Feature Story

Members of the Kansas State Board of Education voted this week to approve new cut scores for the spring 2025 state assessments for English language arts, math and science.  

The new cut scores were necessary after the 2015 Kansas Assessment Program tests were revised after 10 years. Board members had voted on the changes to the 2025 tests’ performance level descriptors in May that emphasize proficiency. 

A large part of the 2025 Great Ideas in Education Conference, hosted by the Kansas State Department of Education, served as an enhanced school improvement day to kick off the second year of KESA 2.0., a slight departure from past conference formats.  

“A lot of people worked long hours to pull that off,” Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson said of the conference, July 28-30, that drew nearly 500 attendees to Wichita’s Hyatt Regency. “I thought the energy was really good. It allowed for more focused time.”  

Giving districts and school systems the chance to focus on their school improvement initiatives going into the 2025-26 school year was the intent of the reimagined Great Ideas in Education Conference held this week in Wichita. 

“We have to stay true to systems and processes,” Dr. Renee Nugent, KSDE deputy commissioner of the division of learning services, told the crowd of more than 400 attendees. “Your processes are important, but your people are more important.” 

The second full year of the second iteration of the Kansas Education Accreditation System, known as KESA 2.0, will soon be underway as the 2025-26 school year begins in August. 

One-day sessions known as “School Improvement Days” are integral to districts creating action plans to address student achievement as part of the second iteration of the Kansas Education Accreditation System, known as KESA 2.0.   

“This process is tremendously much more intentional, meaningful to actually be able to have the time to collaborate with like-sized schools, sharing ideas,” Karla Tanking, assistant superintendent of Holton USD 336, said during a recent School Improvement Day at Greenbush Education Service Center in Lawrence. “But it’s also just having the time to talk through and analyze data with our own group that is very helpful and beneficial.”