Kansas students can now worry less about the emphasis on test scores in the state.

Last week, principal Greg Hoyt released his annual site council report to Manhattan High faculty. The report included student demographics, achievement trends, new or innovative programs, instructional methods, improvement plan priorities and diversity initiatives among several other things.

“The vision that I see for Manhattan High School and the vision of the state is that Kansas leads the world in the success of every student,” Hoyt said. “And Manhattan should lead Kansas in the success of every student. So that’s a big, huge goal.”

The state assessment has been revised and is now formatted in levels one through four, one being what was once called academic probation, and four being what used to be exemplary. These tests indicate college and career readiness and MHS still rises above the state average.

“Our results said basically almost the same thing for math and reading and that is that 37 percent of our students are on track to be college and career ready upon exit from high school,” Hoyt said. “And that number actually compares very well with the percent of students that we have that meet college readiness benchmarks on the ACT test. The difference is that all students have to take the state assessment test and not all students have to take the ACT, so about 80 percent of our students, by the time they’ve graduated, have taken the ACT.”

Although MHS has an extraordinarily high average on tests compared to the state, the emphasis on test scores will soon decrease. Over the summer, the state education commissioner went on a listening tour throughout the state to determine what defines a successful Kansan at the age of 24 and the consensus was that a successful Kansan is more than just a test score. A successful Kansan also possess soft skills such as dependability in jobs.

“Our goal as a school to do service to our students, our community and our state is to really help students figure out what their passion is, what their strengths are and to guide them and give them the skills to be successful,” Hoyt said. “Either at a four-year degree program or a two-year associate certification program to meet the jobs that the state is going to require but also provide a successful future for our students.”

MHS staff has been discussing several options to improve the service that the school provides to the students and community, one of which is to build an advisory based system. As of right now, it is not clear how this system will be implemented at MHS, but Hoyt would like to see it take place in the next academic year.