The St. Louis Teaching Fellows (STL TF) program at Saint Louis University (SLU) continues to place teachers in St. Louis area public and charter schools by providing a route to teach while simultaneously earning teaching certification and a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. The impact has grown to two active cohorts (24 students) and three classes of graduates (36 students).

This report sheds light on the relationship between four-day school weeks and attendance in Missouri and Arkansas schools.

There are over one million school-age children in Missouri, and we estimate 61,000 (6% of all school-age children) are homeschooled. Missouri is one of 29 states that does not require homeschooling to be reported. Using methods that can be replicated elsewhere with publicly available data, we test three approaches to estimating homeschool participation: using American Community Survey (ACS) data; subtracting public and estimated private school counts from ACS school-age totals; and polling parents. We comment on the usefulness and limitations of each approach and provide a model for researchers seeking to estimate homeschooling trends in states that lack administrative data.

This report examines current physical education policy requirements in Missouri.

This report examines the unique challenges to and opportunities for school belonging for students in special education, along with best practices to support school belonging for special education students.

This report details Missouri teachers’ supplemental (non-base) pay and the Career Ladder program for teachers.

Currently, over a third of public school districts in Missouri utilize a four-day school week (4DSW). The overwhelming majority that currently use a shortened school week are small, rural school districts.  The primary reason cited by districts for transitioning to the 4DSW is to recruit and retain certified educators in an increasingly competitive workforce marketplace. While, up to this point, the four-day school week has been a rural school district phenomenon, this is beginning to change as larger districts also struggle to find and retain staff.  This study examined the 4DSW influence on job applications to the Independent School District (ISD), which adopted a four-day school week for the 2023-2024 school year. With over 14,000 students and over 1,200 certified staff, ISD is by far the largest 4DSW district in Missouri. As policymakers analyze the 4DSW, it is important to investigate how the size and diversity of a school impact a school district's ability to attract and retain teachers.  

In this report, we analyze the results of a survey sent to 900 Missouri and Arkansas parents, asking them their opinions about four-day school weeks, homeschooling, college likelihood, teacher salaries and entering the workforce, and school vouchers.

In this report, we dive into the results, focusing specifically on the education questions posed to voters on the Fall 2024 SLU/YouGov poll.

This report covers a program evaluation of the Summer Scholars program.

This brief documents changes in Missouri public school teacher retention during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines changes in teacher retention in districts that adopt a four-day school week calendar.

This report covers the ever-changing public education system in St. Louis.