Feature Story

While Kansas educators know what standards their students need to be taught, identifying whether their instructional materials are appropriately aligned with those standards presents a much more complex challenge. To support these efforts, the Kansas State Department of Education has developed standards alignment toolkits. 

This week's Picture of the Week features seventh grade students at Royal Valley Middle School, Royal Valley USD 337.

Just before summer break, the students completed their unit on Kansas counties with a quiz to see how many of their classmates could be the first to know exactly where all 105 counties in Kansas are located.

The Kansas State Department of Education’s transition from the Kansas Individual Data on Students (KIDS) system, created nearly 20 years ago, to a more advanced Kansas Education Data System (KEDS) continues to progress.

This week's Picture of the Week features Holton USD 336’s earliest learners.

Members of the Kansas State Board of Education approved new performance level descriptors (PLDs) for the revised 2025 state assessments during their May meeting in Topeka. 

“It’s clarity,” Beth Fultz, director of the Kansas State Department of Education’s Career, Standards and Assessment Services, told board members. “It’s just clarifying what the test will measure.” 

The revised performance level descriptors were developed and reviewed by Kansas experts and educators over the past year. The PLDs will provide a foundation for setting cut scores that identify the level of proficiency students achieve on the assessments.