The New England Common Assessment Program was a series of reading, writing, mathematics and science achievement tests, administered annually, which were developed in response to the Federal No Child Left Behind Act. Starting in 2005, school students in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont participated in NECAP, and Maine joined the assessment program in 2009. It was a collaborative project of the New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont departments of education, with assistance from the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessments. Measured Progress, an assessment contractor from Dover, New Hampshire, coordinates production, administration, scoring and reporting. The NECAP tests measured students’ academic knowledge and skills relative to Grade Expectations which were created by teams of teachers representing the original three participating states. Student scores were reported at four levels of academic achievement; Proficient with Distinction, Proficient, Partially Proficient and Substantially Below Proficient. Reading and math were assessed in grades 3–8 and 11, writing was assessed in grades 5, 8 and 11, and science was assessed in grades 4, 8 and 11. The reading, math and writing tests were administered each year in October. The science tests were administered in May. Students in Maine did not participate in the science NECAP; instead, Maine students in grades 5 and 8 took the science MEA. The states supporting this initiative planned to phase over to the newer Common Core State Standards Initiative by 2014.
Purpose
NECAP provided assessment results for students in Grades 3-8 and 11 based on a common set of grade expectations. The scores served a variety of purposes, including –
School accountability and identification of schools in need of improvement
Approach
NECAP tests were made up of multiple choice, short answer and constructed response questions. The writing test also included an extended response essay question, and the science test included an inquiry session that required students to analyze experimental data. Every NECAP test question was aligned to a specific grade expectation.
Teacher Involvement
One major goal of NECAP was to create tests relevant to classroom instruction. To accomplish this goal, teachers were involved in test development in a variety of ways, including:
Development of the Grade Expectations
Review of test items for alignment with the grade expectations, as well as absence of bias
Setting standards
Content
The NECAP tests provided broad scores in reading, writing, mathematics and science literacy, as well as the following strand or domain scores:
The Reading assessment addressed Word Identification, Vocabulary, Initial Understanding and Analysis/Interpretation. Comprehension was measured using both literary and informational text.
The Mathematics assessment addressed Numbers and Operations, Geometry and Measurement, Functions and Algebra, and Data, Statistics and Probability
The Writing assessment addressed a variety of writing genre including narratives, informational writing and response to both literary and informational text. Writing conventions and structures of writing were also assessed.
The inquiry section of the NECAP Science test provided a unique approach to assessing scientific literacy. Students in grades 4 and 8 work in pairs to conduct an actual, hands-on science experiment. Then, working independently, they use their data to analyze results, test hypotheses and make predictions. In other words, the test requires students to think and act like scientists.
