Sedalia schools meet 13 of 14 standards in annual state evaluation

Sedalia schools met expectations this year, according to an annual report from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Annual Performance Report, known as the APR, is the state’s evaluation of how well a district’s students are performing.

According to information provided by the state, Sedalia met 13  of 14 state standards. 

The district did not meet the state’s goals for its high school students’ performance on the Missouri Assessment Program exams in communication arts or in subgroup achievement, but got a bonus on students’ overall progress on the state exams.

Superintendent Harriet Wolfe said overall, she was pleased with the results.

“Of course, I am always looking for 14 out of 14, and clearly, if we’ve got a ‘not met’ in communication arts at the high school, we’ve got work to do,” she said.

Wolfe pointed to gains in MAP math scores  at the elementary, middle and high schools and to an increase in the district’s graduation rate as bright spots on the report.

The graduation rate, which Wolfe characterized as “something we’re always concerned about,” increased from 85.5 percent to 86.9 percent, which she called “a nice increase.”

The state report differs from the federal Adequate Yearly Progress, which is based on students’ scores on the MAP test, graduation rate and attendance rate. The AYP, part of the No Child Left Behind program, is an all-or-nothing report. If a single grade at a single school within a district fails to meet the federally mandated percentage of proficient students, the district does not meet AYP.

The state APR takes into account students’ scores on the Missouri Assessment Program, or MAP, exams, graduation rates, attendance rates, college placement and participation in career or advanced courses.

Margie Vandeven, director of accountability data and accreditation for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the APR evaluates both how well the district is doing and how much it has improved.

“I think overall, the APR provides an overall better picture of what the school district is able to provide for the students,” she said.

State accreditation is also based on a district’s performance on the APR. Districts that meet six of the 14 criteria are provisionally accredited, and those that meet nine out of 14 are fully accredited.

Smith-Cotton High School, Sedalia Middle School and Heber Hunt Elementary School did not meet the federally mandated targets on the AYP.

Each year, the percentage of students expected to be proficient, as measured by their performances on the state exams, increases. Schools are expected to have 100 percent of their students score as proficient by 2014.

Schools are also judged on the scores of students in various subgroups, such as special education, limited English proficient, white, free and reduced price lunch, Hispanic and black. The school fails if any subgroup — defined as at least 50 students — fails.

Wolfe said she feels the state’s report is a better reflection of how students and the district perform. Some of the federal goals are unrealistic, she said, and she described a district’s effort to meet the ever-increasing benchmarks as “sort of like you’re chasing a moving target.”

Sedalia schools will try to improve in the areas they did not meet in this year’s report, she said.

The district will use the opportunity to move into the new high school as a way to look at changes that could improve student performance, such as the length and schedule of class periods, she said. 

Smaller learning communities, such as the career academies, also play a part in the district’s efforts to improve.

The district met 13 out of 14 of the state’s indicators last year.