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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — Kansas lawmakers advance SB 517, a sweeping literacy bill focused on strengthening implementation, accountability, and early intervention as the state pushes toward a 90% third-grade reading goal. Kansas — Cell phone ban signed into law. And several education bills await…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — Kansas’ bell-to-bell cell phone ban has cleared both chambers of the Legislature and now sits on Governor Laura Kelly’s desk, putting the state one signature away from adopting one of the strongest school-day device restrictions in the…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — Missouri’s School Funding Modernization Task Force confronts a core structural question: how to update local effort calculations tied to 2004 property values while ensuring assessment practices are consistent across counties. We break down the tradeoffs and what…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — A seven-year review of federal data shows enrollment declining in both Kansas and Missouri while staffing per student increases. We break down where growth is concentrated, where roles are shrinking, and what the numbers mean as further enrollment…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — Missouri’s literacy infrastructure is in place, but implementation is lagging. New state data shows just 34% of PreK-5 teachers have completed or enrolled in science-of-reading training, even as a rural coaching collaborative delivers striking early results. Kansas —…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — New statewide data from the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative offers a clearer picture of where the educator pipeline is most at risk, with mid-career teachers emerging as the highest retention concern. Kansas — Lawmakers preview action on a proposed cell phone…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top Story – Missouri Funding Task Force: The Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force held its first full meeting of 2026, surfacing major design choices around funding targets and student counts — and the tension between building a durable formula and managing…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top News – Federal update: Congress advances FY 2026 education and early childhood funding while states await key ESSA waiver decisions that could reshape accountability and implementation. Kansas Update – Committee activity heats up: Lawmakers dig into Blueprint for…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top News – State of the states; we break down what Missouri and Kansas governors signaled on education and workforce policy. Missouri Update – Early momentum builds around accountability, open enrollment, child care, and literacy, alongside a closer look…
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Update – December 2025
This Month’s highlights: Top News – Aligned released its 2026 policy priorities, outlining opportunities to strengthen literacy, school finance, data systems, and early learning. Kansas Preview – We review the State Board of Education’s newly adopted legislative priorities and take a first look at the slow pre-filing…
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K–3 Literacy Policy Brief: Kansas and Missouri (2025)
Early reading shapes every part of a student’s academic future, yet Kansas and Missouri continue to see stagnant or declining literacy outcomes. Nearly six in ten third graders in both states are not reading on grade level, underscoring the need…
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A Closer Look at Early Literacy in Kansas and Missouri
This post continues our series on literacy policy and practice. Earlier entries traced how reading instruction evolved in the U.S. and why the science of reading has regained prominence. Here, we turn to what the data shows in Kansas and…