT. The goal is that teachers will then use this information to involve more SAT-type practice and exam questions into “instruction and assessment”. Their goals also included analyzing overall as well as individual results to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, and “to provide all students with test taking strategies specific to this new formatted exam”. Lastly, our principals shared that the ultimate goal is to “absorb as much information from these experts as possible to be able to better provide all students with SAT prep”.

Ms. Manfredi stated that she is already seeing students take full advantage of this opportunity.

The classes will continue throughout the year, developing both math and reading/writing skills, as well as SAT-specific test-taking skill and insight.