The needle is moving on KC's literacy problem
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When Bobby Witt Jr. calls on you in class. Photo: Courtesy of the Kansas City Royals
Educators are harnessing KC's sports town identity in the classroom, combining personalized tutoring with Royals players and stadium visits to boost motivation for reading comprehension.
Why it matters: Child literacy rates are tied to success later in life, but test data shows only 26% of KCMO's public school third graders read at grade level.
The big picture: The Royals Literacy League is a partnership between the team and nonprofit SchoolSmartKC's Literacy for All Students (LFAS) initiative, two programs that launched in 2024 and that educators say have since worked in tandem to move the needle.
How it works: Royals players visit 18 classrooms across nine schools in the KC Public Education System (KCPES), which includes charter schools.
- The players get to know students, talking with them about reading, baseball and their interests, Royals VP of communications Sam Mellinger tells Axios.
- Students have also read books with Royals mascot Sluggerrr, played catch in the outfield, and gone to games with their families at no cost to them.
- SchoolSmartKC provides education resources for schools, including tutoring and teacher training, while tracking growth throughout the year through UMKC's Urban Education Research Center.
What they're saying: Angelique Nedved, president and CEO of SchoolSmartKC, tells Axios for years they were "nibbling around the edges" of Kansas City's literacy crisis. "We knew we had to do something different."
- Jennifer Scheneman, an elementary school teacher at Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School in the Historic Northeast, says building enthusiasm for school is "the biggest thing that I have noticed for that impact," adding it shows athletes and the community — more than just their parents and teachers — are rooting for them.
The latest: The share of students reading above the national median rose 10.6 percentage points across those who had both the Literacy League and LFAS — from 24.2% in spring 2024 to 34.8% in spring 2026, roughly a 44% increase.
- Data shared with Axios by SchoolSmartKC shows literacy growth had little change in the previous year and a half before the programs began.
- Growth doesn't mean proficiency, but it's a leading indicator of progress, Nedved says.
By the numbers: Literacy for All Students is growing, up to half of the 39 elementary schools in KCPES thanks to a $5 million grant from the Kauffman Foundation.
- About a third of KCPES elementary students move schools throughout the year, Nedved says, making consistent support across the school system even more important.
Between the lines: John Sherman owns the Royals, and the Sherman Family Foundation has for years given money to SchoolSmartKC.
- Other contributions come from Kauffman, Kemper, Sosland and Power of Hope foundations.
- The Literacy League is in its third year. Mellinger says the Royals would like to expand the program, but the team wants to make sure it's done right.
The bottom line: "When our schools have the resources they need, look what happens," Nedved says.