To calculate school funding, Missouri currently uses a model that estimates the cost of adequately educating a child and subtracts out what can be raised locally through taxes to arrive at the total aid provided to a school. The current model was developed nearly 20 years ago in 2005. There is contention with a few key pieces of the funding formula, some of which were addressed this year with the passage of Senate Bill 727, and some that persist. 

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam has been given to students since 1969. This nationwide assessment produces important metrics about our country’s students. Here, we discuss nationwide and Missouri-specific trends from the 2024 data release.

The PRiME Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Collin Hitt, breaks down the Missouri Growth Model and answers frequently asked questions about Growth Scores.   

Dozens of Missouri schools have been recognized as the state’s “highest growth schools” in a series of new rankings from the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University. These schools are being highlighted for the significant educational gains their students made over the last two school years.

As more school districts across Missouri adopt a four-day school week (4DSW), the debate over its effectiveness continues. Here, we summarize what we’ve learned about the 4DSW in Missouri.

In 2024, SLU and YouGov partnered to poll Missouri voters (once in February and once in August) and Missouri parents (in May) on education topics. Below, we cover three voter opinions that received strong consensus from Missouri voters and parents.

When researchers and policymakers examine student enrollment and demographic trends in Missouri, one common measure used to capture the socioeconomic status of a school’s student body is the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL). While this metric has been widely used, it often fails to accurately reflect family income and, as a result, can overestimate the true need within schools. This issue warrants further exploration, especially as it impacts key decisions about resource allocation and support for disadvantaged students.

Last week, we published an update of the Missouri MAP scores brief to reflect the most recent release of data for the 2023—24 school year. Scores on the Missouri MAP test were 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, which have been on the decline since 2012.

St. Louis, MO – At least 1 in 16 school-aged children in Missouri are educated at home instead of at brick-and-mortar public and private schools. This is the key finding of a new report by the Policy Research in Missouri Education (PRiME) Center at Saint Louis University. 
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families turned to homeschooling for the first time. Now, a new study from the PRiME Center puts a number to the population of students in Missouri who are homeschooled post-pandemic. Researchers at the PRiME Center estimate that at least 61,000 students in Missouri are homeschooled. This figure represents more than 6 percent of all school-aged children across the state. 

Last week we published a first-of-its-kind analysis of variation in Missouri charter and magnet schools.

In this blog, we highlight three takeaways about Missouri public opinion regarding the discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in schools and policies affecting LGBTQ+ students.

In this blog, we cover three key takeaways from polling on Missouri voter opinion regarding teachers.

First-year Missouri educators earned just over $34,000 on average for the 2021-22 school year, ranking second-lowest in the nation for average starting teacher pay. Missouri’s 2021-22 average teacher salary was also among the lowest in the country, and less than average teacher pay in all eight border states.

Right now, 144 districts (27%) utilize the 4-day school week (4DSW) model, a 136% rise since pre-pandemic numbers in the 2019-2020 school year. In this blog, we highlight discussion on use of 4DSW in Missouri and offer evidence from our prior work on the impact of 4DSW on teacher recruitment.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the latest Annual Performance Report (APR) scores for local education agencies (LEAs) and schools. In this blog, we provide five key things to remember as you interpret the 2022 APR score data.

Missouri’s 2023 legislative session kicks off in just a few short weeks and the landscape will be shifting. Pre-filing of legislation began on December 1st with an introduction of education bills covering a wide range of issues. In this blog, we highlight the current pre-filed bills in education and the soon-to-be-filled leadership vacancies that will determine which bills are heard in committee and voted out.

In this blog, we spotlight the high poverty schools in the Kansas City region who showed excellent academic growth and were featured as top-growth schools in our Beating the Odds Report.

In this blog, we spotlight the high poverty schools in the St. Louis region who showed excellent academic growth and were featured as top-growth schools in our Beating the Odds Report.