Moniteau County R-1 School District MSIP

CALIFORNIA, Mo. - Moniteau County R-1 schools' scores declined from 2013, according to the state of Missouri's latest accountability measures for education.

"We scored just under 90 percent both this year and last," said Superintendent Dwight Sanders. Districts that score at least a 70 percent are classified by DESE as fully accredited. "While we did exceptionally well in three of the five categories, including academic achievement (93 percent), attendance (100 percent), and graduation rate (100 percent), we now need to focus more of our time and energy on the areas of subgroup achievement and college and career readiness," Sanders said.

According to Sanders, DESE has identified the category of subgroup achievement to ensure that districts place an appropriate emphasis on high academic achievement of all students. This category identifies students in subgroups including free/reduced price lunch, racial/ethnic background, English language learners, and students with disabilities. Members of these subgroups and others can experience at-risk circumstances that often negatively impact academic success.

"As a district, we pay a lot of attention and provide a multitude of resources to reduce, and, ideally eliminate achievement gaps with our identified subgroups of students," said Sanders. "Even with vast resources and interventions, these subgroup achievement gaps are one of the most difficult challenges that school districts face. We strive to ensure academic success for all students regardless of financial circumstance, learning difficulties, or other obstacles to learning."

"In the college and career ready category of MSIP5, school districts that assess their students frequently tend to score higher, however, a district has to weigh the benefits versus the costs of requiring its students to participate in a large number of assessments," Sanders said. "A district could relinquish a great deal of valuable instructional time to assess students. If we are going to assess our students, we want there to be a clear benefit to our students."

Many students participate in the ACT each year in preparation for college admissions. "We are pleased with our students' performance on the ACT exam. With an average composite ACT score of 21.4 this year, our district has not seen a higher average any year in the last 10 years."

"MSIP5 serves as one measure to evaluate the success of a school district, but certainly there are many measures that must be considered," said Sanders. "While MSIP5 examines several areas in its evaluation process, many programs including co-curricular and extra-curricular programs, fine arts, and practical arts including agriculture, business, vocal music, instrumental music, and art programs are significantly overlooked in this evaluation process. We are extremely proud of the quality and successes of these programs here at California Schools along with the high academic achievement of our students."

Introductory article:

State's MSIP 5 ranks performance, progress of 21 area schools

How 21 Mid-Missouri school districts fared:

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