Standards Rollout Webcast Series Begins April 18

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will provide a series of webcasts on the implementation of newly adopted standards geared toward district and school leaders. All webcasts will occur 9 a.m. ET Thursdays. You can access the webcast live from the KDE Media Portal Live Stream page and submit questions using GoSoapBox with the access code: OTL.

If you cannot participate live, the webcasts will be archived in the KDE EdCast archives.

Schedule

• April 18: KAS Rollout Planning Through Teams and PLCs
• April 25: Professional Learning Modules for Newly Revised Reading and Writing Standards
• May 2: Professional Learning Modules for Newly Revised Mathematics Standards
• May 9: Standards for Mathematical Practices
• May 16: Architecture of Newly Revised Social Studies Standards
• May 23: Interdisciplinary Literacy Practices
• May 30: Alignment Considerations: Curricula, Assignments, Common Assessments

For questions, contact the standards team.

School Health Professional Development Survey Responses Due by April 19

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is seeking feedback from districts, schools and community partners through a needs assessment survey to enhance student achievement and healthy outcomes among students and staff. The information obtained from this survey will provide guidance and direction to KDE on essential content, strategies and supports necessary for successful implementation and evaluation related to school health programs and policy.

Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, professional development, technical assistance, tools and resources will be offered to improve nutrition, physical education and physical activity, management of students with chronic conditions and local infrastructure development.

Please share this survey link with any staff members and/or local partners with whom you collaborate to reduce health barriers and improve learning. All responses will be anonymous. However, each survey respondent will enter his or her local school district into a random drawing for a variety of valuable resources.

The survey will be available until April 19. For more information, contact Jim Tackett.

SRC Financial Transparency Domain Open for Data Review and Entry – Due April 30

The Finance domain of the Kentucky School Report Card (SRC) is open for district-level verification/validation of data and entry of school-level spending per student data. As of last week, 24 districts have approved the district-level data and 21 districts have entered all of their school-level spending per student data. Verification/validation and data entry should be complete by April 30.

WAAPOCs must set up finance officers with a School Report Card district user role to enable them to review and sign off on the finance data. Additional guidance has been provided to finance officers and can be found on the School Report Card Resources page. Prior communications and resources are available on the same page.

School Report Card Finance Collection Item Contacts:

• For Bright Bytes support, email BrightBytes Support or call at (877) 433-4036.
• For general School Report Card questions contact KDE by email.
• For calculation specific questions, contact Jessi Carlton by email or phone, (502) 564-3930, ext. 2468.

Elevating Evidence: Evidence-Based Practices’ Technical Assistance Requests

With the launch of the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE) Elevating Evidence initiative comes a new technical assistance request procedure for schools working to implement ESSA’s evidence-based practices provisions.

While KDE does not approve the use of specific evidence-based practices, this technical assistance request will facilitate support for schools that are struggling to find evidence to support the use of particular programs or practices. The request form will ask you to identify the program, practice or strategy that you are researching, as well other relevant information such as the desired outcome of the practice.

KDE staff members will provide an initial response to the request within one business day and will continue to work with schools and districts to help them find evidence.

Elevating Evidence – Meeting ESSA’s Evidence-based Requirements

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) calls on education leaders to deepen their understanding and expand their use of evidence-based decision making. Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) staff will be hosting several workshops throughout Kentucky to introduce attendees to ESSA’s evidence-based provisions and facilitate conversations about common issues in educational research.

As part of this training, participants will evaluate a study that is relevant to their local setting and will leave with a completed study analysis that meets KDE compliance expectations. While all school and district leaders are welcome, this workshop is designed for principals and teacher leaders who want a deeper understanding of ESSA’s evidence-based practice provisions.

Three-hour morning and afternoon sessions will be offered at each location. To register, select the link below or visit KDE’s Evidence-based Practices website. Space is limited. EILA credit is available for this workshop.

