When the Purdy school district received its first Annual Performance Review (APR) based on the Missouri School Improvement Plan 6 (MSIP6) in 2022, one thing was clear — there was work to be done.
Travis Graham, Purdy superintendent, said the district was disappointed in its score of 70.3 percent, and improvements mainly needed to be made in English language arts, math and science.
One year later, focused efforts on those areas has paid off, as the district’s score rose 10.2 percent to a total score of 80.5 percent, ranking Purdy in the 170s out of about 511 total districts.
“This is my third year here, but this journey started in my first year,” Graham said. “When the 2022 APR came out, we realized drastic improvements needed to be made. Myself and the board had a very transparent discussion on our deficiencies in academics and where we needed to close the gaps.”
Performance in the APR is ranked in nine categories: English status, math status, science status, social studies status, English growth, math growth, success-ready students, graduation rate and graduation follow up. Status scores are based on the state’s standardized MAP and EOC testing, and growth scores are calculated based on the school’s testing from pre-, mid-, and post-course assessments.
Purdy’s English, math and science status scores in 2022 all came in at 50 percent, considered approaching the goal, and social studies was at 75 percent, considered on track. However, the district fell below average in English and math growth, under 40 percent in all four points categories.
Graham said to address the issue, school officials revamped its curriculum.
“We broke down what we were teaching, how we were teaching it and if it was impacting kids the way it needed to be,” he said. “We identified English language arts and math and purchased new curriculum specifically at the elementary level, then we had instructional conversations with the staff and identified what we did during the school day that did not have a big impact.
“We focused on student growth and meeting student needs, and that’s what impacted our score. We had all the right people, but not the right curriculum or instruction.”
The effort paid off in big ways in 2023, as the growth in English, math and science proved exceptional. In English and math growth specifically, Purdy went from scoring 11.3 out of 36 points to 26.8, moving the district from below average to average in three of the four categories and above average in one. An English status score also moved from 50 percent to 75 percent, on track instead of approaching..
In 2022, total APR points available were 178, and Purdy scored 125.3. In 2023, the available points rose to 184, and Purdy totaled 148.3.
“My motto was that we wanted to move the needle and improve instruction and performance,” Graham said. “It may sound cheesy, but I would say, ‘Is it good for kids?’ If we can’t say it’s good for kids, why are we doing it? We still have improvements to be made, but K-12, we are making sure to put the right things in the minds of kids and teach them the right things.”
Graham said to reach its goals, the district focused on its Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP), which helped identify areas in need of improvement. That is how the combination of curriculum and instructional changes came about.
“The curriculum is just a tool for teachers to use, and yes, we switched, but there was a bigger focus on how we teach,” Graham said. “At the elementary level, we adjusted to small-group instruction, working with only 4-5 kids in a a small group for more specific feedback while other students completed another task. That had a great impact and improved instruction because it’s a focused effort.
“In the past, we have tried to make this or that better, but this time, we put some intention behind our words and made them purposeful.”
Graham said the district’s ranking among the more than 500 Missouri districts is improving, and Purdy wants to continue on an upward trajectory.
“If we can go up just 4.5 percent more overall, e can be in the top 100,” he said. “When we think about reaching that goal, our focus will have to be on status. There are strategies, tools and resources for MAP and EOC tests, and we plan to tap into those resources. We are trying to keep our growth as-is and bring our status scores up.”
Though raising test scores is the goal now, Graham said the district is not intending to teach to the tests.
“We want to make sure we are not compromising the relevance of public education,” he said. “We just want to improve in state test performance. Prepping our students for job interviews and putting their best foot forward, that is the mindset from a teacher perspective. We want improvement to be a byproduct of hard work instilled in our students and a quality education.
“We hope to perform well on assessments, but we want our kids to perform well in life. The ultimate goal is to graduate students prepared for college, career and life. I am super proud of our kids and teachers, and [the APR growth] is exciting, but we know we still have more work to do.”
