Missouri districts could see 2025 data tied to A-F grading plan by end of September

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri school districts could get their first look at 2025 performance data connected with the state’s proposed A-F grading framework by the end of this month, a Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education official said Thursday.

Jocelyn Strand, DESE assistant commissioner for the Office of Quality Schools, led the department’s final public feedback session on the proposed system Thursday.

Strand said the department wants to give districts up to a couple of weeks to examine the data and determine how to explain the information to parents. She said the estimated end-of-September timeline is tentative.

DESE is still working through parts of the proposed formula and is considering changes based on the feedback it has received.

“I think a lot of what we’re looking at is how we include the growth to proficiency and the literacy and whether or not that caps,” Strand said. “We’ve heard a lot of concerns about that.”

Strand said the department is also still evaluating how the formula will account for differences among schools, including poverty, student mobility, available resources and student populations. She also said one number cannot include every characteristic of a school or district.

“A number isn’t the complete story of a district, and there are any number of other characteristics that parents and families and other stakeholders look at when they are talking about the performance of their district,” Strand said.

DESE plans to provide documents explaining what is included in the calculations and why each measure is important. Strand said the grade cards would also include links to district websites so families can find additional information about their schools.

Strand said the letter grades would not affect a district’s accreditation. She said the school-grading framework would have the same type of appeals window as Missouri’s annual performance report.

The next step is presenting the framework to the Missouri State Board of Education. Strand said DESE will continue seeking input from education stakeholders and parent organizations as it develops the remaining details.

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-01 in January, directing the State Board of Education and DESE to develop an annual A-F grading framework for public schools, charter schools and districts.

The order calls for each school and district to receive an overall A, B, C, D or F rating based on a 100-point scale.

Elementary and middle school grades would include academic achievement, value-added growth and growth toward proficiency in English language arts, literacy, mathematics and science. The order defines growth toward proficiency as whether a student with two consecutive years of Missouri Assessment Program results is on track to reach grade-level proficiency within three years.

High school grades would include academic achievement, value-added growth, Success Ready Graduate measures and the four-year graduation rate.

A school or district that tests fewer than 95% of its students on required state assessments would have its rating lowered by one letter grade. Private schools could choose to participate by opting into state assessments.

The executive order also urges the State Board of Education to increase the thresholds for earning each letter grade by five points the following year if 65% of schools receive an A or B.

Jason Anderson, executive director of the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals, called that provision a "moving target."

“If 65% of the schools are getting an A or a B, that means the cut scores are too low,” Anderson said. “And so they’re going to raise those standards. That makes zero sense. It’s a moving target.”

Anderson said the association does not support the proposed system.

“Reducing a school to a single letter grade does not make information more meaningful simply because it is easier to understand,” Anderson said.

The Missouri State Teachers Association also opposes assigning individual letter grades to schools and districts.

“I think that the approach for letter grades is flawed, and we’ve seen other states that have moved away from single letter grades,” said Matt Michaelson, who is the association’s director of government relations. “And they’ve looked toward what the department is currently doing with a full dashboard that gives a better picture of what districts are doing.”

Michaelson said the final feedback session showed that questions remain about the timeline and what the grades would represent.

Several people who attended Thursday’s session also spoke against the proposal and questioned whether a single grade would give parents an accurate understanding of a school.