Currently, Missouri's education policies do
not prioritize great teaching, empowering parents with quality choices,
or allocating resources wisely to raise student achievement. The state
is behind when it comes to enacting critical education reforms. Missouri
has moved to improve its educator evaluations, but the new system is
not meaningful, and districts are not required to link student
performance, educator performance, and personnel decisions. The state
should free teachers locked into the state's existing pension systems by
offering more attractive, portable retirement options. Missouri could
empower parents more by providing meaningful information regarding
school and teacher performance. The state recently strengthened
accountability for public charter schools and expanded authorization,
both positive steps forward. State policy should prioritize the
establishment and replication of high-performing schools as well.
Finally, Missouri should allow mayors to take control in low-performing
districts and strengthen the state's ability to intervene in
low-performing schools.
Where Missouri Ranks
Missouri Fast Facts
Stats, 2010–11
| STUDENTS |
918,710 |
| SCHOOL DISTRICTS |
567 |
| SCHOOLS |
2,410 |
| PUBLIC CHARTERS |
53 |
NAEP Scale Score Rank, 2011
4TH
GRADE |
MATH |
READING |
| 27 |
31 |
8TH
GRADE |
MATH |
READING |
| 32 |
24 |
NAEP Proficiency, 2011
58%
42%
66%
34%
4TH GRADE
MATH
READING
Fast Facts Source: U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics,
Common Core of Data (CCD), and National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP), 2011 Mathematics and Reading Assessments.
Elevate
Teaching
Missouri is behind when it comes to
ensuring effective teachers and principals are identified, retained, and
rewarded by districts. Missouri does not require districts to evaluate
educators in a meaningful way. Although student academic growth plays an
undefined role in evaluations, evaluations lack annual frequency and
there are no consequences for poor performance. Seniority drives
personnel decisions, allowing other states to pass Missouri by in
efforts to improve teacher quality and elevate the profession. If
Missouri wants to strengthen its teaching corps, it must treat them like
the professionals they are by establishing meaningful annual
evaluations tied significantly to student growth and requiring districts
to use teacher effectiveness as the driving factor in recruitment,
placement, layoff, tenure, and compensation decisions. The state should
also improve the selectivity and quality of its alternative
certification pathways.
Empower
Parents
All families should have the
information and access they need to provide a quality education for
their children, and no student should be forced to attend a
low-performing school or be taught by a low-performing teacher.
Therefore, Missouri must empower parents to take action by providing
meaningful information on school performance and more high-quality
school choice options. Missouri must require PK-12 schools to receive an
annual report card that includes an A-F letter grade based on student
achievement data. Also, the state should require parental consent if a
student is placed with an ineffective teacher and grant parents the
power to petition local school districts to turn around failing schools.
The state must do more to increase high-quality school choice options
by removing restrictions on charter school growth, strengthening charter
accountability policies, and creating a publicly funded scholarship
program for low-income students in chronically failing public schools to
attend private schools.
Spend
Wisely
Missouri is not permitting its
districts to use resources wisely and has yet to develop strong
accountability measures. The state may undertake limited intervention in
schools that lose accreditation, but Missouri should establish stronger
models that enable robust state authority and targeted mayoral control
for other low-performing schools and districts. To enhance transparency
and accountability and promote data-driven decisionmaking, Missouri
should require districts to link spending to academic achievement and
allow governance changes when resources are mismanaged. To provide all
teachers with career flexibility and retirement security, Missouri
should move to fully portable retirement plans.
