2023 VT Statewide Cognia Assessment

Village School of North Bennington students in grades 3-6 will participate in the new Vermont statewide Cognia Assessments  for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. Additionally, the 5th grade students will participate in a Science Assessment.

These assessments are required by the state of Vermont and are designed to measure the type of critical thinking skills, problem solving, and analytical writing students are learning as part of Common Core state standards. 

Please keep in mind that our school does not “teach to the test,” and we view standardized test results as providing only one snapshot of student progress. This data helps us understand an individual student’s development more fully and also aids the school in assessing our curriculum, but it is viewed in the context of other observations and data gathered by our teachers and the school. 

The schedule for testing is as follows:

The Cognia assessments  are administered on the computer, which allows for a variety of formats, tools, and options, including the following:

• All testing is administered using a secure online assessment system that includes a variety of tools and technology enhanced test questions that will improve the assessment experience for our students.
• Foremost among the new technologies is Computer Adaptive Testing or CAT. CAT selects a unique set of test questions for each student that will produce very precise results in less time than the last generation of pencil and paper tests.
• The assessment also includes an array of embedded accessibility tools such as Text-to-Speech (TTS).
• Administering the test on a computer makes it possible for results to be returned to schools quickly. We can expect school scores by mid-June, and we may receive individual student scores before that.

Please note that Vermont’s test delivery system uses state of the art security features that will protect our students’ privacy, and will adhere to all federal and state confidentiality regulations, including but not limited to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

To learn more about Cognia, log on to the Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program Portal where you will find additional information for parents. Here is the link: https://vermont.onlinehelp.cognia.org/online-testing/.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your student’s teacher or Head of School Tim Newbold at 802-442-5955 (ext. 102) or at tnewbold@vsnb.org.