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More than 150,000 K-12 students in Kansas may be considered functionally illiterate, meaning they lack the reading skills needed for everyday tasks, despite having some formal education. This finding comes from the state’s 2024 assessment results.

The numbers of students not meeting basic literary standards are striking: 32,000 students in Sedgwick County, 19,000 in Johnson, 14,000 in Wyandotte, 9,000 in Shawnee, and 4,000 each in Douglas, Leavenworth, and Ford counties.

Kansas Policy Institute CEO Dave Trabert points to a 50% rise in functional illiteracy over the past decade. He criticizes state education officials and lawmakers for failing to respond, highlighting issues such as vague assessment definitions, misuse of At-Risk funding, and a lack of enforcement on accountability measures. He also notes that state law requires academic improvement for accreditation, yet schools can remain accredited without raising student outcomes.

The central concern, according to Trabert, is not terminology but the reality: tens of thousands of Kansas students are unable to read at a level necessary for success.