Missouri Schools are More Than a Letter

Stop Rushed A-F Labels for Missouri Schools

Our Schools Are More Than a Letter Grade: Demand Real Support for Missouri Classrooms

Every child in Missouri deserves a great public school that nurtures their curiosity, expands their opportunities, and provides the tools they need to succeed-no matter their zip code.

Following Executive Order 26-01, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the State Board of Education are moving rapidly toward imposing a reductive A-F letter grade on public school buildings and districts. Even worse, they are moving to impose this policy without adequate time for feedback from parents, educators, or the community before the vote. This flawed scheme collapses complex, dynamic school environments into a single arbitrary score. Decades of research show that letter-grade accountability schemes do not measure instructional quality; instead, they mirror community income and punish under-resourced neighborhoods.

Rushing to publish summative labels harms our classrooms today:

• Eats into Crucial Learning Time: Pushing state testing earlier in the spring compresses calendars and forces teachers to assess students before completing the curriculum.
  
• Relies on Narrow Metrics: A single label reduces whole schools to partial standardized test results, ignoring career pathways, music, arts, student mental health, and individual growth.
  
• Diverts Resources and Strains Staff: Shortened data windows pull educators away from one-on-one student support to rush administrative paperwork.
  
• Worsens Educator Shortages: Slapping punitive labels on struggling districts demoralizes educators and fuels turnover in communities that need stability most.

Federal law (ESSA) does not require punitive labels. True accountability must be diagnostic, capacity-building, and designed to direct resources and coaching to the classrooms that need them.