Mizzou Academy is a lab school within the University of Missouri’s College of Education and Human Development. We strive to live and teach our core values of innovation, partnership, inclusion, and access as we serve students in online and blended contexts around the world.  

“2023 is a huge year for us,” says Executive Director Kathryn Fishman-Weaver. “This was the year we celebrated our largest and most culturally diverse graduating class. It was also the year we completed the library build for the Missouri Office of Childhood. From teaching and learning, to service projects, and new partnerships, I can’t imagine a team more dedicated to childhood wellbeing.”

The 2023 impact report speaks to the broad reach of Mizzou Academy. Last year, the school served over 7,000 K-12 students from 42 countries of residence; it strengthened school community and professional development opportunities; and it promoted extracurricular growth, including a new science team, a robust National Honor Society chapter, and an academic summer program. 

Many on the team have heard Dr. Fishman-Weaver say that “Mizzou Academy is a global school with deep local roots.” These local roots are reflected across the impact report and include a regular commitment to service with local nonprofits working for food security and childhood wellbeing. 

Below are more details about and links to some of our impact celebrations. In 2023, we:

• celebrated 880+ high school graduates from the University of Missouri High School.
• served 7,240 elementary, middle, and high school students.
• graded and provided instructional feedback on over 80,000 assignments. 
• supported formal school partnerships in 15 countries (Brazil, China, Croatia, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Panama, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, and Vietnam).
• served students from 42 countries. 
• proctored over 2,000 exams. 
• celebrated 17 faculty and staff promotions. 
• produced 30 courses for the Office of Childhood Training Library.
• added 5 new courses to our professional learning library. 
• welcomed 100 new members to our National Honor Society Chapter. 
• hosted over 150 educators in professional development sessions.
• launched 1 new club (shout out to MAST, our Mizzou Academy Science Team!).
• welcomed 24 visiting high school scholars to our Mizzou International Experience (MIE) summer program. 
• instructed students in 17 different world languages (Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish).
• hosted 2 international conferences.
• welcomed 4 new partner schools. 
• donated over $1,000 in supplies to support children receiving services through Heart of Missouri CASA.
• packed, sorted, and collected over 5,000 lbs of food for the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. 
• donated over 70 coats to the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association.

Reflecting on our 2023 impact reminds us that Mizzou Academy has good reason to celebrate, and that celebrations are important. In fact, we even commemorated our completion of the Office of Childhood Training Library with a full gold carpet ceremony. 

Since we now own 15 feet of gold carpet, let’s put it to use and keep those celebrations going in 2024!