Members of the Kansas State Board of Education approved an updated at-risk program list during their February meeting in Topeka this week. The board met only on Tuesday, Feb. 11, not the traditional two days of meetings due to the inclement weather declared on Wednesday. 

Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson emphasized that while programs on the at-risk list are vetted by Kansas State Department of Education staff, the list doesn’t constitute an endorsement of the peer-reviewed, evidence-based programs by the state’s education agency. 

“That is a decision that is made by local school boards and local districts,” he said, adding that KSDE ensures the programs on the at-risk list meet requirements outlined in state law.  

Click here for the updated at-risk program list (which is formatted significantly differently from the previous list) and other helpful information. These programs are aimed at helping a student who meets one or more of the following criteria: 

• Is not working on academic grade level.  
• Is not meeting the requirements necessary for promotion to the next grade; is failing subjects or courses of study.  
• Is not meeting the requirements necessary for graduation from high school (e.g., potential dropout).  
• Has insufficient mastery of skills or is not meeting state standards.  
• Has been retained.  
• Has a high rate of absenteeism.  
• Has repeated suspensions or expulsions from school.  
• Is homeless and/or a migrant.  
• Is identified as an English language learner (ELL).  
• Has social-emotional needs that cause the student to be unsuccessful in school.  
• Is identified as a student with dyslexia or characteristics of dyslexia.  
• Is in foster care or otherwise in the custody of the secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF).  

Districts using at-risk programs that are not on the approved list can submit a provisional application using local data to show program effectiveness for their at-risk students.  

Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, districts will be required to submit at-risk accountability plans which will include rationale for at-risk expenditures and improvement plans for specific cohorts of students. The plans also will include the following criteria:  

• Demonstrate the school district is using evidence-based instruction (as defined in K.S.A. 72-5153 and amendments thereto), for the education of students who are identified as eligible to receive at-risk programs and services;  
• Measure longitudinal academic improvement in a quantitative manner;  
• Establish quantitative student academic improvement goals for certain identified student cohort groups and strive to meet such goals through the provision of evidence-based instruction that is provided to such student cohort groups above and beyond regular educational services;  
• Ensure that at-risk education funds are expended in accordance with the law by providing services above and beyond regular educational services;  
• Show academic improvement in certain student cohorts and students identified as eligible for at-risk programs. (Consequences for not meeting academic goals could begin in the 2030-31 school year.)  

Contact stateatrisk@ksde.gov with questions about the state’s at-risk programs. 

In other business, board members conducted a public hearing on the removal of the submission of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) from the high school graduation requirements list for students graduating in 2028. They are scheduled to vote on the removal of the requirement during their monthly meeting in March. 

In May 2024, board members approved amendments to state regulations that govern new minimum high school graduation requirements that will go into effect for the class of 2028, the current 2024-25 freshmen. Click here for more information on the Kansas graduation requirements.  

During the board’s February meeting, members were given the opportunity to take a mini state assessment test from a student’s perspective. This was part of the virtual tour members were given of Kite, the state’s assessment platform administered by the Assessment and Achievement Institute at the University of Kansas.  

In other business on Tuesday, board members heard a presentation from Dr. Frank Harwood, KSDE deputy commissioner of the division of fiscal and administrative services, on the status of the board’s legislative funding requests, including KSDE’s budget that’s working its way through the 2025 Kansas legislature. He outlined the budget items that were considered and approved by the House Committee on K-12 Education Budget and what action the House Committee on Appropriations took on those items. The KSDE budget is expected to be considered on the House floor soon. 

The State Board also did the following during their February meeting: 

• Heard a presentation from the 2025 Kansas Superintendent of the Year, Dr. Renee Nugent, Atchison USD 409; 
• Received an update on KESA 2.0, including how school systems are working on their action plans to increase student achievement; 
• Approved the recommendations from the Professional Practices Commission regarding teaching licenses;  
• Received the recommendations from the Evaluation Review Committee for teacher preparation programs;  
• Approved the Request for Proposal for board attorney services; and  
• Approved the items on the consent agenda (Click here for the February meeting materials and agenda that includes the consent items). 

The State Board’s next monthly meeting will be March 11-12. The March 11 meeting will be in the first floor board room, Suite 102, Landon State Office Building, 900 S.W. Jackson, in Topeka. The March 12 meeting will take place at the Kansas School for the Deaf, 450 E. Park Street, in Olathe.