St. Louis Public Schools reports spring STAR gains but 4,150 students remain on mandated reading success plans

Allison Dino, an academic presenter for St. Louis Public Schools, told the board on June 10 that spring STAR reading and math data show growth across most grades but that a large number of elementary students still qualify for state-mandated reading support.

The district reported 4,150 students meeting Missouri’s reading-success-plan cutoff this year after the state changed its threshold to the 30th national percentile; Dino said that number is smaller than last year despite the higher cutoff. "In SLPS, that was still 500 fewer students needing reading success plans," she said. Rochelle Douglas, the district’s Director of Assessment, described how the district uses STAR scaled scores to project MAP proficiency and why reporting improvements requires matched-student comparisons.

Why it matters: Reading success plans are required statewide for students who fall below the selected percentile; they guide targeted school interventions and family conferences. The board’s goal-setting and curriculum decisions hinge on clear, comparable measures of growth and proficiency.

District presenters emphasized growth as a pathway to proficiency. Douglas showed mean scaled-score increases from fall to spring in most elementary grades and explained an anomalous dip in one grade was tied to unmatched sets of students: "we had many more students taking it in the spring that did not take it in the fall because they weren't with us. So they were new to Saint Louis Public Schools," she said. The presentation reported that, when restricted to matched students, grade-level increases were larger.

The district also highlighted students who met the 2.5-years-of-growth target or who “maxed out” the STAR assessment: Dino and Douglas reported 5,549 students across reading and math either met 2.5 years of growth or reached the test ceiling.

Board members and public commenters pressed for clearer presentation and faster progress. Board Member Hobart asked whether the same students were driving both reading and math gains; Douglas replied that there is not a one-to-one correspondence. In public comment, parent and educator Lauren Ray Preston said the district’s own data show many students remain well below grade-level reading: "Your own data shows that we're not doing enough. We're not moving fast enough," she said, urging the board to increase urgency on literacy.

The board approved several curriculum- and assessment-related contracts during the meeting that relate to instruction and testing, including Renaissance Learning and IXL Learning, and voted to purchase the ACT/PreACT assessments for 2025–26.

District next steps include releasing official MAP outcomes on July 7 and adjusting next year’s reporting to use matched student sets so changes are less likely to reflect cohort turnover. The academics team said schools will set growth and proficiency targets in their school improvement plans for the coming year.

There were no formal board actions that altered the district’s reading-success-plan policy during the meeting; the presentation and public comments will inform future board and superintendent actions.