Academic Data
SI offers an excellent college preparatory curriculum, consisting of math, science, English, language, fine arts, social science and religious studies. Most students go beyond the UC requirements by taking three or four years of science and four years of math. More than half of the senior class takes Calculus. Many also take four years of a language. There are many ways in which SI’s academic excellence can be measured. Some are internal and some are external. In general, SI looks at the following data:
- GPAs
- SAT Reasoning Test Scores
- ACT Scores
- SAT Subject Test Scores
- PSAT Scores
- AP Scores
- Academic Growth
SI's GPAs have remained steady over the years at approximately 3.29,which is a B+. There is a usually slight drop of .01 from Fall semester to Spring semester, which is not significant, and girls tend to have a slightly higher gpa (+.1) overall than boys do, though, again, it is not statistically significant. One of our areas of future study is to see if there is a consistent difference by subject.
| Unweighted GPAs | Fall |
Spring |
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| Year | Male |
Female |
Total |
Male |
Female |
Total |
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| 2000-01 | 3.19 |
3.38 |
3.29 |
3.19 |
3.37 |
3.28 |
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| 2001-02 | 3.18 |
3.41 |
3.30 |
3.16 |
3.41 |
3.28 |
||
| 2002-03 | 3.21 |
3.42 |
3.32 |
3.15 |
3.39 |
3.27 |
||
| 2003-04 | 3.19 |
3.35 |
3.27 |
3.17 |
3.35 |
3.26 |
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| 2004-05 | 3.23 |
3.38 |
3.31 |
3.19 |
3.35 |
3.28 |
||
| 2005-06 | 3.26 |
3.40 |
3.33 |
3.21 |
3.37 |
3.29 |
||
| 2006-07 | 3.25 |
3.42 |
3.33 |
3.21 |
3.43 |
3.32 |
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| 2007-08 | 3.25 |
3.40 |
3.32 |
3.21 |
3.38 |
3.29 |
For the past five years, the mean SAT score has been about 180 points higher than the California or the national average, which puts our students at about the 82nd percentile. In 2006, a Writing component was added to the SAT, bringing the composite score to a possible 2400 from the previous 1600. Further study is being done on the gender differences and comparisions to the other 47 Jesuit schools in the nation.
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The ACT is a college readiness test comparable to the SAT Reasoning Test. It has become more popular over the years at SI.
| ENGLISH | MATH | READING | SCIENCE | COMPRE | HENSION | ||||||
| Year | Number | SI | STATE | SI | STATE | SI | STATE | SI | STATE | SI | STATE |
| 2004 | 184 | 27.0 | 21.1 | 25.6 | 21.1 | 25.6 | 21.7 | 24.8 | 20.9 | 26.2 | 21.6 |
| 2005 | 214 | 26.5 | 21.1 | 25.0 | 21.1 | 25.0 | 21.8 | 24.1 | 20.9 | 25.6 | 21.6 |
| 2006 | 215 | 26.7 | 21.1 | 25.6 | 21.2 | 25.6 | 21.8 | 23.8 | 20.8 | 25.8 | 21.6 |
| 2007 | 242 | 27.2 | 21.6 | 25.8 | 21.6 | 25.8 | 22.2 | 24.5 | 21.2 | 26.4 | 22.1 |
| 2008 | 257 | 27.3 | 21.8 | 25.7 | 21.8 | 25.7 | 22.4 | 24.0 | 21.3 | 26.2 | 22.2 |
SAT Subject tests (previously known as the SAT II tests) provide colleeges information about specific strenghts that strudents might have. Colleges require between one and three subject tests as part of the application process, but which subject is up to the student. As of 2006, the UC system stopped accepting the SAT Math Level I test and the English Literature test, which had previously been among the most popular tests (hence, the drop in scores due to the best students opting for other exams). Further external comparisons are in progress.
| SAT II | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Writing | 608 | 622 | 617 | 627 | 617 | 610 | ||
| Literature | 584 | 596 | 584 | 598 | 605 | 588 | 607 | 591 |
| US History | 598 | 602 | 617 | 615 | 606 | 618 | 607 | 608 |
| World History | 588 | 664 | 632 | 563 | 598 | 640 | ||
| Math Level I | 578 | 588 | 589 | 589 | 586 | 547* | 537 | 556 |
| Math Level II | 639 | 633 | 637 | 649 | 650 | 606* | 610 | 601 |
| Biology | 622 | |||||||
| Biology-Ecological | 627 | 627 | 578 | 540 | 583 | 596 | 616 | |
| Biology-Molecular | 648 | 641 | 645 | 680 | 646 | 644 | 600 | 633 |
| Chemistry | 588 | 635 | 567 | 581 | 568 | 551 | 616 | 627 |
| Physics | 556 | 597 | 649 | 625 | 633 | 606 | 642 | 610 |
| French | 616 | 608 | 582 | 665 | 700 | 591 | 604 | 563 |
| Latin | 570 | 583 | 613 | |||||
| Spanish | 597 | 597 | 665 | 605 | 590 | 577 | 607 | 591 |
| Spanish w/ listening | 612 | 659 | 588 |
The PSAT is administered nationally to all college-bound Juniors. SI's scores are approximately 171, with boys doing slightly better than girls in math, girls slightly better than boys in writing, the genders alternating in verbal/critical reading. This is about the 80th national percentile.
