Mt. Vernon schools gain in annual review

Academic challenges, teacher shifts create issues
 
The Mt. Vernon school board took its first look at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Annual Performance Review for the district at its November meeting. The district finished with an overall score of 81.8 percent, out of 100. Although only a middling score, it is a six-point improvement over last year’s score. While Superintendent Christina West saw definite gains, areas of concern surfaced.
West noted that out of 136 possible points, Mt. Vernon earned 101.5, finishing in the 75 percent range. The district earned 31 and 31.5 points for academic achievement growth and status, out of a possible 46 points. On “success-ready students,” the district earned 15 of 20 points. On standards and documentation directed by the administration, items such as conducting the climate and culture survey, writing a continuous improvement program, and responding to standards, the district earned 59 or 60 points, only falling short on “success-ready” measures.In total points, the district tallied a score of 160.5 points out of 196 or 81.8 percent, placing the district fourth of the nine schools in the Big 8 Conference. That reflected a rise from a score of 75.5 percent last year.

Academic growth
On academic growth, a model West said is difficult to explain and represents a moving target, the district improved from 62 percent in the previous review to 68.4 percent.
DESE’s charts showed comparisons between “all students” and specific student groups. In English language arts, the district rated “approaching” for all students at 50 percent, while student groups under review hit “on-track” at 75 percent. West noted moving from “emerging” to “approaching” for all students marked a major gain.
The district had 91.9 percent graduation in the year, compared to 92.7 percent statewide, meeting the target of at least 90 percent. In the previous year, the district had no graduation projection. Ratings for success-ready students were mixed. The greatest success came from 40.6 percent of students earning dual credits. Students deemed ready to take advanced placement courses only tallied 1.1 percent.

College, career readiness
In the category of college and career readiness, measured by the number of students taking the ACT college entrance exams and occupational interest tests, West said the district did not get any credit this year, after correcting a problem last year. She said efforts will focus on correcting that next year.
Attendance, an area West said all districts find challenging, saw Mt. Vernon at 84.9 percent for the year, compared to 82.9 percent for the state.

Other findings
Liz Elsey, director of academic services, went deeper into the scoring on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test numbers that reflected how student performance is measured.
She noted the English language arts and math numbers for the third grade scored above the state average, and the fourth-grade cohort for the Class of 2033 showed “great growth” in English language arts and math. Overall, English language arts rated “on-track,” a step above last year’s “approaching” status, though growth still classified as “approaching.”
Math growth rated “on-track” for all students two years in a row. The specific student group the state looked at bounced up from “emerging” the year before to “on-track” in the latest review. Fourth grade math showed the greatest growth. Seventh grade math had 42 percent of students in proficient and advanced, the top tier of scoring.
Identifying opportunities for improvement, Elsey pointed to several areas. She noted the district placed a high priority on reading for sixth grade after the shutdown. Two separate classes provided instruction until last year, when they were combined. Staff changes were credited with several issues.
In math, Elsey observed that fifth and sixth grades taught the subject quite differently, causing transition difficulties. “We’re looking for a new math curriculum for sixth grade next year,” she said, leading to a better alignment with state standards.
High school algebra 1 saw the most stark score shift, going from a score of 67 to 17. Principal Garrett Prevo took much of the blame for this on himself. Noting the subject has “historically been a challenge for us,” last year had a change of personnel with one brand new teacher and another with one year of experience. “I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do a great job supporting them. I thought there was more collaboration. I made some assumptions that weren’t true.” He added the two teachers “really put in time and effort in this year.”
“We’ve got to do a better job on curriculum,” Prevo continued. “The teacher is always the most important part. When we have a change of instructor, we’ve got to have not as dramatic a change.”
In social studies, all students rated “approaching” at 25 percent of the goal, while the individual student group was too small and didn’t even earn a rating. This included government instruction. Elsey said more effort is going into preparing for the government test. She noted several pieces of that subject had not been taught at the lower grades. Steps were being taken to make that instruction more foundational. Overall, social studies rated only at “emerging.”
Science, in contrast, had the district’s highest rating, hitting the target. All students and the student group DESE looked at hit the target at 100 percent.