Take Note
Too Much of a Good Thing?
Choice can be a double-edged sword when complexity is the opposite side of opportunity. Indeed, some education advocates in Kansas City argue that it’s hard for some families to navigate a school landscape that offers more than 30 elementary options and many other avenues for serving students. SchoolSmartKC and Show Me KC Schools are two…
Creating Change from Tragedy
Nicole Hockley’s son, Dylan, was one of 20 first graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. After the tragedy, she and other Sandy Hook parents founded Sandy Hook Promise to lobby for background checks. That was part of what she spoke about on Monday at the annual Heartland Coalition Against Gun Violence forum, which…
Learning from Sandy Hook
Part of Nicole Hockley is frozen in a world before Dec. 14, 2012, when her 6-year-old son Dylan would pretend he was a butterfly. “He’s my beautiful baby boy with captivating eyes and infectious giggle and warm deep cuddles. He loved looking at the moon every night. He loved to eat garlic bread, and he…
Winning by Attrition
As its name suggests, University Academy was created to prepare students for college. By most measures, the charter school in Kansas City is a tremendous success. In 2016, University Academy received a 100 percent score on the state’s Annual Performance Report. All the graduating seniors received offers to attend a four-year college. The results look…
Rethinking ‘Troublemakers’
Turn the Page KC, the Kansas City, Missouri Health Department and the mayor’s office convened school district leaders and community stakeholders in September to review city-wide suspension data. This data from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project at UCLA showed in a 2015 study that Missouri suspended black elementary students,…