MONTPELIER, Vt. -
"For all of us as educators we want to make sure we don't focus just on the test," Vt. Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca said.
That lack of focus may have contributed to what education officials say is continued poor performance on high school science and math scores.
Overall, statewide NECAP averages remained fairly consistent compared to last year. In elementary school, reading proficiency dropped a percentage point down to 73 percent and math remained even at 65 percent. But what education officials say is most striking is the continued trend of plummeting math and science scores once students reach high school. Only 30 percent of 11th-graders are proficient in science and only 36 percent are proficient in math.
Vilaseca says a patchwork of curriculums across the state, especially when it comes to the recommended four years of math, are the problem.
"It's not because kids are not smart. It's not because our teachers don't do a good job. It's not because one school may be better than another. We think one of the issues here is that the students are not being required to take the courses that meet our standards," Vilaseca said.
Vilaseca says his department needs to do a better job of aligning statewide curriculums.
"That's an adult issue that's not kids or teachers, it's the system. And maybe when you look at the system is us at the policy level have not really required that of schools," Vilaseca said.
"I know that the tests are pretty heavily laden with algebra and geometry and if you think about the fact that you need algebra 2 and kids don't start algebra until ninth-grade-- in some cases 10th-grade-- they may not have covered the contents by the time to get to 11th-grade. So, it isn't just a high school issue, it's a middle school issue," said Ken Page of the Vermont Principals Association.
The NECAP tests have been around since 2005 to meet the No Child Left Behind Act. But with upward of 70 percent of schools missing the targets, Vermont schools are unlikely to meet the act's requirements by 2014.
With a nod from the Obama administration, Vermont, New York and other states are asking for a waiver to opt out of some requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Instead, Vermont is proposing a rating system that recognizes annual progress in the test scores.
So far, none of the waivers have been approved and Ken Page says Vermont is most likely also headed back to the drawing board.
The NECAPs are scheduled to be phased out in two years, only to be replaced with a new test.
Click here for a complete list of NECAP results for school districts around state.
