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Mehlville updates board on Success Ready Students Network and alternative APR work
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Brian Smith briefed the Mehlville board on the Success Ready Students Network (SRSN), including the network's competency-based learning focus, an alternative APR reporting approach not published on DESE's website for early participating districts, benchmarking using I-Ready, and plans for assessment pilots by DESE.
Assistant Superintendent Brian Smith updated the Mehlville R-IX Board of Education Aug. 21 on the Success Ready Students Network (SRSN), a statewide network that promotes competency-based, personalized learning and alternative accountability measures.
Smith said the SRSN is a grassroots network of more than 100 organizations and schools that focuses on competency-based learning, professional development and removing barriers for students. He described the network's alternative APR (Annual Performance Report) framework and said the initial cohort of about 20 districts that joined the alternative APR will not have those APR scores published on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) website; the network shares the data directly with participating districts instead.
"The criteria, the indicators, that are used as part of this alternative APR...are listed on our district website under Departments > Curriculum > SRSN," Smith said, noting the district will post additional benchmarking years in the coming weeks. He described the district's benchmarking system that uses I-Ready in grades 3-8 with fall, winter and spring snapshots and said the SRSN's dashboard measures that benchmarking data.
Smith said the network now is in a fourth cohort that covers roughly 50 to 60 schools, and that the SRSN supports a range of practices including community learning sessions, monthly work groups, and regional real-world learning meetings in places such as St. Louis and Kansas City. He also said DESE is piloting an alternative assessment starting this school year in five districts and plans to reshape the statewide assessment system over the next five years.
Board members asked whether DESE would publish the alternative APR results; Smith replied that the State Board of Education ultimately decides whether to publish APR results and that the district will continue to request public release. He also addressed Senate Bill 68 and reporting of grade-level equivalency, saying the provision is primarily a reporting mechanism and that DESE is still developing how that will be reported, with substantive changes unlikely until the 2026-27 school year.
Smith encouraged board members and staff to find SRSN materials on the district and SRSN websites and said he would take questions offline as needed. No board action was required.
