Accountability system aims for better-educated kids

The Missouri School Improvement Program 5 is the state's accountability system, an alternative to adequate yearly progress that was part of the federal No Child Left Behind law. The report shows how well each public school and school district is meeting the state's education standards and are used to accredit Missouri's school districts.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education communications coordinator Sarah Potter said accreditation is how the state classifies districts and is not tied to funding. But lower-scoring districts receive more state intervention. If scores stay low, districts can risk being shut down and consolidated.

"It's not a punitive system. It's supposed to be a system that creates better systems of education, therefore increasing student achievement as a result. So we affect the school district, which affects the children. At least we hope we do," Potter said.

Standards include academic achievement, subgroup achievement, college and career readiness, attendance and graduation rate. Subgroups are minority students, students with limited proficiency in English, students with disabilities, those eligible for free- and reduced lunches and students receiving special education services.

On a scale of 140, schools and districts receive a score based on the number of points earned of the number of points possible. A district's overall score on multiple APRs is used to determine accreditation, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Potter said 50 percent of a district's score is based on Missouri Assessment Program tests.

Accreditation levels are accredited with distinction, accredited, provisionally accredited and unaccredited. Last year, accreditation levels were accredited, provisionally accredited and unaccredited. Awards for performance and distinction were given separately, Bell City superintendent Matt Asher said.

Any corrections submitted this year will not show up until next year's scores are issued and each district will stay in the same classification for three years, because DESE said in a news release that is the period needed to show "long-term, sustained performance trends."