At its meeting last week at Central Office in Platte City, the Platte County R-3 School District’s Board of Education heard a lengthy and information-packed presentation concerning the District’s Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) results. MAP is a series of assessments required by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the areas of communication arts, mathematics, science and social studies in grades 3-8 and high school via end of course exams.
What the R-3 Board heard was this: while District officials are pleased with the overall results, they acknowledge there are areas they need to improve in.
“When I look at the information presented, I clearly see countless celebrations of our accomplishments and I also see opportunities for our District to get better,” Platte County R-3 Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik said. “We will always celebrate the hard work of our administrators, teachers and students because they all deserve that. But our goal will always be to improve our bottom line. There is always room for improvement.”
Success in MAP testing is based on the percentage of students tested in each district who finish at the proficient or advanced level. According to MAP information released by the state late last month, R-3 showed an overall increase in performance in three of the four categories the past three years: communication arts, science and social studies. R-3 showed a decrease in math from 2012 to 2013. However, five-year trends indicate the District is making steady progress in all areas.