Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson said state assessment results for math are the highest since 2017, and more students overall are scoring at proficient levels in math and English language arts than last year.
Dr. Watson delivered his 2022-2023 annual report to the Kansas State Board of Education on Tuesday. He said the state is seeing higher graduation rates overall and in subgroups, and more students are earning college credits while in high school.
The 2023 math assessment results show that 10.01 percent of all students assessed in math scored at Level 4, the highest level of ability. That’s an increase of 8.66 percent from last year.
There was a decrease in the number of students scoring at Level 1, which shows a limited ability to understand skills to be ready for postsecondary education.
Chronic absenteeism rates were down from 24.5 percent in 2022 to 21.8 percent this year.
Graduation rates for 2022 were 89.3 percent, an increase of 3.7 percent from 2016. The 2023 rates won’t be available until later this year. The state’s goal is to have a graduation rate of 95 percent.
Dr. Watson said during the past six years, there has been a 14.5 percent increase in the number of students taking postsecondary courses while still in high school, earning them college credits.