Registration Link

The training sessions are:

• July 9: Elizabethtown, Regional Postsecondary Education Center, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College
• July 11: Hazard, Hazard Community and Technical College
• July 23: Madisonville, The Brown Badget Sr. Energy and Advanced Technology Center, Madisonville Community and Technical College
• July 25: Florence, Gateway Community and Technical College
• July 30: Grayson, Rocky Adkins Pavilion, Ashland Community and Technical College

National Board Certification Salary Reimbursement Program Application due May 1

May 1 is the deadline to submit salary supplement reimbursement applications for National Board Certified (NBC) Teachers to the Kentucky Department of Education. To review the application process, frequently asked questions, previous year’s NBC salary supplement reimbursements and current law, visit the National Board Certification salary reimbursement section of the School District Personnel Information webpage.

All applications should be emailed to Jana Cox.

Registration now for the 2019 Persistence to Graduation Summit: Safe and Supportive Learning

The 2019 Persistence to Graduation Summit: Safe and Supportive Learning, will be July 9-10 at the Lexington Convention Center and will feature peer-led interactive breakout sessions.

Keynote speakers include Hamish Brewer, the 2017 National Association of Elementary School Principals Nationally Distinguished Principal from Virginia; and Marietta Watts, executive diversity liaison for the University of Kentucky’s Office of Institutional Diversity and leader of UK’s Unconscious Bias Initiative. Summit topics will include well-rounded educational opportunities, safe and supportive learning environments, effective use of education technology, student transition and re-engagement strategies and alternative education.

EILA credit and CEUs for social workers will be available.

Registration is free on a first-come, first-served basis. All attendees are responsible for registering themselves. Use the discount code PTG2019 in order to attend at no charge when you register on the AdvanceEd website. You must use this discount code to avoid being charged a registration fee.

KDE’s Best Practices Website Taking Submissions

The Kentucky Department of Education’s Best Practices and Sustainability website is open for submission of best practices from schools and districts.

The website is designed to serve as a clearinghouse to promote practices that motivate, engage and provide measurable results in student learning, achievement and school/district processes. Any aspect of a school system that can impact student outcomes through improved instruction or operations can be submitted as a best practice.

Best practices should be submitted to the Best Practices database by May 1 to be considered for acknowledgement at the Continuous Improvement Summit in September. For additional information, contact Natasha Napier.

Outside KDE

KASC Seeking Proposals for Annual Conference

KASC is accepting proposals that promote dynamic and engaging learning opportunities for attendees at the 2019 KASC Conference, “Together for a Brighter Future.” This year’s conference will be Sept. 10-11 at the Marriott Griffin Gate in Lexington.

Proposals should be submitted by April 24. Details and submission form are available on KASC’s Call for Proposals page.

Administrators, SROs Invited to School Safety Screening

School administrators and school resource officers are invited to a screening of the FBI school shooter documentary “Echoes of Columbine.” The event will be 2 p.m. ET April 25 at the University of Kentucky, Gatton Student Center in the Worsham Cinema Theater.

The focus of the event is to introduce state/local law enforcement, school administrators (K-12 and institutions of higher education) and school resource officers to a tool created to build awareness of the threat of a targeted school attack with hope of facilitating discussion, preparation and education to identify ways to prevent future violence.

The documentary chronicles the evolution of targeted school attacks since 1999, while uncovering the catalysts, motivations and pre-attack warning signs of potential perpetrators. New research and assessment models help communities identify and manage troubled youth before they can carry out acts of targeted violence.

Following the video presentation, a question and answer session will be facilitated by the FBI. For questions, contact FBI Supervisory Special Agent T.J. Hanna by email or phone, (859) 551-4583.

Constitution Day Set for Sept. 17

Constitution Day will be recognized nationally on Sept. 17, the day the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia. For ideas, materials and suggestions, visit Liberty Lives Forever, a nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating Americans about the contents of the U.S. Constitution.

Those receiving this at KSB and KSD, please make sure all employees receive it. Also, ATC principals are asked to forward it to their staffs.

Please send your questions, comments and suggestions on Monday Message to Jennifer Ginn by 10 a.m. Friday to be published in the upcoming week.