School District of University City Maintains Full Accreditation

Superintendent Joylynn Pruitt told the district's school board Thursday she was thrilled to announce that following the release of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (DESE) annual performance report, University City was a fully accredited district.

"We have met 10 of 14 standards," she said. "We are fully accredited outright with no special provisions or considerations. This is huge." 

DESE requires districts to meet 9 of the 14 standards for accreditation. Board member Rick Salamon pointed out the district was close to meeting the standard in a couple of other categories. 

Pruitt went over the data with the board, noting that the district made its gains in progress points, which measure gains year to year, and not in status points, which looks over a five year average. She said to maintain the accreditation and move forward in the future, U City needs to make status gains and not just gains in progress points.

The following are the APR standards and U City's performance over the past three school years.

Board member Maria Chappelle-Nadal expressed concern with the number of students still falling into the below basic category. 

"We've increased the number of students at basic and below basic levels," she said. 

She also credited the English and Communications Arts departments, noting most of the big gains came from Comm Arts improvements.

Pruitt said on Tuesday the district recognized the "efforts of teachers for creating a strong dynamic educational experience" for students before acknowledging that gains still need to be made.

"We still have work to do and we recognize that," Board President Stacy Clay said. "This does not mark the end of our journey, but it is a significant step forward.

Check back with Patch for a more detailed breakdown of the data and how it compares to years past.