Kansas public school districts will enter a new accreditation system this school year (2024-25), following action by the Kansas State Board of Education. Private schools that choose to be state accredited will also follow the new system, which is determined in three areas: compliance, school improvement and outcomes. 

The new model, called KESA 2.0, is a revision of the original Kansas Education System Accreditation (KESA) process that began in 2017-18. KESA is a system-level or district-level accreditation, as opposed to the previous building-level accreditation. The first round of KESA resulted in multiple systems being “conditionally accredited,” rather than fully accredited, something that had not happened in Kansas for at least three decades. After all school systems had completed an accreditation cycle, the Kansas State Department of Education undertook over a year of evaluation and feedback.  

• The revised system includes these improvements: 
• Narrower focus and fewer reporting requirements; 
• Decision criteria for accreditation that are more specific and less subjective  
• Increased collaboration among districts and with KSDE 
• More targeted assistance and support from the state 

A school district must meet the following requirements to earn accreditation: 

• Demonstrate compliance with all applicable federal and state statutes and regulations, measured by KSDE audits and supported by KSDE staff for each compliance area. This area is basically the same as the previous version of KESA. 
• Develop and implement a school improvement action plan through a collaborative process, which must address the four “fundamentals” of improvement. 
• Beginning in 2026-27, meet a state goal or show improvement toward that goal in three outcome areas: state reading and math assessments, graduation rate and postsecondary success. Each area has a set standard to meet, a measure to evaluate a school system’s performance and supports to assist systems in meeting the standard. 

School Improvement 

A school system’s engagement in the KESA 2.0 Collaboration Process is essential to effectively build and implement a quality action plan. The primary measure for the accreditation is implementation: evaluating measures of progress to confirm the school system is doing what they said they were going to do. Having a good plan is only the start — more important is demonstrating that the plan is having an impact on outcomes. Reporting is collected primarily through the KESA Collaboration Process. 

Four Fundamentals of Improvement 

School systems are expected to focus on the “four fundamentals” identified to improve student learning: 

1. Structured Literacy: Reading is taught using the science of reading and evidence-based instruction.  
2. Standards Alignment: Lessons, instruction and materials match Kansas standards and clearly identify what students must know and be able to do, including interpersonal, intrapersonal and cognitive skills in pre-K-12.  
3. Balanced Assessment: Students are assessed for risk and meeting standards; data is used to raise achievement.  
4. Quality instruction: the district has a culture of high expectations and provides each student access to grade-level standards through high-quality instructional materials. 

Outcomes  

A school system must demonstrate improvement towards an identified state goal or attain state goal levels in three areas. These three outcomes have been identified as state goals in the State Board’s Kansans Can vision and each has an objective, uniform statewide measurement:  

1. Graduation rate 
2. Postsecondary effectiveness (the percent of each graduating class that has completed an industry recognized credential, technical certificate or is enrolled in a postsecondary program within two years of graduation) 
3. State assessments for English Language Arts and math.  

There are several important aspects of the “outcomes” areas. 

First, while compliance and school improvement will be evaluated for accreditation determination in 2024-25 and 2025-26, the three outcome areas won’t be evaluated until the third year, 2026-27. This is for two reasons: (1) the district’s school improvement plan will be developed this year (2024-25) and implemented in 2025-26, so it will not be possible to beginning evaluating the impact of the plan on outcomes until 2026-27, and (2) new state assessments will be implemented in 2024-25, so delaying evaluation allows the onboarding of the new test. 

Second, each system’s performance will be placed in one of three performance categories. In the first category, the district is achieving a high state goal, such as 95 percent graduation rate or 70 percent postsecondary effect rate. Few systems are currently at these levels. In the second category, the system is meeting a lower goal and/or is improving. In the third category, a system is not meeting the goal and not showing improvement. Systems in the third category will receive additional state support and must indicate how this data will be addressed in the Action Plan. 

The specific measurable requirements of the outcomes have not been finalized, such as the required percentage of improvement. These decisions are expected to go before the State Board later this fall. 

What School Districts Can Expect 

• Each school system will be evaluated annually and placed in one of three accreditation levels:  
• Accredited: Meeting the standard in all accreditation areas 
• Accredited with Conditions: Not meeting the standard in one or more areas or  
• Not Accredited: Not meeting conditions set forth by the State Board of Education for compliance, school improvement process or outcomes. 

Collaboration Focus 

A major change in the new system is the KESA 2.0 collaboration process. For the upcoming school year, districts will begin the new accreditation model as follows. Some dates will differ among districts. 

In August and September, District Leadership Teams (DLT) can attend one of eight regional KESA Informational Sessions at regional service centers. Anyone, including school board members, can attend these sessions. Then, the DLT begins work at the local level with Building Leadership Teams (BLT) and participates in a “KESA Check-In” day with a KSDE Regional Executive to prepare for the School Improvement Day. 

Each DLT will attend a School Improvement Day with several similar school districts and trained KESA Facilitators. The program will include discussion and collaboration with like systems, review of data and data resources, discussing guided reflective questions to identify needs based on the Kansas School Improvement model and development or review of a plan for action and planning for community engagement.​ The goal is to allow district leaders to share ideas with similar districts and work on developing action plans with trained KSDE assistance. 

Following School Improvement Day, the DLT works with the BLTs and the local board of education along with students, families and community to finalize the action plan. In the first year (2024-25), the feedback will be based on the action plan being complete, aligned with the Kansas School Improvement Model and based on school system data. The plan should address actions the district will take to improve outcomes based on current data and evidence. This includes identifying resources and supports needed, as well as anticipated next steps. 

The district’s action plan will be submitted to KSDE for review and feedback. In the first year (2024-25), the feedback will be based on the action plan being complete, aligned with the school improvement model and based on school system data. The district will begin implementation of the action plan in the 2025-26 school year.