There's some good news for Frederick County Public School students. The class of 2012 earned a mean score of 1544 on the SAT. That's exceeds Maryland's mean score of 1487 by 57 points, and the national mean score of 1498 by 46 points. And for the second straight year, 67% of seniors took the SAT.

"Once again, in Frederick County Public Schools, we're showing that high expectations we set for our students and teachers get results," says Dr. Theresa Ablan, Superintendent of Schools, in a statement. "All of us in Frederick County should be proud of this outstanding performance."

"We've gone from a number of schools that had fewer than half of their students participating," says Steve Hess, Director of Research, Development and Accountability for Frederick County Public Schools. "We've got pretty much of our schools in and around the county averaging more than two-thirds of the students taking the test. That's a pretty good indicator of students who are considering enrollment in four-year schools."

The SAT, known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, was a requirement for students who were planning on attending college in the future. But Hess says most colleges and universities consider the SAT as one of many factors in determining whether a student is admitted. "And we're seeing a growing number of schools, colleges and universities, that are basically saying 'if you give us an SAT score, we'll look it. But we're going to look at everything else in your portfolio together, and we're going to make a decision,'" he says.

Hess says some colleges don't even use SAT scores. Instead, they use astudents transcripts to determine admission.

But the local school system uses the SAT as one indicator of student progress. "We're not suggesting the SAT is not an important measure. However, it's just one of a number of measures that we look at in terms of in looking at a student's performance. And on that basis, it basically is yet one more indication that we have high expectations for our kids, and our teachers and students are getting results. That's what we feel good about," says Hess.