FAQs about Arizona assessment

AZ LEARNS is the Arizona Department of Education’s school accountability System.  The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) defines purposeful school accountability as fair and accurate measurements of school performance that are designed to publicly identify and improve schools.  The ADE has developed AZ LEARNS to meet the accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, all schools are required to make adequate yearly progress toward ensuring that all students are able to demonstrate proficiency on the required state academic and performance standards.

The ADE provides a school classification for all public schools (district and charter) that have been in operation for a minimum of three academic years.  Schools can be classified as Excelling, High Performing, Performing Plus, Performing, or Under Performing.  The AIMS results are used to determine the classifications given to schools.

A school is classified as failing only after three consecutive Underperforming classifications. Elementary schools are evaluated based on several indicators:  AIMS scores, Measure of Academic Progress, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), as well as the percentage of students exceeding the standard on AIMS.  High schools are evaluated based on several indicators as well:  AIMS scores, graduation rate, dropout rate, AYP and percentage of students exceeding the standard on AIMS.

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What is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)?

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a cornerstone of the NCLB Act. NCLB requires Arizona to define the level of proficiency students must achieve in mathematics and reading on the AIMS test for grades 3-8 and 10. Science testing is scheduled to be added in spring 2008 for grades 4, 8 and 10.  By 2014, all students must attain this requisite level of proficiency, and each school is required to demonstrate that it is making adequate yearly progress toward achieving that goal. At the high school level, dropout rate and graduation rate are also used to determine adequate yearly progress.

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What is AIMS?
Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards

Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) is given in several forms: AIMS-HS for high school, AIMS-DPA, and AIMS-A for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

AIMS-HS is given in grades 10-12 and is required by state and federal law. It is standards based, measuring student proficiency of AZ curriculum standards in Reading, Mathematics, and Science (in 2008). Passing this test became a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2006. Students in the Paradise Valley Unified School District must also meet graduation requirements as specified in the High School Planning guide.

High School students who do not meet or exceed the standard must retake the tests until the standards in that subject area are met. Each student has five opportunities to take the AIMS. The Arizona Department of Education has created sample tests and has released some items from previous administrations of AIMS.

These are available at: www.ade.state.az.us/standards/

AIMS-DPA is a “Dual Purpose Assessment” for grades 3-8 being both standards-based and norm-referenced with AIMS and TerraNova test items combined into one test. It measures content taught at a specified grade level in Reading, Writing, and Math with Science being added in grades 4 and 8 in 2008.

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Purpose —
The purpose of AIMS is to measure the academic achievement of all students throughout the state. A student guide for each of these grades, containing a description of the content, expectations, as well as sample questions is sent to each school for dissemination prior to the spring administration of AIMS is available at: www.ade.state.az.us/standards/aims/

In addition a helpful Parent Guide form the state is available at: www.ade.state.az.us/standards/downloads/AIMSDPAbw.pdf

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Arizona Academic Standards —
The Arizona Academic Standards are clear and concise statements of what all students are expected to know and be able to do in all subject areas at each grade level. These standards are listed by content area on the Arizona Department of Education Web site at: www.ade.state.az.us/standards/contentstandards.asp

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Performance Level —
AIMS scores are reported in terms of one of four performance levels, according to the student's test performance. The State Board of Education has set these performance levels as:

• Falls Far Below the Standard
• Approaches the Standard
• Meets the Standard
• Exceeds the Standard

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Using AIMS Data —
AIMS serves many audiences, each of whom will use the information from the assessment for different purposes. Parents and students need to know how well the student performed for planning the student's academic needs and schedule. Teachers use AIMS information for instructional planning. School and district administrators use AIMS data to judge how well their curriculum is aligned to the Arizona Academic Standards and where to focus instructional improvement. The Parent Report for students who took AIMS provides scale score information, as well as performance level indicators. This information, along with the Performance Level Descriptors, can be used to determine not only what knowledge and skills the student currently demonstrates, but also, by looking at the next higher performance level, what the student needs to know in order to progress to that level.

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What is Terra Nova?

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