Kathryn Swan Archives

House advances grade cards for schools proposal (AUDIO)

February 27, 2013 By Mike Lear

The House has given initial approval to HB 388, a proposal to give annual letter grade report cards to each public and charter school building in the state.

Representative Kathryn Swan (R-Cape Girardeau) (Photo courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

The bill was amended to have the Department of Education give schools not only one, overall letter grade, but a series of letter grades and associated percentage scores assessing each of the areas in the School Improvement Program. It instructs the Department to create rules for issuing a report card that is easily understood by the general public.

Its sponsor, Representative Kathryn Swan (R-Cape Girardeau) says parents don’t have easy access to understandable information about a school’s performance.

“It is available but extremely difficult to find, to navigate one’s way through the [Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s] website. It takes several clicks, and as they’re working on the website itself, then those clicks change as you try to access that information.”

An amendment sponsored by Representative Brandon Ellington (R-Kansas City) also requires schools whose overall grade drops below 70% to submit an improvement plan to the Department.

Some Democrats opposed the measure, saying letter grades are too simplistic. Representative Margo McNeil (D-Florissant) says those grades will send the wrong message.

“Schools that are labeled ‘D’ or ‘F’ will be seen as failures. Yes, I do believe that parents will want to initiate change, but the change they most likely will initiate is … moving to a different district.”

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka), who has been promoting education reform as part of his larger legislative agenda, called the bill a simple step forward.

“I don’t view this as any sort of groundbreaking education reform, but I do believe it is important for transparency and accountability.”

Another favorable vote would send the measure to the Senate.

AUDIO: Rep. Kathryn Swan presents HB 388, 3:13

AUDIO: Margo McNeil opposes HB 388, 4:58

Proposal to grade each school in Missouri offered in committee

February 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

A proposal to grade each of the state’s schools has been heard in a House Committee.

Representative Kathryn Swan (R-Cape Girardeau) (Photo courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 388 is proposed by Representative Kathryn Swan (R-Cape Girardeau). It would have the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education create an annual report card for each school using letter grades of A-F, based on performance data that is already available.

Swan says this would just make that information more accessible and understandable.

“All of us know about letter grades. I’m sure all of us have all received A’s and B’s, and have now knowledge of having a C, D or F,” she jokes, “however some may have, and that’s why we truly understand what A through F means in a report card.”

Representative Genise Montecillo (D-St. Louis) says she likes the bill’s intent, but she thinks a letter grade is too vague to convey the performance issues that could be affecting a school.

“From what I’m hearing this doesn’t take into account the student body, whether a particular school has a large free-and-reduced [lunch] population, a large special education population, some of our districts back in St. Louis, some of their buildings have very large special ed and free-and-reduced lunch, we have a lot of mobility back in our urban core in St. Louis … I think some of these factors aren’t equally weighted.”

Swan tells Montecillo the information available from the Department is easier to understand for people with an education background but makes less sense to many parents. She thinks a letter grade would be more familiar for those parents.

Her bill would have the first report card for the 2013-14 school year be distributed by December, 2014. The legislation’s fiscal note says it would cost the education department about $13,000 to set up but would create no recurring fee for the state, and Swan says costs to school districts would be minimal and could be absorbed by existing resources.