Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The Kauffman School has a positive and statistically significant impact on enrollment in four-year colleges that is large enough to close the gap in enrollment rates for Black high school seniors in Missouri.
In fall 2011 the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation opened the Kauffman School, a public, tuition-free charter school serving students in Kansas City, Missouri. In the 2018–19 school year, the school enrolled 1,127 students in grades 5 through 12. Most (89 percent) of the students were from low-income households and 89 percent were Black or Hispanic.
The hallmarks of the Kauffman School include ambitious academic goals, high attendance and character expectations, an extended school year, increased mathematics and reading instructional time, intensive data-driven decision making, extensive teacher professional development, and well-established cultural norms.
Evidence & Insights From This Project

Ewing Marion Kauffman School Year 9 Impacts
This report evaluates the impact of the Ewing Marion Kauffman School on college enrollment, high school graduation, attendance, and suspensions.
Learn MoreEwing Marion Kauffman School Year 8 Impacts
Ewing Marion Kauffman School Year 7 Impacts
Ewing Marion Kauffman School Year 6 Impacts
The Educational and Behavioral Impacts of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Charter School (Journal Article)
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