Why Minnesota is calling kids ‘not proficient’ when they skip the state math and reading tests

Apr 04, 2018

Pioneer Press, Josh Verges

All but invisible in past years, the thousands of students who opt out of Minnesota’s standardized math and reading tests will be counted against their schools and districts under new state and federal laws.

The state’s new plan under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) will count every student who misses the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments as “not proficient,” except in rare cases of a medical exemption.

This change in the way Minnesota calculates student proficiency could mean a small number of schools will be targeted for state support — at the expense of truly low-performing schools — simply because parents and students refused the test.