Talent is equally distributed. Opportunity is not.

It’s about equity. At Kansas City Girls Prep, we seek to address a community need for more and better educational opportunities in neighborhoods that have been negatively impacted by segregation. At the heart of our mission is to right the imbalance of services received by Black and Brown girls in the traditional public school culture. Our new way forward contemplates a high-quality school that sees students and families for the leaders they are, and invests in ensuring they acquire the tools to overcome the obstacles that too often confront them.

Gender and race matter. They matter in schooling, not because girls (and girls of color) learn differently. Gender and race matter because of normative social and cultural beliefs that often obstruct the progress of young women, and especially young women of color. These beliefs play a prominent role not just in the classroom, but across entire school systems.

Representation matters. 91% of our faculty are female. Nearly 70% of our teachers are people of color.

School performance data tell the story. KC Girls Prep’s priority zip codes bear out the reality of this lack of access to strong school options. In 2019, only four out of fourteen schools within KC Girls Prep’s priority zip codes had more than one-third of students proficient in math and reading. That same year, secondary schools serving these zip codes had a four-year graduation rate of 71.7% and average Composite ACT scores of 16. This is significantly lower than the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks of 20 for ELA and most general education courses, 22 for mathematics, and 26 for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) coursework.

Our approach is nationally recognized and time tested.

KCGPA provides access to extraordinary, tuition-free instruction that recognizes the social and emotional needs of students, and challenges them with rich literature, accurate multicultural history, and intensive learning in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics).

The explicit focus on inclusive practices that address the opportunity gap faced by our students provides them with a space where young women of all backgrounds are affirmed and can approach academics with confidence. KC Girls Prep’s approach to learning honors the diversity of our young women’s cultural, intellectual, physical, social and emotional backgrounds. The school provides educational supports and opportunities that remove barriers to learning and enable our students to fully participate in school programs.

In Fall, 2019, Girls Prep welcomed its first class of fifth-grade students, becoming the first single-gender, open-enrollment charter public school in Kansas City. In 2020, we have nearly 140 fifth and sixth-grade students enrolled in school, where distance learning will be the norm until the pandemic numbers abate. Our plan is to grow one grade per year to form a middle school (5th-8th) and high school (9th-12th). Both schools will foster a strong sense of community and a rigorous, college-bound academic culture.

The vision of Girls Prep is to provide a college preparatory experience through academic and social development that will allow students to pursue their own educational and professional goals. We are building an intimate atmosphere, where families, students, and staff will build the close and supportive relationships essential to developing young women who are self-directed, high-achieving, and committed to supporting one another.