Local school districts score high marks on DESE report card

The Republic, Willard and Ash Grove school districts all received perfect or near-perfect scores on the MSIP 5, according to the recently released Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Annual Performance Report for 2018.
Republic and Willard both scored 120 out of a possible 120 points on the MSIP 5, while Ash Grove scored 117 out of 120, or 97.5-percent.
The MSIP 5 standards were scored as: Academic Achievement, 40 points possible; Subgroup Achievement, 10 points possible, College and Career Readiness, 30 points possible; Attendance, 10 points possible, and Graduation Rate, 30 points possible. Republic and Willard scored the maximum possible on each standard; Ash Grove scored 37 out of 40 in Academic Achievement, but achieved the maximum points possible in the other four standards.
According to available data, each district has shown a pattern of steady improvement, or nearly-steady improvement, in terms of percentage points, on the MSIP 5 since 2014.
For Republic, the MSIP scores from 2014 to 2017 were: 2014, 134 out 140, or 95.7-percent; 2015, 134.5 out 140, or 96.1-percent; 2016, 137 out of 140, or 97.9-percent and 2017, 139 out of 140, or 99.3-percent.
For Willard, the MSIP scores from 2014 to 2017 were: 2014. 131 out of 140, or 93.6-percent; 2015, 134 out of 140, or 95.7-percent; 2016, 133.5 out of 140, or 95.4-percent, and 2017, 136.5 out of 140, or 97.5-percent.
For Ash Grove, the MSIP scores from 2014 to 2017 were: 2014, 128.5 out of 140, or 91.8-percent; 2015, 132.5 out of 140, or 94.6-percent; 2016, 136 out of 140, or 97.1-percent, and 2017, 129 out of 140, or 92.1-percent. According to available data, the maximum available score for the districts, at least from 2014 through 2017, was 140. Those years, the maximum available score on Academic Achievement was 56, and on Subgroup Achievement, it was 14.
The MSIP 5 is the state’s accountability program for reviewing and accrediting the public-school districts in Missouri, and it measures each district on five standards: Academic Achievement, Subgroup Achievement, College and Career Readiness, Attendance Rate and Graduation Rate.
Academic Achievement measures student academic achievement on the Missouri Action Planning (MAP) test, while Subgroup Achievement measures the academic performance of the students in the identified subgroups: free or reduced lunch, English language learners, racial/ethnic background, and students with disabilities. College and Career Readiness measured the districts’ post-secondary preparation for all students, Attendance Rate measured the students’ regular attendance at school, and Graduation Rate measured the percentage of students who completed high school.