For the second year, the majority of Arizona students failed the AzMERIT

PHOENIX — For the second year, the majority of Arizona students failed the AzMERIT, Arizona’s statewide test on English and Mathematics proficiency.

AzMERIT, short for Arizona’s Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching, measures the state’s new teaching standards, commonly known as Common Core. The test was first administered in 2015 to public school students grades three through high school.

More than 60 percent of students in those grade levels failed, according to preliminary results released by the Arizona Department of Education Monday.

“The good news is that we’re seeing slight improvements across almost every grade in Math, except in grade-eight,” said Erin Hart, COO of Expect More Arizona.

In Language Arts, 54 percent of Arizona 10th graders were graded minimally proficient, according to the results.  That’s worse than last year when 47 percent scored that low.

For 11th graders, 53 percent scored minimally proficient, a slight jump from 2015.

“Overall, students are doing better,” Hart said. “I think this is a testament to the great work our teachers and students are doing. We should really celebrate their progress and see what we can do to help continue that progress.”

For more information on AzMERIT, click here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

2015-16 AzMERIT Preliminary Passing and Proficiency Rates

Mathematics

Test Level	% Passing		% Minimally Proficient		% Partially Proficient		% Proficient		% Highly Proficient
	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016
Grade 3	42	46	27	25	31	30	29	29	13	17
Grade 4	42	44	29	29	29	26	32	34	10	10
Grade 5	40	46	29	27	31	27	28	31	12	15
Grade 6	33	39	37	37	30	24	22	24	11	15
Grade 7	31	32	47	46	22	23	18	22	13	10
Grade 8	34	26	41	51	25	23	20	17	14	9
Algebra I	32	36	45	44	23	20	23	27	9	9
Geometry	31	34	42	41	27	24	25	27	6	7
Algebra II	30	30	46	46	25	25	23	23	7	7

English Language Arts (ELA)

Test Level	% Passing		% Minimally Proficient		% Partially Proficient		% Proficient		% Highly Proficient
	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016
Grade 3	41	41	43	45	16	14	30	29	11	12
Grade 4	42	46	41	40	17	14	36	34	6	12
Grade 5	32	45	36	31	31	23	28	32	4	13
Grade 6	36	37	39	41	25	22	32	31	4	6
Grade 7	33	38	42	38	25	21	29	35	5	3
Grade 8	35	34	39	44	26	23	27	26	8	8
ELA 9	27	34	44	38	29	28	22	25	5	9
ELA 10	32	29	47	54	21	17	22	20	10	9
ELA 11	31	29	51	53	19	17	20	19	11	10

 

Tables are from the Arizona Department of Education.

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