A higher threshold for students taking the state’s Language Arts exam has caused nearly half of all students to fall below a “proficient” score. Fifty-three percent of third-grade students and 54% of fourth-grade students earned a proficient score on this year’s exam. Matthew Blomstedt warned the public not to interpret this as a steep decline in performance, rather a natural response to a higher threshold noting that this year’s scores should not be compared to last year’s. More details are available here.