By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph school official sees some encouraging information in a pilot performance report issued by the state, even though district students scored low in several areas.
St. Joseph Director of School Improvement, Kendra Lau, says though students scored low marks in English, math, and science, they had much stronger marks under the categories of growth.
“And so, we felt encouraged that our learners were very competitive to those other learners across the state,” Lau says in an interview with KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “In other words, our students grew at the same rate that the other students grew across the state of Missouri. We were not below that, but we were not above it.”
Lau says this pilot performance report issued by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education displays the coronavirus pandemic gap that seems to have affected education throughout the nation when schools shut down due to the virus.
Overall, the St. Joseph School District earned only 75.7 points out of the 128 points possible in the Year 1 Pilot report. The district earned 46 of the 52 points possible in the category of Continuous Improvement.
St. Joseph public school students earned only half the points possible in the categories of English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. Students earned 75% of the points possible in Social Studies.
Students scored higher in the category of Academic Achievement Growth in both English Language Arts and Mathematics.
DESE designated St. Joseph School District students On Track in Graduation Rate over a seven-year period as well as Graduate Follow-up.
Lau says the score in that last category is significant.
“What it means is that the St. Joseph school graduates are going to areas after they leave us that are going to lead to gainful employment in the future,” according to Lau.
Lau sees a dropping attendance rate as a drag on test scores, pointing out that the St. Joseph School District had a 90% attendance rate in 2019 before the pandemic.
“Now, at the end of last year, we were at 70%,” Lau says.
Lau says though disappointed in the low scores in key subject areas, the district is pleased to see students scoring higher on academic growth.
“It shows us that our students do have some gaps in learning, because of the decreased proficiency,” Lau says. “But it also shows us that despite the pandemic, our students are achieving growth that is equal to that which other students across the state are gaining.”
This is a pilot report and Lau says the district hopes to score better in future Annual Performance Reports.