K-12 Career Pipeline Programs:
According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are 81 K-12 school districts in the KC region that include several National Blue Ribbon School award winners.
There are substantial education innovation building blocks across Kansas City as boutique programs and individual districts are currently offering career exploration, industry-relevant credentials, and dual-credit enrollment to high school students.
Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS)
Created in 2009,
CAPS is a nationally recognized, innovative high school program. Students fast forward into their future and are fully immersed in a professional culture, solving real world problems, using industry standard tools and mentored by actual employers, all while receiving high school and college credit. It is now being replicated in more than 60+ school districts within 19 states and three countries.
PREP-KC
A regional urban education intermediary,
PREP-KC ensures rigorous K-12 math instruction and provides career exploration preparation opportunities to 69,730 students across six school districts and four charter networks in the bi-state region’s urban core.
Project Lead the Way
Already, more than 96,846 K-12 students are engaged in STEM programming through
Project Lead The Way (a third of the entire metro high school enrollment). There are 46 districts in the region who have formal accelerated programming in STEM courses, and many of those inform and credential students for education and career pathways after high school.
Recent collaborative education efforts in Kansas City aimed at closing the achievement gap in K-12 education and ensuring access and completion of postsecondary education have generated momentum and evidence that a coordinated effort among all stakeholder groups can result in large-scale investable initiatives to transform the region’s workforce pipeline.
The most dynamic programming is taking place in the following districts and programs: