PHOENIX — Arizona’s public school students, on average, are failing to pass the state’s standardized tests, but some districts are seeing improvement.
This week, the Arizona Department of Education released results from the Arizona Academic Standards Assessment, or AASA, a test students in grades 3-8 take every spring.
DATA: How Assessment Pass Rates Changed This Past School Year
The data shows that 40% of Arizona students passed English Language Arts. It’s the same pass rate as the 2022-23 school year. A smaller share of students passed the math assessment, 32% this past school year compared to 34% the year prior.
Some districts in the valley saw pass rates increase faster than others. Nadaburg Unified School District, a small district north of Surprise, improved its ELA pass rate by five points. Balsz Elementary School District in Central Phoenix improved its math score by three points. A notable improvement as Balsz has a pass rate of 12%.
Of the Valley districts with the largest decreases, Arlington Elementary School District, located west of Buckeye dropped the most in both English and Math.
One large suburban district also making the list. Higley Unified in the east valley dropped in math by four points to 53%.
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In the Valley’s largest school districts assessment pass rates only changed slightly from the 2022-23 school year.
Mesa Unified, the largest district in the Valley dropped a point in English and two in Math. Chandler Unified, the next largest and highest performing of the top five, dropped one point in both subjects. Peoria Unified was the only district of the top five to have a rate improvement in any subject.
“They're not acceptable, and that's why I'm doing everything I'm doing. It takes time to turn around the whole state,” Horne said, saying his office has 15 different initiatives going on including sending out improvement teams as well as leadership training and more.
Horne says there are improvements, especially for the districts that were designated in the top 5% for failing academically, as the department works to improve scores.
The Deer Valley Unified School District is one district that tests above the state and national average. In the 2023-24 school year, 56% of students tested had a passing rate in ELA and 49% for math.
“I would say overall we are fairly proud of the results, but, as every district, we can always improve,” said Gayle Galligan, the deputy superintendent for Deer Valley Unified. “It is a single point in time in a school year of learning, so it's one snapshot. So, if a kid is having a bad day, are they going to do as well as they could have?”
There are programs in place, such as extra tutoring in some districts. Gilligan says districts need to have the right teachers to be able to help students.
“If you don't have the right teachers to support that program for student learning, it doesn't matter what program you have,” Galligan said.
The state is seeing a shortage of teachers. Horne says more teachers are leaving the profession than they’re getting into the classroom. He says he’s been urging the legislature and governor to increase teacher pay.
