Topeka ? Some Kansas State Board of Education members say they’re nervous and skeptical about plans underway to overhaul the way the state accredits its public schools.

The new system, which has been in the works since 2010, would replace the current system known as Quality Performance Accreditation, or QPA, which the state adopted in 1992, the same year it overhauled the way Kansas finances public schools.

Although student performance on standardized tests would still be a significant factor, the new model would also emphasize other kinds of educational outcomes, such as students’ “employability” and their readiness for post-secondary education by the time they graduate high school.

“I guess I need to go on record saying I’m still a little apprehensive about this accreditation model and its complexity,” said board member Ken Willard, a Hutchinson Republican. “I’ve heard some push-back already from schools and superintendents who have seen it and believe it is extremely complex and time-consuming, and maybe not as clear about the value of it.”

As it’s currently being discussed, the new model would set standards and benchmarks for schools based around what are being called “the five R’s” — “Relationships” among staff, students, families and communities; “Relevance” of the curriculum and instruction; the “Responsive culture” of the school system; “Rigor” of the academic standards; and the “Results” produced by the time students graduate.

Board chairman Jim McNiece, a Wichita Republican, said he thinks those concerns will be resolved by the time the board is ready to vote on a final plan, which he said will probably take at least another year.

“Accreditation is one of our core responsibilities, and quite frankly I’m pleased that Ken is rather skeptical,” he said. “I’ve got questions. We’re not heading into this thing with our eyes closed. And I think that’s really important.”

One of the most significant changes being considered is that Kansas would, for the first time, start accrediting whole districts. It currently only accredits individual schools.

That could put enormous pressure on some school districts to turn around failing schools. Under the current model, districts can — and a few have — closed low-performing schools and transferred those students to other buildings.

But if a district as a whole loses accreditation, it could lead to situations that have occurred in Missouri and other states where students graduating have difficulty getting admitted to colleges, and the state itself has to take over management of a district.

That has happened in recent years in both Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis, but McNiece said Kansas officials have no intention of letting it happen here.

“We don’t envision that,” he said. “We’ve been working on this. The board has been skeptical, questioning, because it’s one of our core responsibilities outlined in the (Kansas) Constitution, and it’s such a huge change. And change is something that scares people in and of itself.”

McNiece, a former principal and high school teacher, said the current QPA system grew out of a movement that began in the 1980s known as “outcomes-based education.” It was a response to broad national concerns that too many students graduating from U.S. high schools lacked the basic knowledge and skills needed to be successful adults.

The outcomes-based movement peaked in 2001 with passage of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which tied federal education funding that flows to states and local school districts to their students’ performance on standardized reading and math tests.

Since then, there has been a backlash from critics who say that schools are putting too much emphasis on test scores, and that teachers are now forced to “teach to the test.”

Former Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker first raised the idea of overhauling the state’s QPA system in 2010, about the same time that the board officially adopted the new Common Core standards for math and English language arts. Officials in the Department of Education have been working on the new model since that time.

Freshman board member Jim Porter, a Repubican from Fredonia, said he is more confident about a new accreditation system.

“I’m excited about this because I think we’re getting ready to measure the right things and emphasize the right things,” he said. “Even though math and reading are important, so are a lot of other things.”

Board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat, said she is withholding judgment for the time being.

“I’m not opposed to it, but I’m really not supportive of it at this point,” she said. “I’m simply not familiar enough with it, I guess. I want to understand and grasp it completely before I support it, although I do recognize we need to make some changes.”