Presenters
Kathleen Eckert – Principal, Hillwood Middle School, Keller ISD
Kim Barker – Associate Principal, Northwest High School, Northwest ISD
Bobby Morris – Associate Principal, Northwest High School, Northwest ISD
Amber Ward – Counselor, Northwest High School, Northwest ISD
#PSATSW
Twitter

Kim Barker – @kimbarker25

Bobby Morris - @shakespeare72
Join the conversation today on Twitter using
#PSATSW
Objective:

Show how Northwest ISD is utilizing
students’ PSAT/NMSQT data to
increase student achievement and help
them become college and career ready.
“It turns out that ‘simple plans’ work
best…”
– Collins, 2001; Schmoker, 2006
#PSATSW
Step 1Assess
your college
readiness skills
PSAT
Step 2Understand
your level of
performance on
college readiness
skills
Step 3Improve
your college
readiness
skills
Score
Report
My
College
Quick
Start
SOAS
Skills
Insight
Standards
Alignment
#PSATSW
Our First Steps…

October 2011
 Administered PSAT to all 10th & 11th grade students, and any
9th grade student that paid for the exam

February 2012
 Kay Wilson presented information about the 2011 PSAT results,
and the tools and resources available
○ Score Reports, Summary of Answers and Skills (SOAS), My
College Quick Start

Spring 2012
 Small group of students created Quick Start accounts
○ Completed an assignment based on careers or fields of
interest
 Encouraged juniors to take college admissions exam.
#PSATSW

Summer 2012
 PSAT Preparation courses were offered

July 2012
 Some HS administrators met to continue planning how teachers can
use SOAS results to guide lessons

August 2012
 HS administrators, Advanced Academics Coordinator, Secondary Math
Coordinator, & Secondary ELA Coordinator met to plan how and
when PSAT and SOAS info would be presented to all high school math
and ELA teachers
 District Day - PSAT questions were part of the high school math and
ELA District Day assessment discussion
#PSATSW

September 2012 (Resources from College Board)
 After school combined ELA and Math department meetings
○ Teachers took a 10 question PSAT
○ Compared PSAT questions and TEKS
○ Looked at Scope and Sequence to identify where PSAT type questions
could be embedded
○ Discusses how to utilized the PSAT Study Guide

October 2012
 PSAT administered
 Student Test Booklets Stored

December 2012
 PSAT Score Reports given to students
○ Access Codes
 College Board PowerPoints

Spring 2013
 Science and Social Studies
#PSATSW
#PSATSW
#PSATSW
#PSATSW
Score Report
#PSATSW
Northwest High School
QuickStart Initiative
 Phase
One- conducted with last year’s
junior class (March) and this years
Juniors (Dec- Jan)
 Collaboration
between the NHS
counseling Department and the English
III teachers.
#PSATSW
Northwest High School
QuickStart Initiative
 Share
the unique code with each student
 Facilitate the creation of a QuickStart
account- including login suggestions
 Assign a multi-faceted summative
o
(all the elements of a great lesson
plan)
 Facilitate
in the creation of final products
#PSATSW
The code
from your
PSAT exam
Use Your NetSchool
Login or your
facebook, or twitter,
etc.
Description
#PSATSW
Description
Do this one second
Do this one first
#PSATSW
Starting the Assignment
Complete the Personality assessment
first. Record the Top 5 career matches.
Then complete the College Search
element and record the top 3-5
educational matches
 After taking the personality
assessment, choose the two careers that
you are most interested and circle
them. Starting looking at college
websites for colleges that may suitable
for you and/or your career.

#PSATSW
Part I- Glogster
•
Create a Glogster for two colleges that you
may be interested in attending. Remember to
think about the careers that you picked from
the quick start or career cruising website
(some colleges are more suitable for certain
careers).
#PSATSW
Glogster Elements

The Glogster should include:
·
Name and Location of College or University
 · Symbol or Mascot
 · Admissions Requirements & Application Deadline
 · High School Graduation Requirements
 · Admissions Requirements & Application Deadline
 · High School Graduation Requirements
 (i.e. what courses will you need for admission into this University?)
 · Minimum GPA and SAT/ACT score (if applicable)
 · Information on your program of choice:
 · What aspects of this program cause it to stand out from other
colleges?
 · Are there any additional requirements for admittance into this
program?
 · What scholarships are available for this department?
#PSATSW
Part II- Essay
Complete a college entrance or admissions essay
for the college that you have chosen. You will
find the admission prompt/requirement from the
website of your chosen school.

Visit the following website for help with the
admission essay:
http://www.inlikeme.com/apply/19-commonapplication-essay-mistakes-and-how-avoid-them.html
#PSATSW
Alternate Essay Assignment
o Write an essay in which you tell us about
someone who has made an impact on your life
and explain how and why this person is
important to you.
o Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue
could be personal, school related, local, political,
or international in scope—and write an essay in
which you explain the significance of that issue to
yourself, your family, your community, or your
generation.
#PSATSW
CATEGORY
College Entrance
Essay
25
Answered the essay
prompt thoroughly.
Provided vivid
details and
explanations.
Organization is
successful and tone
is appropriate.
Provides the
university with a
clear look into the
student's creativity,
character, passion,
and reasoning.
Glogster Required
Elements
The poster includes
all required
elements, they are
clear and specific.
Capitalization,
punctuation, and
grammar are correct
throughout the
poster.
Conventions
Graphics Relevance
20
Answered the essay
prompt. Provided
explanations, but
could have used
more vivid details.
Organization is
mostly successful
and tone is mostly
appropriate.
Provides the
university with a
general idea of the
student's creativity,
character, passion,
and reasoning.
Missing only 1
required element
are included on the
poster.
There are few
errors in
capitalization,
punctuation, or
grammar, but they
do not distract from
the flyer
All graphics are
All graphics are
related to the topic related to the topic
and make it easier
and most make it
to understand. All
easier to
borrowed graphics understand. All
have a source
borrowed graphics
citation.
have a source
citation.
15
Did not fully answer
the essay prompt.
Essay seems generic
and nonpersonal.
Lacking in details,
explanation, and
creativity.
Organization needs
some attention and
tone is
inappropriate in
some places.
Personality is hard
to distinguish and
reasoning skills
appear to be
minimal.
10
Did not answer the
prompt and/or
failed to provide a
unique and
personal essay.
Majorly lacking in
details and
explanation.
Organization is
severely lacking and
tone is
inappropriate. No
effort of creativity
and does not
display personality
and/or reasoning
skills of student
Most of the
required elements
are included on the
poster.
There are several
errors in
capitalization,
punctuation, and
grammar.
Several required
elements were
missing.
All graphics relate
to the topic. Most
borrowed graphics
have a source
citation.
Graphics do not
relate to the topic
OR several
borrowed graphics
do not have a
source citation.
There are many
errors in
capitalization,
puncuation, and/or
grammar.
#PSATSW
Phase II

February 2013
 Combined Meeting
○ Evernote
 Grade Level Plan 8-12
 College Ready – Ivy League Ready
 PSAT Day 2013
Spring 2013
 June-July 2013

#PSATSW
Our Next Steps…

Spring 2013
 Complete Phase I
 Student Input
 Teacher Input
 Combined Meeting

Summer 2013
 Phase II Implementation Plan 13-14

February 2014
 Phase III
#PSATSW
Contact Us

Kathleen Eckert
 kathleen.eckert@kellerisd.net

Kim Barker
 kbarker@nisdtx.org

Bobby Morris
 jmorris@nisdtx.org

Amber Ward
 award@nisdtx.org
#PSATSW