Tagged: Missouri State Board of Education

St. Louis public schools will find out tomorrow if they’ll regain at least provisional accreditation from the State Board of Education.

St. Louis schools lost their accreditation five years ago and were soon after placed under state control, but they have improved over the past two years.  In 2010 they only met 3 out of 14 performance standards, with six being the minimum require for provisional accreditation.  Last year they met the minimum six, and this year they’ve met seven performance standards.  State Board Member Peter Herschend (R) says, though, there’s no guarantee the vote will go St. Louis’s way.

Updated 1:28 p.m. to reflect that eleven states have already been granted waivers.

The Missouri Board of Education has approved the state's request for a waiver from some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Members voted Tuesday to support the waiver's submission to the U.S. Department of Education with minor edits. Last fall, President Barack Obama said states will be allowed to seek a waiver from the law, which requires all students to show proficiency in math and reading by 2014.

Missouri's college loan agency plans to start collecting payments in October from students who got loans from the federal government.

The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority says it is the first state-based nonprofit organization to be approved to handle federal loan payments since a 2010 law required the U.S. Department of Education to originate all federally backed student loans. That law essentially eliminated a role for banks and private lenders.