(The Sentinel) — Last year, 22% of 8th-graders were proficient in English Language Arts (reading) on the Kansas state assessment. This year, 46% are proficient as a result of new proficiency standards approved by seven of the ten state school board members. Department of Education officials say they didn’t reduce rigor, but what else explains the skyrocketing proficiency rates?

There is nothing in past results to suggest that the sudden gains are natural progressions. 8th-grade reading proficiency has been trending downward on both the state assessment and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which the Kansas Department of Education refers to as ‘the gold standard‘ of assessments.

8th-grade math also exhibits a reversal of trends. Results on the state assessment had generally been declining since 2015; part of the loss during COVID was recouped in 2024, but the 24% proficiency level was still below the 2019 level.  Now, 42% are proficient based on the new standard that KSDE claims is not less rigorous than the previous year.

The Kansas State Board of Education voted 7-3 recently to accept new proficiency standards for the new assessment test. Education officials say they didn’t want to reduce rigor, while also saying they thought more students should have been considered proficient on the previous assessment. That sounds like KSDE thought the previous standard was too rigorous and the new one is less rigorous, but State Board Chair Cathy Hopkins tells KSNT-TV News disagrees:

“No one wants to lower expectations, standards, rigor in any way. Our belief is that this will be a clearer picture of actually what kids are learning and able to show that they’re learning.”

She was joined in her support for the new standards by Dr. Beryl Ann New, Danny Zeck, Dennis Hershberger, Betty Arnold, Jim Porter, and Melanie Haas.  Opposing were Connie O’Brien, Debby Potter, and Michelle Dombrosky.

Discussion of the new assessment and standards begins here at the 3:22:00 mark. “Cut scores” mentioned during the meeting are defined as those scores that separate an “A” from a “B”, “B from a “C”, and so forth.

The test administered this year is also new and has fewer questions, which prompts Kansas Policy Institute CEO Dave Trabert to wonder if the new test is easier.

“The only plausible explanation for the miraculous turnaround is that the new test is easier, standards are lower, or some combination of the two.”

Trabert says the new proficiency standards are akin to grading on a curve in an A-F system. For example, instead of the familiar 90%-100% for an “A,” the cutoff is dropped to, say, 75%, thus making it appear that students are doing better.

High school proficiency rates also soar, while college readiness declines

Similar to the NAEP declines, Kansas graduates’ college readiness on the ACT test has also been in free-fall.

In 2015, 32% of Kansas graduates were considered college-ready in English, Reading, Math, and Science. Now, only 18% are college-ready in those four core subjects. ACT’s definition of college readiness is having a 75% chance of getting a “C” on an entry-level course.

Contrary to the steady ACT decline, high school students are doing miraculously better according to the new state assessment test that is given to students in grades 3-8 and 10.

Last year, only 28% of 10th-graders were proficient in reading, and just 21% in math. Results in both subjects had been on a steady decline.

All of a sudden, 42% are proficient in reading and 37% in math. KSDE doesn’t attribute this remarkable turnaround to new curriculum or teaching methods; the test and proficiency standards are all that really changed.

In an opinion piece for the Kansas Policy Institute, owners of The Sentinel, Trabert calls on the Kansas Legislature to reverse the Board of Education’s decision:

“Claiming not to have so obviously reduced performance standards demonstrates that parents cannot count on the State Board of Education and the Department of Education it controls to address the achievement crisis in Kansas. The question now is whether the Legislature will use its authority to stop the fraud or become a willing participant by inaction.

“Some legislators shudder at the thought of doing anything that will upset the education lobby. Many of them know that a lot of students are not getting the education they deserve, and they want students to do better, but getting re-elected matters more. Voters who want them to intervene must therefore be very direct in communicating their position, such as:

“‘I am voting for a candidate in 2026 who tells the Department of Education to scrap its state assessment and replace it with an independent test, like ACT Aspire. Is that you?”