RutlandHerald.com - We Are Vermont

Math still a hurdle for Vt. students

More Vermont high school juniors are writing better than last year's junior class statewide, but math comprehension continues to remain a struggle for many, according to the fall 2009 testing results of mandatory New England Common Assessment Program tests released Tuesday.

Students in grades 3 to 8, a total of approximately 38,200, scored about the same on the reading and writing exams compared to the scores earned by last year's group of students.

For the second consecutive year, the largest gap in achievement continues to be between those students on free and reduced lunches, the state's measure of poverty, and those students who aren't.

Students in grades 3 to 8 made some gains — reading scores improved by 3 percentage points overall among the free and reduced lunch student population compared to last year and math scores improved by 1 percentage point, according to the results from the Vermont Department of Education.

Those increases reflect students who scored a three – proficient — or four — proficient with distinction — out of four on their exams.

At the high school level, however, the gap remained the same — 75 percent of juniors in Vermont not on free and reduced lunches earned a three or four on reading tests, compared to 54 percent below the poverty line.

In math, the gap was even larger, with 41 percent of students not on free and reduced lunches earning high scores, compared to 18 percent of poorer students.

The NECAP tests, a mandatory measure of math, reading and writing taken by students in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island, offers a snapshot of how different classes of students each year are learning, based on Vermont state standards of achievement.

This year, Vermont fell second to New Hampshire in overall student test scores, said Michael Hock, director of educational assessment for the Education Department.

Vermont high school juniors made strides in their writing — a gain of 9 percentage points compared to the 2008 class, making 51 percent of Vermont juniors proficient or better in writing skills.

Reading and math scores among that group stayed the same year over year, with 69 percent of Vermont juniors earning proficient or above scores in reading and just 35 percent earning proficient or above scores in math.

At the elementary and middle school level, 72 percent of Vermont students scored proficient or better in reading and 66 percent in math.

Local school districts will now use the results to pinpoint students or student groups that have had difficulty over a period of seven years, Hock said.

"There is a problem with math in the state and you don't know how to cure the problem until you isolate it," Hock said.

"In every school you have kids who do very well and those that don't," he said. "We're going to slice data up to identify students … to find out what problems there are in each school."

Locally, 93 percent, or all but one student in a Proctor High School junior English class of 15 students, earned proficient or better scores in reading.

Twenty-one eighth-grade students tested at Proctor earned proficient or better scores in reading while 77 percent of them earned the same in math.

Proctor Principal June Sargent attributed the high achievement to improvements made at the small high school.

"We put in literacy intervention for struggling readers," she said. "It's the second year running and we're starting to see results from that."

According to Sargent, math intervention was implemented as well.

At Rutland High School, the gap between poor students and their counterparts is beginning to close, Hock said.

"Looks like Rutland High School is a success story in your area," Hock wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.

Scores in reading at the school went up about 13 percentage points and scores went up at least 3 percentage points in math, according to Hock.

"Their poverty gap in writing shrunk 5.9 percentage points – scores for students who receive free or reduced lunch went up almost 11 percentage points," Hock wrote.

Other schools in the Rutland County area have seen slow growth in test scores, according to Hock.

Educators statewide will be meeting with Hock this week to learn how to use a new analysis tool to use the results for their own students' improvement.

Other high and low achieving high schools in our area are:

Among Brattleboro Union High School juniors, 73 percent are proficient or higher in reading, 31 percent earned those scores in math and 44 percent earned those scores in writing

Among Fair Haven Union High School juniors, 58 percent are proficient or higher in reading, 26 percent earned those scores in math and 46 percent earned those scores in writing Among Middlebury Union High School juniors, 74 percent are proficient or higher in reading, 51 percent earned those scores in math and 52 percent earned those scores in writing

Among Mill River Union High School juniors, 82 percent are proficient or higher in reading, 36 percent earned those scores in math and 52 percent earned those scores in writing

Among Otter Valley Union High School juniors, 66 percent are proficient or higher in reading, 32 percent earned those scores in math and 64 percent earned those scores in writing

Among Springfield High School juniors, 58 percent are proficient or higher in reading, 33 percent earned those scores in math and 33 percent earned those scores in writing

84 percent of Middlebury students in grades 3 to 8 are proficient or better in reading and 67 percent earned the same scores in math

84 percent of Mill River students in grades 3 to 8 are proficient or better in reading and 68 percent earned the same scores in math

63 percent of Wells Village School students in grades 3 to 8 are proficient or better in reading and 53 percent earned the same scores in math

65 percent of Rutland Intermediate School students in grades 3 to 8 are proficient or better in reading and 66 percent earned the same scores in math

69 percent of Rutland Middle School students in grades 3 to 8 are proficient or better in reading and 56 percent earned the same scores in math

For a school-by-school look at the test scores go to the latest updated state assessments page on www.education.vermont.gov.


For the complete packet of state results, including the Power Point from today's press conference, visit http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/dept/press_releases.html.

cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com