LINN — Linn Elementary Principal Cammie Otto presented a look at Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores and data to board members at their September meeting.

“We know some of this data is not comfortable to look at,” she said. “When you leave this presentation, we want you to understand our goals for the future, and the plans our teachers are already putting in place to help our students achieve at higher levels each year.”

In a comparison of third-grade English Language Arts (ELA) scores, Otto noted 40% of students scored proficient or advanced in 2024, and 41% achieved that mark in 2025. An unofficial comparison of state scores showed that 41% of Linn Elementary students were proficient or advanced in 2025, the same as the state average.

“These are just preliminary numbers, so they could change, although I don’t anticipate them changing a great deal,” said Otto. “We recognize that’s great, but we want to be even better than the state average, so we’re going to continue working on bettering our curriculum instruction, and asking deeper-level questions to get our students above that.”

In Math, 38% of third-graders scored proficient or advanced, down from the 2024 mark of 46%.

Otto explained that each year, students are tested, and the data is compared to students from the previous year. “That’s a grade-level comparison, not the same program of students, because these kiddos haven’t taken the math test before third grade,” she added.

While that number is down, Otto noted that the 2025 class had 43 students, compared to 50 in 2024.

Linn R-2 students were just below the state average (41%-38%). “We expect to be a little bit lower in math, but we’re planning on addressing this through the curriculum resource and then continuing with RTI (Response to Intervention) plans,” said Otto.

Fourth-grade students, meanwhile, showed improvement in ELA, from 37% proficient or advanced in 2024 to 45% in 2025. Otto noted that this cohort improved from 40% to 45% a year between tests.

“They are making progress; not as much progress as we would like to see, but they’re going in the right direction,” said Otto.

Linn R-2 students matched the state average of 45% proficient or advanced.

Math results from this grade level showed that 31% of students scored proficient or advanced in 2024, compared to 34% in 2025.

Linn R-2 students were below the state average of 44% proficient or advanced, with a mark of 34%.

“If you look at that as a grade level with their curriculum and instruction, they actually went up,” said Otto, adding that teachers are doing the things they need to do to change instruction to benefit students. “We love to see that.”

However, Otto noted that this cohort dropped from 46% to 34% a year between exams. “Looking at the data, I would say that would be a major concern,” she added. “I truly think our new math curriculum resource will really address this. It’s a matter of asking those deep, critical thinking questions that we weren’t asking before, sometimes. And being in classrooms, I can tell you, there are very high-level questions, and it’s really cool to watch our students go through that process. The other really cool thing is that teachers are also going through the process of learning this new curriculum resource, which has created a safe environment for the kids to make mistakes, because they see their teachers working through it. The kids are excited to try it, and I’ve seen so many lightbulb moments where they’re like, ‘Ah, yeah, that makes sense. I could see where you got that from.’ So it also gives them a chance to learn from their peers as they’re thinking through different ways of solving problems.”

The fifth-grade class took three tests.

In ELA, 40% of students were proficient or advanced, up from 38% in 2024.

This is just a grade-level comparison,” said Otto. “Obviously, we’re comparing apples to oranges this year because the number of kids was way different, but we were pretty close to what they were last year.”

There were 27 students in 2024 and 43 in 2025, which Otto said plays a role. In 2023, 40% of students tested proficient or advanced, while missing one student, the equivalent of 3% in scoring. That number dipped to 37% in 2024 and recovered to 40% in 2025.

Linn’s mark of 40% proficient or advanced is slightly below the state average of 45%. “Just looking at that, we did have a higher number of kids in the Below Basic category,” said Otto of the 21% of students in 2025 scoring in that area compared to 7% in 2024. “I’ll tell you, in that group, we had a lot of students who had various needs in there that kind of affected the data level a little.”

Math comparisons showed a jump in the cohort between students’ 2023 mark of 30% proficient or advanced, which went to 33% in 2024, and 37% in 2025. “They’re doing really well,” said Otto. “We’re continuing to see that uphill trend with them over the past few years. They’re working really hard.”

In a grade-level comparison, MAP data showed that 37% of 2025 students scored proficient or advanced, compared to 33% in 2024.

Preliminary state results show an average of 38% scoring proficient or advanced, with Linn at 37%.

Linn is using a tough Math resource called Eureka Math Squared. “The thing I’m hearing the most is that it’s way more rigorous than our kids have ever had,” said Otto. “So, teachers and parents, if they could just bear with us, because that’s what we’ve learned through looking through the data, that our kids need more rigor. There will be some growing pains on the front end, but it’s going to pay off and be wonderful. We’re also going to add more rigor and critical thinking to all of our curriculum.”

In the Science MAP, 45% of students scored proficient or advanced, up from 37% in 2024. Compared to the state, Linn scored higher (45% - 43%).

“I was really excited to see that, and we celebrated that,” said Otto.

She spoke of the importance of RTI. “In the couple of years I’ve been here, most of our RTI was going down to where our students were at and meeting them where they were,” said Otto. “We’re still doing that in tier two and tier three intervention time, but we’re actually going to pull them up to where we are. Our RTI time is going to be spent primarily on grade-level standards, to really pick those even more than we already do within a regular day. We’re going to continue to add cooperative learning to increase student engagement, and we’re going to explore options for curriculum resources to pilot in the future for ELA.”

Linn will also continue using individualized pathways to help students develop the skills that they’re really struggling with. “We are not in our office as much,” said Otto, noting that administrators have mobile desks. “We’re out in the buildings. We’re really looking at the level of rigor in classrooms, making sure these new curriculum resources are being implemented with fidelity, and helping take care of the small things that teachers are dealing with every day.”