The most recent AzMerit test results were presented to the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board during the Sept. 12 meeting, with nearly every grade level performing above the state average.

Students in grades three through 12 take the AzMerit test every spring. The test measures student knowledge in the areas of English language arts and mathematics.

There are four scoring levels a student can achieve on the tests including minimally proficient, partially proficient, proficient and highly proficient. The latter two results mean a student is on track to be college/career ready.

In his presentation to the school board, Superintendent Dr. Robert Allen compared the local district’s percentage of students scoring “proficient” or “highly proficient” to the state average.

While eight grade levels exceeded state test averages, local fifth grade test results fell shy. The margin was small for English, with FHUSD’s 46 percent compared to the state average of 48. In math, though, local fifth grade students meeting standards was 35 percent compared to the statewide 47 percent.

Of the eight grade levels to surpass the state averages, last year’s ninth grade class was the standout. The 2018 freshman class performed at 78 percent for math compared to the state average of 39 percent, with 65 percent excelling in English compared to the state’s 41 percent.

Taken as a whole, historical results are similar, with the majority of FHUSD classes outpacing the state average across the past three years in both math and English.

AzMerit results allow administrators in the district to identify their school’s strengths and weaknesses.

“We use the AzMerit results as a baseline to identify what areas we are doing well in and what areas we are struggling in,” said Fountain Hills Middle School Principal, James Carrick.

This is Carrick’s first year as principal and so he will be working with his staff to bolster the positive results and fill the educational gaps for students that are now in the sixth grade.

“For those areas that are good, we can look at them and say what are we doing right here and how can we copy that to other areas? For areas that we struggle in, we can look and see what extra attention we need to give.”

Test results at the high school were particularly higher than the state average, and so FHUSD will be looking to mirror that success from top to bottom.

School Board Vice President Jill Reed asked if the positive results have anything to do with Beyond Textbooks, one of the handful of new programs that were implemented at the high school in recent years.

“I would never attribute one thing as affecting the scores,” Dr. Allen said. “There is strong evidence, though, that Beyond Textbooks is a good investment and I think it was wise to bring it to the middle school.”

Carrick confirmed to the board that the Beyond Textbooks program is now being implemented at the middle school. The board expressed their excitement to see how 2019 scores at the middle school compare to the 2018 scores.