Missouri Assessment Letter
April 6, 2007
The Honorable D. Kent King
Commissioner of Education
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
P. O. Box 480
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0480
Dear Commissioner King:
Thank you for submitting additional assessment materials for peer review under the standards and assessment requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). We appreciate the efforts required to prepare for the latest peer review that occurred in January 2007.
Based on the recommendations of the peer reviewers and the evidence you have provided to date, the status of Missouri’s standards and assessment system is Approval Expected. This status indicates that a State will administer an assessment system in grades 3-8 and high school in 2006-07 that the evidence to date suggests is fully compliant with the statutory and regulatory requirements.
Missouri must provide the Department with the complete evidence needed to satisfy the remaining requirements, as indicated in the enclosure to this letter, as soon as possible after administering its assessments for the 2006-07 school year. We will contact your staff to work out a timeline for submitting the remaining evidence. Please note that, because there are elements of Missouri’s system that are not yet complete, the condition on Missouri’s Title I, Part A grant award will continue until Missouri submits the required evidence and receives full approval of its standards and assessment system.
The Department remains committed to working with Missouri to meet the requirements of NCLB and to raise the performance of all children. Toward that end, let me reiterate my earlier offer of technical assistance to you. If you have any additional questions, would like to discuss this further, or would like to request technical assistance, please do not hesitate to call David Harmon (david.harmon@ed.gov) or Abigail Potts (abigail.potts@ed.gov) of my staff.
Sincerely,
Kerri L. Briggs, Ph.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary
Enclosure
cc: Governor Matt Blunt
Walt Brown
Susan Newbolt
SUMMARY OF ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE THAT MISSOURI MUST SUBMIT TO MEET ESEA REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MISSOURI ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
4.0 – TECHNICAL QUALITY
- Guidelines that ensure MAP-A participants are progressing through the math and communication arts content area strands as they progress across grade levels.
7.0 – REPORTS
- Documentation that specifies timelines for disseminating assessment reports to parents.
