By Jack Dennison ’21

The Staples High School class of 2019 earned the highest average SAT score in the state.

Daniel Westphal ’19 was happy to learn of the distinction. “Staples having the highest SAT scores in the state is a reflection of the time and effort the students here have put into their studies and academics,” he said.

Staples faculty were also pleased by the news, but not surprised.

“Staples High School excels in academics as well as in athletics […], it’s not a complete surprise [that] we had the highest average SAT scores,”math teacher Caroline James said

Both the math SAT and the language arts SAT had an average state score of 610, which was a drop from last year’s state average scores of 611 and 618 respectively.This year, the language arts grade level score for the state was 480, which is 130 points lower than the Staples score.

The state’s math grade level average was 530, whereas Staples’ average score was 80 points higher.

Math teacher John Wetzel explained that teachers have helped to make Staples a high-achieving math district.

“We do incorporate some SAT-style questions on purpose in the curriculum, but not at the expense of the curriculum,” he said. “We do make an effort as teachers […] to give sample questions in class, and I think that helps. But students take [the SATs] very seriously.”