News Release: JAG-K Releases 2024 Annual Report
Jobs for America’s Graduates-Kansas (JAG-K) has published its annual report for the 2024 Fiscal Year. This in-depth look at program data and highlights from the previous year is now available on the JAG-K website.
Click to view the 2024 JAG-K Annual Report
The evidence-based program helps students prepare for post-secondary education and employment opportunities. For the 2023-2024 school year, JAG-K programs numbered 112 in 47 school districts across the state, serving 5,844 students.
Student achievement data listed in the 2023 Annual Report represents information collected for the graduating class of 2023, which concluded a year of follow-up by JAG-K in July of 2024. That cohort reported a graduation rate of 96% and an 84% positive outcomes rate (which means 84% of JAG-K graduates are either in post-secondary education, military service or in the workforce full-time one year after graduation).
“We are pleased to provide this report of our success to the state,” said JAG-K President and CEO Chuck Knapp. “It demonstrates the great work of the Career Specialists in the schools and all our staff to help prepare students for successful futures.”
The Kansas JAG program launched 11 years ago during the 2013-2014 school year. For the tenth consecutive year, the Jobs for America’s Graduates national organization announced that the Kansas affiliate earned the organization’s highest award – the 6 of 6 Award – bestowed upon those JAG programs that meet or exceed performance measures in six categories: graduation rate, employment rate, full-time employment, total full-time positive outcomes, connectivity rate, and continued education rate for the graduating class of 2023.
JAG-K participants in the 2023-2024 school year included:
- 67% were eligible for free and reduced lunch
- 57% were students of color
- 54% lived in single-parent homes or separate from their parents
- 47% are in the bottom 25% of class rank (ALL 47%, MY 47%, AE 64%, MS 45%. TS 44%)
JAG-K is a multi-year, in-school program for students in grades 6-12 that offers tools to successfully transition students into post-secondary school, the military, or directly into the workforce with marketable skills. Participants in the program face multiple barriers to success that their JAG-K Career Specialist helps them overcome through a nationally-accredited, evidence-based model.
For the current school year, Kansas’ 114 JAG-K programs will serve approximately 6,200 students in 48 school districts across the state.
JAG-K Career Specialists help students graduate and learn career, leadership, and life skills by executing a nationally-accredited, evidence-based model. Participants must meet criteria to be selected for the program and have potential to overcome various barriers to post-secondary success. Last year, JAG-K had 805 high school graduates.
The 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization is a state affiliate of the national JAG program network which operates in 38 different states and territories. It is primarily funded through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant to the State of Kansas administered by the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF). In addition to school districts and DCF, JAG-K partners with the Kansas Department of Education. Other JAG-K funding sources include ADM, AT&T, EagleU, Goldstein Charitable Trust, the JB and Anne Hodgdon Foundation, Honeywell, John Deere, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Kansas Gas Service, the Kansas Insurance Department, the Office of the Kansas State Bank Commissioner, United Way of Kaw Valley, United Way of the Plains, U.S. Bank, and Walmart.
To learn more about JAG-K, visit www.jagkansas.org, or ‘Jobs for America’s Graduates-Kansas’ on Facebook and LinkedIn.