The Kansas City, Kansas Board of Public Education on Aug. 12 approved professional services from Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 6 to develop Qualtrics surveys and 24 custom dashboards intended to replace some functions of a prior system and to provide live instructional feedback to principals and teachers.

At the same time, board members pressed staff about a previously approved three-year purchase agreement for Carnegie Learning math curriculum. Board Member Dr. Wynne asked for clarity about payment timing after noticing what appeared to be two large payments in the same fiscal year. District staff acknowledged a multi-year contract was signed March 25 and that a second payment now appeared on the agenda; staff said they would verify the payment schedule and suggested tabling the payment until the schedule and supporting documents could be confirmed.

Why it matters: The district is moving to a new mechanism for classroom walkthroughs and implementing Carnegie Learning for algebra courses. Board members sought specifics on implementation monitoring and timing, how student performance data will be measured and reported and whether paying multi-year contracts up-front affects future-year budgets.

Key details from the meeting: Superintendent Anna Stubblefield and diploma-plus leadership said the Qualtrics-based system will gather walk-through observations, feed results into live dashboards for teachers, principals and district leaders, and include course-specific walk-through tools for math, science and English. Leadership said 24 custom dashboards will be created so viewers see role-appropriate views and that walkthrough tools for general instruction will roll out in September, with Carnegie-specific monitoring tools deployed in January 2026. District benchmark assessments aligned to state standards will provide initial student-performance indicators by the end of the first quarter or when district assessments are scheduled.

Carnegie Learning concerns: Board members questioned an item on the consent agenda they saw as paying the full three-year contract across two fiscal-year payments. Staff said the presentation materials and attachments were not all visible in the meeting packet and that the district had purchased a three-year license with a discount for paying upfront; staff committed to provide a clear payment schedule and to table the item if necessary so the board can review attachments before finalizing payment.

Discussion vs. decision: The board approved the CESA 6 professional-services purchase and moved forward with the Qualtrics development. The Carnegie Learning payment item was discussed and flagged for additional documentation; a follow-up or tabling was requested by board members for clarification.

Ending: Staff committed to circulate the missing contract attachments, an explicit payment schedule for the Carnegie Learning agreement, and a timeline showing when walkthrough data, benchmark results and dashboard views will be available for board review.