City: St. Louis, MO

Category: Education

Telephone: (314) 231-3720

Address: 801 North 11th Street

Description: Like so many major cities, St. Louis’s public school system has had its share of problems. In 2003 the school system was declared a provisionally accredited district, and it remained at that status as of 2008. In October 2006 the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released summary data of Missouri school districts’ Annual Performance Reports (APR) for the 2005–6 school year. The APR of St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) shows that the district earned only 39 of 66 performance points needed for full accreditation, so the district remains provisionally accredited. There are about 28,000 students in the SLPS system, from preschool through grade 12. SLPS has a total of 84 schools, which includes 52 elementary schools, 17 middle schools, 14 high schools, and 4 special schools. Of the 84 the district offers 27 magnet schools, including 14 elementary, 8 middle, and 5 high schools. Magnet school programs include Montessori, basic instruction, individually guided education, military academies, visual/performing arts, international studies, math, science and technology, multimedia electronic graphic arts, and the gifted academies. The racial mix for SLPS is 81 percent African American, 14 percent Caucasian, and 5 percent Asian, Hispanic, or Indian. More than 80 percent of the students in the SLPS system are eligible for free and reduced lunches. Teachers in the SLPS system average 12 years of experience each, with more than 44 percent of the administrators, teachers, and support staff holding advanced degrees. The average student-teacher ratio is 18 to 1, and more than 87 percent of the teaching staff have acquired life, professional, and continuing professional certificates. SLPS also provides special education and early-childhood special education programs, coordinates Parents as Teachers and Gifted Education programs, and offers advanced placement and technical offerings such as agricultural science, business education, health occupations, computers, marketing, family and consumer science, and trade/industrial education. Students are assigned to city schools based on the parents’ address. For each address in the city, there is an assigned elementary, middle, and high school, and usually the assigned school is the closest one to each address. Parents may enroll students who are new to the school district at the Recruitment and Counseling Center at 801 North 11th Street, and they need to bring proof of address as well as the child’s birth certificate and immunization record. Preschool students (three and four years old), kindergarteners (five years old), and first-graders (six years old) must be age-eligible before August 1. Assignment to one of the district’s magnet schools is based on the results of a lottery process, which allows each child an equal chance to be accepted in accordance with the priority guidelines established by the district. Parents can list up to three schools that they would accept as a magnet school selection. Each magnet school features a different educational focus or theme. For example, Kennard Classical Junior Academy (CJA), the only full-time, gifted public elementary school in the area, features a curriculum that is designed to challenge students’ analytical and critical thinking skills. Primary-school students at Marshall Multimedia Electronic Graphic Arts (MEGA) magnet school, however, work with the hottest computer technology to learn three-dimensional drawing, special effects, and virtual-reality skills that are useful for careers in graphic design and software and Web site development. Students also have the opportunity to attend a magnet cluster, which is three schools—one elementary, one middle, and one high school—that offer a continuous, interdisciplinary instructional program emphasizing high academic achievement. The International Studies Magnet Cluster focus is world languages, cultures, and global awareness, which allows students to develop skills in problem solving, critical thinking, technology, and language proficiency. Besides the St. Louis–born population, the magnet cluster consists of students and teachers from such countries as Bosnia, China, Ethiopia, Herzegovina, India, Italy, Laos, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Somalia, Spain, and Vietnam. One of the program’s key components is that all students must study a world language throughout their school career. Students at Soldan High School are introduced to the school’s theme through Introduction to International Studies, a required course for Soldan freshmen. At the high school level, students can even take classes that earn college credit at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. In addition to Soldan, the ISC course of study is taught at Dewey Elementary and Bunche Middle Schools.