Irving, Texas. October 19, 2012 –

Administering the school-day SAT for Irving ISD juniors has lead to a significant increase in test takers and higher average scores on the test.

In 2010, Prior to the school-day administration of the SAT, Irving ISD students’ participation rates on both the SAT and the ACT were unacceptably low. The Irving ISD District Improvement Plan included two main objectives:

(1) to increase both the participation of students in college admissions testing programs (2) to improve the performance of students on these important tests

The participation of students taking the SAT saw a tremendous jump in within the district, from 39% (class of 2010) to 77% (class of 2012). The class of 2012 participation rate of 77% is significant when compared to the 2012 participation rate of Texas (62%) and the 2011 participation rate of the nation (54%).

Irving ISD is proud that while an increase in participation is often accompanied by an initial decline in performance, the class of 2012 showed a 15 point improvement in SAT scores.