Changes to Missouri’s A+ schools program, which include requiring students to score advanced or proficient on the Algebra I end-of-course exam, are intended to strengthen the program, according to Leroy Wade, the Missouri Department of Higher Education’s assistant commissioner for financial assistance.

“Primarily, (the changes are) intended to make sure that students that enter the program and receive A+ funding are college ready, will proceed directly through the program … (and are) moving in an expeditious way toward a credential, whether a certificate or degree,” Wade told the Call.

The grant program awards funding to students who complete all necessary requirements and continue studies at a technical/vocational school or two-year community college.

Changes to the A+ program, which take effect with the class of 2015, include, among other requirements:

• Allowing 12.5 of the 50 required mentoring hours to be job shadowing.

• Scoring advanced or proficient on the Algebra I end-of-course, or EOC, exam or completing the first semester at a postsecondary institution with a 2.5 grade-point average.

• Ineligibility for funding if enrolled in courses that lead to a theology or divinity degree.

• Completing 105 percent of the required hours for a chosen program of study after high school graduation.

The Algebra I requirement was added to address college readiness, according to Wade.

“A lot of research says students who take and do well in rigorous kinds of math coursework are typically better prepared for college-level work,” Wade said.

Ryan Sherp, Lindbergh High School assistant principal and A+ program coordinator, told the Call though meeting the Algebra I requirement will be challenging for certain students, it could help them if they seek additional tutoring.

“I don’t think (the new requirements) are going to diminish too many people from taking advantage of (the A+ program),” Sherp said. “… If it causes some kids to get more tutoring and remediation in algebra early on in their high school career, it might actually end up being a really good thing for them.”

Students who fail to score advanced or proficient on the algebra exam, but complete all other A+ requirements, can attend a vocational/technical school or community college for one semester as a full-time student to earn re-eligibility into the program.

“As a part of that (Algebra I EOC) requirement, the department felt that we needed to provide for an alternative method so students not able score (at that) level still have an opportunity to rehab eligibility, if you will,” Wade said.

The A+ program will not pay for that first semester because, according to Wade, students “technically aren’t eligible.”

Alicia Landers, Mehlville Senior High assistant principal and A+ program coordinator, told the Call A+ coordinators have to make sure parents and students understand students can still qualify for the program even if they do not score proficient or advanced on the EOC exam.

“I understand for some people math is a foreign language to them, and that doesn’t mean they are not college material,” Landers said. “So we just have to do a real good job as A+ coordinators making sure everybody understands that new guideline.”

Including job shadowing as an option to complete the required mentoring hours came from high schools, according to Wade, to help make connections in the world of work.

“It came out of the government’s work group. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education representative on that (committee) had recommended that in response to suggestions that they had received from high schools …,” Wade said.

For Sherp, the inclusion of job shadowing stood out.

“Anytime you’re getting kids out in the work force and (they will) be able to have an opportunity to have a vision of what the work world might look like first hand, I think is good …,” Sherp said.

A new exception to eligibility is that students who enroll in studies leading to theology or divinity degrees are not eligible for A+ funding. Wade said that is because of a constitutional provision that restricts use of state funds on specific religion or theology.

“That’s a common provision you find in all financial-aid programs,” Wade said.

Article IX, Section 8 of the Missouri Constitution states, “Neither the General Assembly, nor any county, city, town, township, school district or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation or pay from any public fund whatever, anything in aid of any religious creed, church or sectarian purpose …”

The Missouri Department of Higher Education, or DHE, took over the A+ program in 2010 after it was transferred to the DHE by executive order.

In the DHE’s first year of ownership, it continued to operate the program the same way DESE operated it, while DHE went through the process of putting together new rules, Wade said.

Changes will not occur every year or every six months, according to Wade, and once the most recent changes are finalized, no more will be made in the near future.