Ironically, learning about a school is easier said than done. For many parents across the country, trying to find useful, relevant, and understandable data on their child’s school is like trying to find a needle in a government bureaucratic haystack. This was the case in Missouri. Despite Missouri parents and policy advocates calling for better school data for years, the state provided little usable data on the quality of Missouri public schools—and the data that was available was hard to find and confusing to understand.

“I’ve always said you shouldn’t complain about something unless you’re willing to fix it,” said Susan Pendergrass, Director of Education Policy for the Show-Me Institute. “I’ve been complaining. The state either can’t or won’t do this. We could and we did.”

In 2021, the Show-Me Institute launched moschoolrankings.org, a comprehensive, easy-to-understand database for Missouri public schools. Now, Missouri parents have a single database to see which Missouri schools are performing best, which schools are performing worst, and what kind of education their student’s school is delivering.

Show-Me Institute creates tool to make Missouri school performance data more accessible

For years, data had shown that Missouri schools were failing to properly teach students the core subjects of reading and math. These dismal performance rankings were causing students to fall further and further behind.

But data on Missouri schools and student performance was hard to find, and the data that was available wasn’t the most “user friendly.” This inspired the Show-Me Institute to launch their Missouri School Rankings Project. The project’s mission is to make student performance data more transparent by providing parents, policymakers, educators, and taxpayers with access to easy-to-understand information about every Missouri school and school district. Show-Me’s team believed that, with proper data, parents would be empowered to make the best possible choices for their students and demand the necessary reforms to Missouri’s education system.

MoSchoolRankings.org used multiple data categories to give parents an easy-to-understand, wholistic view of each Missouri public school. The Show-Me team gave every Missouri public school a grade point average (GPA) ranging from 0-4 by evaluating each school’s:

• Student performance in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics,
• Low-income student performance in ELA and mathematics,
• Student growth in ELA and mathematics,
• A comparison of student performance in ELA and math to each school or district’s expected performance based on its enrollment of economically disadvantaged students,
•  4-year graduation rates,
• And ACT scores.

Show-Me’s database also provides spending data on each school district because, as Pendergrass says, “The average amount spent per student in Missouri last year was over $13,000. [That means that] more than $250,000 is spent on a classroom of 20 students. The average teacher salary is just over $52,000. Even with benefits, that leaves a lot of money. Maybe it goes to books, computers, administration, utility bills, buses, and gasoline. Maybe it goes to legal fees and advertising, professional development for teachers, travel to conferences and membership fees. I believe that the public sector should make it easy for citizens to see how their money is being spent. We launched MOSchoolRankings.org because we believe parents need accurate information to make informed decisions about which school will best serve their children. Equally important, that information needs to be easy to find and easy to understand.”

The Institute helps Missouri families better navigate school system

As it turns out, when parents, policy advocates, and lawmakers have comprehensive data about public school performance, education policies improve.

“Since launching the MoSchoolRankings project,” said Pendergrass, “we have been contacted by parent groups, superintendents, school board members, county executives, and legislators who appreciate the website and want more information. The site has been mentioned in legislative hearings and by lawmakers on Twitter. Also, this legislative session, we’ve already seen increased interest in the conversation about expanding school choice in Missouri. The Missouri School Rankings Project and MoSchoolRankings.org inform that conversation with valuable data about academic performance and spending.”

Thanks to the Show-Me team’s tireless work, Missouri parents and lawmakers now have a trustworthy source for data on schools and school district performance. Now, those Missouri schools truly serving students can be seen, and schools failing to provide students with the tools they need to succeed will be forced to answer the hard—and necessary questions.

Pendergrass summed up the importance of a database like MoSchoolRankings.org well when she said, “Accountability is vital to standards-based education. Publicly grading and ranking schools are important steps toward accountability, that’s why we launched the Missouri School Rankings Project. We hope the performance and spending information on MoSchoolRankings.org motivates educators and policymakers to focus on improving student performance, overall outcomes, and how we fund education in Missouri.”