HERMANN — Months after receiving disappointing marks in what is commonly referred to as the district’s “report card,” administrators in Gasconade County R-1 remain perplexed by the students’ low scores focused on in the state’s Annual Performance Review of school districts.

The R-1 Board of Directors, which got an up-close look at the low scores late last year during a closed session, Thursday night received a brief summary of the district’s review in which R-1 scores were compared with scores of nearly a dozen other districts in the region.

By the end of the brief outline given by Associate Superintendent Leslie Lause, the directors were left with little to say.

“We are below the state average by just a little bit, but we are below the state average,” Lause said.

Overall, perhaps, but in some of the individual categories, it’s more than a little bit.

For example, Lause used the scores of the 5th Grade English Language Arts testing to show the fluctuation of scores from the 2021-22 school year to the 2022-23. In ‘21-’22, the R-1 5th graders topped the list; in ‘22-23, the 5th-Grade score put R-1 in 10th place among the region’s schools, Lause explained.

A check of the scores presented to the board Thursday night shows many falling below other schools’ scores or the state average for that class.

Lause said a team of district personnel are trying to get to the bottom of why the scores are as low as they are. “They’re digging into the data,” she told the board. “That team is really working hard,” she added.

Superintendent Geoff Neill said administrators are finding it difficult to get solid information about the scores from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

“Our scores aren’t where we want them to be,” he said, adding that the district can’t get good guidance from DESE on how to remedy the situation.

Why this test is giving some schools — the vast majority of districts reportedly received low marks on last year’s tests — so much problem isn’t clear. But, the superintendent said in response to a director’s question, the issue might be facing districts in the next few years. “There hasn’t been any talk about a new test,” he said.

R-1 directors had their first opportunity to discuss the low scores during a closed session late last year. The meeting was closed because the test scores were embargoed by DESE, which means they could not be distributed to the public. It’s unclear just why the scores were kept under wraps.

On a positive note, Neill Thursday night pointed out that while the Annual Performance Review scores fell below the state average, R-1 student scores on national tests such as the ACT are higher than the state average.

Lause summed up the administration’s presentation by saying a greater focus will be placed on tests such as the NWEA — which is given three times a year — in assessing students’ academic growth.

Director Mark Brooks, a former R-1 administrator, offered what encouragement he could to the administrators hoping to turn around the assessment scores.

“Do what’s best for kids,” Brooks said.

In other matters taken up Thursday night, Director Mike Pratte reported that state lawmakers are considering wrapping several controversial issues into an omnibus education bill — including hot-button issues such as open enrollment, school vouchers and charter schools. The outlook for such a measure is unclear; election-year sessions of the Missouri General Assembly generally are seen as not very productive. However, with such volatile issues on the table, school districts such as R-1 are forced to keep a close eye on legislative action.

“I don’t know where it’s going to go,” Pratte said of the big education bill.