State recognizes academic success of area school districts

Superintendent David Newell has reason to celebrate in the tiny Kelso elementary school district.

His school has little more than 100 students, kindergarten through eighth grade. But their academic success has earned the school the state's "Distinction In Performance" Award.

This marks the sixth year in a row that the Scott County school has been recognized for its academic achievement.

Kelso is one of 180 school districts statewide to receive the award from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in recognition of their academic achievement.

The award-winning districts this school year include 15 in Southeast Missouri. They'll be honored at a reception and banquet Thursday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, starting at 6 p.m.

Besides Kelso, area winners include Altenburg, another elementary district; as well as Delta, Leopold, Marquand-Zion, Oak Ridge, Oran and Zalma, all kindergarten through high school districts.

Even the largest of these area schools, Oak Ridge and Oran, have less than 400 students.

Larger area school districts like Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Sikeston didn't meet the academic standards needed to qualify for the awards.

School districts with large enrollments typically have more low-income and minority students, which often makes it harder to meet academic standards, said DESE spokesman Jim Morris. Those districts often have higher dropout rates, which also work against them, he said.

Newell believes students in small school districts benefit from small class sizes. "Our kids get a lot of individual attention," he said. "It is kind of like a big family."

Newell said school staff know parents on a first-name basis. "There is a lot of community pride," he said.

The awards recognize outstanding academic performance and consistent progress as measured by the state's school-accreditation standards. They include Missouri Assessment Program test scores, ACT scores, attendance and dropout rates.

The awards represent a one-year snapshot of a district's overall academic performance, state education officials said.

Kindergarten-through- eighth-grade districts had to meet five out of six performance standards, including all the standards based on the MAP exams to qualify. Kindergarten-through-12th-grade districts had to meet 11 out of 12 standards, including all of the MAP-based measurements.

The Zalma School District in Bollinger County received the award for the second straight year.

"Last year was really something special," said superintendent Darryl Sauer, whose district didn't meet state accreditation standards a dozen years ago .

The district, which currently has 245 students, didn't receive full accreditation from DESE until 1998, Sauer said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123