Dip in student achievement on Kansas state assessments

TOPEKA, Kan. - For the first time in nearly a decade, the state of Kansas saw the number of kids performing well on state assessments drop.

The Kansas State Board of Education received that report card Tuesday. Across the board, the number of kids scoring in the top three performance areas on state tests dipped.

View results of the state report card: http:// bit.ly/ S3gFen

The state has also see a sharp increase in the number of kids qualifying for free and reduced lunch. One in two Kansas students qualified for free or reduced lunch this year. Those students’ performance also dropped this year.

The state also saw decreases among four other subgroups: African American students, English language learners, students with disabilities and Hispanic students.

Scoring in the top-three achievement categories is considered making progress.

In reading this year, 85.7 percent of Kansas students performed in one of those top three categories, down from 87.6 percent in 2011.

In math, 83.7 percent scored in those categories, down 1 percent from 2011.

The state is also concerned about the achievement gap between African American students and their Caucasian classmates. While that gap had been narrowing, only 65 percent of African American students achieved in the top three categories in reading this year compared to 73 percent last year.

For a list of schools that made the state's standard of excellence, go to http://bit.ly/QjCAPt