Amid Slight Improvements, More Than Half Of Arizona Students Fail AzMERIT Tests

By Mariana Dale
Published: Tuesday, October 8, 2019 - 12:30pm
Updated: Thursday, October 10, 2019 - 8:32am
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The latest statewide standardized test results were released Monday.

Statewide, there was a slight improvement over last year’s scores, but more than half of Arizona students failed the English language arts and math AzMERIT tests.

42% of students passed either test compared to 41% last year.

These scores build on slight increases since Arizona first rolled out the test in 2015.

The state’s public school students start taking the AzMERIT test in third grade and continue through high school. Students don’t need to pass the test to graduate.

→ Search AzMERIT Results By School, District

How well students do on the test is the largest contributor to a school’s letter grade.

That letter grade is tied to some school funding, and parents may consider a school’s rating when they’re trying to decide where to send their kid to school.

At an individual level, the test is one way parents can see if their kids are learning everything they need to in each grade level.

There are a ton of ways to consider this data. To find your child’s school or district, you can download all the at the Arizona Department of Education website or search KJZZ's database.

The information is also sorted by county. In Maricopa County, scores were above the state average with 45% of all students passing the math assessment and 44% passing the English assessments.

Another approach is to the results is in terms of demographics. For example, statewide only one-fifth of students considered homeless passed either the reading or math test.

New this year, high schools could opt out of the statewide test in favor of the ACT or SAT. Several dozen schools did so, including those in the Chandler Unified School District.

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