Final figures boost Cape School District into DESE's top performance status

If football is a game of inches, the Cape Girardeau School District just learned academic excellence can be a matter of a fraction.

The district moved from mere accreditation into "Distinction in Performance" status, based on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's revised and final Annual Performance Reports for 2010, released last week.

The Annual Performance Reports show how each of Missouri's 522 school districts is doing as measured by 14 academic performance standards set by the department.

Districts either meet or don't meet standards in testing scores (including state-required Missouri Assessment Program tests, ACT and end-of-course examinations), graduation and attendance rates, and other academic indicators.

In the final performance reports, Cape Girardeau public schools met 13 of 14 standards, up from 12 in last month's preliminary release. The Distinction in Performance rating is reserved for Missouri K-12 school districts that meet at least 13 of 14 academic standards and K-8 school systems that meet six of seven.

Cape moved into the "distinction" class for the second straight year by the slightest of margins.

In the preliminary performance report, the district did not meet the attendance standard, posting a rolling average attendance rate of 94.3 percent last school year. After discovering some errors in the data, district official sent revised figures that ultimately moved the attendance average up one-tenth of a percentage point, to 94.4 percent. It was just enough to meet the standard, said Pat Fanger, assistant superintendent for the Cape Girardeau School District.

"That's the fine line," she said. "We were thrilled because academically we have made so much progress this year, and to not have that distinction because of that close of a percentage was disappointing."

Meanwhile, the Jackson School District maintained its perfection status, meeting 14 of 14 standards, with the assistance of a bonus point in core academic categories. The district, like many others in the state, did not meet the standard in the subgroup achievement category, which includes low-income students and minorities.

Sikeston School District, in the revised reports, met 11 standards, up from 10 in the preliminary data.

Fourteen of the 18 school districts in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry and Scott counties met 13 of 14 standards.

But the annual assessment is more than a measure of strengths and weaknesses; it's a critical part of a district's educational standing.

To be fully accredited, a K-12 school district must meet at least nine of the 14 accreditation standards for academic performance and at least six to be provisionally accredited. A district that meets five or fewer standards may be classified as unaccredited by the State Board of Education. At present, 511 of Missouri's 522 school districts are fully accredited. Nine districts are provisionally accredited, and two are unaccredited.

Scott County Central School District is provisionally accredited after having met eight of 14 standards. That's an improvement from the previous year when the district of about 400 students met six academic standards. The district did not hit the mark in attendance, in the rate of students taking ACT and advanced courses, in two Missouri Assessment Program testing categories and in the subgroup standard.

Superintendent Alvin McFerren said Scott County Central has taken a number of steps to bolster student achievement but admits there's room for improvement.

"Now that we've identified what are deficiencies are, I'm almost positive we'll be able to achieve our goals," he said, adding he would be disappointed if the district didn't meet more than nine standards next year. However, to get there. McFerren said, teachers may be forced to further "teach to the test."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO