2006 Outstanding Rural Missouri School District
Concordia R-II School District
Launch the media gallery 1 playerConcordia R-II is located in West Central Missouri about halfway between Kansas City and Columbia. Being a rural town of approximately 2150 people, the primary way of life is devoted to production agriculture and it's many agri-related businesses. The district has a student enrollment of approximately 530 students (K-12). The district has worked hard over the years to maintain its' facilities and provide a quality educational environment for its' students.
The philosophy of the Concordia School District is driven by the district mission statement: which states that the district "is to help all students develop their unique talents as well as the critical thinking, technological, and lifelong learning skills needed in order to become productive, responsible citizens in a global community."
The Concordia School District is a quality district with many things to be proud of; a high standard of academic achievement, an extra-curricular program that involves a large majority of students, a commitment to service, excellent facilities and a long history of community support. As one parent writes, "I am especially proud of the quality of education and the student accomplishments." The district recently went through the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) and received 17 strengths in areas such as student ACT scores, access to technology and creating a positive climate for learning. Each year, the district recognizes a large percentage of students for scoring in the upper two levels of the MAP test. Because of the district's commitment to education, over the last two years, students have earned over 160 college hours while still in high school. The district has met the rigorous standards to have the high school certified an A+ School allowing many students the opportunity to attend college.
As we know, we cannot succeed with only one area. Concordia does it well. Over the past two years approximately 98% of the students in grades 7-12 participated in at least one extra curricular activity. They have one of the outstanding marching bands in the state. The Marching Orioles have won numerous area, regional, and state awards as well as being selected to perform at places all over state and was invited back to Disneyworld for the seventh time to march in the Magic Kingdom parade this past summer.. Concordia always finishes high in all sports, winning many district contests as well as the golf and baseball teams receiving statewide recognition..
Concordia has a strong commitment to service through the Ambassadors program and the Service Learning Program. The Ambassadors program provides buddies to new students to help them adjust to a new school. The Service Learning Program involves students in grades K-12. Some of the projects included the High School P.E. Class project providing fundamentals of basketball for area 3rd and 4th graders. The first grade Project Warmth collected over 150 items of clothing and food. The 8th grade class designed and created activity bags for students living at the House of Hope, a shelter for abused women and children.
The commitment to learning is evident in the district. Last year a district wide study group format of professional development was implemented. This helped each other learn a variety of things such as Inspiration and Kidspiration Software, utilizing SmartBoards, Digital Photography, Vocabulary Instruction, Poverty Frameworks, and Creative Problem Solving.
To the many successes and recognition's that the Concordia School District have received over the years, we could not conclude without noting their Distinction in Performance for two years in a row. To the Concordia School District, we offer congratulations to Mrs. Mary Beth Scherer, Superintendent, the Concordia Board of Education, the building administrators, the staff, students and the community for a job well done and your selection as the Outstanding Rural Missouri School District for 2006.