Using preliminary scores and data, St. Clair R-XIII School District Assistant Superintendent Tanya Vest shared some positive news with board of education members last week.
Vest and other local school officials were given the early returns on the Missouri School Improvement Program’s latest district summary report. The revised annual performance report gave St. Clair R-XIII a 92.1 percent score.
“This preliminary report is good news for us,” Vest said during the November school board meeting.
She stressed, however, that the scores were preliminary and could change after the state finishes going over the numbers.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is using the fifth revision of its annual performance report for the first time this year and ranks state school districts in five standards. Each standard has a certain number of points a district can earn which then leads to a percentage.
“We’re sitting in a good position right now,” Vest said. “I am pleased with these scores.”
St. Clair’s preliminary percentages in the five MSIP 5 standards ranged from 100 to 71.7. In three of the five areas — academic achievement, subgroup achievement and graduation rate — the scores were perfect. Attendance ended up with a score of 7.5 out of 10 for 75 percent while the college and career ready tally was 21.5 out of 30 for 71.7 percent.
In all, R-XII earned 129 out of a possible 140 points for the 92.1 percent.
“With this preliminary report, I had us figured a little lower than what we scored,” Vest said. “So I was pleasantly surprised.
“But, still, these scores can be adjusted and even go down,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we would fall, but I would think we should stay above 90 (percent) when the final numbers come in.”
Vest said a district has to earn at least a 75 percent score, or 105 points, to be accredited. Scoring at 95 percent or above is considered exemplary.
Categories
Academic achievement includes general instruction focus in English/language arts, math, science and social studies at the elementary, middle school and high school levels.
Subgroup achievement covers the same subject areas but is checked in various minorities.
The college and career ready category uses information such as ACT, SAT, COMPASS or the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery scores, other assessments and percentages of postsecondary placement.
Vest said a change in the attendance rate category now requires each student to attend school at least 90 percent of the time to qualify.
Vest said final results were scheduled to have been released by now but haven’t been. She said she did not know when DESE would release the final figures.
