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JEFFERSON CITY 鈥� Missouri parents may soon have a better understanding of whether their child is performing at or above grade level on the state鈥檚 standardized test under a sweeping education bill awaiting the governor鈥檚 signature.

The legislation contains a provision that would require the state鈥檚 education department to add a fifth category to Missouri Assessment Program results, reporting 鈥済rade level鈥� in addition to the current levels of 鈥渂elow basic,鈥� 鈥渂asic,鈥� 鈥減roficient鈥� and 鈥渁dvanced.鈥� The new provision would include students in grades 3 to 8.

Rep. Brad Pollitt, a Sedalia Republican and former school superintendent, introduced the bill to make student performance more transparent to parents and lawmakers.

As an educator, he learned that students at grade level score at the upper end of 鈥渂asic,鈥� but many people incorrectly assume 鈥減roficient鈥� means performing at grade level, he told The Independent.

鈥淚n order to have accurate conversations about where our students are at, we need to know what grade level is,鈥� he said.

The Missouri Assessment Program, often referred to as the MAP test, began in the 1990s with five scoring thresholds. But in response to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, state lawmakers required the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to align MAP with federal performance standards.

In December 2005, educators met to determine the new standards in line with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. They set thresholds based on the percentage of students scoring proficient on the NAEP so that the proportion of students deemed proficient on the state test would be close to the amount reported by the national test.

The National Center for Educational Statistics and the NAEP鈥檚 governing board have repeatedly clarified that proficiency reflects 鈥渟olid academic performance鈥� and 鈥渄oes not signify being on grade level.鈥�

But policymakers, parents and other stakeholders speak about proficiency and grade level interchangeably. And candidates for public office, misinterpreting what proficient means, have used MAP data to push anti-public-education policies.

During former state Sen. Bill Eigel鈥檚 run for governor last year, , an ABC affiliate serving mid-Missouri, that 鈥渓ess than a third of our children are able to do reading, writing, arithmetic at grade level.鈥� At the time, 33% of Missouri fourth graders scored proficient or advanced in reading on the NAEP, and math had higher performance levels.

Despite the test鈥檚 administrators explaining that this is not a measure of grade level performance, politicians and media reports still repeat the misrepresentation.

鈥淧art of my frustration has been that people criticize public education pretty hard and say we鈥檙e failing our kids because 35% of our students in third grade or fifth grade are proficient or advanced in reading,鈥� Pollitt said. 鈥淲e may have 35% that are above grade level, but maybe 60% of our kids are at grade level. And I think that changes the conversation.鈥�

In a House committee hearing in January, lobbyists for public-education groups spoke in favor of the bill.

Brandt Shields, director of governmental relations for the Missouri School Boards鈥� Association, said a fifth category would be more 鈥渋nformative鈥� for stakeholders.

鈥淗aving only four categories is almost a crude way of trying to differentiate how those scores are interpreted,鈥� he said.

No one spoke in opposition, but a lobbyist for the state education department warned that the change would require work groups to set the new standards, which is estimated to cost just over $1 million.

The language passed by the Legislature exempts the department from having to employ work groups, but Pollitt said it is up to administrators to decide.