KS CNA Classes: Wichita & Kansas City
To work as a CNA in Wichita or on the Kansas side of the Kansas City area, you need a Kansas certification: complete an approved course of at least 90 hours, at least half of it clinical, pass the state test of 100 multiple-choice questions with a score of 75 percent or higher, and get listed on the Kansas Nurse Aide Registry. Kansas has no separate state skills exam; your instructor checks your skills during the course. You renew every two years, and your employer must report at least 8 hours of qualifying work in that time.
Kansas CNA requirements at a glance
- Training: At least 90 hours in two parts, at least half of each part clinical. Part I: 20 hours of classroom and 20 hours of supervised lab and clinical work. Part II: at least 25 hours of classroom and 25 hours of supervised clinical work in a licensed adult care home.
- Who approves programs: The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS); courses must be approved by the secretary. Check its schedule of approved courses by city and date for 90-hour nurse aide classes in Wichita and the Kansas City area.
- Competency exam: A KDADS state test: 100 multiple-choice questions in two hours, 75 percent to pass. An oral test read by the proctor is offered as an accommodation. Skills are checked in your course, not on a separate state exam.
- Nurse aide registry: The Kansas Nurse Aide Registry, run by KDADS Health Occupations Credentialing; reach the registry search from the KDADS credentialing page. Renew every two years; your employer must submit at least 8 hours of qualifying work.
- Moving from another state: Send KDADS an Interstate Application with the $20 nonrefundable fee and take the Kansas Nurse Aide Test once.
Colleges near Wichita and Kansas City that train CNAs
These public colleges in the Wichita, KS and Kansas City, MO-KS metro areas reported nursing assistant completions (CIP 51.3902) to the federal IPEDS survey for July 2024 to June 2025. Many approved CNA programs, such as those run by nursing homes, private training schools and the Red Cross, don’t report to IPEDS, so check the state’s approved-program list too.
| Institution | City | Completions |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson County Community College | Overland Park | 529 |
| Wichita State University-Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology | Wichita | 397 |
| Kansas City Kansas Community College | Kansas City | 217 |
| Butler Community College | El Dorado | 205 |
Statewide, 25 institutions in Kansas reported 3,919 nursing assistant completions for 2024–25. Source: IPEDS 2024–25 Completions, National Center for Education Statistics (provisional release).
Free CNA training in Kansas
Federal rules protect nurse aides who train for jobs in nursing homes that take Medicare or Medicaid. If one of those facilities employs you, or has offered you a job, on the day your approved program starts, it can’t charge you for any part of it, including textbooks and required materials. If you pay for a program yourself and a facility hires you, or offers you a job, within 12 months of finishing, the state must reimburse your costs on a pro-rata basis for the time you work there as a nurse aide (42 CFR 483.152(c)). Ask nursing homes near you whether they sponsor students.
What to check before you pay for a CNA program in Kansas
- It’s on the state’s approved list. Only an approved program makes you eligible for the competency exam.
- Its hours meet the state minimum, including the supervised clinical hours, and it tells you where the clinical training happens.
- The price is complete: tuition, textbooks, uniform, background check and the exam fee.
- It explains how you register for the exam and when you can test after you finish.
- It doesn’t promise 100% online certification. Supervised hands-on training is required, so a course with none can’t lead to certification.
Kansas doesn’t publish a permanent program directory. KDADS posts a rolling schedule of approved courses by city and type on its training courses page; the current edition covers Oct. 21, 2026, through Feb. 21, 2027, and lists 90-hour nurse aide courses alongside CNA refresher, CMA and HHA courses. Because the schedule is reissued, check the training courses page for the newest edition before you pick a class.
The Kansas CNA exam
Kansas uses a single state test. Under K.A.R. 26-50-24, it has 100 multiple-choice questions, and a score of 75 percent or higher passes. The KDADS instruction manual says you get two hours to finish. If English is your second language, you can use a bilingual dictionary and may get up to two extra hours; limited English proficiency doesn’t count as a disability for accommodations. An oral test read to you by the proctor, extended time, large print and a sign-language interpreter are available as accommodations.
There’s no separate state skills exam. When you finish Part I of the course, your instructor or course supervisor evaluates your performance with the Kansas Nurse Aide Part I NATCEP Task Checklist and signs it before you can work as a Nurse Aide Trainee II. Part II has its own checklist.
After a 90-hour course, you have no more than three attempts within 12 months of the course’s start date to pass the state test; otherwise you must retake the course. Each attempt carries a $20 nonrefundable application fee, plus test-site and computer fees.
The Kansas nurse aide registry and renewal
KDADS Health Occupations Credentialing keeps the Kansas Nurse Aide Registry. The registry website, linked from the KDADS credentialing page, is updated in real time and counts as primary-source verification, so employers can check your listing there. KDADS no longer issues certificates; you print yours from the registry.
You must renew your certification every two years, and keeping it active is your responsibility. You stay active only if you work at least 8 hours in a two-year period performing activities of daily living and your employer submits that work: your employer completes the bottom half of the Employment Verification form and sends it by mail, email or fax. Hours in a doctor’s office or clinic don’t count. If your certification goes inactive, you can’t work until you reactivate it, either by passing a Skills Checklist given by an RN at a long-term care facility or hospital, or by taking a 10-hour CNA refresher course through a postsecondary school.
Moving to Kansas with a CNA from another state
If your certification is active and in good standing in another state and you’ve never been certified as a CNA in Kansas, you can challenge the Kansas Nurse Aide Test once. Fill out KDADS’s Interstate Application and mail or email it back with the required information and the $20 nonrefundable fee. State rules also let you work in Kansas without taking the Kansas test if you’ve worked as a nurse aide in another state, are eligible for employment there, and KDADS finds your training or testing equivalent to Kansas’s.
More CNA guides
Sources
- Certified Nurse Aide Regulations (K.A.R. 26-50) (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services; effective Oct. 25, 2013)
- Kansas 90-Hour Certified Nurse Aide Program Instruction Manual (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services; undated)
- All Training Courses/Continuing Education (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services; undated)
- Health Occupations Credentialing Listing of Courses by City and Type (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services; covers Oct. 21, 2026, to Feb. 21, 2027)
- Nurse Aide and Medication Aide FAQs (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, Health Occupations Credentialing; undated)
- Health Occupations Credentialing (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services; undated)
- 42 CFR 483.152: Requirements for approval of a nurse aide training and competency evaluation program (eCFR, current text)
- 42 CFR 483.154: Nurse aide competency evaluation (eCFR, current text)
- 42 CFR 483.156: Registry of nurse aides (eCFR, current text)
- IPEDS 2024–25 Completions (C2025_A) and Institutional Characteristics (HD2025) (National Center for Education Statistics, provisional release)
Last reviewed November 2026.