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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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