As exciting and heartwarming as that is, the story of who helped her makes it even better. As KCUR reports, University Academy’s guidance counselor, Josh Burdette, had never helped a student get into an Ivy League school before. When he realized he had a student who had a good chance of being accepted, he reached out to David Burke. David is the guidance counselor at Pembroke Hill, one of the city’s most elite private schools, and he jumped at the chance to help. He guided Josh through the process of creating a compelling school profile to give to universities and even set up meetings with contacts at Ivy League schools and other prestigious colleges around the country.  University Academy has already reaped the benefits.

Schools have different ways of doing things, and that’s fine. The relationship that Pembroke Hill and UA have created shows that schools of all shapes and sizes can work together to help students.

What can we learn from all this? Cooperation and shared goals can help our students succeed. Because of Jazmyne’s hard work, Josh’s willingness to look outside his own school for help, and David’s willingness to lend his expertise, doors are being opened to UA students that seemed closed not long ago. The school is looking toward bigger and better things for their students—we won’t be surprised to see more UA graduates accepted into Ivy League schools in the future.

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In reality, 44.9 percent of all Missouri students—some 387,704 students in total—attend rural schools.

Rural schools often get overlooked in discussions of education reform, with city and suburban schools typically taking center stage. But it would be difficult to have a serious conversation about improving Missouri’s education system without recognizing the role of rural schools. Which leads us to the question: How well are rural students in Missouri performing? Mike McShane broke down their performance in a series of figures that tell the story.

Figure 2 from the paper outlines Missouri MAP test results for 4th- and 8th-graders by geographic location. The MAP is a state standardized test administered to students in 3rd through 8th grade and then again in 10th grade. In the areas of math and English language arts, 4th-graders in the suburbs scored the highest followed by children in towns. However, 8th-graders in rural areas scored second-highest only to students in the suburbs. Unfortunately, city schools scored the lowest in every category.

Figure 3 outlines the combined MAP proficiency rates for 4th and 8th graders in towns and rural communities. Only 45% of 4th-graders were proficient in English, and only 43% were proficient in math. 8th-graders scored slightly better at 51% proficiency in English and 45% proficiency in math. These numbers are bleak. Clearly there is room for improvement.

Finally, Figure 4 outlines the results of ACT scores, comparing rural students to urban students. On average, urban students scored 0.6 points higher, a statistically significant difference.

Based on these results, we can see that rural schools have room to improve. Implementing things like course access programs or education savings accounts would help each family design the education program that best meets their child’s needs. Putting families in control is the first step toward giving rural schools the help they need to rise to the top. 

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Business leaders have voiced concerns over how unprepared recent graduates are to enter into the workforce, many of them citing the lack of applicable skills as a major problem. The Alabama Community College System projected that over the next year, 5,000 skilled worker jobs will need to be filled in southwest Alabama alone. 

Having recognized this problem, several states are backing programs that would allow students enrolled in vocational training programs to earn credentials at a faster rate, continue to build on those credentials, and keep them no matter where they move. They are considered portable and stackable. Portable in the sense that, as the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation notes, they are “trusted by employers and educational institutions throughout the country… they would be independently verified or accredited”; and “stackable” in the sense that they can be combined with each other to earn industry certifications or even associate’s or bachelor’s degrees.

An example of a portable credential is the National Career Readiness Certificate. This credential measures the test-taker’s ability to solve problems, think and read critically, and understand and use work-related text. The certificate is recognized in 42 states and can be used by employers to help predict an applicant’s ability to succeed in the workplace.

Virginia addressed the need for skilled workers in 2008 by creating the Virginia Career Pathways System. This system includes training programs like apprenticeships so students can earn credit toward a certificate or degree while also getting hands-on training.

Mississippi created a similar system in 2005 that has 4 levels of skills achievement. It starts with an Adult Basic Education Certificate, then moves on to a Manufacturing Skills Basic Certification. At the next level, students can choose the manufacturing skill they want to learn in depth and enroll in a program devoted to it. Finally, the industry knowledge they acquire can be used for college credits toward a degree.

Stackable credentials are more flexible than traditional degrees, appear more in tune with what employers want, and may be collected over time at a lower cost. They are a promising way to help students get the preparation they need to be successful in the job market.

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As SMI researchers explained in a blog post and video back in 2014, a no tax increase bond is similar to refinancing a home—it simply stretches debt out over a longer period of time. It looks like there isn’t a tax increase, because the levy itself isn’t being increased; only the length of the bond is. But what proponents often leave out (and anyone who has paid off their mortgage will tell you) is that if the district pays off the bond, it doesn’t have to keep charging the same levy. That is why SMI Fellow James Shuls called it a “No tax levy increase bond” and not a “no tax increase bond”

According to the district, the bond in Washington would help free up money needed to fund area schools that have faced over $2 million in budget cuts due to decreases in enrollment and assessed valuation. In Hickman Mills, the bond would help pay for facility upgrades and renovations. Superintendent Dennis Carpenter has scheduled a town-hall meeting open to the public on March 29 to elaborate on the District’s plans for the facility upgrades and other projects.  The proposal is on the April 5 ballot.

Whether or not these school districts need more money is an open question worth debating, but it is hard to have a productive discussion when the means of collecting that money are so opaque.  Leaders should be honest and transparent with citizens, and taxpayers have to remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

The post If “No Tax Increase Bonds” Sound Too Good To Be True, They Probably Are appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Before we can decide if there is too much or too little testing, we should lay out some facts:

·         Missouri spends roughly $30 million a year on standardized tests

·         On average, students spend 20–25 hours per school year taking standardized tests. Over the course of grades 3–12, that totals out to be 180–225 hours of testing.

·         Grades 3–8 are required to take the yearly MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) test which assesses students understanding of concepts in language arts and math. Grades 5 and 8 are also tested in science.

·         Grades 4, 8, and 12 are administered the NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress) which tests all students in the areas of math, science, reading, and writing.

·         High school juniors are required by the State Board of Education to take the ACT (at no charge)

·         High school students must pass a personal finance assessment in order to graduate. This assessment can be taken by students who are enrolled in a personal finance course or students who wish to test out of the course and still receive the half credit.

·         End of Course (EOC) evaluations are administered to students enrolled in Algebra I and II, Biology, English I and II, Geometry, Biology, American History, Physical Science, and Government courses.

Rep. Kurt Bahr of St. Charles is sponsoring a bill that would allow students to opt out of Missouri standardized testing if they or their parents request it. What would this accomplish, though? Students will simply have to wait for school to resume while other students take the tests they opted out of. And if the tests are administered only to the students who want to take them, they wouldn’t be a representative sample of the student body.

Is there a better way we can retrieve this information and not overwhelm students and teachers? Knowing how well our students and schools are doing, and what should be improved on, is important. However, we need to remember that the only “right” amount of testing is that which gives us the information we need in the most efficient way possible, so that teachers can spend more time teaching and students can spend more time learning. Determining the purpose and use of each test might be the key. 

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Tenth out of 18 doesn’t seem like much to brag about, but if we look at the criteria used for the ranking, we see that Missouri’s charters are doing some impressive work to rank as highly as they do.

What are we doing well?

• We don’t cap the number of charter schools in the state
• Our charter schools enjoy a high degree of autonomy
• We’ve seen strong growth in our charter sector from 2010 to 2015; 25 new charter schools were opened during that period.
• Missouri charter schools offer diverse programs, with 36% of the state’s charters having a special focus like international/foreign language or Montessori.
• Best of all, students in Missouri’s charter schools achieved higher academic results in math and reading than their traditional school counterparts.

What’s holding us back?

• Missouri doesn’t fund charters as well as it does traditional schools.
• Missouri unique laws have limited charter schools to only operating within the Kansas City and Saint Louis school districts. As a result, 98% of charter schools are located in non-suburban areas and only 2% of students are enrolled in charters. Saint Louis and Kansas City are the only 2 communities in Missouri that had more than 10% of their students enrolled in charters.

It’s awfully hard to blame our charter schools for the factors pushing our rank down. A close look at the report shows that charter schools are simply doing more with a lot less. So why aren’t we giving them equal funding, and why are we keeping them from operating outside of Kansas City and St. Louis?

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Changing the length of the school week and year has been a topic of debate for years.  Before a district decides to adopt such a change, there are a few questions they should ask:

1. How will the change affect student achievement? At the board of education meeting, a community member voiced concerns over a decline in standardized testing scores. Board Member Sue Webb pointed out that if a decline in scores is indicated over a two-year period, the district will go back to a five-day school week. The results of this year’s scores won’t be known until June or July. Another man said that he and others were “disgusted” with the idea of a four-day school week because his children’s grades had been negatively impacted this year due to the same schedule. He also mentioned that their behavior had changed for the worse because of the measure.
2. Do students really need more leisure time? At the meeting, a law enforcement officer also pointed out a rise in juvenile problems since the school system had adopted the four-day school week in the 2015–16 school year. He said that there had been at least a 15% increase in juvenile problems on Mondays when school isn’t in session. Is the extra day being used for homework or is it just giving students more time to get into trouble?
3. Is there a one-size-fits-all solution here? Maybe a shorter school week is good for some students and not good for others.  For students with supportive families who will fill their out-of-school time with enriching activities, a shorter school week might be great. For families struggling to get by who need their children in school while they are at work, this might be a real hardship.

Ultimately, a system with more school choice could help resolve these issues. One charter school, for example, could offer a four-day school week, while another could offer five. Families could find the school that best fits their needs.  As long as there is only one system, we will continue to see conflict. 

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