Abstract: When looking at the actual impact that schools are having on student learning, it is vital to look at student growth. This is especially important for schools that enroll high percentages of low-income students. Opposite of growth are single point-in-time measures such as proficiency, which do not adjust for where students start the year. Missouri has the best growth model in the country. This report combines three years of growth data, and then looks at the quartile of Missouri schools enrolling the highest percentage of low-income students. 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.

This 1st Edition of PRiME’s Missouri Three Year Statewide Growth Report which covers data from the 2021-22 and 2023-24 school years.

When we talk about how students are doing in subjects like reading and math, it’s more helpful to look at how much they grow over time rather than just where they stand at one moment. This report continues the PRiME Center’s efforts to highlight Missouri’s excellent schools by examining student growth in the state's most rural schools over the last three years.

There are over one million school-age children in Missouri, and we estimate 61,000 (6% of all school-age children) are homeschooled. Missouri is one of 29 states that does not require homeschooling to be reported. Using methods that can be replicated elsewhere with publicly available data, we test three approaches to estimating homeschool participation: using American Community Survey (ACS) data; subtracting public and estimated private school counts from ACS school-age totals; and polling parents. We comment on the usefulness and limitations of each approach and provide a model for researchers seeking to estimate homeschooling trends in states that lack administrative data.

This 3rd Edition of PRiME’s annual Beating the Odds Growth Report covers data from the 2021—2022 school year.

In this education report we first provide some key background information regarding student mobility and its impact. We then use public data to describe what student mobility looks like across Missouri in comparison to neighboring states. Next, we call attention to the discrepancies in existing Missouri student mobility data and describe possible reasons for these discrepancies. We conclude with implications for education researchers and policy makers.