20 Missouri Public School Districts will Pilot Meaningful Assessments, Accountability System to Support Student Success
Aug. 15, 2023 (JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) -- The Missouri State Board of Education has approved a three-year innovation waiver for 20 public school districts, including the Center School District, that will support the creation of a more meaningful way to measure student learning, demonstrate individual student growth and influence future success for all Missouri students.
Missouri’s Assistant Commissioner of Education Lisa Sireno addressed the board on Aug. 15, on behalf of the Success-Ready Students Network. The SRSN includes 20 System Design Zone public school districts from across the state, which will now use growth-based assessments to replace MAP as the sole state measure of academic achievement. The districts will use information from growth-based assessments to design an accountability system that supports students in being high school, college, career and workplace ready. These districts will continue to administer the MAP test unless and until a federal waiver request is approved by the United States Department of Education in the future. DESE and the SRSN will now work together to propose this federal waiver.
What is a System Design Zone
System Design Zone districts in the Success-Ready Students Network have been recognized as educational leaders in the state of Missouri.
Center was selected to participate because of our participation in the Real-World Learning program with the Kauffman Foundation and our innovative use of NWEA as a growth-based assessment tool.
System Design Zone districts who are part of the waiver and help lead the work of the SRSN are: Affton, Branson, Center, Confluence Academy, Fayette, Lebanon, Lee’s Summit, Lewis County, Liberty, Lindbergh, Lonedell, Mehlville, Neosho, Ozark, Parkway, Pattonville, Raymore-Peculiar, Ritenour, Ste. Genevieve and Shell Knob.
The districts have asked for exemptions from specific requirements related to improving student readiness for employment, higher education, career and technical education, or any career and job training; and improving professional learning for teachers.
During the three-year period, System Design Zone districts will replace the existing Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 6 Annual Performance Report with an alternative way of measuring district success, and develop an alternative way to measure student growth and achievement. Districts will also engage students in acquiring Market Value Assets (MVA) to help them prepare for success in college, career and life after graduation. MVA’s focus on real world learning experiences and include internships, industry-recognized certifications, entrepreneurship and college credit programs. Center has been involved in developing MVA opportunities since 2019 with the first cohort of schools working with the Ewing M. Kauffman Foundation.
The work of the System Design Zone districts in the Success-Ready Students Network will begin this fall and continue through the 2025-26 school year. Some of the key components of a new measurement system would include:
Measuring student growth multiple times throughout the school year
Providing immediate, timely feedback for the student, teacher and parents
Student awareness of where they are and engagement in setting future goals
Active student learning using different pathways and varied pacing
Student progress based on evidence of mastery, not seat time
Student engagement in real-world learning experiences that support high school, college, career and workplace readiness
The Success-Ready Students Workgroup was commissioned by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2022, and this group’s recommendations led to creation of the Success-Ready Students Network, which has been working in collaboration with DESE to create the Demonstration Project that was presented to the state board earlier this year, on June 6. The Demonstration Project includes a School Innovation Waiver request under Missouri Revised Statutes, Chapter 161.214, and is based on the Missouri definition for competency-based learning, to create a model and approach that can ultimately benefit students throughout the state.
"Students are at the center of this work," said Dr. Mike Fulton, Success-Ready Students Network facilitator. "We want to focus on learning, and make sure that this work honors all children in Missouri, developing approaches that meet all of their needs to become high school, college, career and workplace ready."
The current state assessment is designed to provide system-level feedback, and the accountability system, MSIP 6, measures school district performance using lagging indicators. The goal of the Success-Ready Students Network is to shift to better tools that provide ongoing feedback to students, teachers and parents, and support continuous improvement for school districts.
What is the Success-Ready Students Network
The Success-Ready Students Network is a diverse group of 59 Missouri school districts, four universities and 14 state and regional education organizations, working in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Together, they are designing a better way for each student to engage in meaningful learning, demonstrate individual growth and prepare for future success.
School districts in the network serve approximately 30 percent of all Missouri students in grades K-12.
This work has been made possible so far thanks to financial support from the Kauffman Foundation. Looking ahead, the SRSN has submitted a grant proposal to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to secure funding to continue supporting this important work.
For more information about the Success-Ready Students Network, please visit srsnmo.org.