CHAPTER 90
House Bill No. 2482
(Amended by Chapter 155)
An Act concerning education; relating to the state board of education; removing the requirement that the state board of education use a certain exam provider to deliver state-funded college entrance and career readiness exams; requiring the board to provide for such exams using any provider; amending K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-5178 and 72-5179 and repealing the existing sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-5178 is hereby amended to read as follows: 72-5178. (a) On or before January 15 of each year, the state department of education shall prepare and digitally update on the website of the state department of education the performance accountability reports and longitudinal achievement reports upon all students enrolled in any public school or accredited nonpublic school in the state, each school district, each school operated by a school district and each accredited nonpublic school.
(b) Each performance accountability report shall be prepared in a single-page format containing the information that is required to be reported under the federal elementary and secondary education act, as amended by the federal every student succeeds act, public law 114-95, or any successor federal acts, and the college and career readiness metrics developed and implemented by the state board. The report shall use the categories for achievement identified under the federal every student succeeds act, public law 114-95, or any successor achievement categories. All categories and metrics included in the report shall be clearly defined.
(c) Each longitudinal achievement report shall provide the achievement rates on the state assessments for English language arts, math and science for all students and each student subgroup and the change in achievement rate year-over-year starting with the school year in which the state board first implemented new achievement standards on such state assessments.
(d) On or before January 15 of each year, the state department of education shall prepare written academic achievement reports to provide a summary of student achievement in this state and shall submit such reports to the governor and the legislature. Such written academic achievement reports shall:
(1) Provide a statewide summary of the performance accountability reports and longitudinal achievement reports prepared pursuant to this section. Such summary report shall provide:
(A) Achievement data from the English language arts assessments and math assessments over the preceding five years for all students and student subgroups to show whether there are statewide trends in academic improvement or learning loss among all students and student subgroups;
(B) a comparison to any other evaluation metric used by the state board of education to evaluate student achievement such as college and career readiness measurements or graduation rates;
(C) a comparison to other educational assessments that measure academic performance such as the national assessment of educational progress;
(D) an analysis of the trends in student achievement outcomes and a review of conditions that are impacting recent student achievement outcomes;
(E) a review of the academic interventions that school districts are using to improve student performance, whether the state board of education has any specific recommendations regarding academic interventions to improve academic achievement and an estimation of the academic achievement gains that can be expected from such interventions; and
(F) a summary of the performance levels and the scale and cut scores for the statewide assessments and how such information should be used to draw conclusions about student achievement; and
(2) provide a student-focused longitudinal achievement report that provides information on the academic achievement of certain student cohort groups to show the achievement gains or learning losses that are occurring for such students. Such report shall begin with the students who are entering grade three and grade eight in school year 2022-2023. The report shall summarize the longitudinal achievement of such students over a three-year period and shall be repeated every three years for the students entering such grade levels. The longitudinal report shall provide:
(A) A summary of the improvement or learning loss that is occurring within such student cohort groups over such three-year period for all such students and the student subgroups;
(B) an analysis of the evaluations and metrics that are used to measure the year-over-year achievement of such student cohort groups;
(C) a review of the academic interventions that school districts are using to improve student performance within such student cohort groups, whether the state board of education has any specific recommendations regarding academic interventions to improve academic achievement and an estimate of the academic achievement gains that can be expected from such interventions; and
(D) the achievement results from the English language arts assessments and math assessments for such student cohort groups and any other assessment data pertaining to such student cohort groups, including, but not limited to, the national assessment for educational progress, the ACT college entrance exam and the pre-ACT assessment and any nationally recognized college readiness assessment or associated preparatory assessment.
(d)(e) All reports prepared pursuant to this section shall be published in accordance with K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-1181, and amendments thereto.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-5179 is hereby amended to read as follows: 72-5179. (a) (1) The state board of education shall provide the ACT college entrance exam and the three ACT workkeys assessments that are required to earn a national career readiness certificate:
(A) A nationally recognized college entrance exam to that measures the math, science and reading and writing skills of each student enrolled in grades 11 and 12, and ;
(B) the pre-ACT college pre-college entrance exam that is aligned with such nationally recognized college entrance exam to each student enrolled in grade nine.; and
(C) a career readiness assessment or a series of career readiness assessments that lead to a nationally recognized credential to each student enrolled in grade 11.
(2) No student shall be required to pay any fees or costs to take any such exam or assessments. The state board shall not be required to provide more than one exam and three assessments for each student. The state board of education may enter into any contracts that are necessary to promote statewide cost savings to administer such exams and assessments.
(b) The Kansas department of education and each school district shall annually publish on their websites the times, dates and locations of the pre-ACT college pre-college entrance exam, the ACT college entrance exam and the ACT workkeys career readiness assessments that are offered in Kansas and information for students on how to register for such exams or assessments.
(c) Participation in the pre-ACT college pre-college entrance exam, the ACT college entrance exam or the ACT workkeys career readiness assessment shall be optional. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any student to participate in such exams or assessments.
(d) On or before the first day of each regular legislative session, the state board of education shall prepare and submit a report to the senate standing committee on education and the house standing committee or any successor committees on education that includes the aggregate exam and assessment data for all students who were provided the exams and assessments pursuant to this section.
(e) As used in this section, “student” means any person who is regularly enrolled in any public school or accredited nonpublic school located in Kansas.
Sec. 3. K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-5178 and 72-5179 are hereby repealed.
Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2027, and its publication in the statute book.
Approved April 9, 2026.
