Revealing Student Success and Potential

In Stafford County Public Schools, in Stafford, Va., the journey to understanding and nurturing each student’s academic potential begins with the SAT Suite and AP. These tools offer the district an opportunity to drive success from the individual student to the entire system.

Identifying the Opportunity

Former Superintendent Thomas Taylor has advocated for leveraging these tools to their fullest extent, viewing them as more than just tests. He sees them as gateways to uncovering both student success and untapped potential. 

With insights district educators receive from the assessments, they’re able to pinpoint challenges their students have had that were previously unidentified. Students are also able to be connected with pathways they might not have considered otherwise.

Turning Opportunity Into Action

The district uses PSAT-related assessments for grades 8−10 to track performance. This continuous monitoring provides valuable insights to help tailor educational experiences to students’ needs. 

AP Potential™ plays a significant role as well. The tool helps educators identify students who are ready for AP based on their performance on SAT Suite assessments. AP Potential can initiate important conversations between students and their school counselors about enrollment in AP courses.

Stafford County Public Schools is also a demonstration site for Career Kickstart™, a program that Superintendent Taylor sees as a promising initiative. This program aims to broaden access to career exploration opportunities.

Through these efforts, the district isn’t only preparing students for college. It’s also equipping them with the knowledge and skills to succeed in whatever paths they choose.

As Taylor explained, "The AP, SAT, and PSAT-related assessments are really avenues to reveal success that students have experienced so far, and an avenue to reveal potential. These are tremendously useful tools in the K−12 space because of our ability to reveal success compared against the national pool of test takers who have a proclivity to go to some kind of postsecondary learning. The opportunity to connect a student with a pathway that they otherwise wouldn't have experienced because they had success on an assessment or an opportunity to target and pinpoint some challenges previously unidentified is absolutely critical to the work that we do."