BETTER EVIDENCE, BETTER POLICIES, BETTER SCHOOLS.
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This PRiMER on Missouri public school funding explains revenue sources, trends, formula mechanics, district expenditures, protections against enrollment decline, and fiscal reserves to provide a clear foundation for understanding Missouri’s school finance system. Over time, average per-pupil funding has risen substantially in real terms, though Missouri remains below the national average while aligning more closely with its neighboring states. Despite this equalization mechanism, wide variation in spending exists across districts, with evidence suggesting some regressive elements that benefit wealthier areas.
The Saint Louis University (SLU) Billiken Teacher Corps (BTC) offers two pathways for current and aspiring Catholic school educators to earn their Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) and certification (if needed): Cura Community and MAT Magis.
This report examines the effect integration had on the Black teacher workforce in Missouri from 1954–1970. We outline how Black teachers were displaced in the seventeen southern and border states as these states moved toward compliance with Brown. We present data on the displacement of Black teachers in these seventeen states—with a focus on Missouri. Our report concludes with an analysis of trends in the student-teacher racial parity index in Missouri and implications for policymakers about how this history connects to the contemporary status of student-teacher demographics in Missouri public schools.
Abstract: When looking at the actual impact that schools are having on student learning, it is vital to look at student growth. This is especially important for schools that enroll high percentages of low-income students. Opposite of growth are single point-in-time measures such as proficiency, which do not adjust for where students start the year. Missouri has the best growth model in the country. This report combines three years of growth data, and then looks at the quartile of Missouri schools enrolling the highest percentage of low-income students. The data show that some of the highest growth schools in Missouri also enroll some of the highest percentages of low-income students. Recognizing, rewarding and replicating the successes of these schools is the best path to improving outcomes for the state’s most vulnerable students.
This 1st Edition of PRiME’s Missouri Three Year Statewide Growth Report which covers data from the 2021-22 and 2023-24 school years.
When we talk about how students are doing in subjects like reading and math, it’s more helpful to look at how much they grow over time rather than just where they stand at one moment. This report continues the PRiME Center’s efforts to highlight Missouri’s excellent schools by examining student growth in the state's most rural schools over the last three years.
Mentoring of early-career teachers is a key strategy used by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) to improve teacher retention. To that end, MO DESE needs better information on the features of mentoring that early-career teachers receive and the features that may be related to teacher retention. At the request of MO DESE, the Regional Educational Laboratory Central conducted a study of the frequency, duration, activities, and topics addressed in the mentoring received by first-year teachers in Missouri who registered for state-delivered teacher induction workshops in the 2022/23 school year. The study also sought to identify which mentoring features were related to teachers’ likelihood of returning to teach in the same school district for a second year, as measured by teacher employment records.
The number of people in Missouri without stable housing is rising; this includes families, children and youth. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act–initially established in 1987–requires schools to collect data on and provide support for students facing homelessness. However, little is known about the extent of students and families experiencing homelessness, the policies and programs that support these vulnerable students or their schooling opportunities and outcomes. In this report, I describe the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, describe recent homelessness trends, provide an overview of McKinney-Vento participation and briefly describe outcomes for students supported through McKinney-Vento programs across the state of Missouri. I conclude with a discussion of the importance of addressing homelessness in relation to student mobility.
Teacher mobility in Missouri and most states across the country reached long-term highs following the pandemic over the 2022-23 school year. Though mobility declined in 2023-24, several worrying trends have persisted across the state, including higher turnover among teachers working in urban, rural, and disproportionately low-income schools. Turnover is also disproportionately high among the state’s teachers of color, though the state has more than doubled the recruitment of new teachers of color over the past decade. As legislators and education leaders work to support Missouri’s teacher workforce, policy formation must engage with labor conditions specific to particular school and teacher characteristics to effectively improve outcomes for teachers and the students they educate.
In June 2020, Saint Louis University launched the SLU/YouGov poll to provide researchers and policymakers with an assessment of Missouri likely voters’ opinions on relevant political and educational issues. Some questions were asked in multiple polls to monitor trends over time, while others were relevant to potential policy changes that may have impacted the education sector at a given time. Here, we summarize the findings from nine polls conducted from 2020–2025 to identify trends in public opinion on Missouri’s education issues.
The newest data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education finds that more than one in five K–12 students were chronically absent in the 2023–24 school year. From 2019 to 2024, nearly 91% of Missouri districts (499 total) have experienced a rise in chronic absenteeism—defined as missing at least ten percent of scheduled school days. Here, we explore key trends from the most recent Missouri attendance data.
A comprehensive look at public school enrollment in Missouri, the Kansas City Metro Area and the St. Louis Metro Area.
PRiME Center’s recent report highlights the Missouri schools serving students from low income households that are producing large gains in reading and math.
This 4th Edition of PRiME’s annual Missouri Statewide Growth Report covers data from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
The St. Louis Teaching Fellows (STL TF) program at Saint Louis University (SLU) continues to place teachers in St. Louis area public and charter schools by providing a route to teach while simultaneously earning teaching certification and a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. The impact has grown to two active cohorts (24 students) and three classes of graduates (36 students).
This report sheds light on the relationship between four-day school weeks and attendance in Missouri and Arkansas schools.
There are over one million school-age children in Missouri, and we estimate 61,000 (6% of all school-age children) are homeschooled. Missouri is one of 29 states that does not require homeschooling to be reported. Using methods that can be replicated elsewhere with publicly available data, we test three approaches to estimating homeschool participation: using American Community Survey (ACS) data; subtracting public and estimated private school counts from ACS school-age totals; and polling parents. We comment on the usefulness and limitations of each approach and provide a model for researchers seeking to estimate homeschooling trends in states that lack administrative data.
This report examines the unique challenges to and opportunities for school belonging for students in special education, along with best practices to support school belonging for special education students.
This report details Missouri teachers’ supplemental (non-base) pay and the Career Ladder program for teachers.
Currently, over a third of public school districts in Missouri utilize a four-day school week (4DSW). The overwhelming majority that currently use a shortened school week are small, rural school districts. The primary reason cited by districts for transitioning to the 4DSW is to recruit and retain certified educators in an increasingly competitive workforce marketplace. While, up to this point, the four-day school week has been a rural school district phenomenon, this is beginning to change as larger districts also struggle to find and retain staff. This study examined the 4DSW influence on job applications to the Independent School District (ISD), which adopted a four-day school week for the 2023-2024 school year. With over 14,000 students and over 1,200 certified staff, ISD is by far the largest 4DSW district in Missouri. As policymakers analyze the 4DSW, it is important to investigate how the size and diversity of a school impact a school district's ability to attract and retain teachers.
In this report, we analyze the results of a survey sent to 900 Missouri and Arkansas parents, asking them their opinions about four-day school weeks, homeschooling, college likelihood, teacher salaries and entering the workforce, and school vouchers.
In this report, we dive into the results, focusing specifically on the education questions posed to voters on the Fall 2024 SLU/YouGov poll.
This brief documents changes in Missouri public school teacher retention during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines changes in teacher retention in districts that adopt a four-day school week calendar.
This 3rd Edition of PRiME’s annual Growth Reports covers data from the 2021—2022 school year.
This 3rd Edition of PRiME’s annual Beating the Odds Growth Report covers data from the 2021—2022 school year.
In this education report we first provide some key background information regarding student mobility and its impact. We then use public data to describe what student mobility looks like across Missouri in comparison to neighboring states. Next, we call attention to the discrepancies in existing Missouri student mobility data and describe possible reasons for these discrepancies. We conclude with implications for education researchers and policy makers.
Since 2020, Saint Louis University (SLU) has worked with YouGov to poll Missouri citizens on current issues in politics and education. The PRiME Center funded a poll presented to 900 likely Missouri voters from February 14–February 26, 2024 to inform stakeholders on public opinion surrounding political and education-related policy issues. In this report, we dive into the most recent education results.
Emergent Bilinguals (EBs), or students with a home language other than English, are a diverse group of students who bring additional linguistic assets to the classroom. Drawing on six decades of federal legislation and landmark court cases, the brief outlines the evolution of protections for EBs and examines how Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) implements these policies through identification, instruction, and assessment practices. The report also highlights ongoing challenges, including reduced federal funding and limited teacher preparation in English Language Development. We conclude with recommendations for community members, educators, and educational policy makers
This brief analyzes Missouri voters’ perceptions of public school quality using nine waves of the SLU/YouGov poll from 2020–2025 (N=7,281).
The Missouri Learning Standards (MLS) are pivotal for instructional planning, implementation, and assessment across the state of Missouri. In this report we describe the MLS and share a summary of grade-level and course-specific learning expectations across various subject areas. We conclude with recommendations for educators and educational policy makers.
This brief explores how Missouri school districts respond to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in instruction. While the state lacks a formal AI education policy, local districts have begun implementing guidelines and integrating AI tools into classrooms. We describe current AI policies and implementation practices in Missouri school districts. We also provide recommendations for equitable, ethical, and effective AI adoption in Missouri education.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam—also known as The Nation’s Report Card—has been given to students since 1969. We discuss nationwide and Missouri-specific trends from the 2024 data release of 4th and 8th Grade Mathematics and Reading scores, and compare the results to the state’s own Missouri Assessment of Progress (MAP). Since 2019, the two sets of tests tell very different stories.
