photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Lawrence Public Schools district offices pictured in April 2021.

Lawrence school district leaders will soon receive the results of the annual state accreditation review, which includes updates on graduation rates as well as other data.

As part of its meeting Monday, the Lawrence school board will receive the district’s Kansas Education System Accreditation (KESA) report for the 2022-23 school year. The report shows in part that the district’s graduation rates — which include the rates for its statewide virtual school — have improved at a faster rate than the state as a whole, but still lag statewide rates.

KESA is the state’s K-12 accrediting model, which is focused on meeting five goals, according to the report. The goals are social-emotional factors, kindergarten readiness, individual plans of study, high school graduation and postsecondary success. The accreditation process also includes a visit from KESA representatives.

The district hosted KESA evaluators on Feb. 1, and the visit included conversations about the five goals and data reviews, according to a district staff memo to the board. Upon completion of the visit, a written report is provided to the Kansas Department of Education and the Accreditation Review Council, which the council uses as evidence in making a recommendation to the Kansas State Board of Education regarding school district accreditation. The report is also being provided to the school board as part of Monday’s meeting.

The report looks at a five-year period, and notes that the Lawrence district exceeded the state’s growth level in high school graduation rates over the period reviewed (2016-2021). Specifically, the state grew 2 percentage points during that period, from 86.1% in 2016 to 88.1% in 2021. Meanwhile, the Lawrence district grew 3.5 percentage points, from 80.7% in 2016 to 84.2% in 2021. In its response to questions in the report, the district stated the data indicates its efforts are producing results.

“While this is still below the state average, we are excited to see this growth and feel it validates the improvement work we have done throughout the KESA continuous improvement cycle,” the district states in the report.

The report states that since the beginning of the five-year KESA cycle, the district has been looking at graduation rates and disaggregating the results to identify the students who are not graduating. The district has a standing committee that is looking at alternative education ideas for its students aside from the district’s existing diploma completion program and adult learning center.

“Our rate is not where we want it to be,” the district states. “We are looking at each non-graduate and follow-up with them to see how we can help the student graduate.”

The report states that the district continues to use the additional funding and student supports it receives for at-risk students to increase graduation rates at all of its schools and for all subgroups. The report notes that from 2018 to 2022, the overall percentage of students graduating has increased and that the percentage of students graduating in all subgroups — white, multiracial, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native and African American — has increased or held steady.

The district notes that its graduation rate includes the students in its virtual school, “whose graduation rate has been increasing, yet it is much lower than the district finds acceptable.” The district states one concern it has been evaluating is the impact of students in state custody who enroll in the district’s high school but don’t proceed with lessons.

“Many times the students in state custody would enroll, stay a few days and then leave the district and never enroll in another high school, thus adding them to our dropout statistics,” the district states.

The report does not break out graduation rates from the district’s brick-and-mortar high schools and the virtual school, though the district does report that data to the state as part of other reports. Data available on the Kansas State Department of Education website indicates that the four-year graduation rate for the 2021-2022 school year was 89.7% for Lawrence High School; 90.9% for Free State High School; and 83.8% for the Lawrence Virtual School.

The full report is available as part of the board’s agenda packet on the district website, usd497.org.

In other business, the board will consider the district’s Capital Improvement Plan, which provides an overview of school facility maintenance and renovation along with the purchase of equipment and furniture, according to a district staff memo to the board. The CIP was not yet included with the board’s agenda materials as of 11:30 a.m. Friday.

The Lawrence school board will convene at 6 p.m. Monday at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.