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State adjusts Kansas Assessment cut scores; district warned not to compare year-to-year results
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Holly Putnam Jackson told the board the Kansas State Board revised performance-level descriptors and cut scores for the Kansas assessment program and warned districts that 2024-25 results should not be compared directly with prior years.
Dr. Holly Putnam Jackson, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, briefed the board on changes to the Kansas assessment program and how they affect local interpretation of scores.
“...they approved a new assessment, and they have approved those new cut scores,” Putnam Jackson said, explaining the state convened educators to realign what constitutes proficiency at each grade. She said the state found misalignments between prior state cut scores and national measures such as ACT scores and postsecondary indicators and revised the descriptors to improve alignment and transparency.
Putnam Jackson told board members the state cautioned against year-to-year comparisons because the assessment tool, the scale and the cut scores changed. “When the scores do come out this year, we cannot compare them with last year,” a board member asked; Putnam Jackson confirmed those comparisons would be inappropriate and said the district should treat the new scores as a baseline.
Other changes she described: fewer test questions and a shorter testing window intended to reduce student fatigue, and realignment efforts that brought Kansas performance levels closer to national expectations. The district intends to use local diagnostic tools and the new state results as a starting point for planning and measuring future improvement.
