| Vital Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Public schools | 1,410 |
| Public school teachers | 32,589 |
| Pre-K-12 students | 470,490 |
| Annual pre-K-12 expenditures | $3.5 billion |
| Minority students | 23.2% |
| Children in poverty | 12% |
| Students with disabilities | 13.8% |
| English-language learners | 4.8% |
Summary of Grades
Kansas scores above the national average on three of the four major areas of state policy graded in Quality Counts.
The state performs below the national average in standards and accountability, largely because it does not have assessments aligned to state standards at any grade span in science or social studies. Kansas also relies on multiple-choice test items to measure student performance. Its assessments do not include short-answer or extended-response items.
Kansas fares better in teacher quality, ranking among the higher performing states in this category. In particular, the state receives full credit for measures related to accountability for teacher quality. The state includes teacher-qualification data on school report cards and also has a policy that limits out-of-field teaching.
The state also performs relatively well in the school climate category. Kansas receives high marks on indicators of parent involvement and school size. The state also generally does well on measures of school safety, although it loses points for not having laws or programs related to school bullying.
In resource equity, Kansas scores just above the average state. Its score on the wealth-neutrality measure indicates that poorer districts in the state tend to have higher per-pupil funding levels than do wealthier districts. Kansas is one of only 10 states in which this pattern is found.
| State Policy Report Card | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Quality Counts Grading Breakdown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding.
