Most Texas County school districts showed improvement in student performance in a report released Friday by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The report, Annual Performance Reports, is part of Missouri School Improvement Program, called MSIP 5. The state’s goal is for Missouri to rank in the top 10 states for education by 2020.
The student achievement part of the measurement is from the Missouri Assessment Program exams, which are being replaced this school year with the Smarter Balanced Assessment, aligned with Common Core State Standards.
The county districts of Houston, Licking, Plato, Success and Summersville showed gains from last year. Cabool was nearly unchanged. Raymondville took the biggest decline from 2013 — dropping 17.5 percent.
“Missouri set high expectations for districts ultimately to help children achieve at higher levels,” said Commissioner of Education Chris Nicastro. “We are pleased to see many districts are meeting and exceeding these high standards.”
However, department staff cautions against using one year of data to show progress or decline. Under MSIP 5, a school district’s score on three consecutive APRs, along with other factors, is used to determine accreditation. Education officials believe a three-year period is needed to show long-term, sustained performance trends for districts. This is the second set of reports collected using MSIP 5.
Under MSIP 5, schools and school districts are awarded points based on performance in five areas:
•Academic achievement
•Subgroup achievement (includes minority students, students with limited proficiency in English, students with disabilities, students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches and students receiving special education services)
•College and career or high school readiness
•Attendance rate
•Graduation rate
A look in the county: Districts can score up to 140 points. In 2014, the highest figure went to Summersville with 133.5 points, followed by Plato (129.5), Cabool (129), Licking (128) and Houston (116). The county’s two elementary schools can earn up to 80 points — Raymondville had 61.5 and Success, 71.
The report has breaks down achievement by building — elementary, middle school and high school. More than 97 percent of the districts in the state earned at least 70 percent of possible points. In Texas County, the highest honors went to Cabool High School earning 99.3 percent, Summersville High School had 97.5 percent and Houston Elementary recorded 91.1. The balance of the schools in the county all scored ranked 80-89 percent except Houston Middle School (66.4), Cabool Middle School (71.4) and Raymondville Elementary (76.9)