All of that hard work and rigorous studying that has been done for the dreaded CATS test has finally paid off!  This year, in the rivalry with Dupont Manual, Male, Butler, and Ballard High Schools, Eastern ranked fifth, in front of main rival: Ballard.

Between Eastern, Ballard, and Dupont Manual, Eastern had the highest Advanced Program CATS scores in all categories with the exception of Math (in which Eastern had the second highest score). In the Reading, Practical Living, Science, Social Studies, and Arts categories, Eastern’s Advance Program soundly beat out both schools.

Roughly 270 juniors are exempt from taking their English final this year because of their CATS scores as sophomores. About 300 seniors are exempt from any finals this year because of how well they did on their CATS exams.

Last year’s juniors that scored a 3.0 average are exempt from all finals. Think of what could be done with all the free time that would have been spent studying and cramming for exams! A special “golden parking” sticker is awarded to students who received a 3.5 average. This sticker allows said student to park in the upper lot where only teachers are allowed to park.

There were many significant improvements in last year’s juniors’ scores.  In the writing category they improved 3.73 from the previous year.  And in the Mathematics category they improved a great deal, and scored 5.65 points higher than the juniors of the year before them.  But the most significant improvement was made in the Social Studies category. They improved a massive 7.06 points, now holding a score of 106.77!

Last year’s sophomores must score proficient or greater on the CATS “Reading” test to become exempt from your English final as juniors.  In order to be exempt from taking any finals as a senior, juniors cannot score any novice and must have no more than two apprentices on all parts of the CATS exam.

There were improvements in both the Reading and Practical Living categories, but the most significant improvement in the sophomores of last year was in the Practical Living category. They scored 4.6 points higher than the sophomores of the previous year. The bar is now set pretty high at 96.4255 for this year’s sophomore to beat.

“The increase in both tests tell me that our current juniors are very academically talented,” reported Mr. Moeller, “and should surpass this year’s seniors in April on the Math, Science, Social Studies, and Arts portions of the test.”

Congratulations to all of last year’s sophomores and juniors for achieving such high CATS scores. Eastern is making noticeable improvements each and every year. Both students and teachers must be doing their jobs right, whether it be learning or teaching.

Mr. Moeller says that in order to keep improving in the future and to reach the 100th percentile, teachers need to “continue to focus on teaching the core content.”