Episode : 2 The Snake that grades its own tail
Episode : 2 The Snake that grades its own tail
Embedded Files
A state literacy specialist once told our host, point blank, that nobody at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education could verify what grade level a paragraph was written at. That same department is about to assign public A-through-F letter grades to every school in Missouri.
This episode traces the actual mechanics behind those letter grades — how the test questions deciding them get written, who writes them, and how "rigorous" got redefined along the way. Governor Kehoe gets a fair hearing for his actual reasoning. The math doesn't get one.
Research and links listed below for verification.
episode links and research
episode links and research
Episode 2 Links and research:
Kehoe's Executive Order & Stated Reasoning
Yahoo News / OzarksFirst — Kehoe's original State of the State quotes: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/kehoe-focusing-school-district-grades-235220374.html
Jefferson City News-Tribune — DESE's June 30 submission to Kehoe: https://www.newstribune.com/news/2026/jul/02/dese-submits-a-f-school-grading-framework-to/
Missouri Independent — House/Senate bill details, the 75%/25% grading split: https://missouriindependent.com/2026/01/28/bill-creating-a-f-ratings-for-missouri-schools-set-for-edits-as-lawmakers-debate-path-forward/
WGEM — the 95% testing threshold penalty, Senate opposition: https://www.wgem.com/2026/03/27/missouri-governors-a-f-school-grading-plan-faces-bipartisan-senate-opposition/
SLU PRiME Center — official executive order breakdown: https://www.primecenter.org/prime-blog/accountability-system
Ballotpedia's Hall Pass newsletter — additional direct Kehoe quotes: https://news.ballotpedia.org/2026/09/23/hall-pass-your-ticket-to-understanding-school-board-politics-edition-224/
Teacher & Union Pushback
KY3 — MSTA's opposition statement, the underfunding argument: https://www.ky3.com/2026/07/06/missouri-teachers-push-back-governors-a-f-school-grading-plan/
DESE Writing Its Own Test Items
DESE's own ELA standards and assessment page (source for "teams of educators... write test items"): https://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/curriculum/english-language-arts
DESE's Missouri Learning Standards overview page: https://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/curriculum/missouri-learning-standards
Missouri ELA Standards — K-12 Progression
DESE's K-12 ELA Priority Standards resource (confirms the existence of a special interpretive document for standard progression): https://sites.google.com/view/priority-standards-mo-dese/home/english-language-arts/k-12-ela-supporting-resources
Episode 1 Links and research:
Find all things Karen Vaites at: https://www.karenvaites.org/?r=94og6k&utm_campaign=subscribe-page-share-screen&utm_medium=web
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