In a comprehensive review, the Kansas Policy Institute (KPI) has issued easily understood A-F grades for every school in the state. Parents may not like what they see. It seems only fair, however, that if schools can grade their children, someone should grade the schools.
Although KPI has assembled the data, the grading is based on state assessment data generated by the Kansas Assessment Program (KAP) under the auspices of the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE).
Equal weighting is applied to a series of individual grades to calculate a Grade Point Average. Grades are assigned to a school’s performance on English language arts (ELA) and math, both for low-income students and students not low-income. For more information on methodology, please check the KPI site.
The 2017 grades for the high schools in the Kansas City District are noteworthy in their sheer awfulness.
Washington High has 1054 students, 81 percent of whom qualify as low income. 5 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 2 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received an F in ELA and a F in math. Other students received an F in ELA and an F in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Washinton was F. The overall 2016 Grade was F.
Wyandotte High has 1369 students, 91 percent qualify as low income. 3 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 3 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received an F in ELA and a F in math. Other students received an F in ELA and an F in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Wyandotte was F. The overall 2016 Grade was F.
JC Harmon High has 1258 students, 91 percent qualify as low income. 6 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 2 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received an F in ELA and a F in math. Other students received an F in ELA and an F in math. The overall 2017 Grade for JC Harmon was F. The overall 2016 Grade was F.
Sumner Academy of Arts & Science has 917 students, 73 percent qualify as low income. 39 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 44 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received a C in ELA and a C in math. Other students received a B in ELA and a B in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Sumner was C . The overall 2016 Grade was C.
FL Schlagle High has 985 students, 85 percent qualify as low income. 2 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 0 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received an F in ELA and a F in math. Other students received an F in ELA and an F in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Schlagle was F. The overall 2016 Grade was F.
Conclusions: Thank God for Sumner Academy. It is the only high school in Kansas City, Kansas that a parent could send a child to in good conscience. Its relative success is a factor of its relative exclusivity. To qualify for Sumner, elementary school students must have good grades, good test scores, good attendance, and a history of good conduct. The school also has an eighth grade class. This year seven of the ten eighth grade students who tested best on the KAP were Hispanic.
The performance of other four high schools is a disgrace. In none of them do as many as 7 percent of the school’s students pass the KAP in either subject. To throw more more money at a district like this without some concrete plan for improvement would be a waste of everyone’s time and money.
