Vermont Reconsiders NECAP After Low Science Scores

According to a report released by the Vermont Agency of Education, statewide science scores slipped this year. Approximately 44 percent of fourth graders received a ‘proficient’ score on standardized tests as a part of the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP).

This percentage was down 3 percent from 2013. Eighth graders and eleventh graders scored ‘proficient’ at rates of 25 percent and 30 percent, respectively, both grades decreasing slightly since last year. The same students will test in Math and Reading this fall.

Despite the drops, Vermont Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe said, “It’s not the emergency that all those labels would make you think.”

NECAP tests were initially implemented in 2001 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Holcombe attacked the legislation mandating the testing as a “broken policy.” Under NCLB, schools must make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the NECAP tests, or are otherwise deemed ‘underperforming’ and at risk of losing Title I funding. States can also apply for a waiver – which Vermont did not do – allowing them to implement their own federally-approved testing policy.

Ideally, NCLB functions by “identifying and turning around low-performing schools,” and “holding schools, local educational agencies, and States accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students.” As the name would suggest, No Child Left Behind requires that every single student score ‘proficient’ or higher in state NECAP tests. If they do not, their school may be labeled ‘low-performing.’

Critics have attacked this target as unfeasible, and the attendant loss of Title I funding as draconian. On August 6, Holcombe wrote a letter to parents and caregivers stating bluntly, “The Vermont Agency of Education does not agree with this federal policy, nor do we agree that all of our schools are underperforming.”

In the letter, which has received national attention, Holcombe pointed out that Vermont has the highest high-school graduation rate in the nation. She also cited a study which ranked Vermont 7th in the world in eighth grade mathematics and 4th in science, when compared to 47 nations and states that participated. Additionally, Holcombe outlined the changes made to the State Board of Education’s Education Quality Standards, and urged parents to entertain a more qualitative assessment of “21st century transferrable skills.”

Although Secretary Holcombe agrees with the intent behind NCLB, she believes that the legislation set unrealistic expectations. “We’re stuck with a law which ... people knew, even when it was passed, wasn’t achievable,” Holcombe said. “It’s a distraction from state priorities.”

John Bacon, Barre’s school superintendent, agreed with Holcombe. “To label all our schools as failing based on the NECAP scores is pretty bogus,” he said. “When you look at the results state by state, Vermont does very well.”

In 2011, President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan retooled the NCLB by allowing states to acquire federal waivers permitting them to develop their own test-based system of review. In order to acquire the waiver, states must implement “college- and career-ready standards and assessments that measure student achievement and growth,” a “differentiated accountability system” and “teacher and principal evaluation and support systems to improve instruction.”

In 2012, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to not pursue a waiver. Officials at the time noted that federal funding would be contingent on high test scores under any new plan.

Accompanying the backlash against NCLB is a serious drop in public support for Common Core, a federal initiative which specifies what students should know at the end of each school year, between kindergarten and twelfth grade. Support among teachers plummeted nationally in the past year, according to a report by the Washington Post. About 76 percent supported the standard in 2013, but just 46 percent did in 2014.

Currently, Vermont’s publicly funded schools do not have to test Common Core knowledge, and schools are free to develop curricula of their own. About 4 percent of Vermont schoolchildren attend schools with independent curriculum.

Vermont will be switching to a leaner, computer-based assessment program in Spring 2015 known as the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC). According to the Education Department’s website, “SBAC will be fully aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), use state of the art computer adaptive testing and accessibility technologies and will provide a continuum of summative, interim and formative tools that can be used for a variety of educational purposes.”

Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut are all current members of the education consortium. The SBAC does not currently support science examination, but according to its website, the consortium hopes to expand testing options in the near future, “particularly in cases where the science assessments are comprised of selected-response items.”

“The Next Generation Science Standards are being developed by a partnership that includes The National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Achieve,” the website says.

The SBAC was field-tested in 27 Vermont schools last spring, and received positive reviews from many students. Some reported that taking a test on a computer is less intimidating, and the web-based tools make taking the test easier.