KPS and Kalamazoo Communities In Schools (KCIS) were awarded two 21st Century After-School Grants in the spring of 2009. These grants, totaling $7.5 million, will serve approximately 1,000 students annually in ten schools over the next five years. These schools are:

1. Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts
2. Milwood Magnet School: Center for Math, Science and Technology
3. Linden Grove Middle School
4. Hillside Middle School
5. Loy Norrix High School
6. Edison Environmental Science Academy
7. Washington Writers’ Academy
8. Lincoln International Studies School
9. Milwood Elementary School
10. Woods Lake Elementary: A Magnet Center for the Arts

 
A portion of the activity in the after-school programs will revolve around literacy: the development of language, reading, and writing.

Completely new K-5 math materials were recommended to and approved by the Board of Education in the spring of 2009. This is the first time in 17 years that completely new materials were implemented. Over the summer, new K-5 math curriculum guides were written by KPS educators in an effort to continue to align KPS curriculum with state standards.

 Last winter the Board of Education approved long-term district goals in five areas. Those areas are:

• Reading
• Math
• Writing
• Advanced Placement
• Graduation Rate

To view the sub-areas within each goal area click here.

At the end of last school year, the Kellogg Foundation awarded us a $150,000 literacy planning grant to develop a 7-pronged literacy initiative. The 7 literacy prongs are:

1. Parent education for the parents of newborns

2. Parent education for the parents of 3-4 olds

3. Pre-school

4. Summer literacy

5. Family literacy

6. Literacy for struggling readers

7. Literacy in after-school programs

We already have some of these literacy prongs in the school district and community, and our goal is to expand them so that we can fully meet our students’ needs. Some of these we do not have. Our goal for these will be to develop models that can be funded and implemented outside of our traditional state funding. We are working with a number of partners in this effort: Boys and Girls Club, City of Kalamazoo, Douglass Community Association, Goodwill Industries, Hispanic-American Council, Kalamazoo Communities In Schools, Kalamazoo Community Foundation. Kalamazoo Literacy Council, Kalamazoo Public Library, and the NAACP. This is a growing coalition.

Our Strategic Planning Expectations are important for a number of reasons. First, they represent a common standard for us as a district to attain. They represent a level above our current performance, something for which to strive. Second, they represent a general path toward college readiness. As a student achieves these standards roughly at the time indicated, and you will be preparing for college. Don’t, and the likelihood diminishes that you will be college ready. Third, the student academic expectations are those of the State of Michigan. Read expectations for:

Students

Parents

Educators

Support Staff

Community

Pre-school is not the only KPS area of early childhood progress. We now offer full-day kindergarten in 14 of our 17 elementary schools. In the 2007-2008 school year, we had only 176 students in full-day kindergarten. In the 2008-2009 school year, we increased to 883 students, a growth of more than 700 children, a 400 percent increase in a single school year. This year we have a full-day kindergarten enrollment of 950 students.