November 25, 2024

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the latest scores for school districts across the state. This formation is embargoed until November 25 at 9 AM. First, we’d like to explain a little more about what these results are and what they mean for our district. 

What is the APR? 

Missouri’s DESE has an accountability model for school districts called the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP). To score districts on their performance and improvement, DESE uses an Annual Performance Report (APR). 

As a district, we received 88.2%, an increase over prior year of 7.7%. It’s important to note that the data noted in the APR is from the spring of 2024. While this data has just recently been packaged and released to the public, our school district has had access to certain pieces of it since the start of this school year. Therefore, we’ve already implemented action steps to address the needs of our students and continue to do so on a regular basis. Click here to see a comparison of 2022, 2023 and 2024 APRs by building and district.

Below, we’d like to share some celebrations and opportunities for improvement we’ve drawn out of our APR score. 

Celebrations

• English Language Arts (ELA) was the strongest area overall. Osage Middle School and Upper Elementary scored 12 out of 12.  In both status and growth, students scored significantly higher. 

• Growth scores remain positive for both Osage High School and Osage Middle School.

• At the high school level, students are expected to complete one of the following Success-Ready measures in the area of College & Career Readiness (CCR). There are several assessments available for a student to achieve a qualifying score: ACT, SAT, WorkKeys, ACCUPLACER or ASVAB.  The state expectation for this measure is 71.5% of graduating seniors achieve this goal.  During the 2023-2024 school year, 73.6% met a qualifying score. 

• The 4-year graduation rate remains consistently high earning all 20 points available for the area.  Osage High School graduation rate in 2023-2024 was 97.9%.

Opportunities for Improvement

• Attendance continues to be a challenge K-12 for the district.  The state expectation is for all students to attend school 90% of the school calendar days (143 student calendar days * 90% = 129 days of attendance).  During the 2023-2024 school year, 77% of our students met this goal. 

• In MSIP 6, Status and Growth points are earned independent of the other and not combined for a total. We must understand each student’s learning path and continually support them to reach their individual goals.

• Science and math continue to be an area for opportunity.

We plan to celebrate these wins with our staff members, while we create action steps as we look to improve our school district based on the results of this report. As always, we continue to pursue educational excellence for our students.