In August this year, Kansas officially launched an exciting educational reform with the goal to completely redesign the educational system in the state. It is called Kansas Can School Redesign Project and public officials are likening it to the NASA moon missions of the 1960s.
They have even named the pilot school districts that will launch the new school designs in 2018 “the Mercury Seven.”The foundations of the school redesign project were laid in 2015 during a state-wide listening tour where state officials met with community and business leaders, parents and educators and asked them one question: “What are the characteristics, qualities, abilities and skills of a successful 24-year old Kansan?” The answers defined the bones of the redesign project.
Interestingly, the majority of the attributes mentioned were non-academic. Business leaders in particular cited non-academic skills with the most frequency (81%) and the most often mentioned one was “conscientiousness.”
Kansans overwhelmingly replied thаt in addition to academic skills, they wanted schools to teach character, citizenship, work ethics and, most importantly, for the schools to be able to address students’ individual needs, talents and interests.
Based on the collected information, as well as plenty of additional data like academic performance and graduation trends in the state, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) came up with a new vision for its schools, that it aims to materialize in the next 10 years.
“We have likened this to when Kennedy issued a challenge to land a man on the moon. We have a 10-year journey […]. It’s a serious journey. We’re trying by 2026 to totally redesign K-12 education for all 286 school districts.”
He elaborated on the need for an entirely new educational system:
“[The old system] has worked for a long time, but it was predicated on two concepts. The first of those is that most workers…
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