You might not know it, but some of the best public and private education in metropolitan Kansas City is available north of the river.

While areas such as Johnson County, Kan., receive deserved credit, the Northland has quietly built some of the best schools in the area. One proof was the recent Missouri state "Distinction in Performance" awards. Of the 10 districts honored from metropolitan Kansas City, eight were from the Northland.

Equally important, the North-land's educational excellence includes public, private and faith-based schools. The area is home to several top-ranked post-secondary institutions, including William Jewell College, Time Magazine's Liberal Arts College of the Year. There is an award-winning community college system, two universities, a seminary and vocational-technical schools. Residents also have a wide range of choices of private and public pre-schools, including the widely recognized Clay-Platte Montessori School and the Northland Early Education Center.

The most evident educational curriculum involves the area's public school districts. All of these districts are fully accredited and the high schools are rated A+ by the state of Missouri, ensuring that graduates qualify for two years of post-secondary education funding, including books, tuition and fees at any Missouri community college or vocational-technical school for free. In the past five years, Northland graduates have been eligible for more than $10 million in A+ scholarship funding. Both public and faith-based Northland high schools also meet the rigorous standards of other credentialing organizations, such as North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

One reason that Northland schools excel is because they pay attention to the fundamentals of quality education. Clay and Platte County schools generally have smaller pupil/teacher ratios than the state requires, higher graduation rates and standardized test scores that consistently exceed national averages.

The results are obvious. A high percentage of Northland seniors are college bound. Hundreds are recognized each year by prestigious scholarship programs such as National Merit Scholars and Missouri Bright Flight. In recent years, several Northland students have achieved perfect scores on either the ACT or SAT college entrance exams.

Northland schools also offer considerable diversity. The three largest districts are the highly regarded Park Hill, North Kansas City and Liberty public school systems, each with more than 5,000 students. Equally high in quality are smaller, more rural districts such as the Platte R-III, West Platte, North Platte, Smithville, Kearney and the Excelsior Springs school programs.

The diversity of Northland education is strength in other ways. In addition to public schools, the area is served by the widely praised Northland Catholic Schools, which features St. Pius X High School.

The Northland Lutheran School District is undergoing major expansion. The district currently includes classes at Holy Cross Lutheran School, but the new Martin Luther Academy will rank among the largest Lutheran high school facilities in the country. Located on 35 acres at U.S. 169 and 110th Street in Kansas City, North, the campus will educate students in grades K-12.

The best feature of the Northland's educational offerings may be its colleges and universities. The area holds a surprising mixture of post-secondary programs, beginning with the more than 150-year-old William Jewell College and the highly ranked Park University. William Jewell each year is rated as one of the best small colleges in the nation while Park University offers diverse programs in Parkville and throughout the metropolitan area, including both undergraduate and graduate programs.

Maple Woods Community College is part of the Metropolitan Com-munity College Network. This dynamic campus in the heart of the Northland has grown to offer a wide range of two-year degree programs as well as specialized training in everything from computer skills to law enforcement.

Northland education also includes Sanford-Brown College's highly regarded career and technical programs offered at a campus in North Kansas City. The University of Missouri at Kansas City also operates its unique Northland campus with a special graduate program that emphasizes flexibility for working professionals.