Allentown School District is placing its faith in PSAT and SAT testing to provide data on skill gaps and increase college readiness, with plans to offer the tests in school to all ninth to 11th grade students starting next month, and eighth graders in the spring.
Administering the standardized college admission tests in-school districtwide will mean a large jump in participation. In 2024, only 15 ASD juniors took the SAT; that number grew to 311 in 2025, but nearly 1,100 juniors will take the assessment this school year.
All ninth through 11th graders will take the preparatory PSAT on Oct. 20, leading up to the SATs in March for all district juniors. Freshmen and sophomores will take the PSAT again in March, as will eighth graders.
“It’ll kind of give them a leg up,” South Mountain Middle School Principal Kenneth Fritz said, calling PSAT administration a chance to get eighth graders ready for high school and to advance efforts to expose students to college-prep skills earlier in their academic career.
PSAT participation will also increase significantly under the districtwide initiative. There were 416 Allentown students who took the PSAT in 2024 and 350 in 2025. This school year’s test takers will include approximately 1,000 eighth graders, 1,100 freshmen, 1,400 sophomores and 1,100 juniors.
The PSAT functions as both a practice SAT and qualification for the prestigious National Merit Scholarship. ASD hasn’t had any scholarship qualifiers for the last two years, and district leaders say expanding testing could open opportunities beyond that program, such as identifying candidates for dual enrollment and Advanced Placement courses.
“This data will help us to see students that are strong in ways that we didn’t know,” said Amelia Coleman, ASD deputy superintendent and chief academic officer.
Coleman also views the assessments as a data-gathering exercise to help target classroom, after-school and summer programs toward both remediation and enrichment needs.
“The test will allow us to see as a district where there are deficiencies and skills,” Coleman said.
The district has focused in-person tutoring efforts on algebra as a priority area for improvement. Most of its testing data comes from annual state tests administered to grades 3-8.
For the district’s middle schools, math proficiency scores on the 2025 PSSA ranged from 3.6% at Trexler to 10.8% at South Mountain. For English, those proficiency scores spanned from 12.7% at Raub to 18.5% at South Mountain.
Mirialy Valle, a ninth grade counselor at Dieruff High School, echoed Coleman in saying that tests that are primarily identified with college acceptance can also provide data on how students are progressing.
“The SAT is not just a standardized exam, it’s a way for students to know where they are academically and can help students succeed in their future,” Valle said in an email.
Approximately 58% of Allentown’s class of 2026 self-reported plans to attend a two- or four-year postsecondary institution.
Events themed around college and careers are planned for the month of October, an effort Coleman called “lifting up that spirit across the district as we wait toward the school testing day on the 20th.”
Eligible students can qualify for a one-time fee waiver for the $68 the College Board charges for SAT registration. That process is not necessary for districts that serve low-income students and apply for discounted rates on in-school test administration. ASD has budgeted $70,000 for its testing initiative.