Superintendent previews "Success Ready Students" dashboard and competency-based plans; district positions itself as innovation-zone leader

Superintendent Dr. Chris Kilbride presented an update on the Success Ready Students Network dashboard and the district's competency-based initiatives, saying the district is one of 20 in Missouri leading the innovation zone work.

Kilbride said the network now represents more than 60% of the state's roughly 900,000 public-school students and that Ritenour is part of Innovation Zone 1. He described efforts to move toward competency-based progression (rather than strict Carnegie-unit seat-time), and highlighted a regional effort to expand internships and business partnerships; Saint Louis Community College was identified as a regional convener for work-based learning partnerships, and the Kemper Foundation was cited as driving internships in other areas.

Dashboard and metrics: The superintendent said the district dashboard — accessible from the district website — presents narrative context alongside metrics in several buckets: grade-level assessments, “market-value assets” (career- or postsecondary-ready credentials such as college credit hours, ROTC rank or internship/entrepreneurial projects), end-of-course exam results, ICAP plans and teacher credentialing.

Kilbride said the district will hold a summit in May to convene partners and that district staff will provide quarterly dashboard updates to the board. He also noted the dashboard required changes requested by DESE to transition to the district's alternate APR and that some data elements still require manual updates.

Community and next steps: The district encouraged stakeholders to review the dashboard and said the initiative aims to ensure every graduating student has a market-value asset on their resume, whether college credit, workforce experience or military readiness. Kilbride and staff said they will continue to expand partnerships and to refine proficiency scales developed over the past three years.