2016 AZMerit Results Show Over Half Arizona Students Failing Math, English

The Arizona Department of Education released the results of the AZMerit test today, revealing the fact that a mere 38 percent of Arizona’s K-12 students were proficient in both Math and English. The Chamber of Commerce had promised that if Arizona spent millions of dollars adopting the Common Core standards and purchasing gimmicky curricula student performance would improve.

“While these types of results can show general trends, I still firmly believe that Arizona needs to move away from the high stakes, snapshot assessment model. Testing was not originally created to determine how well a teacher or school is performing; it was designed to show us how to help students improve. I will keep that focus in mind as we work with Arizonans to develop our state’s future assessment systems,” stated Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas.

The ADE released the final combined performance results from the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 administrations of the AZMERIT statewide assessment and the Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) alternate statewide assessment.

The results include the total percentage of Arizona public school students who passed the assessments and the percentage at each performance level. In addition to the statewide results, proficiency rates are available for schools, districts/charter holders and counties. Breakdowns by grade level, subgroup (e.g., students with disabilities, English language learners, economically disadvantaged students) and ethnicity are also provided.

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.

MSAA is Arizona’s alternate statewide achievement test for eligible students with significant cognitive disabilities. The MSAA 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 MSAA Alternate Assessments for ELA and Mathematics in Grades 3 through 8 and Grade 11.

2015-2016 AzMERIT Final Passing and Proficiency Rates