Missouri Redesigns School Report Cards -- And It's A Lot To Digest

[Sherman A1]

Missouri schools are getting a different kind of report card from the state. It's now color coded instead of offering a numerical grade.

The Annual Performance Report is the state’s way of showing how school districts are doing. After years of providing a percentile score that conveyed how school districts ranked, this year’s APR instead uses color-coded bar graphs that measure not only how students did on state tests, but how much they improved.

State education officials say this new format is more nuanced. Even though the reports look different, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it used the same worksheet to calculate performance as in the past.

Education officials “decided that our best course of action for this year would be to provide the data so that you can actually look at, ‘How are our kids performing?’ and focus in on the areas that our communities are finding of great value,” said Commissioner Margie Vandeven.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missouri-redesigns-school-report-cards-and-it-s-lot-digest