By Lindsay Newfeld
Detestation. Disgust. Horror. Standardized tests. All synonyms, right? In November 2014, the Arizona State Board of Education adopted a new statewide achievement test, AzMERIT, for Arizona students. AzMERIT replaced the AIMS test in reading, writing, and math for Arizona students. The AzMERIT is meant to go beyond multiple-choice questions to measure real learning, with a focus on assessing critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
After about 750,000 students from across Arizona in grades 3 through 11 took the AzMERIT in spring of 2015, it was time to wait for the scores. Detailed results for the first AzMERIT test were released Nov. 30, 2015. Most of Arizona’s students failed the state’s revamped standardized test. With Arizona consistently ranking 47th in the nation for education, this was not a surprise. However many educational leaders believe this unwelcome news is necessary to pave the way to higher student achievement in the long run.
However charter schools were among the highest performers. Sixteen of 24 schools with 80 percent or more passing the reading portion were charter schools, according to the Arizona Charter Schools Association. Tempe Preparatory Academy was one of those schools with 81 percent passing the English and Language Arts section. However our Junior Academy did not fare as well with only 65 percent passing in that section.
Both schools did considerably worse in the math section with TPA receiving a 74 percent passing rate and TPJA receiving a 64 percent passing rate. Now for our high-achieving academies these numbers may seem low, but next to other schools whose students took the test, these scores are really something to be proud of.
For example McClintock High School, our neighboring public school, had only a 35 percent passing rate on the English and Language Arts section and only 34 percent of their students passed the math section. About two thirds of Arizona students who took the new AzMERIT test failed.
On the other side of the spectrum is the Basis school system, which includes schools ranked high in the entire nation. Basis Scottsdale had a 92 percent passing rate for English and Language Arts and a 93 percent passing rate for math, two of the highest rates in the state.
These scores show that while Tempe Prep performed extremely well on its first AzMERIT test, there is always room for improvement — and by working hard to improve these scores we can hope to do even better next year (and score higher than Basis, which is what really matters)!