Big improvements could move these Kansas City area schools off state watch list
A steady climb in student academic performance has Kansas City, Kansas, school officials boasting about a number of schools coming off a state improvement list.
The district has 18 — nearly half — of its 41 schools on the watch list because of persistently low test scores and poor graduation rates. But test results released this week show big gains in how students scored this academic year in math and English. And Superintendent Charles Foust says seven of his schools are “on track to come off the list.”
One of those schools is New Stanley Elementary School, and Principal Shonielle Roberson isn’t surprised by the good news. “I know my staff has been working really hard each day to assure the success of our students,” she said.
Schools can end up on Kansas’ Targeted Support and Improvement list if certain groups of students fall below statewide averages in areas such as graduation rate or English and math proficiency.
“Any high school with a graduation rate of less than 67 percent for any subgroup” could end up on the list, said Denise Kahler, a spokeswoman for the Kansas State Department of Education.
The state measures certain areas, including test scores, to determine how well a district is educating students. Schools must show gains three consecutive years to get off the improvement list.
Nearly two years ago, teachers at New Stanley started keeping highly detailed records on every student. If they noticed one of them struggling with something, they would immediately sign them up for in-school tutoring until they mastered the skill.
Foust said in middle schools and high schools, the district identified students who were just shy of hitting the proficient mark and gave them special attention.
Last winter, Roberson said, she started seeing significant improvement. “Mastery is the key,” Roberson said. “We are laser focused on the student, every student.” She said if a student isn’t picking up a particular skill the way it’s being taught, “we look at how we are going to teach it differently.”
This week the district reported interim data from the Kansas Assessment Programs (KAP) showing the district continued to make significant gains moving students to proficiency in math and English for at least the last two years. Foust said all indications are that the district can expect even more students moving to proficiency in the next test cycle.
For the 2017-2018 academic year, KCK had 14.3% of its students scoring proficient in English. That number climbed to 18.6% the following school year. Math gains were even greater, from 11.4% to 17.6%.
“The interim assessment shows continued progression moving students out of the lowest performance level and ensuring more students are on track to being proficient,” Foust said.
“Most importantly, this shows the positive results of what focused leadership can do in each school throughout the district.”
