Commissioner's Monday Message

Jan. 8, 2024

Dear Colleagues,

As most of you know, the legislative session began last week. I am pleased to announce a new and exciting way we are working to share what is happening in your districts and schools with the members of the General Assembly this year.

Capitol Class Notes will be sent out on Tuesday mornings twice a month directly to members of the General Assembly and other legislative stakeholders, which will include a curation of top headlines from Kentucky’s school districts and schools, the Kentucky School for the Blind, the Kentucky School for the Deaf and the Area Technology Centers.

We hope this new publication will help us continue to build positive connections and show legislators some of the inspiring work you all do across the state. And please remember, if you have great things happening in your district that you would like to share with educators across the state, please email our Kentucky Teacher inbox.

Also in legislative news in case you missed it, last week I attended the recognition of our 2024 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, Kevin Dailey, by the state Senate at the Capitol. Sen. John Schickel authored a resolution in honor of Mr. Dailey. Dailey started his sabbatical at KDE last week and we are excited to see what his project will focus on during the next six months.

Nominations for the 2025 Kentucky Teacher of the Year awards closed on Dec. 15. For those educators who were nominated, applications will be emailed directly to them this month. Please encourage your teachers to complete their applications so we can honor their outstanding work on behalf of Kentucky’s students.

On another note, the Kentucky Board of Education, with assistance from McPherson & Jacobson LLC, released a survey that is seeking feedback from educators, administrators and education stakeholder groups as the search for a new education commissioner continues.

The board needs thoughtful and candid input from all of you to ensure that the voices of communities from across the Commonwealth are part of the search to find the best commissioner of education for Kentucky. Feedback can be submitted through the Kentucky educators and administrators survey or the Kentucky education stakeholder survey, which also is available in Spanish. The surveys are very quick and will take a minimal amount of your time.

The surveys will close Feb. 16. You can stay up to date on the commissioner search on KDE’s 2023-2024 Commissioner Search webpage.

Thank you for your continued dedication to the students of Kentucky.

Sincerely,

Robin Fields Kinney

Interim Commissioner of Education

Tentative 2024-2025 Title I, Part A Census Poverty and Hold Harmless Rates Available

An explanation of tentative census poverty data and tentative hold harmless rates can be found on the Kentucky Department of Education Title I Part A Documents and Resources webpage. These numbers, used in part to allocate Title I, Part A funds, can now be used to produce an estimate of your 2024-2025 school year Title I, Part A allocation.

Carefully review the information included in the document and bear in mind that all data is tentative and is provided for planning purposes only. It does not represent your district’s final Title I, Part A allocation for next school year. An overview of the notification was included in the December 2023 Title I webinar.

For more information, contact your Title I, Part A consultant.

Educators Rising Kentucky 2024 Conference

As 2024 kicks off, Educators Rising Kentucky is preparing to host its annual state conference and competition. This year’s conference will be held March 6 at the Kentucky Exposition Center, 937 Phillips Lane in Louisville. Conference registration will open at 8 a.m. ET, with judges training at 9 a.m. ET and competitions from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET.

Your help is needed to make this event successful for future educators across the state. Please consider serving as a judge for one of the competitions. You will leave the conference filled with excitement and hope for the future of the profession after you meet the students who are so passionate about continuing this vital work.

If you are interested in judging, please register using the Educators Rising Kentucky 2024 State Conference Judge's Registration form. For more information, please contact Elly Gilbert or Justin Edwards.

Free Teaching Workshop to be Held Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

A free Teaching Black History in Kentucky professional development workshop – hosted by the Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky – will take place on Jan. 15 at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville.

The workshop, crafted to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s enduring legacy, will be structured around informative breakout sessions taught by fellow from the Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky.

Karyn Parsons – actor, children’s book author and founder of Sweet Blackberry – will be the keynote speaker. Trip J Band will provide music.

The workshop will be 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET. Register for the Teaching Black History in Kentucky workshop.

Get Ready to Streamline Administration of Your District’s Title I Program

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has contracted with the Public Consulting Group (PCG) to provide Title1Next™, a Title I, Part A document management solution at no cost to all Kentucky school districts. School districts may register to get started with Title1Next in January or March 2024. More details will be forthcoming. Additional opportunities to register later in 2024 also will be available.

