Four In A Row: Knox County R-1 Named A “Distinction In Performance” District

Four In A Row:  Knox County R-1 Named A “Distinction In Performance” District

Submitted By Marilyn Waite
Knox County R-I School District has been named on the list of school districts to receive the Distinction in Performance Award for 2009.  This will be the fourth consecutive year the district has qualified for this award.
A total of 319 Missouri school districts – 11 fewer than last year –qualified for the state’s “Distinction in Performance” recognition, based on their academic achievement during the last school year (2008-09), state education officials announced in December.  
Of this year’s recipients, 266 are K-12 districts and 53 are K-8 districts.  There are 523 public school districts in Missouri, enrolling a total of about 900,000 students.
The Distinction in Performance recognition is based on the 14 academic performance standards that are the basis of the state’s accreditation program for all school districts.  The standards are based on scores from the state-mandated MAP tests, high school end-of-course exams, graduation rates, ACT scores, and other measures.
“To qualify for Distinction in Performance, a school district must be achieving at a high level or making consistent progress at all grade levels.  School districts work hard to achieve this recognition,” said Stan Johnson, assistant commissioner for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
To qualify for the award this year, K-8 districts had to meet 6 out of 7 performance standards that apply to these districts, including all of those that are based on the results of the MAP tests.  K-12 districts had to meet 13 of 14 standards, including all of the MAP-based measures.