Key Points:
- Wichita’s new Khan Lab School offers innovative, less structured learning environment for students.
- Students work in achievement-based groups, not age groups, with flexible classroom configurations.
- School is committed to diversity at all levels and to providing an opportunity for those who need it the most.
Kyle Ellison had a flashback to his school days when he was visiting a classroom several months ago.
“I walked in and there it was – the desk – separated from the orderly rows … up front, close to the teacher’s desk,” he said. “And I could instantly see the kid who would sit there, fidgeting and squirming. That was me. I was that kid.”
Ellison said what he didn’t know as a young student was that he didn’t have a problem with self-control or a behavioral issue.
“I was simply bored,” he said. “I didn’t want to sit there and read, or worse yet, listen. I wanted to get up and do something.”
Understanding that is what led him to his current position as founding school director for Wichita’s new, innovative Khan Lab School, which is now accepting applications through KLSWichita.org for the fall session, which will start in August.
The school is patterned after the online Khan Academy learning platform and the brick-and-mortar Khan Lab School in Palo Alto, CA, and offers students the opportunity to learn in an environment far less structured than typical classrooms.
Students work together in groups that are assembled by achievement level, not by age. In the new space, rooms are configured so they can become larger or smaller to fit the project at hand.
Khan Lab School will be based in Learning Lab Wichita, a new creative learning space housed on the upper floor of the old Union Station railroad building at 703 E. Douglas. The space is being transformed into a light, airy space that will feature classrooms, a recording studio, digital photography equipment, a computer lab, a science lab, and an outdoor learning space overlooking downtown Wichita.
“In a sense, Wichita will be our classroom,” he said. “The idea of this curriculum is to allow kids to see people doing different jobs and learn what careers are available and see exactly how the jobs are done with internships and job shadowing starting far earlier than the usual offerings for high school juniors and seniors.”
This year, classes will be offered for students in grades 4 through 9, but the plan is to expand each year until it is available for students from kindergarten through high school.
“We want to provide opportunities for kids from different backgrounds and all social classes,” Ellison said.
According to Ellison, everyone involved with the school, the backers, the staff and the families who have been accepted into the program so far, are committed to diversity and providing an opportunity for all, especially those who wouldn’t typically have it, but need it the most.
Ellison is working hard to ensure the school is a “melting pot,” by actively reaching out to diverse families, including some he met through his days as executive director of Heroes Academy, a Wichita-based mentoring program.
He encourages families who have students they feel would benefit from the school’s alternative and creative teaching model to reach out to him and to not let the school’s $12,000 per year tuition keep them from applying. The school offers needs-based scholarships.
Khan Lab School Wichita is only the second brick-and-mortar school location for Khan Academy. It is a private educational institution.
Learning Lab Wichita
Learning Lab is designed to host three additional programs offering alternative educational opportunities, including micro schools in partnership with local school districts. Individuals can apply for a Learning Lab membership that gives them access to the facilities as a place to offer learning programs.
Learning Lab, which was started in 2022, is supported by Stand Together, a Koch family philanthropic foundation to “help changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems.” Among the problems the foundation chose to address was the country’s one-size-fits-all educational structure.
Stand Together launched Learning Lab to offer and explore alternative learning structures and, after being impressed with the Khan educational model, partnered with Khan to open a Khan Lab School in the Learning Lab.