Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Nicole L. Mace, the associate director of legal service for the Vermont School Boards Association.
The headlines that ran after the Vermont Department of Education released the 2011 NECAP scores paint a pretty troubling picture about the performance of Vermont’s schools, particularly our high schools. The department focused its press release on the significant drop in math and science test scores between students in eighth grade and students in 11th grade. The tone of the press release and subsequent news coverage would lead one to conclude that the scores are revealing a new pattern and that student performance in Vermont’s schools is falling precipitously.
But these conclusions are simply not true, since they rely on a single year’s worth of data and do not incorporate meaningful context or analysis. The importance of public education – to our kids, our communities, and our state — requires that any endeavor to evaluate our education system include analysis that helps build a better understanding of what’s working and what’s not working so that we can do better.
There is no doubt that the low levels of proficiency in high school, as measured by the NECAPs, are cause for concern. But context for these results matters.
First, trends over time help illustrate what’s happening in our schools, not isolated data points. And Vermont’s high school performance over the past five years suggests positive trends. We’ve seen a 24 percent improvement in science scores, a 20 percent increase in math, a 23 percent increase in writing, and a 6 percent increase in high school reading scores.
Second, when you look at other New England states’ high school NECAP scores, Vermont’s student performance is similar to our neighbors.
Finally, the drop in proficiency levels between eighth and 11th grades, as measured by the NECAP, has not changed in the years since this test has been in place, and is mirrored in all states that use the test. Although we need to continue to be informed by this drop, to understand it, and to strengthen curriculum accordingly, it is important to know that this drop does not reflect uniquely on Vermont, nor does it reflect a negative trend.
This is not to say that we are where we need to be in preparing all our students to be college and career ready. But there is much to celebrate in Vermont education. Our students do better than those in most states. And these improvements in high school NECAP scores have come during a time of unprecedented stress on schools. Over the past five years, the number of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, a measure of poverty in schools, increased by 30 percent statewide. At the same time, education resources have been tight, with school districts operating with level-funded budgets over the past two years.
The job of being a teacher, administrator or a school board member has never been tougher or more important than it is today. We have got to improve student achievement, provide safe learning environments, expand student opportunities, support student social and emotional growth, integrate technology into learning, and do it all as cost effectively as possible. This charge requires a tremendous effort and commitment on the part of educators every day on behalf of our children.
As parents and community members, we do best by our kids and schools when we evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our educational system by examining multiple sources of data, looking at trends over time, asking questions about what we see, celebrating successes, and challenging each other to do better. Engaging with schools in an honest and meaningful way about their performance can help all of us build consensus about how to continue to make improvements and develop constructive strategies to get us to a place where all learners succeed.
