MONTPELIER — Vermont students’ vocabulary comprehension in the
fourth and eighth grades are above national averages, according
to data released by the National Assessment of Educational
Progress. Challis Breithaupt, NAEP state coordinator at Vermont
Department of Education, said it was the first-ever national
vocabulary report. “There was a new framework for reading in
2009 and the feeling was there needed to be a criteria developed
for vocabulary,” Breithaupt said. The measure would assess more
of students’ ability to understand vocabulary and their ability
to acquire meaning from passages they were reading. “Helping
students to increase their vocabulary and to feel comfortable
using words in various contexts is paramount,” state Education
Commissioner Armando Vilaseca said in a statement. “There is
significant research in the field supporting a link between
vocabulary and comprehension.” On a scale of 0-500, fourth-
graders scored 224 and eighth-graders scored 274. The national
average for fourth- and eighth