WC Minnesota News

During the 2022-23 school year, 596 students from high school took the science portion of the MCA in Otter Tail County, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

They scored an average of 1,046, with 42.8% of them considered proficient in the subject.

Data shows that Otter Tail County students from 5th grade had the best science performance on the test, marking a score of 551 and a proficiency rate of 56.8%.

At the other end of the educational spectrum, 8th grade students scored in the lowest proficiency of the science portion of the MCA, when 31% of them were considered proficient in the subject with an average score of 844.

The number of Otter Tail County students taking the science portion of the MCA in the 2022-23 school year rose 2.8% from the previous school year.

The MCA is given annually to Minnesota students to determine the academic readiness of students. Not every grade is tested each year, and the scoring scale varies by grade level. These differing score brackets reflect the varying complexity and expectations at different educational stages.

Analysis from the the Nation's Report Card showed math and reading scores have fallen significantly in the last decade. Science scores have been steady in recent years.

Year	Number of Students Tested	Considered proficient in Science (%)
2022-23	1,776	43.2%