Missouri public schools showed continued improvement in annual performance reports released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Thursday, with 56% of districts and charter schools raising their scores.
The state is in its fourth year of the Missouri School Improvement Program 6, which education officials deem “more rigorous” than the previous iteration of the program. In 2022, the system’s pilot year, 112 school districts and charters scored lower than 70% — the score required to be fully accredited by the education department.
Accreditation decisions based on the MSIP6 scores are a year away, but the number of districts at risk for a lower classification has decreased dramatically in four years.
Based on districts’ three-year composite scores, which the department will use to determine accreditation, 29 school districts are in range to be provisionally accredited. None scored below 50%, which would put them at risk for being unaccredited.
Three charter schools scored below 50% and 29 scored below 70%, but these scores will not be part of next year’s classification decisions. Despite MSIP6 being used to score charters, they have separate methods of accreditation.
“I am so proud of our educators and students,” Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger said in a press conference Thursday afternoon. “You must take some time to celebrate the good, but we also know there is room for improvement.”
The scores include a variety of factors, like standardized test scores, student growth and career readiness. Student performance comprises 70% of the score. The other 30% is based on continuous improvement measures.
Of the 553 districts and charter schools in the state, 152 raised their score by at least 5% this year. Some showed dramatic improvement.
Neosho School District boosted its score from 61.5% in 2024 to 85.5% this year. Superintendent Jim Davis, who took the role in August 2024, told The Independent that the improvement is largely because of a district-wide focus on proficiency and literacy.
“There was a lot of work that was put into it to get us to take that jump,” he said, “but we’re proud of that, and we’re expecting to continue moving up with the systems that we built here.”
Classroom instruction in Neosho is expected to meet grade-level standards, he said, which pushes struggling students to catch up.
“Students expedite their academic growth when they are given grade-level content,” Davis said. “So the more time that we spend in grade-level content, the faster they’re going to move.”
The district is one of 32 districts and charter schools in Missouri’s Comprehensive Literacy State Development program, a grant program which provides literacy resources and professional development among other assets.
The district received top scores for student growth in reading, math and science and received 50% of the points possible for social studies growth among the full student population. It got a quarter of the points possible for social studies growth in student groups deemed “historically underperforming” by the education department, such as low-income students and English-language learners.
“We want to create success,” Davis said. “But also we have got to continue developing our team so that, moving forward, all students can be successful.”
The Southern Boone School District in Ashland also showed dramatic improvement, going from 78.9% in 2024 to 95.9% this year. It is one of 22 school districts with a score of at least 90%.
“You can contribute our growth to continued work with our teams of teachers and administrators on our curriculum development and making sure that we’ve got the right resources for kids and teachers to use, along with making sure that our teachers are well-prepared,” Superintendent Tim Roth told The Independent.
The district has invested in new textbooks and software to bolster curriculum. At the middle school level, the district has instituted an assessment system that gives continuous checks on student achievement. Teachers review the results regularly and brainstorm ways to improve in small-group settings, Roth said.
The district received 100% for student growth on standardized tests across subject areas. It also earned top scores in attendance.
“Something that stands out for us is just the value that our parents and community put on education,” Roth said. “With our students being here on a regular basis, we’re very happy that we have that support and that learning is a priority.”
Eslinger told reporters that attendance and literacy are a focus for the department.
“We are on the right track,” she said. “Our data points are showing improvement, but we still have work to do.”