Missouri’s proposed A–F school grading system, including its $1.2 million projected cost and reliance on standardized testing data. Let's explore concerns about how the system could affect teachers, students, and schools, particularly those facing challenges such as poverty and staffing shortages. We look at how similar systems have affected other states and questions whether the plan would meaningfully improve student achievement or instead increase pressure on educators and schools.
The Department of Education requested a budget of just under nine billion dollars. After going through the fiscal year budget, all this money has a place to go towards. The foundation formula, special education, and state schools take the biggest amount from the budget. One thing that was not included in the budget by Governor Kehoe is the proposed plan to grade Missouri schools. Within the first year, we would spend $ 1.2 million on this newly proposed idea. Stakeholders want to roll out this plan starting this year without funding. This would mean funding would have to come from lawmakers, or other areas of the budget would have to be cut to support this framework.
The twenty-four-page framework states how the grading will work for schools. The grading will consist of ELA and math scores, growth, and, for high school, ACT scores and graduation rates. This information will come from state testing. If you were to look up any school or school district, you would find this information is already available to parents, staff, and students. The data is available to anyone interested in moving to the area and who wants to send their students to a successful school. Governor Kehoe wants to spend $ 1.2 million to, in simpler terms, "dumb down" data that has been available for years into an A-F grading system.
State testing has been looked down upon by educators for a while, yet Kehoe's plans rely heavily on these tests. Educators are told time and time again not to "teach to the test," but with Kehoe's plan, this is almost exactly what educators have to do in order for their school to get the grade that they need, considering that 38% of K-8 schools' scores are based on academic achievement level. Education is a complex system with many factors that affect each school, such as poverty levels, student mobility, staffing, and local programs. This system does not account for the unique challenges each school has and labels them with a rigid A-F grading system.
Around the country, states have tried this framework before, and many have yet to see a payoff. A growing list of states has decided to repeal this system because of its lack of growth in its schools, penalization of underfunded schools, and narrowed teaching to only work on test prep. Other schools have stuck with this system and rely on the "State Takeover," which is when schools consistently get an "F" grade, and the state will remove locally elected school board members and appoint new ones, which has been seen as hitting lower-income areas. Not only are other states trying to remove this system, but Missouri does not want it either. After passing through the House with a 96-53 vote, it completely stalled in the Senate. The lack of legislative backing led to Executive Order 26-01.
This has yet to affect my teaching career. Being in a non-state testing grade, the pressure is immensely taken off students so that they can learn in an environment where they get to do exactly that. Learn. Since this framework will take Lexile scores into account for students who are not taking these tests, the pressure increases on them, as now their learning to read is tied to their school's score. Even as a teacher, I am constantly checking after a common assessment to see how my students did compared to the district, for my personal sense of how I am doing as a teacher. As someone who eventually wants to move into administration at the school level and, eventually, the district level, this will also add pressure on them. Our district should be working together, not comparing our schools to one another. I do not believe this framework will increase proficiency in Missouri schools, and that our money, time, and energy should be focused elsewhere.