DV hits another academic high with SAT scores

Beats national average in comparison of 2010 testing WESTFALL — With a higher percentage of students taking the tests, Delaware Valley students still outscored the national average in last year’s SAT college scholastic aptitude testing. The news, revealed by Guidance Counselor John “Jay” Tucker at the Sept. 16 district board meeting, follows on the Newsweek Magazine article naming the school among the nation’s top six percent last June and Delaware Valley Middle School’s National Blue Ribbon School selection, announced last week. The scores were an achievement, as a much higher percentage of students take the test at DV, 65 to 70 percent, while nationally 47 percent are tested and in many smaller states only the top six or seven percent aiming for top level colleges are tested. In past, those percentages have worked against DV, which in the prior four years, scored about the same as the state average and about 30 points below the national average. This year’s scores from the last taking of the SATs placed DV’s combined scores for the three-part test at 1515, six points above the nation and 42 points above the Pennsylvania average. Superintendent Dr. Candis Finan admitted “we were dancing in the office when Jay brought in the comparison scores.” She went on to credit the scores to the everyday effort in every classroom. “Our teachers focus on the SATs,” she said. School board members universally praised the effort. Bob Goldsack summed it up, saying “It’s an incredible achievement.”