Dear Rich Hill Families and Community Members,
Missouri is preparing to release a new grading system that will give public schools and school districts a letter grade from A to F. Before these grades are made public, I want to explain how the system works, how school accountability has changed over the years, and what these grades will mean for our schools.
Missouri has been evaluating school performance for many years. Through the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP), schools have been evaluated on student achievement, academic growth, graduation rates, and other measures. Over time, the state has repeatedly changed these measures and raised its expectations. As schools have improved, the requirements for earning high scores have often become more difficult.
The new A–F grading system was developed in response to an executive order from Governor Mike Kehoe. It uses many of the same academic measures Missouri already collects but combines them differently to assign each school a single letter grade.
There are three important things I want our families to understand.
First, these grades are not calculated like the grades students receive in the classroom. A school district earning 80% of its available accountability points will not necessarily receive a B. The state uses a separate calculation that gives different amounts of importance to test scores and student growth.
In fact, the statewide results show just how different these calculations can be:
A district receiving an A earned as little as 69.6% of its available accountability points.
A district receiving a B earned as much as 96.0%.
A district receiving a C earned as much as 94.3%.
A district receiving a D earned as much as 83.3%.
Even a district receiving an F earned as much as 77.6% of its available accountability points.
These figures do not mean the grades were calculated incorrectly. They demonstrate that the new letter grades measure and weight academic performance differently from the existing accountability system. The percentage of accountability points a district earns is not the same as its new letter-grade score.
Under the new system, Missouri's 544 school districts received 56 A's, 174 B's, 226 C's, 76 D's, and 12 F's. More than half received a C or lower. However, the governor's executive order specifically defines a C as representing satisfactory student outcomes, not failure.
Second, a letter grade cannot tell the whole story of a school. Test scores are important, but they do not measure everything that makes a school successful. We also know that children come to school with different needs, experiences, and opportunities. Family income and other circumstances outside the classroom can affect academic performance. A single letter cannot fully describe the work of a school, the progress of its students, or the challenges its teachers face.
Third, the state plans to make it harder to earn high grades as more schools succeed. Under the governor's executive order, if 65% of Missouri schools earn an A or B, the requirements for earning letter grades increase by five percentage points.
For example, if an A currently requires a score of 90%, that requirement would increase to 95%. A school earning a 92% could receive an A under the original scale but would no longer qualify for an A after the requirements increase.
The school's performance would not have declined. The state would simply have changed the grading scale.
Think about what that means. Schools across Missouri could improve their test scores and help more students succeed, but the state could then raise the requirements for earning higher grades. Some schools could receive the same grade, or even a lower grade, despite doing a better job of educating their students.
If schools are doing a better job of educating children, shouldn't their grades reflect that improvement?
I believe schools should be held accountable. We have a responsibility to our students, families, and taxpayers to look honestly at our results, celebrate our successes, and work to improve where we fall short. Higher expectations can be a good thing when they encourage schools to help more children succeed.
However, families also deserve to understand that when the state changes the standards, a school's grade may change even when the quality of education has not. A lower letter grade does not automatically mean a school has gotten worse, just as a higher grade does not tell us everything a school is doing well.
At Rich Hill, we will continue to focus on what matters most: helping children learn, supporting their growth, and preparing them for life after graduation. That includes strong academics, but it also includes the relationships students build with teachers, opportunities to participate in activities, and the personal attention that is so important in a small school community.
As these new grades are released, I encourage you to look beyond the letter. Ask how students are improving, what opportunities are available to them, and how our schools are meeting their needs.
Our goal is not simply to earn a better letter grade. Our goal is to provide a better education for every child.
That commitment will remain the same regardless of how Missouri chooses to grade its schools.
Thank you for your continued support of the Rich Hill R-IV School District.
Kevin Goddard
Superintendent
Rich Hill R-IV School District