(ABC 6 News) — On Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Education released scores for the 2024 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA).
Overall, performance for all students in reading, mathematics and science remains stable for the 2023-24 school year.
North Star attendance data for the 2022-23 school year also shows consistent increases in attendance rates across all student groups in 2023.
To sustain the improvements, long-term investments beginning with the 2023 legislative session are now being implemented.
These investments include the largest funding increase for K-12 education in state history, additional teacher recruiting tools, a statewide system to support continuous improvement (COMPASS), and the Minnesota Reading Education Act (READ), which overhauls reading instruction in the state.
Additionally, grant programs for recruiting and retaining new teachers, teacher training activities and local literacy plans will be launched next school year.
“We are proud of the work teachers have done to increase attendance and strengthen relationships to help students feel welcome and supported, and we thank students, teachers and families for their hard work in prioritizing student participation and learning,” Commissioner Willie Jett said in a news release. “These efforts are working, and we look forward to continuing to see consistent attendance increases in the future.”
North Star attendance data tracks the number of students who are consistent in attendance, meaning they are present at least 90% of the time and are not chronically absent. Statewide consistent attendance rates increased from 69.8% in 2022 to 74.5% in 2023 as the percentage of students who are present at least 90% of the time.
Across all grade levels and subjects, proficiency levels for students taking the MCA in 2024 were roughly the same as last year. Results for student groups by race and ethnicity changed slightly.
“We need all students to succeed and thrive in school,” Jett said in a news release. “Statewide assessment and accountability data are an important part of a broader set of measures that inform schools and families about student achievement and guide MDE in planning how to most effectively support school communities.”
Students who do not take the test are excluded from the assessment test results. However, in North Star accountability data, students who do not take the MCA are counted as underachieving in the results. This is the main reason why accountability achievement results differ from assessment results.
In 2024, 92.9% of students participated in the math test and 94.7% participated in the reading test. Having all students take the test allows schools and districts to get the best picture of how students are performing on Minnesota's academic standards.
Test scores for the entire state of Minnesota can be found at the link below.
Information is updated at 8 a.m. Thursday and can also be found on the Minnesota Report Card on the MDE website.