More Arizona students showed proficiency in math and English language arts comprehension in the latest statewide assessment test, compared to results from the previous year, according to data published by the Arizona Department of Education this week.
Still, most students statewide did not pass the 2022 Arizona Academics Standards Assessment (AASA), which was administered to students in grades 3-8, and results in Pima County showed even smaller improvements.
Statewide, about 41% of students passed the English language arts (ELA) section, an improvement of 3 percentage points from the 2021 results, and 33% passed the mathematics, a 2-percentage-point increase.
In Pima County, the overall results for all students tested showed more modest improvements with 38% proficiency in ELA and 31% in math. During 2021, the county results showed 37% in ELA and 28% in mathematics.
“We know the pandemic sidelined students and teachers for weeks at a time, presenting challenges for all our learners. Even with those obstacles, our students & teachers did something incredible: increased test scores,” Kathy Hoffman, state superintendent of public instruction, said in a news release.
“However, these results show we still have significant work to do, and we must remain laser-focused on providing students and teachers with the tools they need to succeed.”
The AASA test was administered for the first time in spring 2022 and replaced the AzM2 test from the 2020-2021 school year.
ADE noted that the percentage of students who took the AzM2 was “historically low” during the 2020-2021 school year, with 84% of students taking the ELA portion statewide and 86% taking the math. This year, ADE said, participation in each section was well above 90%.
It was unclear what percentage of students in Pima County were tested for the AASA.
“This year’s test shares many similarities with the former test but is not identical — conclusions should be made with caution when comparing results year to year,” ADE said in its news release.
Pima County results
Compared to the Pima County averages from 2021, some of this year’s highest improvements were seen in the third grade.
About 38% of third-grade students passed the ELA segment, compared to 34% in 2021. The math portion also saw improvement from 33% in 2021 to 38% this year in Pima County.
Fourth and fifth graders in Pima County also showed some of the higher improvements compared to last year’s math average, each with 6 percentage points higher than those in 2021. Fourth graders scored a total of 38% and fifth-graders scored 36%.
The sharpest drop, on the other hand, was seen in the fifth-grade ELA portion, with a total of 37% this year, down by 8 percentage points from 45% last year.
This year, students in 11th grade took the ACT. For those results, Pima County showed a 40% proficiency in ELA, slightly lower than the statewide 41%, and 29% in math, also lower than the statewide average of 32%.
Dustin Williams, the schools superintendent for Pima County, said the local results were similar to what had been anticipated.
“We were anticipating definitely a bump that we thought would be lower due to the pandemic, so knowing that the state did a little bit better is super encouraging,” he said.
He added that the latest results give local school districts an idea of what grade levels and areas they need to focus more on.
“One really positive aspect has been the behaviors. The behaviors during the beginning of this school year are dramatically more positive,” he said of local students, adding he hoped the positivity seen so far will be reflected in better scores in the next assessment test.
