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Kansas City schools face racial reading gap as Black, Hispanic students lag behind(KCTV5)<\/p>\nKANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A new study reveals a significant racial gap in reading proficiency across Kansas City metro classrooms, with Black and Hispanic students falling far behind their white peers.<\/p>\n
The study from UMKC and SchoolSmart KC examined all 17 districts in the Kansas City public education system, including public and charter schools. <\/p>\n
Kansas City schools face racial reading gap as Black, Hispanic students lag behind(KCTV5)<\/p>\n
Just 22% of Black students are proficient in reading skills. Hispanic students fare slightly better at 27%, compared to 61% of white students.<\/p>\n
Educators see the gap firsthand<\/p>\n
Ebony Hart, a paraeducator in a Kansas City school, sees the disparity every day in her classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely disheartening, seeing this huge gap that there is, especially with my culture, Black people,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n
Her own children, Karli and Landon Hart, have become proficient readers, beating odds that work against many of their peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey love to read and I think that started very early,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThey both are very proficient in reading above grade level.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Hart sees another story daily in her classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see them kind of trying to cover it up by maybe you know laughing being a class clown you know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Advocates call it a systemic crisis<\/p>\n
Catina Taylor founded Dreams KC<\/a>, a Kansas City nonprofit fighting to improve literacy. She said the numbers reflect a systemic problem, not a student problem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not shocking,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI saw it firsthand in the 15 years I spent in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor said the gap means about three to five out of 10 Black and brown children in a classroom are struggling to read.<\/p>\n \u201cThe children aren\u2019t the problem; it\u2019s the system. At this point, we need to address the system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Taylor pointed to decades of shifting approaches to reading instruction. For 50 years, the approach has moved back and forth. In the 1970s, schools taught reading through phonics, sounding out words letter by letter.<\/p>\n In the late 1980s, schools switched to the three-cueing system, teaching kids to recognize sight words from memory. <\/p>\n Then in the 2000s, educators returned to phonics, grounded in the science of reading. Taylor said the shifts shut out a generation of kids.<\/p>\n \u201cHigher education, graduation rates, you name it. It\u2019s impacted even while they\u2019re in school before graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked if she would call it a crisis in Kansas City, Taylor said it has been a crisis, not just in Kansas City, but nationwide and statewide.<\/p>\n Nationwide, just 32% of fourth graders are proficient in reading, according to the Nationwide Report Card<\/a> on reading.<\/p>\n State education leaders respond<\/p>\n Kelli Jones, deputy commissioner of learning services for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said every child learning to read in Missouri is her responsibility.<\/p>\n Jones called the 39-point gap unacceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cAnytime you have those gaps, I think you really have got to take a look at that and do what you can to really lessen the margin,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n Jones said the state wants the science of reading in every classroom and has restricted three-cueing, but stopped short of a ban.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the ones using a little bit of 3 cueing, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s their primary resource,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n Ten other states have banned three-cueing outright. A Missouri Senate bill<\/a> now aims to do the same.<\/p>\n Jones said teachers are currently being trained in the Science of Reading approach through the LETRS program from DESE.<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cSo, they have to go through certain hours of training to even become a certified teacher,\u201d said Jones. \u201cWe want those teachers that are actually in the classroom teaching literacy to be letter-certified if possible. Right now, that is the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n LETRS is not considered mandatory training for educators.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve got to be very, very careful on putting certain, you know, a lot more restrictions and requirements on educators, because we need to retain and recruit as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones said $4.5 million in the DESE budget was allocated towards literacy for the 2026 fiscal year. <\/p>\n When asked what she would say directly to a Black or Hispanic family in Kansas City struggling right now, Jones said the state needs to put the best teachers in front of these kids and to keep community partners working with students.<\/p>\n Community programs fill the gap<\/p>\n![\"Kansas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776447012_520_VNJDPLVFKZFXVFYTNRVDQ5W2RQ.png\")
Kansas City schools face racial reading gap as Black, Hispanic students lag behind(KCTV5)<\/p>\n