New National and Local Investments To Support Kansas City Regional Education Initiative

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City, Kansas (KCKPS) and Kansas City, Missouri (KCMSD) School Districts today announced new national and local funding to strengthen a regional partnership committed to ensuring that over 8,000 students in secondary schools receive a high-quality education that will prepare them for college and careers. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase its investment in the region’s high school reform work with a new $5.2 million grant which adds to the foundation’s $900,000 investment made last year. This new funding supplements $7 million in support from 15 local funding partners, including The Sprint Foundation and The H&R Block Foundation. These investments will help the two districts continue to build on a regional education initiative that was launched last year and has produced promising early results.

“This commitment to improve student outcomes from both of Kansas City’s large urban districts is critical to the future of the Kansas City region. These improvements will impact Kansas City’s economic & civic future,” said Leo Morton, Sr. Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer at Aquila, and PREP-KC advisory board member.

In September 2005, Kansas City’s two large urban school districts began a five-year collaboration with PREP-KC to implement shared high school reform strategies which will increase high school graduation and college readiness rates. In Kansas City, Kansas, where reform efforts have been in place for eight years, there have been significant gains in attendance, graduation rates and academic achievement. After three years of high school reform work, five high schools in Kansas City, Missouri are seeing clear signs of progress with improved graduation rates as well as initial gains in student achievement.

Dr. Jill Shackelford, Superintendent KCKPS, states “The partnership with PREP-KC is a vital strategic alliance in our effort to improve outcomes for all of our students. While we are pleased with our district’s progress we are certainly not satisfied. There is still much work to do.”

Anthony Amato, Superintendent KCMSD, states “The initial improvements produced by Achievement First in our high schools is the basis for our decision to expand Achievement First into our middle schools. This gives us the foundation for stronger secondary preparation for our students as they plan for college and careers.”

In spite of these improvements in both districts, significant work remains. Nearly one-fourth of high school students in Kansas City, Missouri, did not graduate with their freshmen classmates in 2005, and only 17 percent of 11th graders scored above proficient in English on the 2006 Missouri State Assessment test. In Kansas City, Kansas, only 27 percent of 10th graders tested at proficient or above in math on the state test (2005-06 data pending approval of Kansas State Dept. of Education). Working with PREP-KC, both school district have adopted a collaborative approach to sharing lessons-learned and best practices as they strive to set high standards, provide strong support for students, and communicate high expectations for all students.

This $13.2 million combined investment from the Gates Foundation and local funders will help accelerate the progress of the districts’ respective reform efforts, First Things First (KCKPS) & Achievement First (KCMSD) in several key areas:

• Bring more rigor into the classroom by hiring instruction coaches in math and English
  
  
• Expand the Family Advocate Program to strengthen relationships with families, especially on issues related to career and college preparation
  
  
• Support the collaboration between KCKPS and KCMSD as they develop their instructional leaders, and expand their efforts to create a college-going culture in their combined 10 high schools

The investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation builds on grants to both districts. In 2003, the KCMSD launched Achievement First in five high schools with a $6.1 million grant from the Gates foundation. In those schools, the graduation rate has improved by 13 percent and more ninth and tenth graders are taking and passing college prep courses.

Last year, The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation made its first investment in KCKPS with a $900,000 grant to PREP-KC to support continued improvements in academic achievement and graduation rates. KCKPS's 8-year implementation of the First Things First school improvement framework is producing significant improvements. The graduation rate in KCKPS’s 5 large high schools is up 35 percent, and proficiency levels in reading for all grades have jumped 23 points in five years. The success of KCKPS’s high school reform work has generated national attention.

“Success in improving education for all students takes commitment and determination to make sure that all students receive the academic rigor, relevant courses and personalized learning they need to succeed in college and work,” said Tom Vander Ark, Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The regional collaboration between these two school districts serves as an important model of partnership and leadership that is needed in more school districts and communities if we are to help all of our nation's public school students build a solid and successful future for themselves.”

First Things First (FTF), KCKPS’s reform initiative, has been in place for eight years.

• Between 2001 and 2004, the percentage of African-American students proficient in reading rose from 24% to 49% overall. The percentage of African-American students scoring at the proficient level in the rest of Kansas rose by 11%
  
  
• While significant improvements occurred in reading proficiency across all students, the achievement gap between Caucasian and Hispanic students decreased from 21 to only 4 percentage points.

Achievement First (AF), the KCMSD’s reform initiative, which began in five of the district’s high schools, is beginning its fourth year and shows promising gains.

• Ninth grade English I passing rates have improved 12.2% and Algebra I passing rates have improved 19.7% since the implementation of AF in 2003
  
  
• Since implementation of Achievement First in five high schools (2003) graduation rates have risen 13.4 percentage points

The funds will be administered through a newly created intermediary organization, the Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation- Kansas City (PREP-KC) which is anchored by two strategic Kansas City organizations: The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, and The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. PREP-KC provides KC funders with the opportunity to join in partnership with other investors to collectively support improvements in Kansas City’s urban public education. Susan Wally, a national expert on education reform, is executive director of PREP-KC. Wally works closely with an advisory board comprised of local business and civic leaders.