Test scores

What is EDFacts (Smarter Balanced)?

EDFacts (Smarter Balanced) is the statewide standardized test administered by Montana public schools.

What does "% Proficient (federal, SY 2020-21)" mean?

It is the share of students at the school who performed at grade level or above on the test, summed across the top two of four performance levels. A higher number is better.

What does 37.0% mean for English Language Arts at Seeley Lake Elementary?

It means about 37.0 percent of students tested at Seeley Lake Elementary performed at grade level or above on the EDFacts (Smarter Balanced) English Language Arts test in 2020-21. The statewide average for Montana that year was 47.2%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.

How is the state average calculated?

It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Montana, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.

Where does this data come from?

Montana — no public per-school assessment data is published by the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Fallback: federal EDFacts SCH-level file (SY 2020-21, the most recent year with school-level public release). Values are reported as % ranges (e.g. "65-69%") to protect privacy; we store the midpoint.

How often is it updated?

EDFacts (Smarter Balanced) is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.