THE SUPERINTENDENT’S CORNER

We have a very exciting piece of news we are anxious to share.  Each year every public school district in the State of Missouri is judged on four different criteria and either receive a MET or NOT MET evaluation.  The Distinction in Performance Award is based on the 14 academic performance standards that are the basis of the state’s accreditation program for all school districts.  The standards are based on scores from the state-mandated MAP tests, graduation rate, attendance, ACT scores and other indicators.  This information is reported through the APR (Annual Performance Report) for the district.  St. James R-I Schools is happy to announce that we have received evaluations of MET in all 14 areas.  The areas that are measured and scored for each district are as follows:  Communication Arts; Math; Attendance Rate; and Graduation Rate.  The most important component of that evaluation is the MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) testing done for students in grades 3 – 11.  Students are tested in Communication Arts (Language Arts), Math, Social Science (Studies) and Science.  These tests are rigorous and are given over the course of several days.  Each test will consist of Performance Event Questions/Answers, Constructive Response Questions/Answers and Multiple Choice Questions/Answers.  They will also consist of essay writing (in all subject areas) and completing diagrams and other knowledge-based questions.  Multiple choice questions are actually a small part of the testing – students have to KNOW the material in order to score well.  We are proud to announce this to our community and to publicly thank our teachers for all their hard work developing curriculum and lesson plans and to our students and their parents for taking school and learning seriously.