In 1990 the state of Kentucky also experimented with the portfolio system to evaluate student performance only to find it unreliable. Second, they are not standard nor standardized nor nationally normed. They are used only by a couple of states and produce no reliable, meaningful data. The data it does produce can be easily manipulated. Third, they are not tests but assessments that are highly subjective and lack inter-rater reliability.
Most hoopla is over a passing rate and the test itself is overlooked.
Except for the fact that the student and school may look good, nothing. It doesn't mean a student can add, subtract, multiply or divide let alone know their math tables with automaticity. It doesn't mean a student can read let alone know the difference between a prefix or a suffix and it doesn't mean a fourth grader is prepared academically for middle school. The sub-standard state standards and resulting curriculum for core academic subjects, combined with experimental, scientifically unproven teaching methods in basic reading, writing, and math are the real problem. The New Standards Tests will serve to hide the resulting statewide academic neglect and poor performance that many children in Vermont public schools are suffering from today.