Local schools earn DESE's Distinction in Performance status

Many area school districts gained Distinction in Performance status upon the release of Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's revised and final 2011 Annual Performance Reports last week.

Meadow Heights and Perry County received revisions to preliminary reports, which was enough to bring their total number of performance standards met to 13. For districts that have kindergarten through 12th grades, the reports show whether they meet performance standards in 14 areas. The standards are measured using test scores, attendance rates, graduation rates and other factors. Districts with kindergarten through eighth grades have seven standards. According to DESE, Annual Performance Reports serve as a report card to the public that shows how well school districts are meeting state standards for academic performance.

Distinction in Performance status is given to K-12 school districts that meet at least 13 of 14 academic standards and K-8 school systems that meet six of seven.

In all, 12 of 17 Southeast Missouri K-12 districts and three of three K-8 districts received the status. One Southeast Missouri school district that continues to improve year after year but has sometimes had a hard time showing it is Scott County Central. This year, the district achieved nine of 14 performance standards.

Superintendent Alvin McFerren said human and software errors at the district level caused preliminary reports to reflect the district had only met seven performance standards.

"When we got the preliminary reports back, some of the data was so glaring we knew that something was wrong," McFerren said. "After checking, we found that a lot of the data that was put in was not put in correctly."

McFerren contacted the state to notify of the correct data, and said the result came out favorably. The final reports show the district achieved nine performance standards, up from eight last year and six in 2009. Another four standards were narrowly missed, McFerren said, including Missouri Assessment Program math test scores for grades three through five, which missed a standard by six-tenths of a percent.

Areas where McFerren said the district still needs improvement include ACT scores and attendance.

To gain a better attendance rate, the district has been looking at options other area districts are using, including the truancy court used in the Scott City School District.

Last year, the Scott County Central School District was classified as provisionally accredited. According to DESE, a recommendation of commissioner Chris Nicastro to the state board will delay classification determinations until 2012 for six school districts in the state, including Scott County Central. A district generally must meet six standards to be provisionally accredited and nine standards to be fully accredited. Under the standards of the Missouri School Improvement Program, a school district may be given one of three ratings. -- accredited, provisionally accredited or unaccredited. State law defines the consequences for a school district that becomes unaccredited. A provisionally accredited district is still considered to be accredited and is not subject to penalty.

According to DESE, the State Board of Education reviews districts' accreditation status about every five years. Annual Performance Reports are used to determine if a district can remain accredited.

The board considers a reclassification sooner if student performance trends signal a need for action.

After two years of failing to improve, the state has the authority to intervene and take over governance and operation of a district.

In the past six years, most school districts in the state have performed increasingly well in meeting performance standards, according to a DESE news release. This year, three out of every five districts in the state met every standard. Another one out of five met all but one.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

eragan@semissourian.com

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