N.H. revamping standardized test

New Hampshire is changing the way it gives standardized testing to its students. But that doesn't mean the state will ever have its own version of the MCAS.

''It's safe to say at this moment that there is not much interest in a graduation type of test," said Tim Kurtz, director of assessment for the New Hampshire Department of Education, referring to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test, which students must pass to graduate.

''That's not to say there isn't conversation," Kurtz said. ''But we're not moving in the direction of a high-stakes exam for now."

While an MCAS equivalent is not on the horizon, New Hampshire is changing its standardized testing to better comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The change will team New Hampshire with Rhode Island and Vermont to create the New England Common Assessment Program. Students in all three states will take the same test, which should reduce the cost of testing from about $25 per student to $12 per student, Kurtz said. The MCAS costs roughly $40 per student.

The lowered cost allows for a higher quality of test, Kurtz said. There will be more open-ended questions, more open-response options for test takers, and fewer matching and multiple-choice questions, which indicate less about a student's skills, according to educators.

Schools in New Hampshire will take a pilot version of the new test -- called the NECAP -- at the end of the month. Next year, students will take the test in the fall, and the results will be used for the first time to show progress.

The main difference between the old New Hampshire test, the New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program, and the NECAP test is that the new test will be given each year to students. The former standardized tests, which have been used since 1994, tested grades 3, 6, and 10, similar to the MCAS, which is given in fourth, eighth, and 10th grade.

Lorraine Patusky, director of accountability for the New Hampshire Education Department, said she believes an annual test will be easier to administer than a test that aims to gather information to judge several years of learning.

''The tests were very long and they covered a lot of ground," she said of the former tests that had been administered to the three grades each May. ''Annual assessments are shorter."

Testing should take each grade eight hours every October starting next fall, according to Kurtz.

Educators who just received training to administer the new tests said they are reserving their opinion of the NECAP until they can see the tests and the results. They said that while they are apprehensive about the change and the emphasis on standardized testing in general, they are interested to see how the new test will differ and what it will show schools about students.

At the Marston School in Hampton, principal David O'Connor and assistant principal Lois Costa are preparing to give the pilot test, which won't count for their students this year but will be taken by third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders between Oct. 26 and 28 as a run-through before next year.

O'Connor and Costa said their main concerns about the NECAP are the quality of the test and that the schools and the state have appropriately matched the test to the requirements set for each grade. Matching the test to the skills that students are supposed to know by the time they take the test has been a concern of those who take and administer the MCAS.

Costa said she hopes the state's promise of a more comprehensive test is a reality. Last year, New Hampshire dropped the open-response portion of its standardized test, she said. Costa said the tests had been reduced to ''basically, a bubble test," mainly because multiple-choice tests are less expensive to administer and grade.

''That's really sad, isn't it?" she said.

O'Connor taught in Lawrence before coming to Hampton seven years ago. He said that his experience with the MCAS formed his opinion about New Hampshire tests. He said he is opposed to using the tests as a graduation requirement. Also, he said New Hampshire must be sure they are testing for the right information at the right time and that the new tests do not hinder the education process.

''If it's a necessity, we want the best test," he said, ''not a mandate that people wince at."

O'Connor added that he wondered why Rhode Island and Vermont are the only other New England schools participating in the NECAP. Massachusetts has its own system with the MCAS, but he questioned what other states are using to judge student performance.

Maine has its own assessment system. Students in grades 4, 8, and 11 take tests in reading, writing, and math each March. Some of the Maine assessment tests require students to use laptops. The Maine Educational Assessment is not a graduation requirement.

Patusky said the three states were moving in similar directions as far as testing.

''It just seemed like the perfect match," she said. ''Our standards were the same. We worked well together."

Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com.