Education reports are larger research projects, often evaluating programs and highlighting the results. Here you'll find in-depth description of the data being collected, methods of analysis, previous findings from similar research, and extensive discussion of the results.
We strive to put results in context and understand how they affect Missouri schools and students.
This three-year report provides the first public results on student academic performance across the entire MOScholars program from the 2022-23 school year to the 2024-25 school year, including average performance on nationally normed educational assessments and changes in assessment performance over time, overall and aggregated to different student populations.
Students who participate in the MOScholars program live across the state of Missouri. This report provides a three-year overview of participating students’ geographic location by region, locale, public school district, and legislative district. This report was prepared by the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University for the Missouri State Treasurer’s Office.
Families in St. Louis navigate one of the most decentralized school choice landscapes in the United States, with options spanning district schools, charter schools, magnet programs, private and religious schools, and homeschooling. While this diversity of options expands potential opportunities for families, it also requires parents to independently navigate complex application processes, eligibility rules, transportation systems, and information sources across multiple sectors.
Recently, PRiME’s Executive Director Collin Hitt and contributor Dr. Andrew Camp published a report on Missouri charter school funding in collaboration with Dr. David Griffith. The report examines the intent and impact of Missouri House Bill 1552. The intention behind HB 1552 was to close the funding gap between public and charter schools. Prior to HB 1552, Missouri charter schools received about 25–30 percent less in revenues per pupil than traditional public schools in the same city.
Missouri schools will soon receive state ratings on an A–F scale. For K–8 schools, those grades will be based entirely on test score performance: two existing measures—proficiency and value-added growth—plus a new measure called “growth-to-proficiency” will be combined to create the A–F grades.
Several states already use growth-to-proficiency measures, although each applies a different formula. Missouri is still developing the methodology it will use.
This brief examines data from 8 states that use growth-to-proficiency models and an additional 5 states that use related value-table approaches. We explore a pivotal question: How are schools’growth-to-proficiency scores related to student poverty?
MOScholars is Missouri’s education savings account (ESA) scholarship program, designed to expand access to educational opportunities for eligible students, primarily those with disabilities or from low-income households, through scholarships administered by approved Educational Assistance Organizations (EAOs). These scholarships can be used for tuition, tutoring, therapies, curriculum, and a range of other educational expenses. This report provides a four-year overview of participating student demographics in Missouri’s MOScholars program. The analysis focuses on gender, race/ethnicity, grade level, and Individualized Education Plan (IEP) status for MOScholars students overall and disaggregated by EAO. This report was prepared by the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University for the Missouri State Treasurer’s Office
In this special report, the PRiME Center identifies, recognizes, and celebrates the highest performing schools in the state’s most rural communities. Rather than rank schools according to standardized test scores, the PRiME Center’s popular Growth reports illustrate how much students grew over time. By this standard, we can recognize the most effective schools in the state – the ones that help students achieve the most over a set period of time.
Missouri’s teacher mobility is highest among its early-career teachers, especially those in their first five years of teaching in the state’s public schools. In 2023–24, more than one in five early-career teachers departed their school districts or Missouri public education altogether, modestly less than the pandemic-era high the year prior but substantially higher than long-term trends. The most recent cohorts of new, early-career teachers are leaving Missouri public schools faster than earlier cohorts, placing additional strain on the capacities of teacher preparation programs across the state to produce an increasing number of new teachers. To improve teacher turnover and address chronic teacher shortages in the subject matters and school contexts in which they occur, increased focus should be devoted to early-career teachers through new policy reforms and school labor practices.
The data show that some of the highest growth schools in Missouri also enroll some of the highest percentages of low-income students. Recognizing, rewarding and replicating the successes of these schools is the best path to improving outcomes for the state’s most vulnerable students.
MOScholars is Missouri’s education savings account (ESA) scholarship program, designed to expand access to educational opportunities for eligible students, primarily those with disabilities or from low-income households, through scholarships administered by approved Educational Assistance Organizations (EAOs). These scholarships can be used for tuition, tutoring, therapies, curriculum, and a range of other educational expenses. This report provides a three-year overview of parent satisfaction survey results for families participating in Missouri’s MOScholars program. The analysis focuses on families’ intent to renew their child’s scholarship, satisfaction with academic achievement, satisfaction with school safety, satisfaction with the ClassWallet virtual platform, overall program satisfaction, and suggestions for improvement. This report was prepared by the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University for the Missouri State Treasurer’s Office.