Since 2020, SLU has partnered with YouGov to poll Missouri likely voters on relevant political and education-related issues. In this brief, we dive into the results, focusing specifically on the education questions posed to voters in the Spring 2025 iteration of the survey.
Districts, states, and the federal government are investing in the community school strategy as a promising school improvement project to holistically support student development (Dryfoos, 2002). Educators and researchers alike are recognizing the need to support students and their families to promote meaningful experiences in school. Here, we investigate the history of St. Louis-area community schools.
Every state tracks student growth, using statistical models that estimate annual student level growth in tested subjects. Different states use different models and methods. This policy brief examines the types of student growth models across U.S. states, focusing on their methodologies, transparency, and implications for educational equity. Growth models such as Student Growth Percentiles (SGP), Growth to Proficiency Models, and Value-Added Models (VAM) provide critical insights into student progress and inform accountability measures. This is the first, national, publicly-available data set of the student growth models used in each state. Analysis reveals a widespread reliance on SGPs and similar frameworks, with some states incorporating demographic controls to address equity concerns.
The PRiME Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Collin Hitt, breaks down the Missouri Growth Model and answers frequently asked questions about Growth Scores.
The PRiME Center at Saint Louis University and the Office of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas commissioned YouGov to survey 900 Missouri and Arkansas parents of school-aged children to find out what they think about the education issues facing their communities. The poll was administered from May 16 to June 3, 2024. This full report with citations can be found on PRiME’s website HERE. In the following slide deck, we summarize only the Missouri parents’ responses (n = 450).
Scores on the Missouri MAP test are effectively flat from 2023 to 2024. Math scores have mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels. ELA scores have yet to recover, especially at the early grades, which remain at 2021 levels. This reflects a larger trend of declining early literacy rates.
This brief is a PRiME Center rapid analysis, released the same day as the Missouri MAP score results.
In this report, we bring together multiple publicly-available datasets and examine trends in public and non-public school enrollment over the past 16 years.
This brief examines trends in the types of reported disciplinary incidents in K–12 Missouri schools and analyzes demographic trends in the assignment of out-of-school suspensions.
In this brief, our partners at Saint Louis Research Practice Collaborative analyze student mobility in Saint Louis schools.
In this brief, we highlight poll results on public opinion regarding charter school expansion.
In this brief, we analyze the rapidly changing high school landscape in Saint Louis between 2011-2023.
In this brief, we analyze the newly released state test scores alongside national test score trends over the last five years.
In this brief, we explore the relationship between four-day school week policies and teacher shortages in Missouri.
In this brief, we analyze how varying school district leave benefits might affect the Missouri teacher pipeline - especially among early career female teachers.
In this brief, our partners at Saint Louis Research Practice Collaborative analyze student mobility in Saint Louis schools.
In this brief, we analyze variation in charter and magnet schools based on their curriculum, pedagogy, and student body focus. This is a first-of-its-kind analysis for Missouri.
In this policy brief, we describe Missouri’s current open enrollment policy and outline a current proposal, House Bill 253, being considered to further increase students’ ability to transfer to schools located in other districts. We also discuss key elements of interdistrict open enrollment policies that must be considered in policy design to ensure all students and schools benefit.
In this policy brief, we build on our previous brief, Missouri's School Accountability System, and take a deeper dive into two specific components of school accountability systems—school rating systems and accountability indicator weights. We discuss the weight of academic growth within performance indicators at the elementary and middle school level and consider the proposed changes to these areas under SB 341 and HB 558. We add evidence by examining school accountability systems in states with high growth and conclude by providing policy recommendations based on our findings.
In this policy brief, we describe Missouri’s current accountability system for traditional public and public charter schools—Missouri School Improvement Plan (MSIP) 6—and how it differs from the prior version known as MSIP 5. We add context by detailing federal school accountability system requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which also impacts the work of schools in Missouri.
UPDATED: In this brief, we examine the relationship between changes in the elementary age population in St. Louis City, school closures, school choice, and access to public elementary school options across the city.
This brief examines Missouri’s 2022 NAEP results, which are the first look into NAEP performance after the pandemic. We focus on Missouri’s performance changes over time, gaps between student groups, and comparison to national trends.
This brief considers the demand and supply sides of private school choice in Missouri and how the opinions of voters, parents, and private school leaders diverge on the MOScholars Program.
This brief describes Missouri’s approach to reach its “Big Goal” to have 60% of its working-age adults attain a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2025.
This brief highlight trends from the the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Long-Term Trend (LTT) results, which exclusively sampled a nationally-representative group of 9-year-old students and was intended to measure achievement changes during the pandemic in mathematics and reading. To contextualize, we examine the trends in MAP test scores for Missouri's 4th graders (typically 9-year-old students).