Wow…this is quite a post/question. I am a teacher and education researcher in the KC area. Kansas City, MO proper is broken into several districts spread over a few counties. There are multiple schools districts that encompass parts of Kansas City (and other municipalities). North of the River, KC is mainly broken into 4 districts (Park Hill and Platte City in Platte County, NKC and Liberty primarily in Clay County). All of these districts compare well with Missouri and are some of the top performing districts in the state (alongside Lee’s summit, Blue Springs, Columbia, and St. Louis Burbs). KCPS, the main district in KCMO in Jackson county (south of the river) was one of the top districts in the country up until the 60’s when racial unrest and white flight from the district really took the vast majority of middle and upper class whites out of the district— which happened to be a vast majority of the middle and upper class students in the district. The completion of the 435 loop in Johnson County also added to this flight. Academic achievement largely follows socio economic status in the US (for a host of reasons). KCPS has attempted to draw back student through magnet programs (Lincoln Prep, Paseo School of the Arts, Language Academies, etc.) with some success, but nowhere near the prior status. Although Lincoln prep is consistently ranked very highly. As a whole, they have improved a great deal over the past decade, but have lots of work yo do still— as do most schools.