Moving Education Forward in Kansas City
Just returned from a very informative presentation at the Kansas City, KS Chamber's First Friday luncheon. In addition to a knock-out meal provided by Simple Pleasures Catering at their cozy "retreat-like" facilities in wooded KCK, there was a discussion about public education reforms in Kansas City. Susan Wally, the executive director of PREP-KC (Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation), presented an overview of important improvements going on in the area, particularly in "the K".
Wally noted that although the KCK district continues to push for greater improvement, they have moved from a 48% graduation rate in 1999-2000 to 83% in 2005-2006. At the same time, standards have not been lowered if you look at stats such as a rise in reading proficiency levels. The extent of the turnaround for Kansas City, Kansas, schools has been so dramatic that public schools in almost every major U.S. city have requested site visits to see the model of such a powerful institutional change. So much so that the district had to stop granting individual requests and create twice-yearly national events to outline the steps taken as part of the First Things First program.
Some key changes were:
Education works. You just have to work it.
On the Road,
Eric J. Reid
Wally noted that although the KCK district continues to push for greater improvement, they have moved from a 48% graduation rate in 1999-2000 to 83% in 2005-2006. At the same time, standards have not been lowered if you look at stats such as a rise in reading proficiency levels. The extent of the turnaround for Kansas City, Kansas, schools has been so dramatic that public schools in almost every major U.S. city have requested site visits to see the model of such a powerful institutional change. So much so that the district had to stop granting individual requests and create twice-yearly national events to outline the steps taken as part of the First Things First program.
Some key changes were:
- Small learning communities: Students were broken into career-focused groups with teachers from various disciplines, allowing them to prepare in a broad range of subjects for a particular career field.
- Family advocacy: Each student was assigned a family advocate from the school district who worked with the student and his or her family to help them over time. Especially in families with limited resources or lack of educational involvement, this helped to raise graduation rates and reduce disciplinary suspensions.
- Instructional improvements: By focusing on teacher development, retention and even recruitment was notably improved -- not to mention the assumable impact this had on helping teachers to help their students and to work in an everchanging environment.
Education works. You just have to work it.
On the Road,
Eric J. Reid
