The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is committed to continuously improving and strengthening its support to schools, educators, leaders, and students. To that end, R12CC helps DESE by collecting, analyzing, and reporting on feedback from the field in order to make system refinements. These systems include the

  • Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS)
  • Comprehensive School Improvement system (CSI)
  • District Continuous Improvement system (DCI)

R12CC has recently completed a second annual evaluation of MLDS and presented highlights of the report to the MLDS Commission. Commission leaders have requested, and R12CC has presented the findings and recommendations to the regional professional development centers (RPDCs) across the state to engage in deeper thinking about potential action steps that the RPDCs can take. Further, R12CC is supporting DESE to use targeted recruitment strategies to increase participation in MLDS by engaging MLDS ambassadors that know and speak directly to the value add that MLDS offers to principals. Expanding MLDS reach by increasing the number of principals participating in MLDS will further strengthen school leadership statewide on behalf of teachers and students.

R12CC is also preparing the DCI and CSI evaluation reports which are slated for release in March 2022. Completion of the data collection and evaluation reports will lead to DESE having a greater awareness of how their initiatives are supporting schools and their leaders, and selecting and implementing recommendations from the evaluations.

Capacity building services are also provided to superintendents through monthly Executive Leadership Forum sessions. The forums continue to promote the use of evidence-based practices, while building a peer network that gives space for leaders to learn how others are applying these practices in their own school and community contexts.

Support to DESE also includes facilitating a planning committee to advance the development of a common formative assessment system. As part of this work, the project team also engages in planning meetings with developers to ensure technical aspects of the system align with the vision of DESE.