Kevin Lee, president of the Jesuit Loyola Academy, just got his school’s standardized test scores. He said his staff is still processing overall results, but had a couple of success stories to share.

“It is amazing what young men can accomplish,” he said, “when they are educated in a positive environment.” Here are the stories, in his words:

John came to Loyola Academy from University City where he was getting bad grades in an attempt to fit in socially. John lives with his grandmother after his mother and father abandoned him when he was 2 years old. She has been raising him on little more than her social security check and assistance from other family members. John’s national percentile composite on the test was 89% - he scored higher than 89% of the people who took the test nationally. In the area of language arts he scored in the 98%. At the start of his 7th grade year - John’s composite score was 58% - an increase of 41 percentile points.

Paul came to Loyola from District 189 in East St. Louis. It quickly became clear that Paul would struggle academically at Loyola. His parents were surprised that things were so difficult considering he had received nothing but As and Bs at his previous school. At the start of his 6th grade year, Paul’s national percentile composite was 8%. As a 7th grader his national percentile score was 11% and as an 8th grader his national percentile score is 21% - an impressive jump considering how weak his educational foundation was when Paul arrived at Loyola.