KANSAS EDUCATION

[Ross]

School spending, state aid set another record

Posted by David Dorsey on Monday, October 19, 2015

Just released information by the Kansas Department of Education reveals education spending in the Sunflower State reached all-time highs in both total and per-pupil expenditures in 2014-15 and will continue in the current year.

In the 2014-15 school year, total spending increased by more than $100 million and topped the $6 billion mark for the first time.  It marked the fourth consecutive year there was an increase in total spending. State aid was at an all-time high, at just under $4 billion, an increase for the fifth consecutive year. For the first time in recent history, the 20 mills of property tax mandated for school funding was properly recorded as state aid rather than local, accounting for about $579 million of the $701 million state aid increase.

Per-pupil costs also increased for the fourth consecutive year, a record $13,124, breaking the $13 thousand ceiling for the first time.

And according to official KSDE estimates, record spending will continue in the 2015-16 school year. With block grant funding in place, expenditures are due to increase to $6.14 billion and per-pupil spending is expected to be $13,200, records in both categories. As was described in this earlier blog post, the increases from the block grants aren't just KPERS related. It's time to retire that false explanation.

KPI is monitoring school financial data released by KSDE, with more up-to-date information forthcoming.

http://kansaspolicy.org/KPIBlog/129477.aspx

At-risk funding misses target of putting students first

Posted by David Dorsey on Monday, October 12, 2015

The at-risk program began in Kansas in 1992. Its purpose was "to provide at-risk students with additional educational opportunities and instructional services to assist in closing the achievement gap." In the last 10 years, more than $350 million of the nearly $2 billion increase in education dollars went to at-risk funding, but the program not only failed to close achievement gaps, those gaps are getting worse!

How can that be?

For starters, school districts don't have to spend at-risk dollars exclusively for the benefit of students who have been deemed "at-risk." Special categories like additional half-day Kindergarten and the K-3 reading program have redirected at-risk money to the general student population. Furthermore, districts are allowed to pay the same portion of teachers' salaries as the portion of at-risk students in the entire district, regardless of how much time a teachers spends with at-risk students or the number of at-risk students in a classroom.

Combining that with the fact that districts are not held accountable in any way to a) actually spend the money on those truly at risk, or b) show results that the program improved achievement has created a system in which at-risk dollars have become marbled with other funding to become little more than a supplement to general state aid.

So even legislators' best intentions of getting increased funding to those students is derailed by a broken system and no real accountability for school districts.

http://www.kansaspolicy.org/KPIBlog/129341.aspx

State education board members nervous about new accreditation system

By Peter Hancock
October 13, 2015

TOPEKA — Some Kansas State Board of Education members say they're nervous and skeptical about plans underway to overhaul the way the state accredits its public schools.

The new system, which has been in the works since 2010, would replace the current system known as Quality Performance Accreditation, or QPA, which the state adopted in 1992, the same year it overhauled the way Kansas finances public schools.

Although student performance on standardized tests would still be a significant factor, the new model would also emphasize other kinds of educational outcomes, such as students' "employability" and their readiness for post-secondary education by the time they graduate high school.

"I guess I need to go on record saying I'm still a little apprehensive about this accreditation model and its complexity," said board member Ken Willard, a Hutchinson Republican. "I've heard some push-back already from schools and superintendents who have seen it and believe it is extremely complex and time-consuming, and maybe not as clear about the value of it."

As it's currently being discussed, the new model would set standards and benchmarks for schools based around what are being called "the five R's" — "Relationships" among staff, students, families and communities; "Relevance" of the curriculum and instruction; the "Responsive culture" of the school system; "Rigor" of the academic standards; and the "Results" produced by the time students graduate.

Board chairman Jim McNiece, a Wichita Republican, said he thinks those concerns will be resolved by the time the board is ready to vote on a final plan, which he said will probably take at least another year.

"Accreditation is one of our core responsibilities, and quite frankly I'm pleased that Ken is rather skeptical," he said. "I've got questions. We're not heading into this thing with our eyes closed. And I think that's really important."

One of the most significant changes being considered is that Kansas would, for the first time, start accrediting whole districts. It currently only accredits individual schools.

That could put enormous pressure on some school districts to turn around failing schools. Under the current model, districts can — and a few have — closed low-performing schools and transferred those students to other buildings.

But if a district as a whole loses accreditation, it could lead to situations that have occurred in Missouri and other states where students graduating have difficulty getting admitted to colleges, and the state itself has to take over management of a district.

That has happened in recent years in both Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis, but McNiece said Kansas officials have no intention of letting it happen here.

"We don't envision that," he said. "We've been working on this. The board has been skeptical, questioning, because it's one of our core responsibilities outlined in the (Kansas) Constitution, and it's such a huge change. And change is something that scares people in and of itself."

McNiece, a former principal and high school teacher, said the current QPA system grew out of a movement that began in the 1980s known as "outcomes-based education." It was a response to broad national concerns that too many students graduating from U.S. high schools lacked the basic knowledge and skills needed to be successful adults.

The outcomes-based movement peaked in 2001 with passage of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which tied federal education funding that flows to states and local school districts to their students' performance on standardized reading and math tests.

Since then, there has been a backlash from critics who say that schools are putting too much emphasis on test scores, and that teachers are now forced to "teach to the test."

Former Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker first raised the idea of overhauling the state's QPA system in 2010, about the same time that the board officially adopted the new Common Core standards for math and English language arts. Officials in the Department of Education have been working on the new model since that time.

