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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…
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Webinar: Literacy, Data, and the Science of Reading
On November 12, 2025, Aligned hosted a webinar examining how Kansas and Missouri are translating the “science of reading” into policy and practice. The session walked through recent reading data, what research says about effective early literacy instruction, and how current laws…
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Kansas Requests Federal Waiver to Unify School Accountability Systems
On Monday, October 27, Kansas joined the increasing number of states seeking to waive certain requirements of federal education law. Specifically, the waiver seeks to make a unified accountability system, merging the current state and federal systems into one within four years. This…
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Cradle to Career Listening Tour 2025
Overview In 2025, Aligned launched the Cradle to Career Listening Tour with a simple goal: listen first. We traveled across Kansas to hear directly from parents, educators, employers, and community leaders about what is working, what is not, and where…
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A Brief History of Literacy Instruction in America
This post is the second in a series exploring literacy within education policy and practice. In the first blog, we introduced the major methods of teaching reading in the U.S. — phonics, whole language, balanced literacy, and sight word memorization. Here,…
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Update – October 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News – New national polling from the PIE Network reveals a major gap between parents’ perceptions of student achievement and actual performance data. Missouri Update – School Funding Modernization Task Force workgroups are developing early proposals for updating the state’s formula. A new…
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How We Teach Literacy
This blog post is the first in a series exploring literacy within education policy and practice. Here, we introduce the major methods of teaching reading and the debates surrounding them. Understanding these approaches — what they are, how they work,…
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Op-ed: Why standardized testing still matters in Missouri
This opinion piece originally appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. By Eric Syverson, Director of Policy & Research, Aligned. Across the nation, skepticism toward statewide assessment is rising. Teachers and families increasingly question whether traditional testing supports learning or just consumes valuable instructional…
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Update – September 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News – The U.S. Department of Education announced over $1.1 billion in redirected funding, with investments for HBCUs, TCUs, charter schools, and civics programs.Missouri Update – Working groups of the School Funding Modernization Task Force began meeting, including one that now features Aligned’s own Torree…
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Webinar: Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems
On September 10, 2025, Aligned partnered with the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) to host a webinar introducing Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDSs) and their role in aligning education and workforce priorities. SLDSs help states connect data across systems, inform policy, and provide valuable…
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Honoring the Life and Legacy of David Oliver
It is with heartfelt sadness that we learned of the passing of our beloved co-founder and board member, David Oliver. David was a visionary leader, a dedicated volunteer, and a true Kansas City icon. He brought extraordinary wisdom, generosity, and expertise…
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Access nonpartisan research and news about the policies shaping education in Kansas and Missouri.