Student SAT and Advanced Placement scores continued to improve last year in Harford County Public Schools, information that cheered members of the Board of Education Monday.
HCPS also posted a record graduation rate, according to a report to the board on student achievement.
Harford's graduation rate rose to 89.8 percent in 2014, and 70.9 percent of graduates enrolled in college in 2014, according to the report. HCPS graduated 2,685 students in 2014, according to the Maryland Report Card website of the Maryland State Department of Education.
Attendance rates averaged 95.9 percent in elementary school, 95.6 percent for middle school and 94.4 percent for high school.
School board member Thomas Fitzpatrick said the statistics are "very encouraging," especially the SAT scores and the "relative rise" in AP enrollment.
He said it shows "the quality of education" that students receive in Harford County, belying "some of the negative comments that get made periodically."
Board member James Thornton said he would be interested in seeing how the scores break out with the "achievement gap" between different groups of students, namely, those who are underperforming historically.
Board member Bob Frisch said: "I think it's tremendous that we are increasing to offer classes that serve a more challenging academic environment."
"I hope people are paying attention that while we have high numbers of people moving on to college [and so on], we don't forget the students who won't make that their career choice," Frisch added. "There is another segment to our student population that needs to be supported as well."
AP enrollment increases
Advanced Placement classes showed an enrollment of 5,956 seats in 2014, an increase of nearly 49 percent from 2013, according to the report compiled by HCPS administrators Susan Brown, Joseph Schmitz and Phillip Snyder that was discussed with the board during its business meeting in Bel Air. In 2010, there were 4,004 seats in AP classes.
Those numbers do not reflect the number of students taking AP classes. If one student took two AP classes, for example, their seat would be counted twice.
The number of Harford AP test-takers, who qualified for college credit, also shot up from 1,419 in 2010 to 2,533 in 2014. Another 1,470 students took AP tests, but did not qualify for credit, according to the report.
AP participation and pass rates rose in most Maryland counties, according to the College Board, which administers the test, and state education officials.
Superintendent Barbara Canavan pointed out that although students may be enrolled in an AP course, they are not necessarily taking the AP exam.
Schmitz, who is HCPS executive director of middle/high school performance, said that could be for a number of reasons, such as finding out a certain college does not accept a specific AP exam or for economic reasons.
"We encourage all of our students in an AP class to take the test to get the full benefit," he said, adding the biggest indicator of college success is being in an AP class and taking the test.
Some big SAT gains
For the SATs, 61.2 percent of Harford's graduating students took the test in 2014, according to the presentation. That is up from 60.9 percent in 2013.
Harford students' average score on the SATs critical reading section rose from 509 to 511, two points more than the state average and 14 points more than the national average. The top score on each section of the SAT is 800.
The county's average score for math was 521, rising by one point. It was 20 points higher than the state average and eight points higher than the national average.
In the writing section, scores decreased to an average of 486, but remained five points higher than the state average and one point below the national mean.
The College Board, which also administers the SAT, decided to revamp the writing portion of the test starting in 2016, when it will be optional.
The oft-criticized SAT is the closest the United States has come to having a national college admission test. Scores across the country last year generally declined, which the College Board and many educators attributed to more students taking the SAT.
According to HCPS figures, the biggest gains in SAT performance last year were among seniors at Fallston High School, where the average score increased for all three parts of the exam. The average composite score at Fallston among 198 senior test takers was 1,598 out of a possible 2,400.
Scores also rose across the board at C. Milton Wright, where the average composite score among 224 test takers was 1,582. Among the county's other seven high schools, average SAT composite scores were: Patterson Mill (150 tested), 1,562; Bel Air, (296 tested), 1,541; North Harford (216 tested), 1,540; Aberdeen (190 tested), 1,508; Harford Technical (126 tested), 1,479; Edgewood (138 tested), 1,446; Havre de Grace (87 tested), 1,415; and Joppatowne (97 tested), 1,292.
Other measures of student achievement also remained high, the presenters said.
In the International Baccalaureate magnet program at Edgewood High School, 220 students scored in the higher range, with results of 4 through 7, on their course assessments, while 49 had scores between 1 and 3, according to the HCPS achievement report.
In 2012, just 79 students received scores between 4 and 7, according to the report.
The IB program requires students receive at least 24 total points from their core courses to receive the IB diploma, according to the international program's website.
Aegis staff member Allan Vought contributed to this article.