University of Kansas announces $29.9 million contract for statewide assessments

The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) and Achievement & Assessment Institute (AAI) at the University of Kansas have announced a five-year, $29.9 million contract to develop, deliver and support the statewide assessment program for Kansas, reports a news release from the University of Kansas.

Compared to one-time grants, the contract is the largest in KU history, according to the release, and will continue the longtime relationship between the two institutions and deliver state-of-the-art technology and resources to support teaching and assess student learning.

Through the contract, resources will be provided to help teachers provide instruction to all students, including those with significant cognitive disabilities, and to assess what students are learning.

“Our long-term goal in all we do is to use assessments to help teachers teach better and to help students learn better,” Neal Kingston, director of KU’s Achievement & Assessment Institute and a University Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology, said. “Kansas has invested for years in making better assessments for the state’s schools while also ensuring students are meeting federal requirements for learning and achievement.”

With the new contract, AAI and KSDE will collaborate to design the next generation of academic assessments to meet ongoing accountability requirements while producing periodic assessment results that support teachers’ instructional decision-making, according to the release.