Salina Public Schools targets math gains for at-risk students in new state accountability plan
Salina Public Schools will track two groups of at-risk elementary students in math through 2030 under a new state-required At-Risk Accountability Plan, Deputy Superintendent Shanna Rector told the USD 305 Board of Education on Tuesday.
Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, every Kansas district must submit a plan that uses evidence-based instruction for students eligible for at-risk services, measures academic growth with quantitative data, sets measurable improvement goals for identified student groups, uses at-risk funds for services beyond regular instruction and shows academic improvement for at-risk students.
Rector said districts had to set two cohorts of at-risk students in kindergarten through eighth grade, one of them in fourth grade, with at least 11 students each. Students cannot be added once a cohort is set, and the goals cannot change.
Salina chose two math cohorts of general education students identified as at risk, one in fourth grade and one in third grade. For the fourth-grade cohort, the goal is to reduce the share of students scoring at Level 1 on the 2030 state math assessment, when they are in seventh grade, from the 2026 seventh-grade comparison group baseline of 54.69% to 53.21%. For the third-grade cohort, the goal is to reduce the Level 1 share in sixth grade on the 2030 assessment from a 2026 sixth-grade baseline of 36.79% to 35.61%. Rector said the goals were recommended by the Kansas State Department of Education and that the cohorts include students from every elementary building.
Asked about the minimum group size, Rector said the district's actual cohorts are between 70 and 80 students, depending on grade, well above the minimum.
Rector said the district chose math because its yearly accreditation plan has focused on math after data showed the share of students at Level 1 grew as students moved from third grade through 10th grade. The plan lists four interventions: i-Ready personalized instruction in math, the Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered model of support, explicit and systematic instruction, and teaching strategies drawn from John Hattie's Visible Learning research.
The district's at-risk expenditure report and its 2026-2027 accountability plan have been submitted to KSDE, Rector said, and the district expects approval in November. Approved plans will be posted on the district website, and the district will report progress to the state each year.
Rector said a district that misses its goals does not lose at-risk funding it already receives but would not receive the additional increase in funding provided that year.
One board member noted that the requirement was passed by the Legislature rather than the State Board of Education and raised concerns that districts could see funding increases withheld even when working hard with difficult groups of students.
