Pierz MCA scores soar once again: celebrating success

Posted by Pierz Schools on 10/10/2024

 

As you may know, Minnesota students take the Minnesota Comprehension Assessments (MCAs) to determine if they are on track in their education, identify areas to improve learning and instruction, and give the state as well as the nation an indicator of comprehension and competency among elementary and high school students.

 

Pioneer Elementary and Healy High School received the results of those tests earlier this year, and once again we are celebrating the success of our staff and students. Pierz Schools take great pride in many things, but in particular our passion and commitment to student success in the most critical foundational skills of Reading and Mathematics.

 

The test results show the percentage of students who proved they have tested as ‘Proficient’ in all of the standards for each grade level; meaning, they have learned and understand the grade level material being taught to them. Every student in Grades 3-8 across the state takes a Reading test and Math test. There is an additional test for 10th Grade Reading and 11th Grade Mathematics

 

The chart above compares Pioneer Elementary with the state data (all elementary schools in Minnesota) in math, showing the state average is 49.98% proficiency in math. Simply put: about 50% of all elementary students testing in math MCAs were proficient or higher on the math standards. To be clear, that is not meant to mean only 50% “passed”. Passing is a lower score than showing proficiency. To some degree, one could say that testing at proficient means you can perform most all of the standards. 

 

Compare the state average of 49.98% with the average for Pierz, which is 79.27% performing at proficient or better. This means about 80% of the students who attend Pioneer Elementary School showed they were proficient in math. Again, many of those were much higher than proficient, but about 80% were at least that.

 

That is an astounding difference and an amazing accomplishment. In these types of comparisons, a 5% difference is pretty significant, especially when large numbers of students are being counted in the data. Additionally, looking at the data it’s clear that schools in our region are fairly consistent in the 40 to 50% proficiency range.

 

Chart key: 

Pierz Pioneer Elementary School results compared to elementary students grouped three different ways.  

1) State – all elementary students in Minnesota

2) County – all elementary students from the four other districts in Morrison County

3) Bordering Pierz – all elementary students from the seven different districts that border Pierz School District.

 

We then made that same comparison with all the grade 7-11 students in Pierz vs. state and schools in Morrison County and those schools bordering Pierz school district. Then we made the same comparisons when we combined grades into the whole district.

 

It should be noted that when we compare Pierz to Minnesota, we are using a very high standard: Minnesota students score among the highest in our nation. And yes, Pierz outshines even that high standard.

 

We consider these results one of, if not the most important indicator of school success.  We understand that in many cases, teachers face challenges in terms of taking a new group of students and getting them to be motivated to learn these challenging concepts.  We understand that children come in with various challenges that can sometimes make it hard to focus, complete their work, or embrace the positive and caring attitude that is a key part of learning. But we also believe in our hearts that leading children to achieve these results is not only possible, but in a way that reaches each child’s specific needs and learning styles. We are blessed to have assembled an amazing group of teachers, paras, and principals who operate from a culture of ‘above-and-beyond’ effort and confidence that ensures success, year-over-year for our extraordinary students and families.