DESE hands out district report cards

Ash Grove, Republic, Willard school districts scores all decline from last year
 
The annual performance report has been released for area schools by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). As part of the yearly report, schools are graded on their performance and on their continual growth. Ash Grove, Republic and Willard school districts all dropped in APR scores compared to last year’s tally.
The APR scoring is conducted using two major categories, performance totals and continuous improvement. Within these, the APR report breaks down into subcriteria, with the performance metric analyzing district achievement based on current status in each of the major subjects, as well as growth in each of the major subjects. The continuous improvement section mostly recognizes the district’s adherence to an improvement plan.
Ash Grove
Ash Grove earned a total score of 81.6 percent, earning 160 out of 196 points, falling from 86.7 percent last season. Much of the points lost was in the performance metric, as they earned nearly all of the available points under the continuous improvement section. Ash Grove has hovered around the 85 percent mark for the past few years, reaching their highest recent total of 87 percent in 2023. Since then, it has been in decline, especially in the performance criteria. Where once they earned a steady average of about 81 percent, now they hold only a 74 percent. In contrast, though, the district has continuously done well in the Continuous Improvement section of the report, pulling a 98.3 percent in the section this year.
The largest individual section of poor achievement in the performance section was the mathematics growth portion, where all students earned 25 percent of what was available as opposed to the selected student group earning 50 percent.

Republic
Republic found themselves earning an 85.7 percent overall score, receiving 171.5 points out of 200 available. In the performance category, the school earned 80.3 percent, but in the continuous improvement metric, the school earned 98.3 percent. Last year the district earned a total of 87 percent across the two metrics, with 85 percent in 2023. The school has historically taken the largest hit in the performance metric, earning a similar score in 2024 and 2023. Most of their poor performance in the performance criteria came from their low scoring in the growth metrics of math, science and social studies.

Willard
Willard also saw a decrease in their APR totals, this year earning 88.7 percent of total points. Willard scored 177.5 out of 200 across both categories. Last year the district held an exemplary score of 90 percent, jumping up from 81.6 percent and 79.5 percent in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The district garnered 84.6 percent in the performance and 98.3 percent in the continuous improvement sections.
Willard did fairly well across the board, only grabbing below 75 percent of points available in English Language Arts status.