PSAT |
Verbal |
Math |
Writing |
Total |
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Academic Year |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
2003-04 |
56.2 |
55.4 |
55.8 |
52.6 |
56.8 |
58.1 |
168.8 |
166.1 |
2004-05 |
55.1 |
55.9 |
57.4 |
54.1 |
59.7 |
60.4 |
172.2 |
170.4 |
2005-06 |
56.1 |
57.1 |
57.7 |
54.6 |
57.7 |
59.1 |
171.5 |
170.8 |
2006-07 |
58.0 |
57.3 |
57.0 |
54.3 |
55.3 |
56.4 |
170.3 |
168.0 |
2007-08 |
56.3 |
57.1 |
58.0 |
56.3 |
55.7 |
58.5 |
170.0 |
171.9 |
Overall, the English and Math departments are doing an excellent job from a “value-added” perspective. Below are the HSPT, PSAT, and SAT trends for the classes of 2002 through 2006. The scores are the national percentiles for each test. The sub-score of the HSPT with the best correlation to PSAT and SAT Verbal is the Reading score, and the best correlation to the PSAT and SAT Math is the Quantitative score. Therefore, these were used.
ENGLISH
Mean Verbal scores of each class have improved over the course of the four years. In particular, the junior level of the English Dept has raised the verbal scores two percentile points from PSAT to SAT four out of five years. This is a significant gain. Despite the fact that the HSPT scores of the last two graduating classes indicate lower ability groups, the English department has brought them up to the level of previous classes by PSAT and SAT time.
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MATH
The junior level of the Math Dept. provided a two-percentile point boost consistently, with a major 7-point jump for the class of 2003. There is a significant drop from HSPT to PSAT for all classes, due to the differences in difficulty level between HSPT material, which is mostly arithmetic, and PSAT material, which is Algebraic. STS is investigating the impact of Algebra in the 8th grade, but has not adjusted its test curriculum yet.
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GAINS OF SUB-GROUPS
There are three sub-group populations we considered: the LD students, the Magis profile students, and the Must-Comes (those students required to come to summer school as a condition of admission). As can be seen in the numbers below, we do an excellent job with all three groups in English:
Verbal Gains from HSTP to SAT |
All |
Magis |
LD |
MC |
Class of 2003 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
3 |
Class of 2004 |
5 |
2 |
16 |
11 |
Class of 2005 |
9 |
6 |
17 |
16 |
Class of 2006 |
5 |
8 |
15 |
13 |
Class of 2007 |
6 |
8 |
13 |
13 |
Average |
5.9 |
4.8 |
13.4 |
11.2 |
The gains between junior and senior year are exceptional for the Magis kids.
Verbal Gains from PSAT to SAT |
All |
Magis |
LD |
MC |
Class of 2003 |
2 |
9 |
15 |
6 |
Class of 2004 |
3 |
14 |
4 |
5 |
Class of 2005 |
4 |
16 |
7 |
15 |
Class of 2006 |
0 |
10 |
14 |
5 |
Class of 2007 |
4 |
15 |
6 |
9 |
Average |
2.6 |
12.8 |
9.2 |
8 |
In Math we do very well between junior and senior year, especially for the Magis students.
Math Gains from PSATto SAT |
All |
Magis |
LD |
MC |
Class of 2003 |
1 |
11 |
9 |
4 |
Class of 2004 |
7 |
10 |
0 |
5 |
Class of 2005 |
3 |
17 |
5 |
13 |
Class of 2006 |
2 |
8 |
10 |
5 |
Class of 2007 |
4 |
12 |
5 |
4 |
Average |
3.4 |
11.6 |
5.8 |
6.2 |
As seen in other studies of this type, there is a fall off from HSTP to SAT do to the lower correlation between the tests. That being said, the Math dept. has significantly limited the drop for the LD students and has made a gain among the Must-Comes.
Math Gains Gains from HSTP to SAT |
All |
Magis |
LD |
MC |
Class of 2003 |
-5 |
-2 |
-2 |
-7 |
Class of 2004 |
-3 |
-13 |
7 |
1 |
Class of 2005 |
0 |
-15 |
5 |
13 |
Class of 2006 |
-4 |
-1 |
-3 |
0 |
Class of 2007 |
0 |
-12 |
-8 |
0 |
Average |
-2.5 |
-8.6 |
-0.2 |
1.4 |