(Host) More than a third of Vermont’s schools failed to make progress in the past year toward increasing their students’ test scores.
Officials say that may be because the standards got tougher.
As VPR’s Ross Sneyd reports, some school administrators still question the value of the assessments.
(Sneyd) Steve Perkins is the incoming superintendent of Winooski schools. And he’s pretty blunt about the testing regimen that’s required by the No Child Left Behind law.
(Perkins) "I don’t think it’s valuable at all.”
(Sneyd) The federal law is supposed to make it easier for parents to judge how well their schools perform compared to others around the country.
But the law has never been popular among teachers and school administrators. Perkins says when schools fail to make "average yearly progress” toward the national goal – which is what happened in Winooski schools – they’re forced to focus more on test preparation and less on day-to-day learning.
(Perkins) "We need to first identify which students didn’t do well on a test, if there’s a certain group of students. Then we need to plan special programs that will help them to bring up their test scores.”
(Sneyd) There’s more frustration for schools. Every three years, the federal government sets the target higher.
So that makes it even tougher for a school district like Winooski’s. A lot of the city’s children come from poor or immigrant families who might struggle with schoolwork under the best of circumstances.
(Perkins) "Each time the bar gets raised, it makes it more difficult for all of your children to achieve that mark. Eventually all schools will be getting a check mark unless that system is changed. Because the closer you get to perfection, the harder it is for everyone to get there.”
(Sneyd) State officials say the tougher standards explain why, this year, 79 schools failed to meet the standards for the first time.
Education Commissioner Richard Cate says many schools across the state have shown improvement in student achievement – but have not kept up with the rising standards.
(Cate) "As long as we’re making ongoing progress, I think it’s reason for optimism. But at the same time that doesn’t mean that we in any way we give up the pressure at the local and the state level in terms of doing everything we can to help every child succeed.”
(Sneyd) Even though he’s pleased with the new assessments, Cate acknowledges that the report says there are still many schools that need to improve.
Thirty-nine schools have failed to show improvement for at least two years. So now they’re required to revise their curriculum or make other improvements to boost their students’ performance.
For VPR News, I’m Ross Sneyd.