| Mehlville Tops Educational ROI Study | ||
In a 2011 study, the Mehlville School District tied for top in the state when measuring Return on Investment. According to a national report from the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., based think tank, the Mehlville School District has a great return on investment. When stacked against the 523 Missouri school districts studied for the report, the Mehlville School District is tied for the top in two of three measurement categories including Basic Return on Investment and Adjusted Return on Investment. The study, a district-by-district evaluation of U.S. education productivity, is a culmination of a yearlong effort to evaluate the efficiency of the nation’s public education system and includes the first-ever attempt to measure the academic achievement a school district produces relative to its educational spending, while controlling for factors outside a district’s control, such as cost of living and students in poverty. “Our plan in the Mehlville School District is and always will be to do the very best we can with what we have,” said Superintendent Dr. Eric Knost. “Ultimately our goal is to advance student achievement regardless of obstacles.” Nearly all U.S. public school districts with a total enrollment of 250 or more students were evaluated in the study. Out of the 523 districts in Missouri, 41 were included in the top tier. Only two St. Louis County districts were listed in this elite group for their student achievement per dollar spent – Mehlville and Rockwood. “Our study found that Mehlville provided an above average bang for its buck relative to other districts in the state on most of our metrics,” explained Ulrich Boser, the report’s author. “This study is strong validation of the fact that our staff, administration and Board work together to produce the highest achievement at the lowest cost,” Knost said. |
||
| What is the Center for American Progress? | ||
| The Center for American Progress was founded in 2003 by John Podesta to address 21st century challenges such as energy, national security, economic growth and opportunity, immigration, education and health care. Podesta served as White House Chief of Staff to President Clinton, was a member of the president's cabinet and served as a principal on the National Security Council. What is the purpose of the ROI study?
The educational ROI study is a district-by-district evaluation of educational productivity. This report is the culmination of a yearlong effort to study the efficiency of the nation's public education system and includes the first-ever attempt to evaluate the productivity of almost every major school district in the country. This study measures the academic achievement a school district produces relative to its educational spending, while controlling for factors outside a district's control, such as cost of living and students in poverty. How many school districts were examined in the ROI study?
Nearly all U.S. public school districts with a total enrollment of 250 or more students were evaluated in the study. How did the Mehlville School District stack up?
Forty-one Missouri school districts ranked in the highest of the study's six tiers. The Mehlville School District’s educational productivity, producing the highest achievement at the lowest cost, shares the top spot in the elite group for basic return on investment. What do the school districts that provide the greatest ROI have in common?
Highly productive school districts share a number of attributes: · A focus on outcomes
· The biggest driving force is first and foremost the question: "How will this enhance learning?"
· Strong community relations
· Willingness to make tough choices
· Priority on quality instruction
· Smart use of data
· The country's highly productive districts devoted three percentage points more of their budget to instructional costs than did the least efficient districts. They spent about 61 percent of their dollars on instructional expenditures, which includes teacher salaries, curriculum materials and other classroom costs. They aggressively protect resources for direct instructional services
|
||