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March 7, 2023
Republic School District employees and families,
Today, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the latest scores for school districts across the state. Before we share our report, we’d like to explain a little more about what these results are and what they mean for our district.
What is the APR?
Missouri’s DESE has an accountability model for school districts called the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP). To score districts on their performance and improvement, DESE uses an Annual Performance Report (APR).
How is this score different from previous years?
This is the first year DESE is using the sixth and latest version of its accountability model, MSIP 6. There are a few notable differences between this model and the previous one, listed below:
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This is the pilot year for scoring schools along the standards for MSIP 6.
- This model differentiates the performance of public schools and districts along a continuum, or ranking.
- The scoring of Status and Growth is different than in the previous model. "Status" describes whether the district achieved the goal on test scores set by DESE. "Growth" shows student and district improvement, while working toward the goal set by DESE.
As a district, we received 88.8% of the points possible within the APR. There were 180 points possible, and we earned 159.8. This places Republic School District in the top 9% of all districts across the state of Missouri. The district’s APR can be found here. Each of our K-12 buildings also received scores, which are available for viewing on the DESE website. While building performance does factor into the district’s results, the district’s points are not simply an average of building scores.
It’s important to note that the data noted in the APR is from the spring of 2022. While this data has just recently been packaged and released to the public, our school district has been focusing on opportunities for improvement since August. Therefore, we’ve already implemented action steps to address the needs of our students and continue to do so on a regular basis. In addition, Republic School District practices Early Release Fridays, which allow teachers and administrators to go over data and make weekly instructional adjustments in real time to best support our students.
Below, we’d like to share some celebrations and opportunities for improvement we’ve drawn out of our APR score.
Celebrations:
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We received 100% of the points available in Status for all students in English Language Arts, Math and Social Studies. This showcases our students’ scores on the MAP and EOC tests from spring of 2022. We shared some celebrations specifically from this data in December.
- In addition, we received 100% of the points for Graduation Rate and Graduation Follow-Up. We are proud of these scores, as they represent our efforts to help students set and reach goals after high school graduation. This falls in line with our mission of "preparing each student for future excellence through a safe educational environment."
Opportunities for Improvement:
- As a district, we received 75% of the points for Attendance. We know attendance matters for students’ academic success, as well as their social-emotional learning. In the spring of 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down, but was still a concern for many. While we know illness is a factor when deciding whether to send students to school, we hope to see a reduced number of school days students miss as we move forward past the pandemic.
- We received 50% of the points for Career and College Readiness (CCR) Assessments, which include ACT, SAT, WorkKeys, Accuplacer and ASVAB tests. In the spring of 2022, when offering or collecting scores for these exams, some students were missed.
Action Steps:
- Our elementary, middle and high school buildings have already taken steps to improve attendance across our district.
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As a district, we pay for all students to take the ACT, so there is one less barrier for students to complete this exam, which is important when looking toward higher education. We also provide the ASVAB and WorkKeys assessments at school. Looking forward, our administration at Republic High School has already improved the process used to ensure all students have completed a CCR assessment.
We plan to celebrate these wins with our staff members, while we create and continue action steps as we look to improve our school district based on the results of this report. As always, we continue to pursue educational excellence for our students.
Thank you for your support of Republic School District!
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