About School Types

Kansas City Schools:
Know Your Options

Chances are that when you were growing up, you went through the schools near where you lived. You and your classmates likely proceeded together from elementary school to middle school and on to high school. In Kansas City, there are many options. All of these schools have unique traits which may appeal to different types of learners and their families. Show Me KC Schools provides reliable and accurate information to help you do just that.

How KC Parents Navigate School Options

In 2016, SchoolSmartKC, in collaboration with Show Me KC Schools and through the support of the Kauffman Foundation as a fiscal sponsor, contracted with Hazley and Associates, LLC (H&A) and the Kansas City Area Education Research Consortium (KC-AERC) to study the parental school choice process in Kansas City.

The research team asked parents across Kansas City who live within the Kansas City Public School boundaries about their experiences navigating the many school options in Kansas City. The average kindergarten parent in Kansas City faces over 30 public and private school options. To learn about how families make their way through the process of selecting a school, the research team asked parents about information sources, driving factors, and obstacles that influenced their school choices. This report provides a summary of the findings based on 436 survey responses and focus groups with 103 parents.