and Naomi Hatch

The results of the AzMERIT (Arizona’s Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching) assessment are out and they show that more than half of Arizona students have failed the state’s Common Core-based standardized test. Although disappointing by appearance, the Arizona Department of Education notes that this assessment is more rigorous than the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) assessment, and should not be compared to results of previous years.

With this assessment parents will no longer be seeing whether their children “exceed,” “meet,” “approach” or “fall below” mastering the state’s learning standards. Rather, they will now see whether their children are ”highly proficient,” “proficient,” “partially proficient” or “minimally proficient” in learning Arizona’s math and reading standards.

Each student in third through 12th grades were administered the AzMERIT and while parents should have received their individual child’s results last month, the overall results revealed for the state show that just 34 percent passed the English Language Arts assessment. Of those, 42 percent ranked minimally proficient, 23 percent ranked partially proficient, 28 percent ranked proficient and seven percent ranked highly proficient. In the Math assessment, 35 percent of the students passed. Of those, 38 percent ranked minimally proficient, 27 percent ranked partially proficient, 36 percent ranked proficient and 10 percent ranked highly proficient.

Snowflake Unified School District Hollis Merrell told members of the governing board Dec. 2 that students in the district scored very high on the new tests.

The Snowflake District beat the state average for overall number of students who passed the assessments, followed by the Joseph City School District, which fell slightly below state average, then the Holbrook and Winslow school districts.

In the Snowflake School District, 46 percent of the students passed the English Language Arts assessment. Of those, 27 percent ranked minimally proficient, 27 percent ranked partially proficient, 36 percent ranked proficient and 10 percent ranked highly proficient. In the Math assessment, 52 percent passed. Of those, 21 percent ranked minimally proficient, 27 percent ranked partially proficient, 36 percent ranked proficient and 16 percent ranked highly proficient.

In the Joseph City School District, 32 percent of the students passed the English Language Arts assessment. Of those, 42 percent ranked minimally proficient, 26 percent ranked partially proficient, 24 percent ranked proficient and eight percent ranked highly proficient. In the Math assessment, 32 percent passed. Of those, 34 percent ranked minimally proficient, 34 percent ranked partially proficient, 23 percent ranked proficient and nine percent ranked highly proficient.

The results show that at Holbrook School District, 20 percent of the students passed the English Language Arts assessment. Of those, 54 percent of those ranked minimally proficient, 25 percent ranked partially proficient, 17 percent ranked as proficient and four percent ranked as highly proficient. In the Math assessment, 25 percent passed the test. Of those, 44 percent ranked minimally proficient, 31 percent ranked partially proficient, 20 percent ranked proficient and five percent ranked highly proficient.

In the Winslow School District, 19 percent passed the English Language Arts assessment. Of those, 56 percent of those ranked minimally proficient, 25 percent ranked partially proficient, 17 percent ranked proficient and two percent ranked highly proficient. In the Math assessment, 22 percent of the students passed the assessment. Of those, 51 percent ranked minimally proficient, 28 percent ranked partially proficient, 18 percent ranked proficient and three percent ranked highly proficient.

“Our school did incredibly well on our tests compared to other school districts,” said Merrell. “I’m disappointed that the state won’t do rankings this year,” noting that he felt that in the comparisons he has made the district would rank in the top 10. “As far as schools in our area we’re top in our scores,” he said.

“Since we have information and data now, we can see where we need to get better.

“Right now it looks like we would look very good in some of those rankings,” said Merrell, adding that he attributes the high scores to teachers and staff.

“AzMERIT is a higher standard than AIMS tests,” said Merrell, noting that he wanted to make sure they understand that now they can start comparing scores with other districts.

He recommended a work session to go over the test scores.