Silverstein: Low education outcomes by the numbers

VTCAP (Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program) standardized testing in Math, Science, and ELA (English Language Arts)

by Gerry Silverstein

VTCAP, the in-state standardized tests that most students in Vermont public schools take to assess learning, were last administered in spring of 2024.  

Individual student scores, school district scores, and statewide results were released to school districts about one month before voting began on the FY26 SB school budget.

School district and statewide performance was NOT available to the general public statewide until Feb.12, ONE day before early voting began on the SB School budget!

No formal announcement (that I am aware of) was made by the State detailing that testing results had been posted on the Agency of Education (AOE) website on Feb 12.  

The SBSD never communicated to the SB community the results of VTCAP testing and, to the best of my knowledge, never discussed those results when doing presentations encouraging voters to approve the FY26 budget.  

(Note: ~21.5% of SB registered voters, as of March 2024, turned in ballots for the FY26 proposed budget…..a depressingly low turnout but characteristic of citizen apathy in SB: 51.8% yes votes versus 48.2% no votes).

Why were VTCAP results not clearly conveyed to the public in SB and statewide?  

Had the public been aware of the results which showed appalling learning deficiencies in 3 core content areas, greater numbers of the public may have voted against approving proposed FY26 budgets.

What were the results?:

% of students scoring ****BELOW**** Proficient (SB = South Burlington)

Results detail a very significant proficiency acquisition failure in multiple core content areas statewide.  

Even in SB, one of Vermont’s wealthiest communities where teacher salaries are some of the highest (if not the highest) of all school districts, the results convey a school district that is failing its responsibility to successfully educate (large numbers of) students in core content areas.

As a professional educator in the biomedical sciences I took many (but not all) of the practice test questions associated with the various VTCAP subjects and classes.  

In general, I felt the tests were very good (with some exceptions) and the test questions (which were based upon what students were supposed to be learning) fair.

The tests were created by Cognia, chosen by the State of Vermont because: “Cognia’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion in the development and implementation of assessments aligns with Vermont’s values” (I am not sure what DEI has to do with 2+2 = 4 or the 2 major gases in the atmosphere are nitrogen and oxygen, but apparently DEI is important in creating standardized tests).

For a state that has the second-highest spending per pupil of all 50 states, and spends twice as much per pupil as 16 other states, the very concerning results require an informed response.

What has been the response?  

Kesha Ram Hinsdale, the Vermont Senate Majority Leader, offered some insight on the Democratic perspective when commenting on the recent vote to approve Zoie Sanders as Secretary of Education: 

“Society is failing our kids right now, and our teachers and our principals and our superintendents and our education staff are the ones doing their absolute best to save them. And I truly think we are worse off if someone who is leading this discussion and in the public sphere daily, is saying that our schools are failing,”

Ram Hinsdale has chosen to place the blame for poor student academic proficiency results on “society” (think about that!) and condemns the recently appointed Secretary of Education for verbalizing the failure.

Of course, Secretary Sanders is not directly involved in education “in the trenches” (where learning takes place or should take place), not to mention she has been on the job for about a year and test scores have been falling since 2013-15!    

Those who have been directly involved in education for the last decade and must be held at least partially if not primarily accountable for poor academic proficiency outcomes: superintendents, principals and teachers, are described by Senate Majority leader Ram Hinsdale as “doing their absolute best to save them” (the students).

George Orwell’s dystopian society depicted in his novel “1984” appears to be alive and thriving in Vermont.

Another common response to subpar learning outcomes in Vermont’s public schools is more money is needed for education (even though the data screams otherwise).  

In December 2023 Don Tinney, president of the Vermont National Education Association (NEA), wrote a commentary in which he advocated raising $100 million dollars from all Vermont tax filers with income of $500,000 or more.

The 1% of tax filers with that level of income (as of 2021) contributed 31% of all Vermont income taxes and had an average state tax bill of $93,200.

To raise $100 million from such tax filers would require an ~28.35% increase in their taxes, and the combined state income taxes of these individuals would then represent 36.7% of all Vermont personal income taxes! 

Considering that the last decade has clearly shown spending more money does not increase academic proficiency results, I see little benefit raising more money for public school education by taxing the wealthiest 1% of Vermonters even more than they are already taxed.

Collating various metrics of student learning (or lack thereof)

Besides the NAEP national tests and the in-state VTCAP tests, are their other metrics to consider in terms of measuring student learning?

In SB the high school graduation rate is 91%, in spite of the fact that 46% of students scored below proficient in 11th grade science, 48-50% scored below proficient in Math (grades 8 and 9), and 45% scored below proficient in ELA in 9th grade.

Other important metrics include: SB Class of 2025 average GPA (Grade Point Average) of 3.417, corresponding to a B+/A- letter grade using the SBSD’s grading metrics.

SAT mean scores for the class of 2024 (150 took the test; about 200 students per grade in the high school) were 569 in EBRW (Evidence-based reading and writing) and 537 in Math.

The mean scores correspond to 66 percentile rank and 62 percentile rank respectively versus all students nationwide who graduated and took the exams in the last 3 years.

The SB SAT results detail that 34-38% of public school students nationwide scored higher than SB class of 2024 students who took the EBRW and Math SAT exams.    

This was true, even though the average GPA of the class of 2025 was a tiny bit below an A-.

Can the following learning acquisition metrics of SB students be reconciled? 

The metric that appears most at odds with the other 2 metrics is the GPA (a tiny bit below A-) and supports the reality that grade inflation is real in SB as it is statewide and nationwide.

Summary and Conclusions

Considering that:

(1) Vermont has the 2nd highest spending per pupil of all 50 states, spends twice as much per pupil as 16 other states, and has the lowest ratio of pupils to staff of all 50 states,

(2) even in wealthy communities like SB below proficiency scores in core content areas in many grades often range between 30-50% of all students who took the exams…and statewide below proficiency percentages are even higher (worse) than SB,

(3) increased spending in Vermont public schools over the last decade has been associated with lower proficiency scores (inversely proportional) on standardized tests….

…..the data-driven conclusion is the magnitude and extent of learning deficiencies in Vermont public schools justifies declaring the situation a crisis.

The reality is Vermont is graduating significant numbers of students who are ill-prepared to reach their full potential as individuals and as members of society.  

This tragedy is compounded by the mind-numbing reality that all-too-many in the State respond to the current unacceptable situation by making nonsensical statements, with one prominent member of the Legislature assigning blame for proficiency acquisition failure not to frontline educators, but to “society” and the Vermont Secretary of Education who has been on the job about one year!

I close with the famous sign-off signature of the greatly respected and legendary news broadcaster Walter Cronkite: 

And that’s the way it is (here in SB and here in the State of Vermont).

The author, a South Burlington resident, is a virologist who taught courses related to human health and disease at UVM for 22 years.