MCA News 2023

In August, the State of Minnesota released the 2023 MCA Test Results to all School Districts as well as the total information for the State.

Pierz Schools is ‘Pioneer Proud’ of our staff and students for their performance on this very challenging State Test. Pierz outperformed the State in every area—and performed significantly higher in many grade levels in both Math and Reading. Worth noting: Minnesota is consistently ranked first or close to first when it comes to comparisons with other states. Our state tests are among the most challenging in our country. So— we know if we do well compared to the best in Minnesota, we are doing very well.

To help make sense out of these numbers, we will provide a little definition:
The test results show the percentage of students who proved they are Proficient in all of the standards for each grade level for both Language Arts and Mathematics. There are many standards measured, especially at upper grade levels as the standards accumulate every year. To some degree, one could say that testing at Proficient means you can perform that Standard. It might
be the equivalent of getting a “B” or “A” as a letter grade in that subject, if the grade was specifically about the child’s academic knowledge or understanding.

The MCA Test Results were as follows:
In the area of Reading:
State of Minnesota: 47.9% of students in Minnesota across all grades tested were Proficient.
Pierz Schools: 60.4% of students across all grades tested were Proficient.

In the area of Math:
State of Minnesota: 45% of students across all grades tested were Proficient.
Pierz Schools: 63.9% of students across all grades tested were Proficient.

When you are looking at large samples like this, a 10% difference is very significant. So we are very proud to announce that Pierz staff and students outperformed the rest of Minnesota by percentages as large as almost 13% in Reading and an extraordinary 19% in Math.
Additionally, Pioneer Elementary School had numbers that were even more awe-inspiring (the State tests all students in Grades 3-6). For Pierz Pioneer Elementary School, the combined Proficiency in Reading was 69.9% and the combined Proficiency in Math was 74.7%.

A huge thank you to the parents, teachers, paras, administrators, and all staff who make learning opportunities possible for our students. And congratulations to our hard-working students who give their best every day. We can’t wait to see you back here for another great school year!