The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for the education community to adapt and change when necessity calls. But as the health crisis wanes, the academic crisis manifested in achievement gaps will not only persist, but likely increase. The existing at-risk program, which in theory is intended to improve achievement levels to reduce achievement gaps, has failed miserably. It is now time for the education community – including the Legislature, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), and the Kansas State Board of Education – to recognize this and adapt and change the approach to serving at-risk students. This paper proposes a model for replacing the ineffective Kansas K-12 at-risk program with an approach that is both effective and efficient which will increase achievement levels of those students the program is intended to serve, and subsequently close achievement gaps. Ample evidence is provided herein to justify such a change.
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