Roger Bacon Seniors Try to Make a Difference By Creating HSPT Course

Two Roger Bacon seniors are trying to see if they can help some of our grade school neighbors with their high school admissions process.

The HSPT Preparatory Pilot Program was the brainchild of Roger Bacon senior Brady Rickenbaugh, and was developed by him and fellow senior Maya Destazio, as well as senior Skylar Groenemann. The three Assisi Scholars are also teaching the course, which held its first class Tuesday, October 15^th, at Roger Bacon.

The goal of the program is to help students improve their scores on the High School Placement Test (HSPT), and thereby enhance high school acceptance rates and scholarship opportunities for participating students for all Catholic high schools. The program was created after a review of data last spring which showed a strong correlation between HSPT score and high school acceptances.

“The idea started when I found out there were more than 500 students last year at Catholic elementary schools that did not get accepted into a Catholic high school. That led to researching more than five years of HSPT scores, and comparing against acceptance rates, and then identifying areas where it looked like small changes could spark big improvements,” shared Brady. “We were able to identify schools we felt we could make a big difference in. The end result of all of this research was that even small, incremental progress on the test could lead to significant improvements in acceptance rates.”

Senior Maya DeStazio, outlined the strategy implemented to help each student succeed. Says Maya, “My classmates and I have spent the past four years becoming experts on taking standardized tests through our own experiences with ACT/SAT prep. We also helped teach our HSPT prep course here last summer. Often these tests are not necessarily about content, but about knowing how to take the test, what the sections are like, what types of questions are being asked. This means a math question may not just be about solving a math problem, but also thinking mathematically. By breaking down this test into its core components, we were able to build a program that allowed students to implement strategies to attack each question, and to improve correct answers.”

Given its close proximity, St. Clement made sense to pilot the program to see if taking a more strategic approach for the HSPT could yield big results, and perhaps something that could be replicated with other schools. “Roger Bacon and St. Clement have had a relationship for almost 100 years, as long as Roger Bacon has been in existence, and they are still one of the primary feeders for us. It made perfect sense that this program be piloted with them. We are certainly watching closely, as we know of other schools and students that would benefit greatly from a program such as this. Our true goal is that all students would have more opportunities to attend a Catholic high schools, not just Roger Bacon,” says Roger Bacon Principal Tim McCoy.

The six week course will be every Tuesday at Roger Bacon, covering each section of the test, and working through practice tests and strategies to get students ready for the official test day on November 23^rd. Although these current seniors are busy with their own class responsibilities, as well as being in the thick of college applications, they also understand the great benefits of making a difference for others. “As St. Francis said, ‘It is in giving that we receive,’ and that is something we have always been taught here at Roger Bacon. With great power comes great responsibility. I believe we have gifts we can share with these eighth graders, and so we should share those gifts. If we can help even one of these students get into the high school of their dreams, then we have made a positive impact on the world,” shared Brady.