New State Test Begins This Fall

By Amy Quinton on Wednesday, July 13, 2005.

listen:

This fall, New Hampshire students in grades three through eight will take a new state test.
The test is called the New England Common Assessment Program or NECAP.
It's a result of the No Child Left Behind Law.
As New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports, the annual assessment is a big change for students and teachers

In October, all seventh grade students will need to know how to answer this test question:
A pyramid has a hexagon for its base.
How many edges does the pyramid have?
Listen for the answer in a few minutes.
The question is part of the new NECAP test that state educators spent three years developing.
Education Department accountability administrator Lorraine Patusky says the biggest change is that the state will no longer be testing just three grades as it did with the old state test.

"we had to switch from what we called benchmark assessments grades 3,6 and 10, to annual assessments for grades 3 through 8, so the idea that so many teachers are administering the test all at once is quite a change"

The No Child Left Behind law requires annual assessments of students in reading and math.
New Hampshire collaborated with Rhode Island and Vermont in developing the NECAP.
The collaboration helped save the state money.
It also may help improve testing curriculum, says Nashua School District Curriculum specialist Cecile Carlton.

"Now it's not just what New Hampshire feels is important but it's also looking in conjunction with teachers in Rhode Island and teachers from Vermont in coming to some agreement that these are essential benchmark learning goals for students at different levels"

The NECAP has three sections each in both reading and math, each section takes a typical student about 45 minutes.
5th and 8th grade students are also tested on writing.
Schools plan to give the test during a two week period in October - a big switch from previous springtime testing.
Kathy Fowler has always had to test her 6th grade students in the spring at Timberlane Regional Middle School.

"This will be different because by the time results have come back in the past those kids are off to seventh grade, so I havenâ€™t had conversations with my own current parents about the testing because theyâ€™ve moved on to seventh grade."

Because the test will be given in the fall, the NECAP is actually testing students' knowledge from the previous grade.
So a seventh grader in the fall will actually be tested on sixth grade curriculum.
Fowler says fall testing can provide immediate feedback for teachers and parents.

"This will be new. I think it will be kind of eye opening to the parents to see where their strengths and weaknesses are of their students and I'm sure their going to be concerned if there's a weakness."

State education administrators say parents shouldn't view the NECAP as an achievement test for their child.
But there is a lot of stress surrounding the test.
A student's scores are used in determining whether a school is meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind.
Schools labeled as needing improvement for two consecutive years could face sanctions â€“ and be required to transfer students to other schools.
Grace Jeffrey Nelson with the teachers union, NEA New Hampshire, believes there are better ways to test a student's knowledge of curriculum.

"I think there are many ways to do this rather than just one test and I think that's the hardest part for a classroom teacher is sometimes there's so much importance put on this test, that it's a stress problem for the students and they donâ€™t do as well as they should."

But teachers who are used to administering tests â€“ like 6th grade teacher Kathy Fowler - say it's important to present the test to students in a positive light.

"Thereâ€™s a fine line between making sure that they understand that it is important we want them to be invested in it, but you don't want them to be nervous, so you have to kind of strike that balance"

While the stakes may be high, administrators say questions on the NECAP won't be any more difficult than previous state standardized tests.
And teachers will likely spend the first few weeks of school preparing for the test.
The question posed at the beginning of this story came from a practice test.
If a pyramid has a hexagon for its base, how many edges does the pyramid have?
The answer? 12
For NHPR news, Iâ€™m Amy Quinton.