Sweet Springs School Superintendent Lori Price reported on the New Missouri School Improvement Plan Review during a recent Sweet Springs School Board meeting.

Superintendent Price reported that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has transitioned from Missouri School Improvement Plan Five (MSIP-5) to Missouri School Improvement Plan Six (MSIP-6). School districts earn their accreditation based on the score of the MSIP-6 standards, which consist of performance standards and continuous improvement standards.

The performance standards will account for seventy percent of the accreditation score and consist of academic achievement, student group achievement, success-ready students, graduation rate and follow up.

The continuous improvement standards will account for thirty percent of the accreditation score and will directly relate to each district’s Continuous School Improvement Plan and how that plan addresses the continuous improvement standards. These include leadership, collaborative climate and culture, assessments being aligned with Missouri Learning Standards, effective teaching and learning, data-based decision making and equity and access.

In addition, the state department requests districts conduct climate and culture surveys on students in grades three through twelve. Districts are not scored on the results of those surveys but do receive a score for conducting it. DESE randomly selected school districts to participate in the the first review year of 2022-2023 and Sweet Springs was one of many schools chosen.