The School Board received an academic update during its most recent board meeting.
Londonderry High School Director of Curriculum Kim Lindley-Soucy said one of the things they are happy about is that they have been showing steady growth and have generally been above state averages.
“But we also see there is work there to get even higher (test scores),” Soucy said.
For ninth graders that took the PSAT, 31% of students meet benchmarks in both reading/ writing, and in math, which is above the state average of 24%. The national average was 33%.
At the tenth grade level 34% of the students meet both benchmarks, which is 4% higher than the state average of 30%. The national average was at 37%.
For juniors, 33% of students meet both benchmarks, which was 6% above the state average which was at 27%. The national average was 41%.
Soucy said this year, for juniors, they are looking at the progress more closely for the PSAT, before students take the SAT in the spring, in order to hopefully improve scores.
Another thing that was reviewed during the meeting, was in regards to the number of Londonderry High School students who participate in the dual enrollment programs at Southern NH University and or Manchester Community College.
Soucy explained that the programs allows students to earn college credit while they are still in high school. She said students can take up to two classes at Manchester Community College at no cost, and then are able to get three credits for $150.
“Many of our students take advantage of this program,” Soucy said.
For the 2024-2025 school year, students are earning 307 credits during the first semester from Manchester Community College and 120 at Southern NH University. For all of 2023-2024 students earned a total of 383 credits at Manchester Community College, and 240 credits at Southern NH University.
“Students are definitely taking advantage of those opportunities,” Soucy said during the meeting.
The School Board received an update, during the meeting, on the number of students who are expected to take the AP exams this spring.
It was noted that for the 2025 school year, it is expected that 465 AP exams will be taken, which is up significantly from 2024, when 306 exams were taken. In 2023, 205 exams were taken, and 212 in 2022.
Soucy explained that they have a grant that they received so students don’t have to pay for the AP exams, which they expect is the reason for the large increase in the number of exams being taken.
The next School Board meeting is set to take place on Dec. 3 beginning at 7 p.m.