February 1, 2019

Dear Ferguson-Florissant School District families,

As you know, our students and staff have been working hard together to help our students achieve more and have greater opportunities in college, career, and life. We are beginning to see the results of our collective efforts.

Today the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) released the results of the 2018 Missouri Annual Performance Report (APR) for school districts across the state. Scores for the Ferguson-Florissant School District show a substantial increase over previous years. Ferguson-Florissant received 110.5 points out of a possible 120 points on the state’s annual assessment, or 92.1 percent.

Ferguson-Florissant School District remains fully accredited.

This year’s score of 92.1 percent is a 24.7 percent increase from last year’s score of 67.4 percent and by far the highest performance over the six years of MSIP 5. Ferguson-Florissant School District showed growth in ELA and Math and gained points for attendance and graduation rate even with adjustments to the calculations. In fact, this is a significant increase over past years and demonstrates the effectiveness of initiatives across the District. Due to several factors, DESE has not released individual school performance scores at this time.

Our performance says we are headed in the right direction, and I am especially excited that 87.5% of our seniors graduated in four years. The hard work of our students, teachers, and those who support teachers is reflected in our scores on the APR. We are excited about the opportunities for our students and community as we continue to move forward.

We still have a very limited number of tickets available for our State of the District event on Monday, February 4 at the Ferguson Community Center where I will share further details on the District’s performance as well as update our progress on the restructuring process. Tickets are available through the link on our website or at http://bit.ly/2T85wB1.

I hope you will take a moment today to celebrate last year’s success and breathe in the hope this brings. We still have much to accomplish if our students are to experience success in life. Please join me in committing each day to do what is best for our students. Our teachers, principals, and district leaders will be taking the steps necessary to continue to bring about positive change. Parents, please make sure your children are reading every day, and encourage their enthusiasm for learning. Students, I expect you will come to school every day, give your best effort, and achieve at even greater levels. We can do this together as “One District, United!”

Onward,

Dr. Joseph Davis
Superintendent