From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Oct. 21, 1974:

Lawrence teachers were planning to send out “success cards” to parents in the near future to recognize student achievement. The Lawrence Education Association was participating in the Kansas-National Education Association project to recognize students who were doing well. Millard Denny, Lawrence High School teacher and LEA president, said the concept of the cards was compatible with what many local teachers had been doing for several years, such as sending “kudo letters” to parents to tell them about the good things their children were doing in school. “We too often get bogged down with the negative,” Denny said. “When parents receive a letter from school, they immediately think something bad has happened.”