EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been adjusted to correct an error in the scores for Thorntons Ferry school in Merrimack, and resulting erroneous statement that Merrimack School District did worse than other districts.

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For eight years, local students have taken a standardized achievement test with the odd-sounding acronym NECAP, developed by New Hampshire and three other states as part of a national push for better assessment of public schools.

Now NECAP is winding down, as New Hampshire shifts to the national Common Core standards and its assessments. Which leads to the question: What have we learned from all those hours preparing, grading and analyzing the tests?

There certainly have been some changes that reflect on individual schools.

The Telegraph looked at changes in the reading and math scores between the first time students took NECAP tests – 3rd- and 8th-graders began in fall 2005, and 11th-graders began in 2007 – and the final results from 2013.

(High schoolers also take a writing test, which we didn’t examine. We also didn’t look at the science NECAP, which will continue for at least another year.)

We measured the percentage of students who scored proficient or above, the two top grades in the four-grade system.

In Nashua, Broad Street Elementary declined most, falling 14 percentage points in reading and 16 percentage points in math, while Ledge Street Elementary improved most, rising 24 points in reading and 13 points in math.

Outside the city, both Litchfield and Milford school districts did the best in terms of improving. Campbell High School rose 24 points in reading and 20 points in math, while in Milford both he middle and high schools saw improvements of at least 15 points in reading and 9 points in math.

Merrimack, Hudson, Amherst/Mont Vernon and Hollis/Brookline districts saw relatively small changes all around. Wilton/
Lyndeborough’s results were wildly variable, a reflection of its small size, which means that a relatively few students can make a big difference.

Overall, however, things look pretty good: Few schools in the region saw their NECAP scores decline over the history of the test, although not many saw too much of an increase, either.

For most schools, changes mostly leveled off in the past few years. Virtually all schools saw more of a change, whether up or down, over the eight-year course of NECAP than they over the past three years.

NECAP, by the way, stands for New England Common Assessment Program, a common set of what educators call “expectations” developed by New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont educators. Maine joined later.

So what does all this mean?

“What the NECAP really did, I think, is usher in the idea that there are standards beyond the local district that you have to teach to – and that’s very significant,” said Mark Conrad, superintendent of schools for Nashua School District.

While NECAP wasn’t the first assessment test that reached outside local boundaries – it was preceded by a multi-state initiative with a similar acronym, NEAP, and before that the California – the fact that New Hampshire helped develop it and had a stake in its operation made a difference.

“In early days discussion of curriculum tended to be which textbook you bought,” Conrad said. “With NECAP came the idea that at the end of the day, you can pursue any expected learning outcomes you want, but you’re going to be tested against a set of standards.”

In Milford, Superintendent Bob Suprenant said such tests can shape decisions at the classroom level.

“It gives you that common standardized assessment that sort of equalizer, if you will, as to how your school district is performing in relation to others,” he said.

Schools do use it, he said, to provide “a general focus for instruction.”

“There is a standard, so how can we adjust our curriculum to meet that standard? What instructional practices and activities are going to help our kids meet those standards,” he said.

The test has also demonstrates other issues, such as how to get 11-graders to give a hoot.

Because NECAP has no affect on grades or college applications, as compared to SAT tests and Advanced Placement tests, there is a general consensus that juniors barely try on them. Whether that’s a cause for the uniformly poor showing in 11th-grade mathematics scores – which are usually 15 to 25 points lower than the reading scores – is another question.

Another issue? Timing.

NECAP tests were scheduled for early in the school year, usually in October, with the idea that teachers would get results quickly enough to adjust their classes. But results haven’t actually shown up until late January, which has generally proven too late to be of much use.

The science NECAP tests are taken in spring, and they will continue to be given.

The Smarter Balance test, which will be the assessment test for Common Core, also takes place in the spring. I

ts results should come in quickly enough to shape the next year’s classes – although it carries its own issues, including the connection to controversial Common Core and a dependence on computers that some say gets in the way of actual testing.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashua
telegraph.com. Also, follow Brooks on Twitter (@GraniteGeek).