The 2023 annual performance reports released last week measure school districts on standardized test scores, graduation and attendance rates along with strategic plans and other factors.
Missouri school districts and charters scored an average of 77%, down from 96% in 2018, when scores were last calculated with a different methodology.
The highest performing district in Texas County is Raymondville, where 82.8 percent of the points were earned. Its score jumped 8.1 percent from last year.
Other districts and the percent of points earned: Cabool (75.5), Licking (73.6), Houston (72.6), Summersville (70.4), Success (68.4) and Plato (67.1)
“The data indicate that academic recovery is still needed,” said Margie Vandeven, the outgoing Missouri commissioner of education, on a conference call with reporters.
The annual performance report, in its second year with a more rigorous scoring system, is the primary component of school district accreditation. Any changes to accreditation won’t be made until three years of data are available in fall 2024.
This year’s scores indicate that 87 school districts statewide fall in the range of provisionally accredited, 50% to 69%. Under 50 percent is unaccredited.
Annual-Performance-Report-Texas-Co.-schools-RIn Texas County, four districts showed increases, while three declined: Cabool (+4.9%), Houston (.+.7), Raymondville (+8.1), Success (+1.1), Licking (-2%), Summersville. (-7.3) and Plato (-.3)
Districts with provisional accreditation get extra attention from the state board of education because they are at risk of losing accreditation entirely. No school district in the state is currently unaccredited, which triggers a state law allowing students to transfer to higher-performing districts.
Vandeven, who will be replaced by this area’s state senator, Karla Eslinger, as education commissioner next summer, mentioned low teacher retention and student absenteeism as main factors that have negatively affected school performance.
Fewer than half of new teachers in Missouri keep the job for three years, and only a third stay for five years, Vandeven said.
“I cannot underestimate the importance of a highly trained, highly skilled teacher in every classroom,” she said.
FOUR-DAY SCHEDULES
Another hot topic in Jefferson City is expected to involve the increasingly popular four-day school week, used by nearly one-third of Missouri’s school districts this year. Legislators have proposed bills that would require a public vote in any districts considering the schedule change. The Show-Me Institute libertarian think tank proposes an “automatic trigger” of open enrollment in any district that switches to a four-day week.
The 2023 performance scores do not show a significant difference between school week schedules. School districts with a four-day week averaged 75.9%, while those on full weeks averaged 77%.