Missouri schools would tie diplomas to graduate success measures

Educational entities would show how their curricula and graduation requirements support the department’s mission. High schools would ensure graduates meet all listed measures before awarding a diploma or equivalency certificate. The mission applies to the listed educational entities, including public, private, charter, virtual, and home schools, as well as early childhood providers. The diploma requirement applies to high schools. The mission is to prepare graduates to contribute positively to the economy and their communities. The measures include being on time, kind, and hardworking, following instructions, taking initiative, and using good judgment.

A committee would set education goals and measures, direct quality checks, and establish ways to report results. It would also set course review rules and decide challenges to school board course rulings. The committee would oversee the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s mission and quality checks across the listed educational entities. The committee would include members from six state departments, a state representative, and a state senator. It could use payroll, benefits, education, and corrections data to measure graduates’ later participation in work, services, and education. It would also create an employer reporting system that state departments may use when deciding benefit eligibility.

The secretary of state would hold the education department, schools or other entities, and parents accountable in specified cases. These directions apply to the state education department, school districts or other covered education entities, and parents of students who repeatedly disrupt learning. The department’s accountability would cover graduates who fail the measures during high school and within five years after graduation. Schools or other entities would be covered for people who fail to graduate on schedule or meet the measures. Parents would be held accountable for students who repeatedly disrupt learning. After diversity, equity, inclusion, or similar programs end, money allocated to them could be used for this subsection only if lawmakers appropriate it, and only for implementation and administration costs. The department’s accountability for graduates would cover high school and the five years after graduation.