1. Kansas Leads the World in the Success of Each Student.
Dr. Randy Watson, Kansas Commissioner of Education

4. Future Teachers in Kansas…
When KU freshman are asked to give the ONE word to describe their senior year in high school, it is…..
When asked what in school prepared them most for success in life, KU students said…
When teachers are asked if they learned more about teaching from student teaching or from 4 years of college, they say…

5. Kansas leads the world in the success of each student
A NEW Vision for Kansas ...
Jay - This is the vision for education in Kansas and the redesign initiative is all about aligning school systems to this vision.
“Each” – personalizing learning for each student.
What do you want success to mean for your students?
Kansas leads the world in the success of each student
KANSAS STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION |

6. Defining Success A Successful Kansas High School Graduate has the
Academic preparation,
Cognitive preparation,
Technical skills,
Employability skills and
Civic engagement
to be successful in postsecondary education, in the attainment of an industry recognized certification or in the workforce, without the need for remediation.

7. Creating a Vision for Kansas – State Outcomes
Social Emotional Growth
Kindergarten Readiness
Individual Plan of Study
High School Graduation Rates
Post Secondary Completion
Among the outcomes being considered by the state board are:
High School Graduation Rates
Post Secondary Completion/Attendance
Remedial Rate of Students Attending Post-Secondary
Kindergarten Readiness
Individual Plan of Study Focused on Career Interest
Social/Emotional Growth Measured Locally
Education Commissioner Randy Watson and members of the State Board of Education will meet with business, education and state leaders to build agreement on how we will work together to achieve this vision for Kansas education.
Kansas schools are already doing tremendous work to address the needs of individual students, but in order to achieve this new vision we cannot expect schools to go it alone. This requires a unified effort with businesses, communities, parents, higher education, and elected officials working with educators to help provide the supports and experiences Kansas students need for their future success.

8. Kansans Can Competencies
Gaumer Erickson, A.S., Soukup, J.H., & Noonan, P. (2013). College & Career Competency Wheel. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, Center for Research on Learning. Derived in part from Pellegrino, J.W., & Hilton, M.L. (Eds.). (2012). Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

9. Kansans Can Competencies
Go to
Type

10. From the first set of focus group responses, what characteristics of success were most frequently cited?
This result is a little surprising since about 66% of the respondents were educators, education administrators, or former educators—people who mostly teach, or used to teach, academic skills. Nevertheless, the soft skills—social-emotional, personality skills, or 21st century skills—they have lots of names—were cited 70% of the time.

11. The business and industry focal groups cited non-academic skills with greater frequency than the community groups:
Recall that the community groups cited non-academic skills 70% of the time and academic skills 23% of the time. These frequencies are remarkably similar to those expressed by the community groups. If volume can be equated with importance, the business and industry groups are saying that the non-academic characteristics are more important than academic skills, including applied skills, and that non-academic skills are at least as important to them as to the community groups, maybe more so.
One cited experience as a characteristic of the ideally prepared 24 year old (the tiny yellow line).

12. Time to Redesign Schools!
WHAT SKILLS DO BUSINESS & INDUSTRY SAY ARE LACKING IN HIGH SCHOOL, TWO-YEAR and FOUR-YEAR COLLEGE PROGRAM GRADUATES?

13. 89% #1 Time to Redesign Schools! BUSINESSES NEED STUDENTS NEED
SKILLED TALENT
Employability skills
executives:
of all first-time
hires who lose their job do so
because of a lack of employability skills
89%
SKILLED TRADE WORKERS:
hardest jobs to fill #1

14. HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES LACKING…
Professionalism/Work Ethic %
Teamwork/Collaboration %
Verbal Communication %
Ethics/Social Responsibility %
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving %
Information Technology Applications %
Written Communication %
Diversity %
Lifelong Learning/Self-Direction … 42.5%
Creativity/Innovation %
Consolidated Survey of Corporate America

15. TWO YEAR COLLEGE GRADUATES LACKING…
Professionalism/Work Ethic %
Teamwork/Collaboration %
Verbal Communication %
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving %
Written Communication %
Ethics/Social Responsibility %
Information Technology Applications %
Lifelong Learning/Self-Direction %
Diversity %
Creativity/Innovation %
Consolidated Survey of Corporate America

16. FOUR YEAR COLLEGE GRADUATES LACKING…
Verbal Communication %
Teamwork/Collaboration %
Professionalism/Work Ethic %
Written Communication %
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving %
Ethics/Social Responsibility %
Leadership %
Information Technology Applications %
Creativity/Innovation %
Lifelong Learning/Self-Direction %
Consolidated Survey of Corporate America

17. The most important skills are the hardest to teach -
Time to Redesign Schools!
The most important skills are the hardest to teach -
until now.

19. What themes made up the strategic activities?
human capital
Family engagement items complemented the career planning items, but the partnership between schools and families started early—birth through preK in some items. Some advocate joint planning for the child’s future, and others, opportunities for family participation and family education.
School climate activities were diverse and sometimes conflicting. Some advocate creating an environment of high expectations, while others recommend realistic expectations, or a positive supportive culture.
Less frequently cited strategies:
Career planning items called for individual goals and planning, of classes, pathways, further education, transitions, and careers. Some items included the family in the planning. When career planning should begin—middle school? 8th grade?--wasn’t clear.
teaching techniques
Project-based learning items emphasize the learning and demonstration of applied skills, sometimes in contrast to standardized curricula and assessments. Some suggest projects as part of community service, a qualification for graduation, or a better way to teach or measure personality skills.
Community collaboration items emphasized mutual obligations between students and the community and better social networking. Some advocate student community service, sometimes as a requirement; others, partnerships with local businesses and social agencies, especially early childhood agencies.
Individualized instruction and experience varied in intensity, from career interest diagnostics to universally required individual plans that the student must personally defend. The timing varied from beginning in Kindergarten, to middle school, to 8th grade.
Real-world instruction items advocate for concrete, real-life, relevant problems to solve, sometimes including their social dimensions. Some suggest integrating academics with applied skills, to improve motivation. Timing? As early as preK.
Early childhood strategies include strengthening the foundations of language and social skills at this sensitive stage, and the early establishment of parental collaboration.
accountability
About the less frequently cited strategies:
Teaching techniques as strategies included integrated, collaborative teaching; teacher as facilitator; engaging students; teaching teachers how to teach soft skills, among others.
Investments in human capital suggested increasing the number of counselors (which fits with the suggestion for more individual career planning), and more professional development for elementary math teachers.
The more striking suggestions in the accountability recommendations included more autonomy for teachers, aiming to meet the Rose Standards, linking drivers’ licenses to graduation, and allowing for greater individual differences in student development.
College collaboration and extracurricular activities were relatively few, which is surprising with the larger initiatives to prepare students to be college and career ready, and the ideal of teaching more social-emotional skills.
extracurricular activities
college collaboration
funding
prevention

20. Kansas School Redesign Principles
Student Success Skills
Family, Business, and
Community Partnerships
There is an integrated approach to develop student social-emotional learning.
Partnerships are based on mutually beneficial relationships and collaboration.
Personalized Learning
Real World Application
Teachers support students
to have choice over their time,
place, pace and path.
Project-based learning, internships, and civic engagement makes learning relevant.

22. Today’s students are the future workforce and future leaders of Kansas
Today’s students are the future workforce and future leaders of Kansas. Kansans Can achieve anything and, together, Kansans Can lead the world in the success of each student.