Risks for Students with Low Test Scores

The Vermont Mental Health Performance Indicator Project has released findings of a study analyzing the relationship between school performance and trouble with the law. Researchers examined young people who scored above average and average on tests and those who performed below average. The study found that students with low test scores got into trouble with the law more often than students with average and above average test scores. The study also found that boys were more likely to be charged with a crime than girls. The risk of boys being charged with a crime, however, went down during the course of the three-year study. At the beginning, young men with low-test scores were almost ten times more likely to get in trouble with the law. At the end of the three-year project, the elevated risk went down to just under five percent.

Vermont Mental Health Performance Indicator Project, 103 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05671-1601, 802.241.2638 (voice), www.state.vt.us/dmh/ (website), edtestresearch@ddmhs.state.vt.us (email).