The Northwest Evaluation Association was recently asked to conduct a series of analyses estimating the impact of a proposed set of cut scores for South Carolina’s new state assessment, PASS. The proposed cut scores under PASS are significantly easier than the previous cut scores used with PACT. Whereas the older PACT standards were among the highest in the nation, the newly proposed PASS standards would rank among the bottom quartile in a recent cross‐state comparison of proficiency standards within 27 states. Use of these lower standards would result in dramatic increases in the percentages of students meeting standards in South Carolina schools, even with no actual improvement in student performance.