A paltry nineteen students who took the SAT from the Paterson (New Jersey) Public Schools were considered “college ready.”
This means they scored at least a 1500 out of 2400 on the exam.
Paterson resident Jason Williams is one of the lucky ones. He just graduated high school last year and has been enrolled in college since September, after taking the SAT’s three times determined to score over 1500. He says that the key to his success was not falling victim to the streets.
“Just last summer, my friend and teammate, he was shot and killed that summer and that really affected me,” he said.
Derrick Fritts was shot during National Night Out on the streets of Paterson and wasn’t found until the next day. Williams said most of the football players stopped paying attention to school after that, but that’s when he buckled down.
Article author Tamara Laine writes that the 19 students figure “is truly shocking considering how large the school district is.” Indeed, according to the district’s Wikipedia entry, the district has twenty-one high schools, and a total student enrollment of 28,139.
Rosie Grant, Executive Director of the Paterson Education Fund, said “the cards are stacked against the students in Paterson”:
These kids who are now seniors have gone through seven superintendents in their tenor at Paterson public schools and with every administration change, there’s a reworking of what the schools are supposed to be doing.
Maybe students will be “more successful” in the future; the district plans to ditch the SAT “to gauge students’ success.”
h/t to Instapundit.
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