I think the high schools know the cutoff scores for their state in mid-April and the word leaks out, although it is not "official" until next fall.
I am no expert, but I don't believe that's true. Part of the calculus of how the NMSF's get distributed has to do with the % of HS graduates there are in a given state compared to the US as a whole and I don't think that data is available until after June (unless they use data from the graduating class of 2011 for our 2013 kiddo NMSF's.) Hopefully others who are tracking data trends may have some insight.
My HS definitely did not know the cutoff ahead of time. Last year, I scoured the internet ahead of the official announcement and there was no hint that Texas's cutoff would jump 4 points. A lot of people were shocked...Maybe some High schools guess based on historical numbers, but when there's a sudden change I don't think they know about it this early.
Yeah, that TX jump last year was crazy, I'm sure there were many families who assumed they were safe with a 217 or 218...and we need it to drop 3 this year, please and thank you!
I don't think the info is available before August - if it was, the CC folks would find it!
Colleges do know who has made the cutoffs sometime around early August...this gives them time to prepare their mailers.
My son actually got a NMF award offer in the mail right around the 3rd week in August. It was received either the day before or the actual day that the principal told my son. Our HS tells kids early...as soon as they receive the pkgs.
However, now I don't think there are pkgs. I think NMCorp has gone to an online system, so schools may only be receiving notifications and maybe some instructions to give to students. Not sure.
Official notification to students is supposed to be around Sept 14th. That's the day that the embargo is lifted. Schools arent' really held to that, but some think they're obligated. It's really for the media (who are also notified early).
nintendude: MD was indeed 221 last year. We can only guess at this point, but the signs look good for MD to follow the national trend and drop (perhaps a point or two). The total number MD testtakers was up slightly (about 2.5%), but the number of MD testtakers scoring in the top range (75-80) still dropped by one third compared to 2010. A drop like that for a high performing state like MD usually results in a drop in the NMSF cutoff (especially where the national trend is down as well).
