The State Board of Education has approved a new A-F grading framework for public and charter schools, which is intended to measure student academic achievement and growth toward proficiency in core subjects, as well as graduation rates and graduation readiness in Missouri high schools.
Both public and charter schools will be assessed by an annual grade card; school districts will be assessed as a whole, but also by individual schools within the district. The grade card will be developed and implemented by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools (DESE). The state board approved the framework on Sept. 15.
DESE was instructed to create the framework through an executive order that was signed by Governor Mike Kehoe in January.
“We appreciate DESE’s work to develop this proposal and look forward to reviewing it as we continue to put students first and strengthen education across our state,” Kehoe stated in a news release. “Parents deserve clear, easy-to-understand information about how schools are performing so they can make the best decisions for their children. The A-F framework is about bringing greater transparency and accountability to Missouri’s education system by giving greater weight to student outcomes rather than the administrative process.”
Each school and district will receive a grade of A through F, though “the scale can be adjusted to increase rigor when more than 65% of schools earn an A or B,” according to DESE. Once the 65% threshold is reached in the A and B categories, the scale will automatically shift upward five percentage points the subsequent year. For instance, in the following year, schools would need to reach the 94% threshold to receive an A, rather than the current threshold of 89%.
This system was built into Kehoe’s executive order in order to “prevent stagnation and ensure continued improvement in student outcomes,” though concerns have been raised about the normative curve these rankings would create.
“If schools across Missouri genuinely improve, or if a large number of schools are consistently performing at high levels, I think we should view that as success,” Hancock Place School District Superintendent Kevin Carl said. “Automatically moving the threshold because more schools succeed creates the possibility that a school could improve its actual outcomes and still receive a lower grade because the standard changed.”
Carl said that he believes there are still “important technical details that need to be worked through.” He believes that districts should have the opportunity to review data and calculations, identify problems and understand the framework’s methodology before these letter grades are publicly assigned.
“I support accountability and high standards, and I believe parents and communities deserve clear, understandable information about how their schools are performing,” Carl said. “My concern is making sure the information we provide is accurate, meaningful and based on a methodology that has been thoroughly tested.”
Grade cards — which will provide a more detailed look at how scoring works and what these districts will be assessed on — are still in development. Grade cards for the 2026-2027 school year will be released to the school districts on March 31.
“We do have some concerns with a possible rushed implementation and lack of a detailed scoring metric,” Mehlville School District Superintendent Jeff Haug said. “We would like for DESE to pilot the initial release timeline by providing districts an opportunity to view the reports and validate calculations.”
Haug added, “We are awaiting the technical details of this system, including the scoring metric, which DESE is still developing. Area superintendents are looking forward to an opportunity to provide DESE with additional feedback once those details are shared.”
At Lindbergh Schools, Chief Academic Officer Tara Sparks will make a presentation on the A-F grading framework at the Oct. 15 Board of Education workshop, which will be held at 4 p.m.
“Right now, our district administration team, specifically Teaching and Learning, is doing everything we can to learn more about the A-F framework and build our understanding of what it will mean for Lindbergh Schools,” Chief Communications Officer Beth Johnston said.
Currently, one-time and annual recurring expenses for this assessment are estimated at $518,000 and $715,100, respectively, in categories like development, platform and display, annual processing and literacy reporting.
“I am concerned that an additional assessment reporting system, that will cost additional money, has been added to the already full plates of staff members at (DESE) and the school districts across Missouri,” Affton School District Superintendent Travis Bracht said.
Bracht added, “I am not sure that it is necessary to spend money creating an additional reporting system that could lead to confusion about how it is the same or different from our current reporting system.” He cited similarities to the Annual Performance Report (APR) and Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP 6).
