‘It’s concerning’: Missouri moves up A-F school grading system

ORAN, Mo. (Heartland News) - Missouri’s new A-F grading system for public schools is now expected to take effect in December 2026, moving up from a planned spring 2027 start.

Oran School District Superintendent Dr. Adam Friga said the change affects everyone in the school system.

“We’ve got 900 students across Missouri that are affected by this. This is a huge responsibility; it’s a big deal, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly,” Friga said.

Friga said speeding up the implementation may cause a higher probability of mistakes.

“There are other states that have done this, and the average implementation time to write draft reports is two to three years, and we are doing this in six to eight months,” Friga said.

We are looking at data from 2024, 25 which is two school years ago. And we took last year’s test in 25-26, and we still haven’t got that data, so the most recent data that is available, we have not been given. We need that data to drive this year’s instruction, and we don’t have it," Friga said.

Friga said he is also concerned about leadership at the state level following the resignation of interim Commissioner Stacey Preis after Tuesday’s board meeting.

“That was unexpected to us, and we have these major initiatives we are working through right now, and we’ve had two state commissioners that have resigned in the last four months,” Friga said.

Friga said the faster rollout is already affecting daily operations at schools.

“With this new information, it is forcing us to pivot and evaluate how we are going to move forward with limited information, so schools across the state are stopping day-to-day business to decipher and figure this out,” Friga said.