The Wright City R-II School District has prided itself on continued achievement over the past half-decade and this year will be no exception.Superintendent Dr. David Buck reported the latest Annual Performance Report (APR) scores, which shed light on the district’s continued success. The state assigns APR scores to each school based on a wide range of variables, including results from state standardized tests, student achievement and attendance and graduation rates. Scores above 70 percent are considered to be in the fully accredited range.R-II was awarded an overall score of 92.6 percent, making this the sixth straight year the district has been above 90 percent.Further distinguishing itself, R-II is part of an elite group of just six of the 29 districts along the Interstate 70 corridor to score 90 percent or above during this stretch.“We have a lot of stability in our staff, which is fantastic,” said Buck. “We have focused on student engagement, instruction and assessment, and that has really paid off.”Breaking down the scores, R-II performed best in the graduation rate category, receiving all 30 of the possible points.The second strongest area was subgroup achievement with a 9.4 out of 10. In the category of academic achievement, R-II scored a 36.7 out of 40 or 91.8 percent.“English remained around the same, while math was down,” said Buck. “There was no science test, which is usually a strength of ours.”While those numbers reflect well on the district, Buck says the focus is really on challenging the students rather than guaranteeing stellar scores. It’s the consistent implementation of rigorous instruction and assessment.“We want the kids to have to work hard at problem solving,” said Buck. “We want them to be able to be critical thinkers and react to situations.”The district scored 27.5 out of 30, or 91.7 percent, in college and career readiness.“We were very close to a perfect score there,” said Buck. “We needed just one more to have gone into a career or military.”“What’s interesting to me is that system is really set up to show readiness for college better than career, but we’re really wanting to focus on career,” said Buck.Attendance remained about the same at 75 percent and continues to be an area of focus.Buck says this feedback is a good benchmark for where the district stands among other districts but isn’t necessary telling of all R-II is trying to achieve.“I think there is so much more that a school should be doing than what a score shows,” said Buck. “I’m proud of the score but we want every kid to become an adult you’d be proud to call your next-door neighbor. That’s our true measure of success.”Wright City School District logo