The Missouri State Board of Education met Oct. 20 to discuss proposed adjustments to the A-F school grading framework it approved on Sept. 15, but did not take a formal vote, according to the Missouri NEA board report. The presentation indicated no action was needed that day and that recommendations for adjustments to the framework were anticipated for the board's Dec. 15 meeting. Some news outlets reported that the board approved or agreed to the changes, the Missouri NEA report noted. The meeting also included the resignation of Interim Commissioner Dr. Stacey Preis; Deputy Commissioner Lisa Sireno was named interim commissioner.
Proposed adjustments
The proposed changes, detailed by the Missouri Network, would raise the A threshold from 89 to 90 and adjust all other letter cutoffs accordingly. For K-8 schools, the weight of the achievement indicator would fall from 38 percent to 30 percent, while value-added growth would increase from 33 percent to 35 percent and growth-to-proficiency from 29 percent to 35 percent. For high schools, the success-ready graduate weight would rise from 21 percent to 30 percent and the four-year graduation rate weight would drop from 21 percent to 10 percent. District grades would be calculated as a student-weighted average of building grades rather than the current five-component weighted average. DESE modeled draft grade distributions under both the original and proposed frameworks, the Missouri Network reported; under the proposed system, fewer high schools would receive a B (41 percent to 32 percent) and more would receive a C (30 percent to 39 percent), while fewer K-8 schools would receive an F (10 percent to 6 percent). The department described the drafts as discussion material, not official grades.
Timeline and funding
DESE prepared draft grade distributions using 2024-25 pilot data and is expected to share embargoed grades with districts in December, ahead of any public release, ABC17 News reported. An earlier timeline had called for embargoed release in late October, and DESE has not set a firm public release date. The framework is estimated to cost $1.2 million in the first year and $715,000 annually after that, according to KFVS12, but the money was not included in the FY2027 state budget, which started July 1. According to the Missouri NEA report, board members said the General Assembly must supply adequate funding so that schools are not set up to fail.
Origin
The A-F grading system is required by Executive Order 26-01, signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe on Jan. 13, 2026. The Missouri Secretary of State document specifies a 0 to 100 point scale with A-F ratings, a one-letter-grade penalty for schools that test fewer than 95 percent of students, a growth-to-proficiency measure, and a continuous improvement provision that would raise thresholds by five percentage points if 65 percent of schools earn an A or B.
Implementation details
A draft technical guide from DESE, described in a Missouri School Boards Association Q&A document, outlines a scoring system with 84 possible points for K-8 schools and 96 points for high schools, each with specified component weights. The literacy measure, which uses Lexile scores from foundational reading assessments for grades 1-2 and MAP ELA for grades 3-8, will not appear in draft grades for 2024-25 or 2025-26; it will debut with the 2026-27 grade cards.