KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the 2017 Missouri Assessment Program scores Wednesday, and most Kansas City area school districts improved or maintained their 2016 scores.

Kansas City Public Schools did worse than last year, scoring 63.9 percent. That’s low enough to land the district in the state’s provisional accreditation category.

In 2016, KCPS scored 70 percent, which is the minimum score for the full accreditation level.

In order to receive full accreditation, the district must have two consecutive years of a score between 70 and 100 percent.

41 Action News spoke with KCPS District Superintendent Mark Bedell and he said the state scores should be looked at in context. He said the scoring is not solely based on test scores, but includes attendance, transportation and other factors.

"Actually, every area we have had growth, but this is just one component of the accountability system. The system is broken into five different standards. It is something that I shared with my chief research and accountability officer -- that we should have a workshop to help our community understand that this is not based on one year of data compared to the previous year," Bedell said.

Bedell also said for the first time in recent memory, KCPS has a graduation above 70 percent.

Hickman Mills School District scored a 65.4 percent in 2017. This is down from 67.9 percent in 2016, but both figures leave the district in the provisional accreditation category.

“This is just one tool that parents can use,” Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said of how parents can use the results.

Vandeven said parents should also ask themselves what they value most in school districts, which could also include college readiness, rates of improvement, and graduation rates.

Chris Neale, DESE assistant commissioner for the Office of Quality Schools, said that DESE has supervisors across the state monitoring districts with results below targets.

“We work with districts to ensure they have an improvement plan,” Neale said during a Tuesday conference call with reporters.

In a news release, KCPS said the test results show the district is improving in some areas despite the drop in its overall score. KCPS noted its four-year graduation rate is 71.8 percent, which is up from 65.4 percent in 2015. The district added, "this is the first time in recent memory" the graduation rate has been above 70 percent.

This year the state changed the way it calculates scores. The list of changes is in this document on pages 10-12.

See below for local districts’ 2017 results.

Click here for local districts’ MAP data from 2014-2017. The data also includes local charter schools.