Members of the Kansas State Board of Education received an update during their September meeting on what districts will have to include in their at-risk accountability plans, the at-risk pilot initiative and the status of the list of evidence-based programs.     

Dr. Frank Harwood, deputy commissioner of fiscal and administrative services for the Kansas State Department of Education, told board members school districts will statutorily be required to submit their at-risk accountability plans starting in the 2026-27 school year that: 

• Demonstrate the school district is using evidence-based instruction (as defined in K.S.A. 72-5153 and amendments thereto), for the education of students who are identified as eligible to receive at-risk programs and services; 
• Measure longitudinal academic improvement in a quantitative manner; 
• Establish quantitative student academic improvement goals for certain identified student cohort groups and strive to meet such goals through the provision of evidence-based instruction that is provided to such student cohort groups above and beyond regular educational services; 
• Ensure that at-risk education funds are expended in accordance with the law by providing services above and beyond regular educational services; 
• Show academic improvement in certain student cohorts and students identified as eligible for at-risk programs. (Consequences for not meeting academic goals could begin in the 2030-31 school year.) 

A group of about a dozen school districts will be part of the pilot program beginning later in the 2024-25 school year, Harwood said. These districts will develop accountability plans they will implement during the 2025-26 school year. All Kansas districts will have to submit their plans beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The pilot districts were chosen to ensure diversity based on size, geographic location, student demographics and the level of training and staff implementation of structured literacy. Board members are expected to officially approve the pilot districts during their October meeting.  

Dr. Ben Proctor, KSDE deputy commissioner of learning services, told board members KSDE’s statutory responsibility is to provide a list of evidence-based at-risk programs that meet the requirements of the law. Local school boards choose which at-risk programs they want to implement based on the needs of their students. Proctor said the at-risk list will be presented to the state board in December for final approval in January. 

Click here for a more detailed explanation of the at-risk program to date. 

Proctor also updated the board members on how the structured literacy LETRS® training is progressing across the state. In addition to teachers, he said school system administrators are encouraged to go through LETRS® training to build more coherence within the board’s newly-adopted school improvement model.   

During their meeting on Wednesday, board members unanimously approved adding American Sign Language (ASL) to the world language educator preparation standards, paving the way for Kansas teachers to obtain a license for teaching ASL. 

The board’s action begins a three-year phase-in of the new standards required of ASL World Language programs with program reviews beginning in the fall of 2027.  

Members of the Pre-K-12 world languages committee told the state board there is a “huge amount of interest” from Kansas high school students to include ASL as a world language class. A highly trained instructor is needed to teach ASL as is needed for any world language.   

During the board’s two-day meeting, members also: 

• Heard a presentation from the KSDE Career Standards and Assessment Services (CSAS) team about the Kansas Assessment Program (KAP). This information included what a balanced assessment system looks like and, how instructional mini tests, interim and summative assessments and student reports have been updated for 2025 by the Achievement and Assessment Institute at the University of Kansas. 
• Heard a presentation from attendees of the 2024 Kansas Future Teachers Academy at Emporia State University this past summer. There were 142 students from 82 high schools who participated in the July camp, up from 93 from 60 schools in 2023. Several of the students who attended this summer’s camp talked about their goals and aspirations for becoming a teacher after college.  
• Received an overview of the 21 required reports that have to be submitted to the Kansas legislature annually along with the training that school district staff and students must complete each year. 
• Heard presentations from Elise Davis, a senior at Mill Valley High School, De Soto USD 232, and Akshay Nair, a senior at Blue Valley West High School, Blue Valley USD 229, who were selected from applications reviewed by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s office to attend the prestigious National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia this past summer. 

The next meeting of the State Board will be Oct. 8-9 in the first floor board room of the Landon State Office Building, 900 S.W. Jackson, in Topeka.