For years, many of the high-performing school districts in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region have been on equal footing, regarded as perfect if judged solely on an annual score from state education officials.
But that all changes today with the release of a new rating system that draws broader distinctions among districts that had long been regarded as peers.
The ratings — structured like a report card for school districts based on data such as state standardized test scores, attendance, graduation rates and whether students leave ready for college or careers — are compiled by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. They are used to determine accreditation. This year’s new system gets rid of a 14-point scale and instead judges districts on the percentage earned on a points scale.
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With the changes come finer distinctions. Take Parkway and Rockwood, for example: Last year, each district met 14 of 14 standards, the highest possible in the annual performance reports.
The new standards place Parkway second among districts in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, earning 99.6 percent on its scorecard, while Rockwood’s total was 92.9 percent. Rockwood fell short in some of its math scores, including those of some minorities or students who qualify for free or reduced lunches.
“What’s important to us is that we are nurturing every student who has unique needs,†said Jeff Puls, Rockwood’s director of research, evaluation and assessment. “We want to make sure all students are moving forward.â€
Under the old ratings system, 31 area districts that serve students in grades K-12 earned perfect scores. With the new standards, there’s only one: Brentwood.
The changes will probably mean new scrutiny from parents and the public. But the new standards could also mean more districts won’t meet the state’s minimum for accreditation.
Without that seal of state approval, districts could be subject to state intervention. And in extreme cases, students could be eligible to transfer to better school systems.
Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro said the state would not change a district’s accreditation based on this first year of new results. Most districts may not see a change in their accreditation until 2015, when the state has three years of data under the new standards. It also takes a vote by the state Board of Education to change a district’s standing.
Based on the results to be released today, 18 districts across the state would be demoted from accredited to provisional if the state board were to immediately judge them. That includes two in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County: Ferguson-Florissant and University City. Provisionally accredited is considered less than 70 percent on the new scale, while unaccredited is less than 50 percent.
Ferguson-Florissant may be on the cusp, but it has climbed the scale compared to data from 2012. The district saw growth in individual students’ math scores in the latest results. Superintendent Art McCoy says there are new plans for improvement in social studies, an area of weakness, as well as attendance and ACT scores. Every junior in the district will take the college-entrance exam this year.
“We’re expecting some huge gains,†McCoy said.
The state does not accredit charter schools, but for the first time, the system gives a look at charter school performance that goes beyond test scores. Charter schools in the city continue to improve, with two, City Garden Montessori and North Side Community School, receiving a perfect rating.
Statewide, 11 of 520 school districts are currently classified as provisionally accredited.
Since first beginning the school improvement system decades ago, Missouri’s education department has updated its measures every five years or so. The state Board of Education adopted the new standards in 2011, basing them on what it would take for Missouri to rank among the top 10 states for student achievement by 2020.
Most districts are judged on 140 possible points. Districts can be “accredited with distinction†if they earn 90 percent or greater of the points available, and satisfy other criteria that have not yet been set.
Under the previous 14-point scale system, more than 80 percent of districts met at least 13 standards for K-12 districts. But even amid those high ratings, more than half of Missouri students overall were not passing the state’s tests for communication arts and math.
Those test scores, on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), for 2013 also are being made public today for districts and schools.
But schools now are being scrutinized on a broader range of factors.
For example, state officials previously scored schools on their overall attendance rate, or the percentage of students in school daily. Now, the state looks at what percentage of students are in school 90 percent of the time.
Also, districts must track down their most recent graduates to determine what percentage are attending college or post-secondary schools, are serving in the military, or are working in a field related to a high school career-education program. That was an area where Rockwood did not earn all points possible. But it’s a tough category for a district of Rockwood’s size, Puls said.
“It’s not a test score that can tabulated or pulled from attendance data,†Puls said. “If we cannot find them, in a sense, we get a zero for that student.â€
Brentwood, with 818 students, was the only K-12 district in the state to score a perfect 100 percent. Franklin County and Strain-Japan, both K-8 districts, also earned 100 percent.
“We weren’t aiming for 100 percent, we were aiming for teaching every kid,†Brentwood Superintendent David Faulkner said.
As part of the new system, the state also will generate annual performance reports, factoring in attendance and student test score growth, for each school.
“We think this is going to be a particularly important tool as districts try to determine what schools, what areas, need special attention,†Nicastro said.
Christine Eason, a parent of a kindergartner at Oak Brook Elementary in the Parkway district, said she was glad for the new scores.
“But I also think the accountability still lies with the parents,†she said. “Before we start looking at and blaming school districts, we should also look at the parents. It’s an equal partnership.â€
The above graph tracks the percentage of students in ºüÀêÊÓƵ area districts who scored at proficient or better on Missouri Assessment Program tests for English, math and science. The chart tracks the scores from 2009-2013. To highlight a specific district or test subject, make selections from the right-hand menu. The red line indicates overall scores for the entire state.
When looking at this data, it's important to consider that the number of schools within each district varies, and that there can also be a wide disparity between scores at schools within the same district.
For more details on each district and the schools within it, visit our .
Source: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Scores
This map shows what percentage of a school's students in 2013 scored as proficient or advanced in ...
Districts
Use the drop-down to zoom in on a particular school district.