Title1Next is a cloud-based documentation management system which allows district Title I coordinators to quickly disseminate, retrieve, evaluate and approve an unlimited number of compliance documents from Title I schools and principals. The system also allows you to file, organize and store documentation for multiple academic years.

Information on the system features is available on the Title1Next website. Details about the system and registration process also was shared during the monthly KDE Title I webinar for December. The webinar recording is available on the Title I Part A Documents and Resources webpage.

Benefits of Title1Next include: 

• Increased operational efficiency: From streamlined data and documentation to built-in program management and communication tools, Title1Next encourages more efficient, collaborative and productive Title I operations within districts and schools.   
• Improved compliance and accountability: The integrated monitoring and alert system within Title1Next helps ensure that Kentucky Title I schools submit documentation on time. This documentation also is stored in the cloud for multiple academic years, which is pivotal for meeting record retention requirements and preparing for monitoring.

For more information, please contact the following individuals: 

• KDE contacts: Erin Sudduth or David Millanti 
• PCG contact: Jennifer Jones

KDE’s Transformational Change Series for School Leaders

The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Transformational Change Leadership Series consists of three one-day conference experiences offered in both Lexington at the Central Bank Center and Bowling Green at the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. local time.

The Lexington sessions are scheduled for Jan. 31, Feb. 28 and April 17. The Bowling Green sessions are scheduled for Feb. 1, Feb. 29 and April 18. Each conference experience is designed for optimal engagement, relevance and applicability. The conference series comes at no cost to participants.

The first conference will engage participants in an in-depth study of the nature and logic behind transformational school leadership and how transformational change leadership differs from leadership for continuous, incremental improvement. Topics will include the leadership concepts of self-awareness, characteristics of high-trust organizations, servant leadership values, developing a personal leadership platform, collecting and interpreting data to support school transformation and the role of instructional leadership for transformational change.

The second conference will focus on designing and leading change, improvement science, leadership transitions, futuring and paradigm studies, creating meaningful work and principles of sustainability.

The third conference will center on the study of how organizational culture can be assessed and shaped to catalyze transformational change, creating community, developing constituent voice, attracting and retaining talent, leading great groups and how to effectively market/brand a school’s improvement vision.

Registration for the Transformational Change Series is required by no later than Jan. 26. Questions regarding the training should be directed to Haley Ralston.

Sign Up Now for School Improvement Planning for Performance Excellence Training

A two-day School Improvement Planning for Performance Excellence training session will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET on Jan. 22-23 at the Central Bank Center in Lexington.

This training will assist leadership teams in an increased understanding of how to apply the performance excellence systems approach to continuous improvement. This training will focus on an increased understanding of the role of the school improvement plan by reviewing school improvement goals, reviewing chosen strategies, and developing and implementing action plans. These plans will ensure monitoring of initiatives to increase achievement for all students and improve organizational effectiveness.

Tools used during the sessions will include the appropriate Jim Shipley workbooks, Teams System Check, linkage diagram and the plan-do-study-act process. Additionally, the work session content will include activities around leadership team-building, using needs assessment practices, building school mission statements, assessment of the school as a system and use of the performance excellence criteria in a systematic way. The content will be from Jim Shipley and Associates, led by certified Kentucky Department of Education facilitators.

Each attendee interested in participating must fill out the School Improvement Planning for Performance Excellence registration form no later than Jan. 12. Questions regarding the training should be directed to Charlotte Jones.

Save the Date: Continuous Improvement Summit 2024

Save the date for the annual Continuous Improvement Summit on Sept. 23-24, 2024, at the Central Bank Center in Lexington.

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and Cognia™ are inviting you to the summit, where you will have an opportunity to explore a variety of topics and engage in conversations that will enrich your understanding of continuous improvement.

During this two-day event, you will enhance your professional learning, make new connections and build upon existing relationships with peers across Kentucky, hear up-to-date information from KDE leaders, and learn how Cognia can help you address your unique challenges in your journey of continuous improvement.

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 the Monday Message to Jennifer Ginn by 10 a.m. Friday to be published in the upcoming week.