On Monday, the combined statewide results were finally revealed for Arizona’s new statewide achievement test, AzMERIT, and National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC) assessments for students who tested this spring. As expected, the majority of Arizona students failed the meaningless test.
The meaningless results include the statewide percentage of Arizona public school students who passed the assessments, along with the percentage at each performance level. They also include percentages for Arizona public schools, districts and charter holders as well as demographic breakdowns.
Common Core opponents have been saying that the standards are lower than the old standards. While some Common Core proponents are claiming that the poor showing by Arizona’s kids prove that the standards are, in fact higher, however the proficiency levels for AzMERIT set higher expectations for students than AIMS did, which is one major reason for the low number of students passing the test, according to Charles Tack, Arizona Department of Education spokesman. “After only one administration of the new test, it would be difficult to point to the standards being more rigorous as the reason for low scores statewide,” Tack told the ADI.
Superintendent Diane Douglas stated that the results give schools and teachers information “about how they can better serve Arizona students, the results will give parents one more resource when making decisions about the education of their children.”
Tack explained, “We know parents are considering many factors when choosing the right school or educational environment for their children. Some may be interested to see how schools performed on this initial administration of the test as a baseline for comparison if nothing more. The results also give parents an opportunity to discuss with teachers how they can help improve their student’s achievement.”
AzMERIT was adopted by the Arizona Board of Education in November 2014, after the ADI exposed irregularities in the procurement process. Rather than delay the process to allow for a meaningful test and testing of the test, ADE opted to rush the implementation of a test that was essentially prepared for students in other states.
Arizona public school students in third grade through high school take AzMERIT. Students in grades 3 through 8 take an assessment in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics at their grade level. Students taking high school level English and math take End-of-Course assessments that test their proficiency in those subjects.
NCSC is Arizona’s new alternate statewide achievement test for eligible students with significant cognitive disabilities. The NCSC alternate assessment is based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Eligible Arizona public school students take the NCSC Alternate Assessments for ELA and mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11.
| Test Level | % Passing |
% Performance Level 1 |
% Performance Level 2 | % Performance Level 3 |
% Performance Level 4 |
| Grade 3 | 42 | 27 | 31 | 29 | 13 |
| Grade 4 | 42 | 29 | 29 | 32 | 10 |
| Grade 5 | 40 | 29 | 31 | 28 | 12 |
| Grade 6 | 33 | 37 | 30 | 22 | 11 |
| Grade 7 | 31 | 47 | 22 | 18 | 13 |
| Grade 8 | 34 | 41 | 25 | 20 | 14 |
| Algebra I | 32 | 45 | 23 | 23 | 9 |
| Algebra II | 30 | 46 | 25 | 23 | 7 |
| Geometry | 30 | 42 | 27 | 25 | 6 |
English Language Arts
| Test Level | % Passing | % Performance Level 1 | % Performance Level 2 | % Performance Level 3 | % Performance Level 4 |
| Grade 3 | 40 | 43 | 16 | 30 | 11 |
| Grade 4 | 42 | 41 | 17 | 36 | 6 |
| Grade 5 | 32 | 36 | 31 | 28 | 4 |
| Grade 6 | 36 | 39 | 25 | 32 | 4 |
| Grade 7 | 33 | 42 | 25 | 29 | 5 |
| Grade 8 | 35 | 39 | 26 | 27 | 8 |
| Grade 9 | 26 | 44 | 29 | 22 | 5 |
| Grade 10 | 32 | 47 | 21 | 22 | 10 |
| Grade 11 | 30 | 51 | 19 | 20 | 11 |