Approximately 38% of K-12 students in St. Louis switch schools in the middle of the school year. That’s the finding of a new report from the St. Louis School Research-Practice Collaborative that addresses the issue of student mobility.
Student mobility refers to students who change schools for reasons other than moving up a grade. The cause of this mobility is often unforeseen, and the effects include poor attendance and low test scores.
“Thinking about the stories that have been told, anecdotally, sometimes for students living in high poverty areas – things like eviction, things like job loss – can impact students at the family level,” Jason explained Jabbari, one of the report’s researchers who is an assistant professor at Washington University’s Brown School.
It will address the next phase of collaboration research Why students are moving and Where they are moving.
Founded in 2022, the St. Louis School Research-Practice Collaborative brought together researchers from local universities and educators from St. Louis Public Schools, Confluence Academies and KIPP St. Louis.
Andrew Eason, a fifth grade teacher at Penrose Elementary in the Penrose neighborhood, is especially pleased that the issue of student mobility in St. Louis is being examined more closely. He sees how students switching schools play out in the classroom.
“Self [students] starting a year in one place and then ending up maybe moving to a charter school, and then ending up going back to a public school, there are different dynamics and different ways of educating,” Eason said. [students] they have to fit academically, but they have to fit socially.
The report is based on data from the 2018-19 school year, and while more than a third of students switching schools mid-year is a cause for concern, this is a decrease in recent years. In 2010-11 student mobility was 51%.
Even so, the student mobility rate in St. Louis is high compared to rates in Kansas City, Springfield, St. Louis County, and Missouri overall.
To find out more about the new student mobility report, listen St. Louis aired on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” tells the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Avery Rogers is our production assistant. The sound engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to [email protected].
