SAT

Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech’s Math SAT Scores Jump Ten Percent

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Among many other victories in the past year, GNBVT’s math department has yet another one to celebrate. In just one short year, the number of participants has increased by fifteen percent and scores rose ten percent within the last year. For the 2015-2016 school year, there were 296 participants and in 2016-2017 that number rose to 339.

The head of the Math Department, Greg Haley spoke about the dedication required for this exciting increase to take place, “This is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff and students. In addition, the Guidance Department does a great job administering PSATs and SATS and encouraging our students” Mr. Haley said. Over the years, the math department has done outstanding work in developing the curriculum to prepare students for post-secondary life. “The Math Department has continued to enhance our Math program to adapt to the needs of our students and to prepare them for their future. For example, we started an AP Statistics program at the beginning in SY 2016-2017. The first year we had about 10 students enrolled, this year we have about 30 and it looks like next year we are on track to have over 50 students enrolled” Mr. Haley said. “We also have developed a close working relationship with Virtual High School to offer students AP Calculus through their online platform. Since 2016-2017 we have had about a dozen students taking AP Calculus.”

This year, an increase in instructional time in Math classes has also contributed to the success of our students. “We have spent a lot of time adapting the Algebra II curriculum and have adjusted the instructional time. For example, in SY 2016-2017 we doubled the class time from 45 minutes to 90 minutes of Algebra II. With the new schedule this year we now have 61 minutes per academic class available to not only Algebra II students but for all of our senior elective Math offerings. Every Math class our juniors and seniors take now have 5460 hours of instruction and learning time, versus the 3600 in years past” Mr. Haley said.

The percentage of students enrolled in advanced Math classes in their senior year has increased tremendously in the last few years. A large percentage of students enroll in Statistics, with a number of students choosing Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry their senior year. For the 2018-2019 school year, a College Math IV option will also be offered. Successful completion of Algebra II will be the prerequisite for all senior Math courses going forward.

Congratulations to all students who participated in taking the SATs and congratulations to our staff and faculty in our Math department for all of their hard work in creating students who are career and college ready.