Freshman board member Jim Porter, a Repubican from Fredonia, said he is more confident about a new accreditation system.

"I'm excited about this because I think we're getting ready to measure the right things and emphasize the right things," he said. "Even though math and reading are important, so are a lot of other things."

Board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat, said she is withholding judgment for the time being.

"I'm not opposed to it, but I'm really not supportive of it at this point," she said. "I'm simply not familiar enough with it, I guess. I want to understand and grasp it completely before I support it, although I do recognize we need to make some changes."

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/oct/13/state-education-board-members-nervous-about-new-ac/?kansas_legislature

Kansas parents could soon see student scores on Common Core-aligned tests

BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS
The Wichita Eagle
OCTOBER 18, 2015

Parents whose children took Kansas state assessments last spring should receive reports over the next few weeks detailing their performance on the newly designed, Common Core-aligned tests.

The student reports, distributed by school districts, will show your child's score on each test, as well as how that score compares to median scores for your school, district and the state as a whole.

State and local education officials have warned that the scores could look bad. State-level results released last month showed that a majority of Kansas students were not on track to be ready for college-level work, although most performed at grade level on the more rigorous tests.

"The standards were increased. The assessment is more difficult," said Beth Fultz, assistant director for assessments and accountability for the Kansas Department of Education.

"This is really our first data point" with the new tests, she said. "It's very much a baseline, so there isn't any comparison to last year or previous years."

Here's what you will see on the report:

An odometer-like gauge on the front will show your child's score and where it falls on four performance levels, with Level 4 being the highest. Additional graphs show how the student's score compares to other scores for that grade level and subject in the child's school, district and state.

Level 1 indicates performance below grade level, officials said. Level 2 is on grade level, meeting new, tougher standards but not on track to be ready for college-level work. Levels 3 and 4 are above grade level and on track to be college- or career-ready.

During a presentation to Wichita school board members earlier this month, officials said last year's math standards were more rigorous than those measured by the ACT or the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test that often is used to compare student achievement state-to-state.

"The bar has been raised significantly in the state of Kansas for what we want students to achieve and be able to do," said Wichita Superintendent John Allison.

"We are setting a very high bar for our students," he said. "As things become more refined, as our teachers have the opportunity to work and realign our curriculum, as data becomes more available, we will see our students grow and we'll see those scores change."

This crop of student test reports, though, could show a lot of Level 1s and 2s. That could prompt some parents to panic, thinking their child failed the test or isn't doing well in school.

School board member Sheril Logan worries that even the colors on the student report – Levels 1 and 2 are shaded red, like a warning siren – could unnecessarily alarm parents.

"I'm looking at that graph and I'm saying to myself, 'My kid is in the red, so he's not doing OK,' and yet that's not what we're saying, correct?" Logan said.

"We'll have to do a good job of explaining that a 2 is very acceptable," answered Lisa Lutz, the district's testing coordinator.

Districts received student reports from the state early last week. Wichita officials said they were sifting through the data and weren't sure when or how those reports would be distributed to parents. In the past, parents have received assessment scores from their children's teachers, often during parent-teacher conferences.

School board member Joy Eakins said she's concerned that results from tests taken last spring have taken so long to get to districts, schools and families.

The delay, state officials said, is because this past summer, about 160 language arts and math teachers worked with the University of Kansas Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation – which developed the test – to define the range of test scores that qualify for each of four performance levels.

"If we needed to make a change in our system, at this point of the year it would be very difficult to do that, to catch a student up or catch a group of students up," Eakins said. "As a system, we can't look and say, 'Where are we?' "

Fultz, the state official, said scores should be distributed more quickly next year. Ideally, schools should get test scores before the end of the school year, she said.

This year's test scores are the first from new, technology-enhanced assessments that began two years ago. Because the 2013-14 tests were plagued with technical glitches, state education officials got federal approval not to release test results that year.


This year's student reports should go out to parents over the next several weeks. In December, the Kansas Department of Education will publish district- and building-level data on its website.

"I do worry that there will be those that will try to draw conclusions here, make comparisons and in some way indicate that schools are not successful," said Allison, the Wichita superintendent. "And that's not the case.

"Our students do well across the state. They do well in Wichita – not to say that we don't have a great deal of work to do," he said. "We want all our students to be at Level 4, but they're not going to start there. So we know we've got our work cut out for us."

Reach Suzanne Perez Tobias at 316-268-6567 or stobias@wichitaeagle.com. Follow her on Twitter: @suzannetobias.

IMPROVING A CHILD'S TEST SCORE
Kansas students in third through eighth grades and 10th grade will take state assessments again next spring. Here are some tips that could help your child prepare:

▪ Talk with teachers about ways to develop your child's critical thinking skills.

▪ Ask your child questions that require explanations and can't be answered with a single word.

▪ Establish time for your child to read and provide suitable reading materials.

▪ Have your child write lists, letters, and other enjoyable or purposeful tasks.

▪ Solve math problems with your child using everyday materials or situations such as road maps, sporting events or recipes.

▪ Have your child explain to you how he or she solves math problems.

Source: Kansas Department of Education

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/education/article39693774.html

[upoladeb]

kids who have parents that spend time with them doing their homework and all the rest of the list to help improve their test scores are going to always do better then the kids who's parents can't or won't find time.Thats a no brainer.Somewhere we've come up with the schools raising our kids.

[redcliffsw]

Government is raising a lot more people and businesses after they're out of school too.

Free schools - just another government program that was never meant to be by the founders.