• Category 1

    Selected in 2016

  • Grades: 9 - 12
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 2,340,000
    Student Enrollment: 219
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 97%
    White/Caucasian: 0.5%
    Hispanic: 1.5%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 70%
    % ELL Learners: 0.5%
    Founded: 2000
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Dr. Clem Ukaoma
  • CONTACT:
    6801 Holmes Road
    Kansas City, MO 64131
    816-412-5902
    ukaoma@universityacademy.org
University Academy-Upper
Kansas City, MO
We believe in diagnosing the problems we face through incrementalism: A little bit at a time, just keep the programs consistent.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
We have parent advisory committees in which we invite parents to interest based meetings on topics such as: FASFA completing, ACT, KC Scholars, EOC (End of Course assessment) rewards.
We invite parents to celebrate our recent 100% APR (Annual Performance Review) by the State of Missouri and our number 1 high school ranking in the state of Missouri.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Harvesters Food Drive: A day of service for Upper School students. On a Saturday in November, students hang bags on the doors of neighbors in the community with instructions on how to fill the bags with dry goods. The following Saturday, students return to the homes and collect the bags of donated non-perishable food items. These donations are then given to three local churches: St. Francis Xavier, St. James United Methodist, and St. Therese Little Flower. This program has been in effect for thirteen years collecting several tons of food over the years.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
Incrementalism: A little bit at a time, just keep the programs consistent.
We believe in diagnosing the problems we face. Choose a solution and stick with that solution in order to keep consistency.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
55% of graduating seniors will be accepted by Top 150 colleges and universities based on US News and World Report Rankings.
Seniors will have an average composite ACT score of 22.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
The notion of treating all students exactly the same.
Insist on a few things and do it each and ever time consistently. Not differentiating between students with special needs, Title I, ELL, etc. All our students are held to the same rigorous standards and expectations.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
We examine the scores of students who are not mastering content and those students are required to attend tutoring.
Mastery drives our instruction.
We design programs for those who are not succeeding and provide enrichment for those who are progressing as expected.
Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
The Upper School uses Title I funds to support student success by providing interventions when needs are identified. Interventions include extended learning time, RTI and professional development for differentiated instruction.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Our professional development includes indoctrinating our new teachers in the mastery protocols. Each year, new teachers are led through a book study of, "Standards and Mastery Learning" by J. Ronald Gentile and James P. Lalley.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
The University Academy Board of Directors sets goals each year and those goals become the chief driver of our data points. Each core subject area has an action plan team (a group of teachers who work to generate ideas that help drive instruction) who work to help meet the goals set by the board.
Our teachers and staff meet weekly to review progress toward the board goals. Each year we examine the achievement rates of students based on their state assessment and ACT results and set internal goals accordingly.
We also look at student grades and compile honor roll lists each quarter to keep positive student achievement at the fore-front and celebrate our success. We are pleased to announce that we have been nominated for a Blue Ribbon Award for 2017.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
University Academy is a college-preparatory school. The protocol in place for success is mastery learning for all students. The protocol simply states as a unit of instruction is complete, students review for the assessment on that unit and must take the mastery assessment and score 80%. If not successful, two more opportunities are granted for the student to achieve the score of 80. We do not make a distinction between Title I students, students with IEP's, 504's, ELL and regular education students. All students are eligible for after-school tutoring offered twice a week for one hour each day.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2016

  • Grades: 9 - 12
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 2,340,000
    Student Enrollment: 219
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 97%
    White/Caucasian: 0.5%
    Hispanic: 1.5%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 70%
    % ELL Learners: 0.5%
    Founded: 2000
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Dr. Clem Ukaoma
  • CONTACT:
    6801 Holmes Road
    Kansas City, MO 64131
    816-412-5902
    ukaoma@universityacademy.org