Press Release

February 11, 2025

Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342

Kansas Ranked 20th Among States in Math Recovery and 36th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024

Students remain an average of just over 40% of a grade level behind in math, and 60% of a grade level behind in reading.

Reading is more of a concern in Kansas than math, with 98 percent of students in districts with average reading achievement below 2019 levels, compared to 84% in math.

(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.

The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Kansas students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Kansas. Here’s what we found:

• Kansas ranked 20th among states in terms of recovery in math and 36th in reading between 2019 and 2024; for the period between 2022-2024, Kansas’s rankings improved to 15th in math recovery and 24th in reading.
• In math, students remain an average of just over 40 percent of a grade level behind (.43 grade equivalents) after making up close to 20 percent of a grade level between 2022-2024 (.19 grade equivalents). In reading, students remain an average of 60 percent of a grade level behind (.6 grade equivalents) after losing an additional 14 percent of a grade level between 2022-2024 (.14 grade equivalents). In other words, the loss in math achievement in Kansas is greater than 40 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
• The average student in some districts, such as Dodge City, Kansas City, and Topeka, remains at least a grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in math and the average student in Auburn Washburn remains over a grade equivalent below 2019 levels in reading.
• Reading is more of a concern in Kansas than math, with 98 percent of students in districts with average reading achievement below 2019 levels, compared to 84% in math. This is true in many other states, with 89 percent of students in districts nationally below 2019 levels in reading, and only 11 percent above.
• Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in Blue Valley and Olathe has approximately recovered to 2019 levels in math, while Salina and Geary County have exceeded 2019 levels in math.
• A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 14 percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 26 percent in 2022 (now down to 21 percent in 2024) is slowing the recovery in many districts in Kansas.
• Kansas received nearly $1.3 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $2,600 per student—which is less than the national average of $3,700 per student. Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.

The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Kansas schools.  Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning.  State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.

One of the project leaders, economist Tom Kane at Harvard, said: “Lowering absenteeism generates tremendous bang-for-the-buck.  Regular attendance benefits the student as well as her classmates.  And taxpayers are paying for the seat whether it’s occupied or not.”

For the national press release and findings click here.

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University 

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.

Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342