AzMERIT passage rates show small gains

But most students still lag in reading and math

After four years of Arizona students taking the consequential AzMERIT standardized test, reading and math scores have improved statewide across the board — though mostly by only small percentage points.

Preliminary 2018 AzMERIT results obtained by The Arizona Republic from the Arizona Department of Education show upticks in passage rates since 2015, when nearly two-thirds of Arizona students failed the reading and math portions of the test.

But most of the statewide passage rates in reading and math remain below 50 percent, meaning the majority of students have yet to meet the learning standards measured by the exam.

And many of those who did meet the standard barely did so, according to the data. In 14 of the 18 math and

reading portions of the exam, a majority of students tested in the lowest category of “minimally proficient.”

The AzMERIT exam has two portions: reading and math, and is based on Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards. It is given to students in grades 3-11.

Scores are divided into four performance levels: “minimally proficient,” “partially proficient,” “proficient” and “highly proficient.” Students earn a passing score if they test proficient or above.

Highlights of the statewide 2018 preliminary scores include:

English language arts has seen many of the largest gains in proficiency.

The largest improvement on AzMERIT has been in fifth-grade reading, where 48 percent of Arizona students passed this year, an improvement of 16 percentage points since 2015.

Forty-one percent of Arizona ninthgraders passed English language arts in 2018, compared with 26 percent in 2015.

The best results so far have been in third-grade math.

In 2018, 53 percent of third-graders passed the math portion.

This was the only one of the 18 testing categories in which more than 50 percent of participating students passed. Third-grade reading scores are another story.

The reading portion of AzMERIT is significant for third-graders because of a state law that mandates kids be at a specific level of reading proficiency before moving on to fourth grade.

The reading scores for third-grade students have gone up 4 percentage points between 2015 and 2018 (from 40 to 44 percent).

According to the test, only 44 percent of Arizona’s third-graders are reading proficient.

The passage rate this year stayed flat compared to last year.

Preliminary results also show that just as many third-graders — 43 percent of 85,000 students — tested minimally proficient, the lowest category, than those who passed.

For the fourth year in a row, highschool passage rates appear lower overall.

The passage rates continue to raise questions about just how seriously high-school students take the AzMERIT exam since they are not required to pass it to graduate.

The lowest AzMERIT passage rate this year was in 11th-grade reading, with 29 percent of participating students passing.

In Algebra II, the most advanced math level on AzMERIT, 34 percent of students were proficient or higher.

Expect More Arizona created a “progress meter” in 2017 that set ambitious goals for student achievement by 2030.

“To see that we’re doing better over four years is heartening,” said Christine Thompson, president and CEO of the Expect More Arizona nonprofit. “That being said, there’s still a lot of room to grow. We are not where we need to be.”

Among the meter’s goals: a 72 percent AzMERIT proficiency rate in third-grade reading. The gap between that “stretch” goal and reality is 28 percentage points.

“If we want to get to our 2030 goals, we’re going have to be more aggressive to meet those goals,” Thompson said.

The organization does not offer specific suggestions on how educators can improve reading proficiency.

The state’s AzMERIT scores, on average, have gone up about 2 percent each year.

At that rate, it will take decades for the state to bring up all students to proficiency, said Joe O’Reilly, director of Arizona State University’s Decision Center for Educational Excellence.

It remains unclear whether this rate of growth is what state leaders envisioned when the exam debuted in 2015.

Many of the recent discussions among State Board of Education members have centered on the school letter-grade accountability system that ranks schools on an A-F scale. The grades’ calculations are mostly reliant on AzMERIT scores.

AzMERIT replaced AIMS, a much less rigorous test that experts and school officials said showed more students were proficient and ready for college than there actually were.

The AIMS test had been made less rigorous in response to public pressure for scores to improve.

“We can’t do that again with AzMERIT,” O’Reilly said.

“Hopefully, we don’t take this as we need to lower what is expected. Instead, we need to figure out how to help all students master the skills they need to know to be successful.”