By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

It was good news for New Boston, while Goffstown and Weare showed they still have some work to do with the recent release of the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) test scores for Granite State students in grades 3 through 8.

The results, released on March 21, reflect the scores on NECAP tests New Hampshire students took in October 2005, along with students in Rhode Island and Vermont.

New Boston students far outscored statewide averages in the percentage of students achieving “proficient or better” status in all three categories of math, reading and writing. Goffstown students topped state averages in math and reading but slipped below average in writing, while Weare ranked above state average in writing but below the reading and math averages.

The statewide average of students scoring proficient or better in math stood at 62. Goffstown beat the state average with 71 percent; New Boston outdistanced the state average with 81 percent; and Weare bested the average with 63 percent.

The state average of students scoring proficient or better in reading came in at 66 percent.

Goffstown and New Boston again beat the state average with a respective 72 and 80 percent, while Weare came in short by two percentage points with 60 percent at or above proficiency.

Goffstown proved to be the sole laggard in the writing category, scoring 46 percent at or above proficiency against a state average of 50 percent. New Boston brought in 60 percent and Weare 60 percent.

Rick Matthews, principal of New Boston Central School, said he was pleased with the results of the tests. He attributed New Boston’s success on the NECAPs to the learning atmosphere in the school and the community.

“I think this shows we’ve got great teachers, great students and excellent community support,” he said.

Matthews said the students’ strong showing on the NECAP may reflect the work they do in the school’s Integrated Arts program, in which students submit written work to an editorial board of fellow students for potential performance at the school. The school also features several artist-in-residence programs, which Matthews said encourages the students to become better learners.

“We look at (NECAP) as being one piece to the puzzle,” Matthews said. He added that other factors, such as students’ ability to get along with others and their growth as learners, offer important clues into their progress that cannot be measured in standardized tests.

The NECAP tests are scheduled to be administered each year to all students in grades 3 to 8, with assessments in reading and math, and grades 5 to 8 for writing. This conforms to federal No Child Left Behind requirements that states measure student skills in grades 3 to 8, and in one high school grade.

NECAP takes the place of the New Hampshire Education Assessment and Improvement Program, in which students in grades 3, 6 and 10 took annual tests.

Christine Tyrie, superintendent of SAU 24, which includes Weare, Henniker and Stoddard schools, said the NECAP scores do not offer “apples-to-apples” comparisons with the old tests, because the data is far more voluminous and in not centered in New Hampshire.

“It’s a three-state consortium now, not the New Hampshire frameworks anymore. It’s a brand new developed test,” she said.

Ellen Vermokowitz, vice chairman of the Goffstown School Board, said school staff and administrators are still studying the results, and that it is too early to determine which steps will be taken as a result of the test scores. However, Vermokowitz said the results will be examined on several levels including the district, the schools, grade levels and individual students.

“We’ll of course be looking at the district as a whole, but also if there were certain problem areas common to students,” she said.

Ultimately, success in the NECAPs rests on a common set of objectives known as gradelevel expectations (GLEs), created by educators in each of the three states.

According to a press release from Lori Kincaid, the public information officer for the state Department of Education, the tests measure which skills a students should have upon entering any given grade level.

“The GLEs articulate the skills, concepts, or content knowledge a student should be able to demonstrate at each grade level,” Kincaid wrote. “The NECAP tests are designed to measure student performance on these GLEs. Scores in all three subject areas will be broken down into subcategories such as vocabulary, comprehension, geometry and writing conventions. Specifically, the tests are designed to measure the content and skills that students are expected to have as they begin the current enrolled grade.”