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Hingham report: 97% of Class of 2025 pursue further education; committee raises alarms over low IEP participation in AP and SAT/ACT testing
Summary
School counselors reported that 97.3% of the Class of 2025 continued with postsecondary education and that Hingham students score above state and national SAT/ACT means. Committee members, however, pressed district staff after data showed very low AP and standardized-test participation by students on active IEPs and disputed reporting limits.
Heather Rodriguez, the district’s college-and-testing presenter, told the Hingham School Committee that 97.3% of the graduating Class of 2025 planned to continue their education and that mean SAT and ACT scores for Hingham students compared favorably with Massachusetts and national averages.
Rodriguez summarized application and matriculation trends — noting UMass Amherst as both the most-applied-to and most-attended institution among the class — and reviewed Advanced Placement participation: in 2025 students took 628 AP exams across 22 course offerings, with 317 students taking exams and roughly 60% of the senior class registering for at least one AP exam. She said the district also offers multiple dual-enrollment partnerships (Quincy College, Middlesex Community College, UMass Boston) to give students alternatives for earning college credit.
The presentation included data on testing and accommodations. Rodriguez reported that 93 AP exams were taken by 43 students who used documented accommodations; of those 43 students, 10 had been on Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) at some point. When committee members pressed on how many students on active IEPs took the SAT or were enrolled in AP classes, Rodriguez said public DESE reporting only lists students on active IEPs for certain comparisons and that her analyses combined multiple data sources (College Board, DESE, Aspen student records).
Committee members raised concerns about what they characterized as very low participation by students with active IEPs. One member said the figure that only 17 testing instances of 342 involved students with IEPs was “troubling” and another said, “That absolutely shocks me,” after staff confirmed that, for the year in question, there were effectively no students on active IEPs enrolled in AP classes.
Rodriguez cautioned against over-interpreting some counts because of how test-taking is reported: some statistics list instances of tests taken in a testing year rather than unique students, and many colleges had been test-optional in prior years, which reduced overall test-taking. She agreed to follow up with more precise breakdowns (number of unique students on active IEPs who took SAT/ACT or who were enrolled in AP classes) and to return clarifying numbers to the committee.
Next steps: committee members asked staff to return with disaggregated figures that reconcile DESE and internal records (unique students vs. test instances) and to schedule a deeper review through the district’s educational programming subcommittee so officials can examine whether students with disabilities are being provided appropriate access to AP and testing opportunities.
