PRiME Growth Report: Special Edition

Written By SLU PRiME

Average Academic Growth Across the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 School Years

By : Courtney Vahle, Ed.D.

Published On: July 25, 2025

Missouri has the strongest “Growth Model” of any state. When looking at reading and math test scores, growth is far superior to status measures (such as “proficiency”) when it comes to the work that schools are doing and the impacts that they are having on student learning over time. Different students start out each year in different positions. The Missouri Growth Model estimates how much each student grows each year, and how growth differs across schools.

Since 2019 the PRiME Center has issued reports that feature the highest growth schools in Missouri, translating state growth data into a scale that parents, educators and policymakers can use. Our recent Special Edition of the PRiME Growth Report Series examines the average PRiME Growth Scores of schools since COVID, over the three periods where we have full data: the 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 school years.

Some of the highest performing schools in Missouri are located within St. Louis and Kansas City proper. Saint Louis Public Schools, Kansas City Public Schools and their neighboring charter school sectors all have schools that are among the highest-performing in Missouri, when it comes to academic growth.

The highest-performing elementary school in Missouri, in terms of Math growth, is in rural Missouri. The highest performing elementary school in ELA is in suburban St. Louis. 

The PRiME Center Growth Reports show that extremely high-impact schools can be found in virtually every type of Missouri locale, serving vastly different groups of students. This would not be evident to anyone looking at status measures such as proficiency or state performance indices.  

A next step for researchers and policymakers is to examine what these schools are doing to produce such extraordinary results. Data systems don’t often track the practices and strategies in use at the school level. Step one in that exploratory process is talking to the right schools. This is the motivation for the PRiME Center Growth Report Series. Something different is happening at the schools highlighted within the full report. 

Read the full report here: www.primecenter.org/growth-reports-database/3-year-growth



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