Education in Vermont

In 2000 there were about 100,000 students in Vermont public schools.[12] In 2016 there were a total of about 80,000 students in Vermont public schools.[12]

Vermont was named the nation's smartest state in 2005 and 2006.[13] In 2006, there was a gap between state testing standards and national which is biased in favor of the state standards by 30%, on average. This puts Vermont 11th best in the nation. Most states have a higher bias.[14] However, when allowance for race is considered, a 2007 US Government list of test scores shows Vermont white fourth graders performed 25th in the nation for reading (229), 26th for math (247).[15] White eight graders scored 18th for math (292) and 12th for reading (273). The first three scores were not considered statistically significant from average. White eighth graders scored significantly above average in reading. Statistics for black students were not comparable because of their small representation in the testing.

Education Week ranked the state second in the nation[16] in high school graduation rates for 2007.[17]

In 2008, Vermont high school students achieved the highest five-year increase in the country in Advanced Placement testing. 19.8% of tested students scored a 3 or higher, compared to an average of 15.2% in the rest of the country.[18]

In 2010 the state ranked highest in the nation for achievement of low-income students. In the same evaluation, it ranked the lowest in the country for education reform. States were evaluated for education reform on academic standards, change in proficiency standards, private school choice, charter school law, online learning policies and programs, home-schooling regulations and removing ineffective teachers.[19]

The state is participating in a 30-state Common Core State Standards Initiative and assessment of students to replace the New England NECAP test. The state intends to use the new standards by 2015. The test will be given in grades 3-8 and at the end of grade 11 (junior year).[20]

In 2010, the National Association of School Nurses reported that the state has the highest ratio of school nurses to students, in the country, 1:311.[21]

In 2010 there were 62 supervisory unions containing less than 95,000 students.[22]

School boards require voter approval before implementing a budget.[23]

Vermont's 1777 constitution was the first in English-speaking North America to mandate public funding for universal education. This requirement was first met by elementary-level village schools with sessions held in the cooler months to accommodate farm work. Most schools educated similar numbers of girls and boys. Conditions in these schools varied, and the highest level of instruction was tenth grade. By the end of the eighteenth century, grammar schools, instructing students in English, algebra, geometry, Greek, and Latin, had been established at Bennington, Burlington, Castleton, Middlebury, Montpelier, and Windsor. These grammar schools were of a higher caliber than the smaller villages' schools, and the level of education at some was equivalent to college level.

By the middle nineteenth century, an expansion in settlement and the population of the state, coupled with increased prosperity, brought grammar schools to all corners of Vermont. Even the most remote Northeast Kingdom had established high-school-level instruction in Brownington, Craftsbury, Danville, Hardwick, and Newport. Many of these established grammar schools and academies, though not entirely public, received funds from area town governments in exchange for education of their students. As a system of public funding for primary and secondary education took root, many of these schools became municipal public schools. Several remained private, becoming private high-school-level academies, and several become colleges; the Orange County Grammar School became Vermont Technical College, the Rutland County Grammar School became Castleton State College, the Lamoille County Grammar School became Johnson State College, and the Addison County Grammar School became Middlebury College.

In 1845, a state statute required county judges to appoint a county superintendent of schools to oversee common schools.[24]

In 1892, the state created the town school district system.[25]

In the 1860s a shortage of qualified teachers brought the establishment of state "normal schools," a term based on the French term école normale – a school to train teachers. The grammar schools at Randolph Center (1866), Castleton, and Johnson became normal schools, additional normal schools were established in Concord and Lyndonville. Additional post secondary schools instructing students to become teachers were called seminaries. While several were nominally associated with Protestant churches, none were seminaries in the sense of training ministers. These seminaries also graduated teachers to staff Vermont's growing number of primary and secondary schools.

The one-room school house, born of small multi-age rural populations, continued well into the twentieth century. Rural towns without a single central village often built two to a half-dozen school houses across their terrain. Much of this came from a lack of transportation and a need for students to return home by mid afternoon for farm chores. By 1920 all public schools, including the one-room school houses, were regulated by the state government. In the early 1930s state legislation established a review and certification program similar to accreditation. Schools were issued regulations about teacher education and curriculum. Education quality in rural areas was maintained through a program called Vermont Standard Schools. Rural school houses meeting certification requirements displayed a green and white plaque with the Vermont coat of arms and the words "Vermont Standard School."

