| The December 6 1996, trial ruling by the Superior Court against the school districts | Page 40 |
The parochial and private school students, who made up 25% of the test takers, scored 37 points higher on the verbal and 45 points higher on the math section than the state's public school students. If the SAT scores of the private school students were removed, New Hampshire's public school students would score around the national average.
More telling was the SAT participation rate. Sixty-one percent of the state's public school students took the SAT's in 1994. The question the school districts raised during the trial was why 39% of the state's student's did not take the SAT's and what could be done to improve this percentage?
D) Post secondary educationCharles Marston, former commissioner of education, testified that the percentage of high school graduates that goes on to a four year college is one measure of a school's effectiveness. The following is the percentage of 1994 graduates going on to a four year college.
| Petitioner Districts | Comparison Districts | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Claremont | 38.1% | Lebanon | 60.3% |
| Franklin | 23.7% | Gilford | 75.6% |
| Pittsfield | 24.5% | Moultonborough | 52.8% |
| Lisbon | 41.2% | Lin-Wood | 57.7% |
| Allenstown | N/A | Rye | N/A |
The petitioner districts are unable to offer sufficient educational programs to prepare their students for post-secondary education. Some of the school districts do not offer advanced placement or honor courses. Those that do offer them, do so in very limited subject areas. As a result, many students from the school districts are not able, or are not sufficiently prepared, to go on to the next level of education.
 Franklin High School library books |
 Gilford Middle-High School Library |
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