Achievements & Standards Archives - Kansas Policy Institute

Better “messaging” will not improve student achievement 0
- Education
- August 28, 2022
How do we take state assessment results, in which a vast majority of students are not on pace for being “post-secondary ready”, and make them sound better than they really are? That was the overarching discussion at the August State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting as the SBOE was tasked with adopting a new set
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Regardless of process, achievement gaps and lower state assessment scores persist 0
- Education
- August 1, 2022
In this previous article, KPI showed the State Board of Education (SBOE) members’ level of confusion, frustration, and ignorance during the July 12 meeting regarding the entirety of the state assessment scoring process. (The hour-long report and discussion can be seen here). The purpose of this piece is to show that despite all the efforts
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KASB report is a misunderstanding of state assessment data 0
- Education
- May 29, 2022
An April 2022 report published by the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) entitled Understanding State Assessment Data, goes to great lengths to rationalize low and declining state assessment scores. The fifteen-page document can be divided into five categories of rationalizations that the unacceptably dismal state assessment scores are just fine: standards public vs. private
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Lower state assessment results more than just a function of COVID 0
- Education
- October 31, 2021
The 2021 state assessment results have been released, and to no one’s surprise, the scores are lower. Due to pandemic-related school closings, there was no testing in the spring of 2020. Given the interruption in teaching and learning across the entire country, state assessment scores were expected to be lower than 2019. The statewide percentage
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Kansans Can – hardly an “ambitious overhaul of Kansas schools”0
- Education
- September 29, 2021
The Kansas City Star published an article entitled “High grad rates, flat test scores: Is an ambitious overhaul of Kansas schools working?” In the piece the authors claim that KSDE’s signature initiative, Kansans Can– now five years into implementation – is “transforming education across the state.” Is Kansans Can really “transforming” Kansas schools? No. The
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KSDE’s Kansans Can awards are mostly participation ribbons 0
- Education
- September 14, 2021
For the past several decades, schools have been (accurately) accused and rightfully chastised for practicing an “everybody wins!” approach to any kind of competition and academic achievement. At the very least, all “competitors” receive participation ribbons, as an indicator that, indeed, everybody wins. The 2020 Kansans Can awards, announced at the August state board meeting
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