A reader sends this information about the Néw England assessment:
In terms of cut scores, this data from New Hampshire puts things in perspective:
2010-2011 graduation rate: 86% (3rd in US)
2011 Science and Engineering Readiness Index (SERI) ranking: 4th in US
2011 NAEP Mathematics:
4th grade scale score state rank: 2nd
4th grade % of students below basic: 8% (2nd)
8th grade scale score state rank: 6th
8th grade % of students below basic: 18% (4th)
2009 NAEP 11th Grade Mathematics Pilot (of 11 participating states)
Scale score state rank: 2nd of 11
% of students scoring below basic: 26% (3rd)
2012 NECAP Mathematics
4th grade % of students substantially below proficient: 8%
8th grade % of students substantially below proficient: 15%
11th grade % of students substantially below proficient: 36%
Percentage of current New Hampshire high school juniors who would be at risk of not graduating under Rhode Island’s 2014 requirements: 36%
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As noted in an earlier post, some (or perhaps “many”) NH students “blew off” the NECAPs because it was clear to them that the test had no bearing on their future. It appears that RI’s response was to make the test a graduation requirement. It would be interesting to know what the company that designed the NECAPs would think of this idea.
The NECAP tests are apparently done by a company in Dover, N.H. called Measured Progress.In N.H. the politicians and school administrators like to brag about their NECAP and SAT scores. But what they don’t add is those scores include students from St. Paul’s School in Concord,N.H., and Philips Exeter Academy, two of the top ten private academies in the country! What would the scores be like without these students included?
Everything above other than graduation rate would have no stakes for the student, and only 8% were substantially below proficient in reading.
In Rhode Island we’ve had high schools proficiency rates in reading go up 40-50% (literally) with no movement at all in math.
There are many reasons the NECAP should not be used as a graduation requirement. Because it is constructed using the techniques for standardized tests (although it claims to be a criterion referenced test), some percentage of students will almost certainly fail the test. That percentage depends on how difficult the items are, as can be seen by the different results for math and reading. In addition, the cut score is ludicrous–can anyone really believe a student just above the cut-score is better than a student just below? But the most fundamental flaw is that there is no evidence that the test correlates with important math or reading abilities (no validity studies). If we must have graduation exams, they should meet the AERA standards for those tests. The NECAP does not.