The New Hampshire Department of Education, Rhode Island Department of Education, and Vermont Department of Education have developed a common set of Grade-Level Expectations, known as the New England Common Assessment Program Grade-Level Expectations (NECAP GLEs), and test specifications in Mathematics, Reading, and Writing. These expectations were developed in response to the requirements of the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act, 2001 to test all students, beginning in the 2005-2006 academic year, in each of grades 3-8 in mathematics and reading/language arts. Although these sets of GLEs were developed for this purpose the partner states were committed to building coherent sets of expectations that would focus, not narrow, the curricula, and would support good instruction.

The NECAP GLEs do not represent the full curriculum in mathematics or reading/language arts. Rather, they serve as an assessment framework for the development of the testing blueprints for common assessments to be administered in NH, RI, and VT, beginning in the 2005-2006 academic year. Each of the partner states intend to develop revised curriculum frameworks to accompany the NECAP GLEs. The revised frameworks will support good instruction and local assessment by modeling concepts and skills not easily assessed in an on-demand large-scale assessment (e.g., mental mathematics, self-correcting while reading).

Throughout the development process, each of the NECAP partners has relied upon the expertise of educators in their states. These educators have helped to guide the development of these documents and have made numerous insightful contributions in an effort to help support meaningful instruction in mathematics and reading/language arts. We are grateful for their contributions.

http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/assessment/necap/gle.htm