KASB Comparing Kansas, 2017
Author: Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB)
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Outcomes of Education,Educational Indicators,School Statistics,Educational Attainment,Graduation Rate,Economically Disadvantaged,Limited English Speaking,English Language Learners,Disabilities,National Competency Tests,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Grade 4,Grade 8,College Entrance Examinations,Scores,Comparative Analysis,Educational Assessment,Expenditure per Student,College Readiness,Benchmarking,State Norms,Educational Finance,State Aid,Teacher Salaries,Teacher Student Ratio,Educational Trends,College Preparation,Tables (Data),Resource Allocation

The Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) Comparing Kansas report data provides information related to the Kansas State Board of Education's Kansans Can outcomes and the &quot;Rose Capacities&quot; identified by the Kansas Supreme Court as a standard of constitutional funding and adopted as educational goals by the Kansas Legislature. It also allows Kansas educational performance, funding, and other factors to be compared to other states. This is the second year KASB has produced this report using the same data elements and calculations. For each state, this report offers education performance information on 15 indicators in the following areas: (1) Postsecondary--high school completion or higher, some college or higher, and four-year degree or higher; (2) Graduation--adjusted cohort graduation rate for: all students, economically disadvantaged students, students with limited English, and students with disabilities; (3) Assessments--National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 4th and 8th grade reading and math average percent of students scoring; and (4) Assessments--ACT and SAT Tests, both adjusted for the participation of students based on the percent of graduates who took the test in each state. The following are the comparison groups determined and utilized in the report: (1) Aspiration: States that perform better overall than Kansas; (2) Adjacent: States that share a border with Kansas; (3) Student Peers: States that are within +/- 0.5 standard deviations of Kansas's value on a majority of the student demographic variables; (4) Adult Peers: States that are within +/- 0.5 standard deviations of Kansas's value on a majority of the adult population variables; (5) Distribution Peers: States that are within +/- 0.5 standard deviations of Kansas's value on a majority of the population distribution variables; and (6) Overall Peers: States that are within +/- 0.5 standard deviations of Kansas's value on a majority of the student, adult, and distribution variables. The report shows that Kansas ranks 10th among states across numerous academic measurements, but Kansas outcomes are starting to fall as total funding per pupil fell behind most states from 2008-15. Kansas has increased the percentage of students meeting college ready benchmarks on its main assessment of college readiness, the ACT, at about the same rate as the average for all states and peer states. However, Kansas participation has been basically flat, while other states have generally increased participation. This results in an adjusted ranking that increased less than the average increase for the peer comparison groups.