KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When a student has an unstable childhood, they are less likely to be successful through high school. As a result, school districts have to find ways to be an entire support system beyond the classroom.
Kansas City Public Schools says it is not trying to solve the problem of student mobility as much as it is trying to raise a red flag.
"One of the issues that constantly comes up is that they were just kicked out of their house," said Molly Ticknor, director of behavioral health services for KCPS. "Can we help find them housing? Can we help get them meals, get them hooked up with a community health center, help get records transferred?"
Why students transfer from one school to another in Kansas City, Missouri, is complex, but it often comes down to income, race, violence and homelessness.
Black students are more likely to change schools than white students. For low-income families, including many in KCPS and the Hickman Mills C-1 School District, evictions play a big role.
"We have a high eviction rate within the Kansas City metro area, so the majority of our families don't own their own homes, they're renting," Ticknor said. "Potentially, they have issues where they can't pay their bills."
Since the beginning of the school year, 4,500 students have transferred into KCPS schools, and 4,500 have transferred out. KCPS has 38 school buildings.
Ruskin High School in the Hickman Mills School District alone saw around 100 students leave and 100 students transfer in since the beginning of the school year.
Overall, 791 students enrolled in the district after the first day of school, and 699 left the district. Around 90 students transferred to another school within the district.
KCPS and south Kansas City districts often swap students.
Ruskin High Principal Torrence Allen said the district has gotten better at reacting to this constant shuffle, and graduation rates reflect that improvement.
"In 2015 we are at 74 percent, to last year we finished at 86.9 percent in our attendance. We are really working hard to make sure we can bridge the gap for our students, that they can be successful when they come in the door," Allen said.
In KCMO, more than one in five students will transfer schools at least once during the school year, according to a 2015 study by the Kansas City Area Education Research Consortium.
The study said around 10 percent of transitioning students will miss 12 or more days of school in between transfers.
That's lost education, which results in the child becoming chronically behind academically. It also leads to poor standardized testing scores.
"You can assume they're not showing up on grade level because they're moving around so much," Ticknor said. "So you're just trying to teach them the basics to get them through, and you're already in the middle of the curriculum."
KCPS students who transfer will most likely go to another KCPS school. One-quarter of students will go to a school in the surrounding districts, and 22 percent will go to a Kansas City charter school. The rest may go out-of-state or unknown.
Ultimately, mobility can affect graduation rates. Students who are mobile are 71 percent likely to graduate, compared to a 91-percent graduation rate for students who stay in the same school.
This year at Ruskin High, around 20 students have either dropped out or are about to drop out. Allen said the school will try to find an alternative route for them, but some students have decided they don't want to continue with school.
KCPS said the state is now producing mobility statistics, which the district says can help get a grip on the systemic issue.
Recently, KCPS began partnering with Legal Aid to help prevent families from losing their homes. If a family has some form of representation, they are half as likely to be evicted.
