Chicken Little has now clucked for a half-century that the education
sky is falling. She started with Sputnik in 1957. “If we don’t fix the
schools, the communists will win!” The 1983 Nation at Risk panic said
the U. S. would not be able to compete if we didn’t fix the schools.
Since then, the communist world collapsed and the United States is
ranked first in international competitiveness. Perhaps we should
question Chicken Little’s judgment.

Nevertheless, Vermont’s release of state test results, yet again,
claims the sky is falling. As evidence, the Commissioner notes the
percent passing has been “flat” over the past three years and that 30%
to 37% of students are failing. To fix the sky, he says we need to
“transform” our schools by college alliances and hands-on approaches
such as boat-building. Apparently, the state is unaware of the vast
number of college alliances and alternative programs in Vermont
schools. (Boat building is a wonderful learning activity but how it
will improve writing test scores was not explained).

Alas, the state simply misinterpreted their own test scores.

Let’s put the scores in perspective. Schools administer the National
Assessment of Education Progress tests. The scores on this federal
government test show year-after-year, Vermont scores consistently well
above national averages in reading, writing, mathematics and science.
In math, our score advantage continues to accelerate. Overall, we rank
third highest in the nation (See NCES source).

“But,” says Chicken Little, “we are talking about international
competitiveness!” Fortunately, there is evidence on how Vermont ranks
internationally. The Program for International Assessment (PISA) tests
eighth grade students in reading and mathematics from all the advanced
nations. The American Institutes for Research plotted each of the U.S.
state’s performance on the international scale. Vermont stacked up
sixth in mathematics and tied for sixth in science. If you subtract the
city-states of Singapore and Hong Kong, our rank moves up to fourth
(See AIR report).

To say Vermont education is in need of a “transformation” on the basis
of these test scores doesn’t fit the facts. While there are real
problems in Vermont education (and we must guard against complacency),
our world-class performance is cause for celebration!

So how did the state education department miss it so badly? It’s
simple. Vermont has extraordinarily high standards even by world
benchmarks. For example, we can improve the percentage of eighth grade
students who can jump a three foot bar by coaching and practice.
However, if we “raise the bar” to five feet, there won’t be many who
pass and the percent passing won’t get much better next year – no
matter how hard we try. And this explains why the percent passing the
state NECAP tests is “flat” -- even though we are an educational
super-power.

Commissioner Cate correctly notes we are unlikely to get large
improvements to our current scores. Yet, the state embraces the NCLB
law which increases the height of the bar every three years. The
inevitable result is guaranteed: In time, each of our world-class
schools will be declared a failure.

That said, we cannot ignore that some teachers and schools do not
perform at the level they should. Used properly, there is a place for
standardized tests in monitoring school quality. But this is not our
greatest problem. As the Commissioner notes, it is the achievement gap
between our more affluent and less affluent children.

That is where we must transform our system. Fortunately, there are rich
and clear research findings to guide us. Unfortunately, our state
policies don’t follow this research. Poverty plays too small a role in
the state aid formula while we know poorer communities are less able to
spend money on schools. Small learning communities are a vital factor
yet the state is driving a consolidation agenda. We have early
education programs but state law will ratchet down enrollments while
harshly discouraging these programs through needless bureaucracy.
Quality after-school programs are essential but establishing or even
shifting resources into this area is increasingly difficult with budget
caps. Summer programs are needed but there is no funding and the state
calendar is a new obstacle. Due to declining enrollments, we have small
class sizes but Act 82 will erase this advantage. When it comes to
closing the achievement gap, state policies do not match state rhetoric.

If we truly want to “transform” education, leave no child behind, and
have high test scores, we will not reach this goal by Chicken Little
test score alarms. We must invest in a coordinated, focused and
sustained set of programs for the neediest of our children. Then, we
would not only be a world-class educational super-power, we would be
what we should be -- the best in the world.

William J. Mathis is superintendent of schools, Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union, Brandon.