By Kathy Feist
The upcoming school year will be a challenge to local public school districts as they deal with diminished funding from county and federal sources, the state’s new A-F school grading system and the long-anticipated student Annual Performance Report (APR) that will determine a school’s accreditation status.
Nowhere is this challenge more felt than in south Kansas City school districts where over 50 percent of the student population is classified as economically disadvantaged. This is often associated with a high student transient rate, as families move for a better paying job or stable residency. One in five students (20%) in Kansas City move at least once during the school year, affecting learning and, consequently, the districts’ APR scores. In south KC, that number is slightly higher at 23%.
Last month, Dr. Stephanie Amaya stepped into the role of Superintendent of the Grandview C-4 School District, replacing Dr. Kenny Rodriquez after his 10-year tenure. As former Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the district, Amaya is aware of the challenges she faces. After 31 years in education, including roles as social worker, teacher, and principal at various districts, the San Antonio, Texas, native is well qualified to take on the issues.
The Telegraph sat down with Amaya to learn her plans for the future of Grandview schools.
“I don’t see any huge changes,” she began the interview. “But one of the things I’m doing a little differently is enhancing our focus on student achievement.”
She adds that includes focusing every major decision–including the financial ones–on one question: Does this help student achievement? “If not, then it’s off the table,” she says.
Employed in the Grandview School District for the past 5 years, Amaya knows what areas need help.
Foremost according to Amaya is building the core foundational skills for students K-8, such as teaching note taking and organization skills as early as the kindergarten level. She would like to see critical thinking skills developed by the time students enter middle school. And high school students should have an immersive experience in their career of interest before graduation.
Right now, Grandview is the only public school in south KC that does not have a real world center where students learn trades. It does, however, partner with the Herndon Career Center in Raytown and Summit Technology Academy in Lee’s Summit, both high-standing trade education centers.
“Real world learning will be a fence post for me,” she says. “When I was in the Park Hill School District, that’s what I was in charge of. I did my dissertation in real world learning. When students become independent learners and they’re driven by their own passion–and we have this K – 8 solid foundation–then the sky’s the limit.”
Amaya believes most important for real world students is closing “opportunity gaps” which starts with a strong education.
“There isn’t a difference in my mind between kids on a path to work or college,” she says. “They both need the same education, the same skills.”
Amaya is not adverse to addressing the gaps found within the school district. “That’s my job, to decrease that opportunity gap within our own buildings,” she says.
“A gap happens when 12 teachers have different expectations or different goals that are not aligned,” explains Amaya.
An example she draws is when one kindergarten class doesn’t teach basic note-taking while others do. That creates a gap among students who reach first grade.
Amaya’s goal is to create a cohesive, quality experience aligned among classrooms. “It helps kids zip through the system,” she says.
As for dealing with learning gaps experienced by transient students who enroll in the middle of the school year, Amaya’s approach first starts with inclusivity. “Whoever comes in your door, you serve,” she says, emphasizing that the more welcomed and safe the student feels, the better the learning experience.
To get the new students up to speed academically, Grandview already has in place reading interventionists, English language teachers, small groups, and intensive support systems.
Amaya says achievement for all students is driven by three things: evaluations of teacher instruction, student assessment and intervention effectiveness. “That’s the triangle of education,” she states. “It is the heart of student achievement.”
As a result, Grandview’s APR scores are not her biggest concern. (In the past three years the district has scored in the 60s– which threatens to place it in the “provisionally accredited” category.)
“I don’t think my goal is going to be chasing an accreditation number,” she says. “I think scores are just one piece. We need all kinds of other measurements in between those end scores to know if kids are doing okay.”
