Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s to grade public schools on an “A” through “F” scale is pushing House lawmakers to approve legislation some think isn’t quite ready.

With approval and dissent on both sides of the aisle, the House voted a to create a new school accountability system through to the Senate 96-53 Thursday despite concerns the letter grades could be a “scarlet letter” for underperforming schools.

“Will this labeling system actually improve schools or will it mostly brand communities, destabilize staffing and incentivize gaming rather than learning?” asked state Rep. Kem Smith, a Democrat from Florissant, during House debate Tuesday morning.

She said the key metrics that determine the grade, performance and growth, are volatile.

“The label itself can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” she said. “The bill doubles down on high stakes metrics that are known to be unstable.”

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Dane Diehl, a Republican from Butler, told lawmakers that a performance-based school report card with “A” through “F” grades is inevitable. The details, though, are negotiable.

“The governor’s executive order, it is going to happen either way,” he said. “I think we tried to make that process a little better for school districts.”

Kehoe’s order directs the state’s education department to draw up a plan for the report cards and present it to the State Board of Education. The board could reject the idea, but with a board with primarily new members appointed by Kehoe, lawmakers have accepted the system as fate.

State Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly and chair of the House’s education committee, that he prioritized the bill as a way to give lawmakers influence over the final outcome. He is happy with the , which gives the education department more leeway to determine grade thresholds and removes a provision that would raise expectations once 65% of schools achieve “A” or “B” grades.

The House also approved an amendment Tuesday that would grade schools’ environment. This would be based on the rates of student suspension, seclusion and restraint incident rates and satisfaction surveys given to students, parents and teachers.

The Senate’s version, which passed out of its education committee last week, does not include those changes.

“I think (the House bill) is the best product we have in the Capitol right now,” Lewis said. “I am not saying it’s complete, but it is the best we have right now.”

The changes have softened some skeptics of the legislation, like state Rep. Brad Pollitt.

Pollitt, a Sedalia Republican, said he didn’t support the legislation “for a number of years.” But with the edits, he sees potential for the legislation to usher in changes to the way the state accredits public schools.

The current process, he said, “nobody seems to like,” pointing to widespread concerns with the state’s standardized test.

Some of these changes are already happening quietly. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received a grant from the federal government to develop a state assessment based on through-year testing, which would measure student growth throughout the school year, instead of a single summative assessment.

The department is poised to pilot the new test in 14 classrooms this spring, hoping to eventually offer it statewide within a few years. But the estimated startup cost of $2 million is one of many department requests cut from the governor’s proposed budget as the .

Creating the “A” through “F” report cards is estimated to cost a similar amount, if not more, according to the state’s . The expense is largely frontloaded, going to the programming and technology support required to create the grade cards’ interface.

When The Independent asked Kehoe’s office about the fiscal note, the governor’s communications director Gabby Picard said he would work with “associated agencies” to determine appropriate funding “while remaining mindful of the current budget constraints and maintaining fiscal responsibility.”

The House’s version of the legislation includes an incentive program for high-performing schools, giving bonuses to go toward teacher recruitment and retention, if the legislature appropriates funding for the program.

The bill originally proposed incentives of $50-100 per student to subsidize teacher pay. This had large fiscal implications, and Lewis surmised that it would violate a section of the State Constitution prohibiting bonuses for public employees.

Making the funding optional and directing it to the school’s teacher recruitment and retention fund remedied those concerns. The Senate Education Committee removed the incentive program in its version of the legislation.

The House’s approval Thursday does not stop discussion and possible amendments. Next, the bill will go to the Senate for consideration, and if any changes are made, it will return to the House for more discussion.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

Although the majority of Maryland’s public schools experienced no change this year in the state Department of Education’s five-star rating system, there was a statewide decrease of schools to receive top-star status.

According to data released Dec. 13, 85 schools received five stars during the 2022-23 school year, compared to 215 schools from the 2021-22 school year.

One main reason for the difference stems from absenteeism, a measure in the rating system that wasn’t used two years ago because of chronic absenteeism related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new report cards also include an assessment of academic growth of elementary and middle school students and eighth-grade social studies scores from the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP).

“This is a new baseline year for Maryland, in terms of where we are and where we want to be,” interim State Superintendent Carey Wright said in a statement. “Due to the difference in calculating results between the two school years, we cannot make perfect comparisons. However, we celebrate those districts and schools that showed success and we will continue to support those that faced challenges.”

This year’s report card shows 557 schools garnered a three-star rating, compared to 431 from two years ago. Schools with a four-star rating are nearly the same with 409 schools in the new report card, versus 413 from the 2021-22 academic year.

About 234 schools received a two-star rating, compared to 213 schools two years ago.

Twenty-five schools received a one-star rating, according to the new state data. Approximately 39 schools garnered a one-star rating two years ago.

Slightly more than 1,300 schools received between a one- to five-star rating based on a 100-point accountability system that awards each school up to five stars based on a formula that seeks to measure overall performance.

Schools that receive at least 75% of all possible points receive five stars.

Factors assessed in the report card system in elementary, middle and high schools include academic achievement, progress in achieving English language proficiency and school quality and student progress.

Academic progress is an additional measure for elementary and middle schools; graduation rate and readiness for postsecondary success are additional measures in high school.

The state began the star system in 2018 in response to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The state released a second , but star ratings weren’t issued in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.

School system data

Montgomery County Public Schools, the state’s biggest school system, housed the most schools with five stars at 24. Three high schools received five stars: Poolesville, Walt Whitman and Thomas S. Wootton. The other five-star schools are all elementary schools.

Nineteen schools received a five-star status in Baltimore County, including Fifth District and Sparks elementaries and Hereford High.

Howard County had 12 schools that received a five-star status, including Centennial Lane and Worthington elementaries and River Hill High.

The state’s second-largest school system, Prince George’s County, had three schools with five stars: Glenarden Woods and Heather Hills elementaries and Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George’s Community College.

Prince George’s had 27 schools that received a four-star rating and had the highest number of schools with three stars at 107, according to state data.

Baltimore public schools recorded the highest number of schools with two stars at 50 and those with one star totaling 15.

The city did have two schools that received a five-star rating: Baltimore School for the Arts and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.

“Our focus is on making transformational educational change for students,” state board President Clarence Crawford said in a statement. “While there are signs of progress and many successes to highlight, we must continue to focus on seeing real, improved outcomes for children.”

For more information on individual schools and other data, go to the .

Editor’s Note: Due to a technical error, this story was updated to correct references to schools that received five stars on the state report card, as well as the number of schools that received a four-star rating. 

This was originally published in Maryland Matters.