DeVry University Advantage Academy High School
DeVry University Advantage Academy High School (DeVry) is a two-year, dual enrollment public high school for juniors and seniors located in Chicago, Illinois. DeVry students attend high school- and college-level classes and graduate with both a Chicago Public Schools diploma and an associate’s degree. The principal is Anna Ruiz-Villa, whose relationship with Academic Approach began in SY 2016-2017—three years before her time at DeVry.
“It was not even a question to me when I came [to DeVry] what I wanted for my students and my staff. The [Academic Approach] service I got at my previous school is what I was going to get here.”
Why Academic Approach
As an English teacher, testing coordinator, and instructional coach at her previous school, Principal Ruiz-Villa understood the heavy lift that the SAT can be for teachers as they integrate test prep into their classrooms, produce their own SAT-style practice materials, and learn how to interpret and respond to standards-based data reports.
In 2019, as principal at DeVry, Ruiz-Villa brought in Academic Approach to help take on this lift, to provide teachers with guidance on SAT standards, and to help students increase their SAT scores. Familiar with the consistency and reliability of her relationship with Academic Approach from her previous school, Principal Ruiz-Villa believed she could build credibility around these efforts by connecting DeVry teachers and students with an outside organization. “This is this organization’s bread and butter,” she told her staff.
SY 2022-2023 Partnership
DeVry’s goal was for its junior class to increase its average composite SAT score by 60 points between August 2022 and April 2023.
In 2022-2023, Academic Approach partnered with DeVry for the fourth consecutive year to deliver a 24-hour SAT Prep Course to the entire junior class (56 students). Through this course, students received 12 hours of EBRW and 12 hours of Math instruction between December and March, with classes built into a modified Friday schedule. Each class day included 90 minutes of instruction. Students took two practice tests and two official tests during the year.
AA Diagnostic SAT
Official PSAT/NMSQT
AA Practice SAT
Official SAT
Student Outcomes: SAT Growth
DeVry juniors surpassed their goal by more than double—growing an average of 132 composite points between the August Diagnostic SAT and the April Official SAT.
Overall, 92% of students increased their composite SAT score, with 77% of students meeting DeVry’s goal of 60+ points growth and 57% of students more than doubling this goal.
Number of Students
Finally, DeVry juniors far exceeded the average expected junior-year gains, based on the college readiness benchmarks, for Composite, EBRW (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing), and Math growth.
Student Outcomes: Confidence Growth
Participation in Academic Approach’s SAT Prep Course not only helped DeVry students gain the skills needed raise their SAT scores—but also the confidence and preparedness to do so. DeVry students were invested in their own data, using their Academic Approach data reports to complete goal-setting activities.
“[Students] feel more prepared. We’re not thinking you’re going to learn all the skills...but just to feel more comfortable with the exam is a huge part of it. Not to walk into the space and feel really overwhelmed. The [Academic Approach] class allows them to get familiar with the test and actually feel comfortable."
Teacher Outcomes
Academic Approach’s collaboration with DeVry not only boosted student investment, confidence, and performance on the SAT but also contributed to a transformation in teachers’ perspectives. Principal Ruiz-Villa partially attributes the change to Academic Approach’s responsiveness to teachers’ immediate needs, highlighting their collaboration on a new data report as a specific example. “Teachers loved [ACT] score bands and understood that world–[they] didn’t feel like they had that with the SAT lens,” she said. With this feedback, Academic Approach developed a new SAT data report that allows teachers to understand how student scores on the SAT Suite relate to specific academic skills at varying levels of difficulty.
“[Teachers] love getting the data. They get it instantly, they can break it down by skill band, and they can take that and readjust where their next unit is going....And that attitude plays over into how they talk about it with the kids. The more [teachers] saw progress in scores...seeing those numbers and knowing students are doing better and better...It’s opening more opportunities [for students].”
