New state assessment and ACT results show educators and legislators must act urgently.
The 2026 state assessment shows modest improvement: reading proficiency rose one point, from 45% to 46%, and math improved from 39% to 41%. Minor improvement is better than a minor decline, but it’s no reason to celebrate because, at the current pace, it will take decades to reach the State Board of Education’s “mission accomplished” goal of 75% of students being proficient. Accepting tiny annual gains is akin to State School Board members (and legislators) telling parents, “Many students in this generation and probably the next aren’t going to get the education they need, but trust me, we’ll get there someday.”
Real proficiency levels are probably in the mid- to high 30s rather than the mid-40s because the 2025 and 2026 results are based on lower proficiency standards approved by the State Board of Education.
The chart below showing the history of 8th-grade reading proficiency makes this clear. Outcomes artificially increased when the State Board reduced proficiency standards and suddenly plummeted when it reinstated high standards in 2015. Proficiency standards are like grading scales, where a score between 90 and 100 is an “A.” The State Board of Education’s actions in 2002 and 2025 had the effect of changing the scale and awarding an “A” for scores between 70 and 100.
Reading proficiency jumped from 34% in 2001 to 65% in 2002 when the standards were reduced. Another reduction in 2007 eventually put proficiency at 85% by 2013. No test was given in 2014, but proficiency plummeted to 30% in 2015 when Kansas reinstated high proficiency standards. Then, in 2025, standards were reduced, and proficiency jumped artificially from 22% to 40% in one year.
Meanwhile, proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) stayed relatively stable in the mid- to low 30s through 2017, then fell to 25% by 2024.
The biannual 2026 NAEP results will be released in January, likely putting 8th-grade reading proficiency closer to 25%.
ACT scores also indicate lower outcomes
NAEP isn’t the only independent indicator of outcomes being lower than reflected on the state assessment.
The ACT results for 2026 graduates also indicate that state assessment results are artificially inflated.
The composite score of 19.0 is the lowest recorded since at least 1991, although ACT eliminated the Science score from the 2026 composite; this year’s score is a composite (average) of English, Math, and Reading.
Kansas remains below the national average for composite score (19.2 national vs. 19.0 Kansas) and college readiness (23% vs. 20%).
The 2026 National and Kansas profiles restate the percentages of college readiness benchmarks met for 2024 and 2025, excluding Science. This shows that college readiness in English, Math, and Reading did not improve, but held steady at only 20%. Scores declined in English and Reading, with a small improvement in Math.
ACT results are for 2026 graduates, and they do not take the state assessment. Still, the ACT declines run counter to the state assessment increases.
Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of the ACT is that 46% of Kansas students who took the test are not college-ready in any of the three subjects, and only 20% are college-ready in all three. ACT defines college-readiness as having a 75% chance of getting a “C” on an entry-level course, so this is not a high bar.
Urgent action needed
The State Board must act urgently to ensure students get the education they need to succeed after high school, and that starts with scrapping its heavily bureaucratic accreditation and basing accreditation only on reasonable proficiency gains and compliance with all state and federal laws. ‘All’ is underlined because the State Board allows school districts to violate laws and still be accredited.
One law routinely violated concerns targeted funding for academically at-risk students. The law requires districts to spend the roughly $550 million the Legislature provides for “above and beyond” services rather than for general education. Two audits have found that districts have violated that law with impunity since at least 2019. Another law says local school boards “shall conduct” needs assessments in each school, hear directly from teachers about educational barriers, and reallocate resources to overcome them.
Many superintendents don’t want local board members to hear from teachers, so they don’t invite board members to the meetings, and sadly, many local board members allow the law to be ignored.
The State Board and Department of Education believe they found a loophole that allows districts to violate these and other laws. Their accreditation system says districts must comply with all applicable laws, and they don’t believe these laws are applicable to improving schools.
Since the State Board won’t require improved student outcomes, the Legislature must act. It has the legal authority to bypass the education bureaucracy and take these actions. If legislators won’t, future state assessment results will feel like déjà vu all over again.
