LTE: The Grade Is Not the Cake. It Is the Toothpick.

Dr. Gearl Loden’s recent letter in these pages mentions me by name, which surprised me, since we have never met. For readers now picturing someone seven feet tall with horns: I am five-foot-nine (and a half). I grew up in a small town outside St. Louis, was the first in my family to graduate from college, on a scholarship to Washington University, and began my career teaching in high-poverty schools. A good education changed the course of my life. I have spent the years since working so that every Missouri child gets the same chance.

Dr. Loden asks which outside organizations helped shape Missouri’s new A–F grade cards. It is a fair question, and the honest answer is a lot of us. Governor Kehoe set this work in motion with his executive order, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the State Board of Education have done the hard work of building it. Along the way they heard from superintendents, teachers, school board members, researchers, parents and community organizations across the state. The Opportunity Trust was glad to be one of those voices. Like many others, we submitted written comments, attended community meetings and shared our perspective with policymakers. The Board took some of that feedback and set some aside, which is how a public process should work.

Why did we weigh in? Superintendents, school boards and teachers are ably represented in Jefferson City by associations such as MASA, MSBA and MNEA, with multimillion-dollar budgets, professional staff and lobbyists. Missouri’s families have no equivalent. Speaking up for the parent who simply wants to know how her child’s school is doing is what we do.

Dr. Loden writes that he does not oppose A–F grades, only releasing them before they are ready. I take him at his word, and I think we agree on more than his letter suggests. No one wants a careless system. This is not one. The framework draws on lessons from the fastest-improving states in the country and was built with researchers affiliated with the University of Missouri. The State Board has already delayed the public release so that districts could review their results first. In October it added weight to student growth, the measure that credits schools for the progress their students make, wherever those students start.

Dr. Loden knows this recipe better than most. He led the schools in Tupelo, Mississippi, from 2012 to 2018. Mississippi issued its first A–F grades in 2012. The state did not wait for a perfect model. It published, listened and refined. On his watch Tupelo’s graduation rate rose from 72 percent to nearly 87 percent. Over roughly the same decade, Mississippi’s fourth graders climbed from 49th in the nation in reading to ninth. Missouri, which sat above the national average ten years ago, has slid, and today trails Mississippi while spending more per student. Honest, public information about results was a foundation of this remarkable progress.

Missouri’s current school reports do not provide that foundation, and it shows both in our lack of progress and in public understanding. A recent survey of St. Louis families found that more than 90 percent believe their children read at grade level. State data show that fewer than 25 percent do. The same gap appears in communities across the state. Schools need their communities’ support, and they will not get it while their challenges are hard to see. Nor can we learn from the schools that are beating the odds if we do not know where to look.

Dr. Loden closes by reminding us that you do not pull a cake from the oven just because the timer rings; you check the center. I agree. But a grade card is not the cake. It is the toothpick. For years Missouri families have been asked to trust that everything is baking nicely. A–F grades let all of us check the center while there is still time to act.

And when a toothpick comes out wet, no one throws out the cake or blames the baker. You adjust the heat, give it more time and call for another pair of hands. That is what a clear grade makes possible. Parents, employers and neighbors can see where help is needed and show up with it, so that every child leaves school prepared to thrive.

Dr. Loden, I would welcome the chance to meet. My email is escroggins@theopportunitytrust.org. The coffee is on me, and I will bring the cake.

Eric Scroggins

Eric Scroggins is the CEO of The Opportunity Trust, a Missouri education organization advocating for quality public schools for all families and communities.

LTE: The Grade Is Not the Cake. It Is the Toothpick.

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