The majority of public schools across the state are performing better than last school year, according to new data released by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The Annual Performance Report evaluates school attendance and career readiness along with test scores on core subjects like language arts, math, social studies and science. It’s a requirement of the Missouri School Improvement Program, which is how the state makes recommendations for accrediting public school districts.
About 86% of schools have met or exceeded expectations set by the Missouri School Improvement Program. More than 60% of schools have improved their APR scores. These scores are factored into the State Board of Education’s accreditation process for each school district.
This year’s results signaled a turning point for the state, said Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger.
“Ever since the pandemic, we have looked at scores, where we’re declining in math, declining in reading, our attendance is down, and finally I think we’re at that tipping point,” Eslinger said. “We’re at that point as a state … that we’re starting to see the fruits of our labor.”
Attendance
One key area of progress is in attendance, which had been trending downward since 2019.
According to the report, roughly 78.2% of students are showing up about 90% of the time. That’s up from 76.6% in 2023.
But attendance is still not above pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, about 87% of students went to school a majority of the time.
Attendance among some marginalized students is still well below the state average for all students. Students with disabilities or individualized education programs were showing up to school 71.6% of the time. African American students attended school 61.5% of the time.
New waiver program
For the first time, 20 local education agencies — a collection of charter and traditional public schools in any given area — participated in the State School Innovation Waiver plan. That’s a program that allows school districts to develop their own methods to assess students’ academic performance in addition to the state-mandated performance report.
The districts and charters are a part of a statewide initiative called the Success-Ready Student Network, which is a collection of school districts that are redesigning education assessments and accreditation processes in Missouri.
“I very much believe that the work of designing the next version of accreditation is being done with us, instead of to us, and that just goes a long way,” said Chris Kilbride, superintendent of Ritenour School District.
Ritenour, which is one of the 20 LEAs that is a part of the waiver program, took home an overall score of 70.5% this year. It’s a jump from 62.8% in 2023.
Kilbride believes testing multiple times a year provides a better picture of how students are learning throughout the year.
So this school year, Ritenour students will be tested three times — in August, December and April — to track academic progress. This plan is meant to be an alternative to the Missouri Assessment Program tests that are currently required by the state and take place once a year.
Affton 101, Confluence Academies, Mehlville R-IX, Parkway, Lindbergh Schools and Pattonville R-III were among the 20 LEAs that participated in the waiver program.
Superintendents react
Kevin Carl, superintendent of Hancock Place School District, said he is proud of the advancements his school district has made since the pandemic but against putting too much stock in it.
“The APR is one measure of student performance and District success,” Carl said in a statement. “It is important to balance the APR alongside other local measures of performance. Districts are more than a simple percentage.”
The district’s score this year is 81.5%, up from 77% in 2023.
Superintendent Joe Davis said he was excited to see Ferguson-Florissant R-II School District show signs of improvement in math — an area where many districts have struggled to regain ground since the pandemic.
“Teachers and those other folks in schools who support our teachers are the core of the improvement,” Davis said. “I attribute a lot of it to giving teachers some additional support.”
The district provided extra training for math teachers over the last year as well as supplemental math curriculums to help support students who were struggling with the subject.
The district took home a score of 73%, up from 69.4% in 2023.
