The State Board of Education gave final approval Monday to guidelines for evaluating teachers and administrators in Missouri schools.

School districts can adopt the state model or design their own system, incorporating the approved principles.

"Quality teachers and school administrators are key to improving student performance,” said Commissioner of Education Chris L. Nicastro. "The evaluation principles are designed to provide support and guidance to educators throughout their career in order to increase student achievement."

Student Assessment Scores Hold Steady in Communication Arts, Increase in Science
Annual MAP test results maintain most gains made over past five years

Student achievement on Missouri's annual assessment tests held steady in communication arts and increased in science this year, state education officials report.

Today the State Board of Education approved the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s recommendation of developing a plan to direct the transformation of failing school districts in the state. The Department issued an invitation for bid last month for comprehensive analyses of school system challenges in unaccredited districts with the aim of developing strategies that will deliver dramatic improvement in student performance.

Seven public school teachers have been chosen as finalists for the 2013-14 Missouri Teacher of the Year award, state education officials announced today.

Nominations for the award were submitted by school districts throughout the state. The finalists are chosen, based on their written application, by a selection committee appointed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

A charter bus transporting approximately 15-17 students from the Missouri School for the Deaf (MSD) in Fulton was involved in a one-vehicle accident Friday afternoon, according to school staff.

The accident occurred on I-70 in Montgomery County at the Danville exit. Several students sustained what are believed to be minor injuries and were taken to University Hospital in Columbia, Mo. A majority of the students were being treated and discharged.

Winners of Missouri’s first School Breakfast Challenge were announced today by education officials in partnership with the Midwest Dairy Council.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and three national education experts will be the featured speakers at Missouri's annual conference for school administrators July 28-30 in Columbia.

Five individuals will be honored Monday as Pioneers in Education for their commitment and contributions to public education in Missouri.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will formally recognize the 2013 Pioneers as part of the 52nd annual Cooperative Conference for School Administrators at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia, Mo. More than 500 school district leaders will be in attendance.

The 2013 Pioneers in Education are:

State education officials are pleased that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed into law today Senate Bill 125, which gives the State Board of Education more flexibility to take action when a school district becomes unaccredited.

Eight Missouri teachers were selected as state finalists for the 2013 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

State finalists in mathematics are: