More than three-quarters of high school seniors in the KC region graduate with a Market Value Asset

The latest data finds 79% of high school seniors across the Real World Learning (RWL) ecosystem completed at least one Market Value Asset during the 2024-2025 school year. This significant milestone illustrates the collective impact of RWL’s broad adoption and the uncommon collaboration of students, educators, superintendents, local employers, community leaders, and education intermediaries across the Kansas City region.

The shared goal for champions of RWL is to ensure that by 2030 every student has the opportunity to graduate with at least one Market Value Asset. In the program’s first four years – with an increasing number of student participants and a global pandemic – RWL continues to make significant progress toward our goal.

“Sharing this data provides a well-deserved opportunity to celebrate the efforts of a truly uncommon regional collaboration to reimagine high school for students across the Kansas City area,” said Misty Chandler, executive director of Real World Learning. “More and more students are graduating with industry-valued professional experience, including critical durable skills, that better prepare students to pursue further education and successfully navigate the journey to employment.”

While there was an increase in seniors attaining Market Value Assets (from 67% during the 2023-24 school year), we also saw an overall increase in Market Value Asset attainment. For all students, ninth through 12th grade, more than half (52%) earned at least one Market Value Asset.

Individual school data and final findings from 2024-25 will be delivered in April to the more than 34 school districts who participate in Real World Learning.