A recent study has the Mehlville School District tied for top in the state when measuring return on investment.

The national report from the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, found that the Mehlville School District has a great return on in-vestment.

When stacked against the 523 Missouri school districts studied for the report, the Mehlville School District is tied for the top in two of three measurement categories including “Basic Return on Investment” and “Adjusted Return on Investment,” according to a district news release.

The study, a district-by-district evaluation of U.S. education productivity, is a culmination of a yearlong effort to evaluate the efficiency of the nation’s public education system and includes the first-ever attempt to measure the academic achievement a school district produces relative to its educational spending while controlling for factors outside a district’s control, such as cost of living and students in poverty.

“Our plan in the Mehlville School District is and always will be to do the very best we can with what we have,” Deputy Superintendent Eric Knost stated in the release. “Ultimately our goal is to advance student achievement regardless of obstacles.”

Nearly all U.S. public school districts with a total enrollment of 250 or more students were evaluated in the study. Of the 523 districts in Missouri, 41 were included in the top tier. Only two St. Louis County districts were listed in this elite group for their student achievement per dollar spent — Mehlville and Rockwood.

“Our study found that Mehlville provided an above-average bang for its buck relative to other districts in the state on most of our metrics,” explained Ulrich Boser, the report’s author.

Displayed on an interactive map and graph on the center’s website, visitors can see how Mehlville measures against other Missouri districts. Basic ROI is calculated utilizing a formula displayed in the report.

The results for Mehlville place the district at the top of the highest of six tiers, shown in dark green on the website.

“This study is strong validation of the fact that our staff, administration and board work together to produce the highest achievement at the lowest cost,” Knost stated.

The report and an interactive map can be found by visiting the center’s website at

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Click on issues, then education.