By Michael Bielawski
The test results are in and Vermont students are lagging in performance in math and reading, and the momentum is going in the wrong direction.
“The NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] results highlight a sense of urgency to promote student outcomes,” said Secretary of Education, Zoie Saunders. “We are committed to elevating outcomes through initiatives like Read Vermont, identifying areas for improvement, reversing the downward trend, and building a future where every student can thrive.”
The test is administered every two years for grades 4 and 8 nationwide. Vermont students’ average performance “was not significantly different from the national average” it states. This year’s data and past years for Vermont can be found here.
Scores keep falling. It says, “The 2024 results reinforce a decades-long pattern of declining performance. Relative to pre-pandemic (2019) and post-pandemic (2022) performance, 2024 Vermont reading scores were significantly lower in Grade 4 and Grade 8.”
Vermont students’ performance in math was below national average for Grade 4 but it was higher for Grade 8.
It says, “Nationally, average reading scores also declined compared to 2022, but at a smaller rate than in Vermont. In mathematics, average scores in Vermont did not change from 2022. Nationwide, average math scores increased from 2022 by two points in Grade 4, but did not change in Grade 8,” it states.
Basic vs. Proficient scores
In contrast, NAEP Proficient means it “represents solid academic performance for each NAEP assessment. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter.”
The official data states that for grade 4 reading, 31% of students scored “at or above proficient” and 58% scored “at or above basic.” For grade 8 reading, those numbers were 29% and 67%. For grade 4 mathematics, they were 36% and 75%. And for Grade 8 mathematics, they were 29% and 64%.
According to the National Assessment Governing Board, NAEP Basic level performance “denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for performance at the NAEP Proficient level.”
Cost still rising
Vermont’s Joint Fiscal Office also did a report on the education system and they stressed that while performance is going down, the costs are still rising.
“These figures are particularly striking when considering the continued increase in education expenditures per pupil in Vermont without a commensurate change in student performance when compared to national trends,” the report states.
Political analyst Rob Roper wrote in a commentary for VDC why Vermont’s Education System is “a hot mess”.
““For the 2021-22 school year, the average per pupil spending rate was $23,299 compared to the national average of $14,360 and the New England average of $21,535. Since 2001, Vermont has climbed from the eighth highest per pupil expenditure in the country to the second highest,” Roper wrote.
In another piece, he wrote that Vermont education’s recent hyper-focus on social justice and equity-themed issues could be part of the culprit for the falling scores.
“Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the leftist politicians and activists in and outside the classroom have spent all of these kids’ lives telling them that the adults from previous generations – like the one standing in front of the blackboard with the wooden pointer — are all systematically racist, sexist, and homophobic guardians of an oppressive society that has, among its many sins, laid waste to the planet these youngsters will inherit,” he wrote.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle