Kansas students are making gains in math, reading and writing, according to the state&#8217;s report card released Tuesday.</p><p>In nearly every grade, more students met the grade-level standard for reading and math. The gap in scores between poor students and wealthier counterparts, and between Hispanic and white students, and African-American and white students, is narrowing.</p><p>&#8220;This is something for us to celebrate,&#8221; deputy commissioner of education Tom Foster told the Kansas Board of Education at its meeting in Topeka.</p><p>But, he said, there&#8217;s work to be done, particularly when it comes to the achievement gap.</p><p>&#8220;A decreasing gap is good,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But there&#8217;s still a gap, and we still have challenges to meet.&#8221;</p><p>The report card is based on student scores on the state reading, math and writing tests taken last spring. Students in third through eighth grades and one grade in high school took the math and reading tests, which are mandated under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.</p><p>Those scores, along with participation and attendance or graduation rates, are used to determine if a school or district makes Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind.</p><p>Last month, Foster told the board that more of the state&#8217;s schools made the grade under No Child Left Behind than had made the grade in 2006.</p><p>Tuesday&#8217;s report showed:</p><p>&#8226; More students scored at the &#8220;meets standards&#8221; level or higher in 2007 than in 2006 at nearly every grade in math and reading. The exception was high school reading, where achievement was flat.</p><p>&#8220;Meets standards&#8221; is the level at which students are regarded as proficient in a subject. The state also has two higher achievement levels: exceeds standards and exemplary.</p><p>&#8226; Some schools can party like it&#8217;s 2014. That&#8217;s the year the federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for all students to be proficient in math and reading, and 16 Kansas schools hit that mark this year. Edgerton Elementary in the Gardner Edgerton School District was among them.</p><p>While Foster said that those schools may not be the ones with the greatest challenges, he said they demonstrate that it&#8217;s possible to reach the 100 percent goal of No Child Left Behind.</p><p>&#8226; More schools earned the state&#8217;s &#8220;Standard of Excellence&#8221; designation in math and reading than in 2006. In Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties, 141 schools earned the designation for reading and 127 for math. All of the schools in Blue Valley, Piper, and Gardner Edgerton school districts earned the designation in both reading and math.</p><p>The designation goes to schools with anywhere from 5 percent to 15 percent or less of students in the lowest achievement category, called academic warning, and with anywhere from 15 to 25 percent of students in the top achievement category, called exemplary.</p><p>Foster said it&#8217;s a better measure of school status than the simple yes-or-no Adequate Yearly Progress designation.</p><p>&#8220;A building that makes the standard of excellence year after year, wow!&#8221; Foster told the board.</p><p><strong>Select a school district from the pulldown menu below and press Submit.</strong> </p><p><script type="text/javascript" src="http://bridge.caspio.net/scripts/e1.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">try{f_cbload("7B5F0000D5H8I6G4G3D5H8I6G4G3","http:");}catch(li){;}</script> <div id="cxkg">Click <a href="http://bridge.caspio.net/dp.asp?AppKey=7B5F0000D5H8I6G4G3D5H8I6G4G3">here</a> to load this <a href="http://caspio.com">Caspio Bridge DataPage</a>.</div>