Tamalpais High School is hosting the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for the first time on October 30.
Reportedly in recent years, it has been difficult for some students to find a location near them to take the SAT. Sebastian Gillmore, a senior at Tam, shared that he had to travel to Dallas, Texas to take the SAT.
“I was inspired to take action because I saw that many of my peers did not have access to testing sites near them. I saw this as an equity issue, and this goes against everything a standardized test should be. Many of the parents in the community and myself emailed our Superintendent,” Gillmore wrote in an email. “It was made public that there would be an SAT school day.”
The Tam High Foundation sent out an email with information regarding the test to students and parents.
“At the end of the previous school year, many students and families reached out to Tamalpais Union High School District [TUHSD] to share the challenges they encountered in locating a testing location within California,” they wrote. “After hearing of the difficulties and hardships that students and families encountered, TUHSD decided to implement the PSAT, NMSQT, and SAT during the school day.”
“We made the decision to offer the SAT to our students due to parent and community feedback that testing sites are increasingly hard to access, and traveling to distant locations is inequitable for our students,” Tara Taupier, TUHSD superintendent, wrote in an email. “We want to offer all TUHSD students the opportunity to test if they wish to.”
“I’m glad students in our district are able to take this test, and hopefully this is mirrored in districts across California,” Gillmore wrote.
“The SAT is Oct. 30, 2024 starting promptly at 8:30 am. Please be on time,” Assistant Principal Sam Pasarow wrote in a message to students and parents. “After testing, the school day starts at 11:15 a.m., so you will not miss any classes.”
“I like that it is on a school day, and I like that there is a different schedule because then we don’t miss any classes or any weekend time,” Tam senior Rebecca Periana wrote in an email.
Tam has not given any further information on whether the school plans on continuing to host as an official SAT testing site in the future.
“I do think that Tam should make the decision [to host] permanently,” Periana wrote. “A lot of students already face the stress of taking the SAT in the first place, but when it’s so difficult to find one, that’s just even more unnecessary stress. Having it offered at school removes that extra stress.”