The state passed Act 46 to compel small school districts to merge into larger ones, with the consolidated districts to operate effective July 1, 2019. Judge Robert A. Mello of the Franklin County Superior Court upheld the implementation of the law in 2019.[26]

In 2009, 26% of seniors took that ACT test; 70% took the SAT test. The average SAT score was 519 in critical reading, 521 in math, and 506 in writing. The average total was 1,546. The US average was 1,509.[27]

2,677 students took AP classes; many took more than one; 6,057 AP tests were given.[27]

In 2013, the ratio of teachers to pupils is the lowest in the country.[28]

In 2010, the law changed to require teachers to work until 65 after 30 years of teaching. The former age was 62. Or years spent in the classroom plus the teachers age must now equal 90. A waiver was made for teachers who were "close" under the previous system.[29]

The legislature passed Act 60 in 1997 in an attempt to balance taxation for education among towns. It has been controversial.

In 2017, spending $1.6 billion on education for 76,000 public school children, represents more than $21,000 per student.[30]

In 2010, educators accounted for 70% of a school's cost.[31]

According to one study, enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grade has declined by nearly 10 percent during the 1990s. During the same period total staff numbers have increased by more than 20 percent. Per pupil spending grew from $6,073 in 1990 to $13,664 in 2006.[32]

In 2007, state costs for special education was $264 million, more than double what it was in 1998. In 2008, 14% of public school students qualified for special help.[33]

In 2010 Vermont ranked 49th out of 50 states in the nation for the amount spent subsidizing higher education, per capita.[34]

As in most areas, high schools compete in sports in two types of division. One, because of logistical and geographical constraints, is necessarily local. That is, large schools play small ones in the same area. A second division is based on school population and is statewide. Eventually, schools with the best records in this type of division will meet each other for seasonal playoffs. Football division assignments are based on a combination of football wins over the last four years, the number of boys playing the sport and the total boy enrollment in the school.[35]

There are three major geographical groups: Northern Vermont Athletic Conference (NVAC), Marble Valley (MVL, and Connecticut Valley (CVL). These in turn are broken into geographical divisions CVC Central, NVAC Lake (near Lake Champlain), Mountain, NVAC East, NVAC Metro (Burlington area), NVAC Capital, CVL, and MVL Divisions A, B, and C.[36][37] Divisions based on population are I, II, III and IV, with the largest schools in I.

During the period of the Vermont Republic several towns on the east side of the Connecticut River were part of Vermont. This included Hanover, home of Dartmouth College. Statehood brought about establishment of the Connecticut River as a natural border. Having lost Dartmouth College, Ira Allen established the University of Vermont (UVM) in 1791 to complement the smaller college at Castleton. By the mid-twentieth century all but one of the state normal schools, and many of the seminaries, had become four-year colleges of liberal arts and sciences. Experimentation at the University of Vermont by George Perkins Marsh, and later the influence of Vermont born philosopher and educator John Dewey brought about the concepts of electives and learning by doing. Today Vermont has five colleges within the Vermont State Colleges system, UVM, fourteen other private, degree-granting colleges, including Middlebury College, a private, co-educational liberal arts college founded in 1800, Champlain College, located in Burlington, is the primary private college of Vermont's largest city, the Vermont Law School at Royalton, and Norwich University, the oldest private military college in the United States and birthplace of ROTC, founded in 1819. Burlington College was a private college in the City of Burlington, but closed its doors and its assets were sold in 2016, due to financial difficulties.

The University of Vermont[40]

The state contribution to UVM in 2008 was $42.2 million. Other state college funding was $25.2 million.[8]

Besides the "National Universities", Vermont has several other universities, both public and private. There are about a dozen small liberal arts colleges across the state. Additionally, Vermont supports public community colleges in the Community College of Vermont.