Dear Parents,

A recent headline in the Boston Globe was, "SAT Reading Scores Sink to Record Low with Class of 2011."  Since 1972, the mean SAT Critical Reading score has gradually declined - from 530 in 1972 to 497 in 2011.  The College Board, the testing company behind the SAT, says the decline in scores is due to the increasing ethnic diversity of students taking the exam.  Among SAT takers nationwide in the class of 2011, 44 percent were minority students, making this the most diverse class of SAT takers ever.  Certainly differences of culture and background can play a part in standardized test readiness, but could there be another reason behind the declining reading scores?

Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1970s, when the SAT reading mean was much higher,  also remember a time when people watched less television, when personal computers and video games did not exist, and when reading was actually a form of entertainment.

At Malden Catholic, we do our best to foster our students' reading skills, requiring four years of English.  This, along with a robust curriculum that emphasizes reading and writing across all subjects, has maintained Malden Catholic's academic reputation and prepared our students well for standardized testing and for college.

Proportionately, Malden Catholic above all other Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese had the highest number of students recognized this year in the National Merit Scholarship Program. It's no accident.

Earlier this fall, Malden Catholic announced that three seniors were National Merit Semifinalists. The students included Alex Iascone of Peabody, Samuel Rossi of Melrose, and Cameron Neville of Melrose. Approximately 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of US high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

In addition, we were proud to announce that Guichard Sebastien Volcy of Malden was named a semifinalist in the 48^th annual National Achievement Scholarship Program, initiated in 1964 to recognize academically promising black students. Seven Malden Catholic seniors placed among the top 2.3 percent of PSAT test-takers and were named National Merit Commended Students. These scholastically talented young men include Collin Dickerson, Austin Gillis, Nicholas McMahon, and Kevin Quigley of Melrose; Michael Berner and Joseph O'Keefe of Reading; and Daniel Webb of Stoneham.

We cannot hide from the times. Parents cannot pretend iPads, Wii and the Internet do not exist. Parents, and schools, however, can set the expectation that students read. We do this every day at Malden Catholic. I encourage you to build time for reading into your son's schedule at home in order for him to yield benefits for college and beyond.

Sincerely,

Edward C. Tyrrell, Headmaster