Education Stories

Focused on KC, the Lean Lab welcomes five new ed tech startups

The Lean Lab, a Kansas City-based education tech accelerator, is returning for its fourth year with a new approach that aims to be more community focused and sophisticated. During a Tuesday event, the Lean Lab announced the five new startups in its 2017 cohort at a breakfast at the recently renovated Corrigan Station. Katie Boody,…

Eyeing area talent gap, Code the Block to teach tech skills to underserved KC youth

A new organization seeks to strengthen Kansas City’s tech talent pipeline by bringing computer science education to underserved youth. Co-founded by David Persley and Joe Wilkinson in 2016, Code the Block is an after-school program targeting high school students in Kansas City. Persley, a Teach for America alum, and Wilkinson, a former business analyst with…

TEDxKC announces a perspective-altering lineup for its summer event

Prepare to shift your perspective. One of the largest, independently-organized TEDx events in the world, TEDxKC has announced perspective-altering speakers for its summer event. With a theme of “perspective,” the ninth-annual TEDxKC is set for Aug. 18 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Nearly 3,000 people attended TEDxKC in 2016 and, like years…

CAPS Network

CAPS expands innovative education program to 6 KC area school districts

CAPS, an area innovation education network, is continuing to grow its impact in the Kansas City metro as it expands to create two new programs this fall. The Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) is adding two local programs this fall, bringing its total reach to 14 school districts in Missouri and Kansas.  CAPS is…

Wide Ruled: The future of Kansas schools with education commissioner Randy Watson

Editor’s note: In partnership with the Wide Ruled podcast hosted by Brainroot Light and Sound, Startland News hopes to offer its audience more avenues to learn about innovators in Kansas City. Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Wide Ruled is a Kansas City-based podcast focused on equality in education. Each episode showcases a…