While the Jefferson City School District's overall performance in many key achievement standards neared state averages in the 2018-19 school year, the district performed below expectations - or "floor ratings" - in most areas where growth and progress specifically were measured in the state's Annual Performance Review.
School district officials say they are focused on improving the district's academic performance.
The Missouri School Improvement Program, administered by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, uses five standards to collect data for school districts - academic achievement, subgroup achievement, college and career readiness, attendance, and graduation rate.
This year, the program measures the performance in those standards by focusing on labels instead of numerical point values.
For instance, the program emphasizes areas of "growth," "status" and "progress" for schools.
Growth measures the change in achievement scores for students over time. The labels for growth measurements are "floor," indicating a score below expectations; "on track," meeting expectations; and "exceeding," exceeding expectations.
Status reflects the school's overall performance for the year. Status measurement labels are "floor," "approaching," "on track" or "target."
Progress reflects the school's level of achievement on the Missouri Assessment Program test over a three-year average. Those labels include "floor," less than 1 percent improvement; "approaching," 1-2.99 percent improvement; "on track," 3-4.99 percent; or "exceeding," 5 percent or more.
JC Schools Superintendent Larry Linthacum said the district will work to improve where they fell short this year.
The district received a floor label for growth in academic achievement and subgroup achievement. This means the measure of how students have achieved over time in English language arts and math was below average in both standards.
A majority of the scores the district received are passable when comparing academic achievement and subgroup achievement standards to the state averages. (To determine where schools' growth compares to state data, the status scale must be used.)
JC Schools scored 331.7 points out of 500, or approaching status, in English academic achievement, and 296.7 points, also approaching status, in math. The district's growth remained at floor, meaning the students' individual test scores and the state predictions did not match.
The state's average for English was 341.2 points out of 500 and for math was 313.6 points - both approaching status.
English and math scores are compiled with data from individual test scores and predictions "based on the child and similarly situated children," DESE Assistant Commissioner Chris Neale said. If districts see growth in those areas, students are likely hitting the mark academically.
The district is pleased with its status scores, JC Schools Chief of Learning Brian Shindorf said.
The district's next step will be to focus on each individual school to identify which received the floor level for growth then plan to do better, he said.
"We believe that in order to move in that category for growth, what we've got to do is identify very specific needs of our students, regardless of grade level," Shindorf said. "(We) identify what their needs are in (English) and math, and design instruction that helps support students for their individualized needs."
The subgroup achievement standard measures academic performance for groups such as low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, and black and Hispanic students.
JS Schools scored 300.7 points out of 500 in subgroup achievement in English and 259.9 points in math - both approaching status. The district's growth remained at floor in subgroup achievement, meaning students did not make gains in the tested subjects.
The state average for subgroup achievement in English was 305.2 points and in math was 272.3 points - also both approaching status.
The districts recognizes these scores have room for improvement.
"We are pleased with a few areas of our data, but overall, we have areas that we still need to grow," Shindorf said. "We need to grow in our subgroup achievement. We need to grow in our individualized student growth. Regardless of where our attendance and our college and career readiness falls, we aren't happy with those results - we want to continue to get better."
The gap in growth expectations could change from year to year. If a district receives the highest status of target, its growth could be at floor.
The college and career readiness, attendance and graduation rate standards cannot be measured on growth because there is not a year-to-year comparison for individuals available, Neale said.
Instead, these standards are measured by progress, or if the school is making improvements over prior years based on a three-year average.
Approximately 71.2 percent of high school graduates in the state completed college and career readiness assessments - ACT, SAT, Compass, ASVAB, ACCUPLACER or ACT WorkKeys.
JC Schools received on track status for 67.5 percent of graduates taking assessments; however, the district's progress decreased by 4.7 percent.
"Some of those points are attributed to whether or not kids take the test," Shindorf said. "One of our big things is we have to work hard to encourage kids to take those tests because (we) get points according to whether or not kids actually even take the test on top of what they score."
Of JC Schools graduates, 46 percent of students earned advanced placement or college credits, giving the district on track status. (The state average is 59.3 percent, or target status.) The district's progress in advanced placement decreased by 3.2 percent.
That decrease could be due to fluctuating senior class size, Shindorf said.
The APR data also show the percentage of graduates who were employed, in the military or seeking further education six months after graduation.
The local district saw 89.2 percent of graduates reach the mark, giving the district on track status. (The state average is 91.2 percent, or target status.) The district's progress increased by 1.4 percent.
JC Schools scored 87.7 percent attendance, or on track status, compared to the state average of 90.7.
The percentage of JC Schools students who graduated after four years was 83.5 percent, or on track status. The state average is 91.5 percent, also on track status.
When parents view the data, their biggest takeaway shouldn't be one component of a student's academics, Shindorf said.
"Don't let just a single MAP score constitute your child's potential," Shindorf said. "Obviously, it's an important score because it's an examination, but I would encourage families to, once they look at their students' individual data, spend more time looking at how is your child performing on day-to-day work."