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Dear Colleagues,
At the meeting on March 8, the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) Interview Committee voted to recommend three candidates as the finalists in the search for Kentucky’s next commissioner of education.
I am excited to share below the finalists and a little bit of their background with you all.
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Buddy Berry: Berry has been serving as superintendent of Eminence Independent Schools since 2010. He began his teaching career as a high school mathematics teacher in Owen County and Jefferson County.
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Robbie Fletcher: Fletcher serves as the superintendent of Lawrence County Schools, a position he has held since July 2014. Prior to this role, he served as a part-time faculty member at Asbury University, and as a principal, assistant principal and mathematics teacher in Martin County.
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Jim Flynn: Flynn currently serves as the executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, a position he has held since 2019. He served as the superintendent of Simpson County Schools from 2003 to 2019. Flynn has also held positions as a high school principal in Shelby County, and served as vice principal and high school science teacher in Warren County.
The full KBE will interview these three finalists in Louisville on March 18-19. We hope to have a new commissioner named and submitted to the Kentucky Senate for consideration of confirmation by the end of the month.
As always, continued updates and more information on the search can be found on the KDE 2023-2024 Commissioner Search webpage.
As a reminder, the Superintendents Webcast is tomorrow. You will see that we have made some changes regarding getting into the webcast and the Q&A portion. Please follow the instructions below. I look forward to sharing some legislative updates from KDE as well as cybersecurity information.
Sincerely,
Robin Fields Kinney
Interim Commissioner of Education
Changes To Superintendents Webcast
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will now be using Microsoft Teams for the KDE Superintendents Webcast, starting on March 12.
More details, including a link to the meeting, have been provided in the invite that was sent to your email address, but here are some of the important points to remember:
- Joining the meeting:
- You can join using the provided link or from the KDE Media Portal.
- You may be given the option to join the meeting from a browser or using the Teams application.
- Joining from a browser:
- Click ‘Continue on this browser.’ Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are supported browsers.
- You will be promoted to enter your name. Please enter your full name.
- Click ‘Join Now.’
- Joining from the Microsoft Teams application:
- Click ‘Join’ on the Teams application. The Teams application will open and if you are not already logged in, you must login.
- Before the meeting starts (no more than 30 minutes before the meeting):
- Once the meeting begins:
- You will transition from the waiting screen to the live meeting.
- Captions can be turned on from the toolbar.
- During the meeting (using the Q&A function):
- The ‘Q&A’ button will be on the toolbar at the top of the screen. The feature may be used to ask any questions for the commissioner that may be answered at the end of the webcast.
2024 Persistence to Graduation Summit Call for Proposals and Registration
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Division of Student Success is hosting the 2024 Persistence to Graduation Summit at the Hilton in downtown Lexington on June 11-12.
During this two-day event, superintendents, district level personnel, school administrators, school counselors, educators, family resource and youth services center coordinators, school mental health and social service professionals, and community partners from across Kentucky will convene to share information and best practices to support students who may experience challenges to reaching graduation. Engaging and interactive sessions will be led by facilitators from across the state and will include:
- Student Transition and Re-engagement Strategies;
- Alternative Education Programming;
- Well-Rounded Educational Opportunities;
- Safe and Supportive Learning Environments; and
- Effective Use of Education Technology.
These sessions are designed to be more engaging than the typical “sit-and-get” format of most conferences and are structured to encourage dialogue and exchanges that leverage the expertise of the session participants as well as the session leaders. Facilitators will engage with participants throughout the session and help cultivate an interactive experience, mirroring the type of interactions that take place in highly engaging classrooms. Participants will have prior access to any materials submitted by facilitators.
Those interested in facilitating a session should submit a proposal in the Persistence to Graduation Call for Proposals portal by April 12. If there are multiple presenters for a single session, only one person needs to complete the form. If you would like to suggest multiple session topics, please access the portal link again and submit a proposal for any additional topic. Submissions will be reviewed by KDE staff and selected based on content, proposed methods for participant engagement, and event needs. Those selected will be notified by email.
Registration for the 2024 Persistence to Graduation Summit is available at no cost to participants through Title IV, Part A funding, but registration is limited to the first 300. For more information, contact Michelle Wilson.
KDE seeks reviewers for mini-grant applications
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is seeking qualified individuals to review Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Fund (RDIF) mini-grant applications.
For this review, KDE seeks people with a deep understanding of effective reading intervention services; experience in or knowledge of early reading instruction and the five components of literacy instruction; and/or grant review experience.
KDE desires representation from educators with teaching, administrative or higher education backgrounds as well as qualified people from the community who have experience reviewing grant applications.
The review will take place April 2-5. Selected reviewers will receive a stipend of $300 per day.
If you have questions about this call for reviewers, please email Jennifer Bryant. Please fill out the application form and mail it back by March 19 at 4 p.m. More instructions are on the form.
Preschool Quality: Kentucky All STARS Update
Through funding from the Preschool Development Grant, Kentucky All STARS for State-Funded Preschool Programs will be reintroduced for the 2024–2025 school year. Preschool sites are required to participate in the Kentucky All STARS Rating System (704 KAR 3:015).
The Early Learning Unit has made changes to a quality standard in Kentucky All STARS for state-funded preschool programs. These changes include the use of the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) as the environmental assessment.
Preschool coordinators should plan to attend their Regional Training Center’s spring leadership meeting, where they will be provided additional information regarding the changes.
Please contact Jennifer Hagan, preschool quality coordinator, with any questions you may have regarding Kentucky All STARS for State-Funded Preschool Programs.
Science Instructional Resources Consumer Guide Now Available
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has created a consumer guide to support districts in evaluating and selecting high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs) for science.
The Science Instructional Resources Consumer Guide is intended to help decision-makers in Kentucky districts select high-quality science instructional resources aligned to the Kentucky Academic Standards for Science that meet the unique needs of students, educators and local communities. The guide includes:
- An introduction that highlights the importance of HQIRs and how selection of instructional resources fits within the Curriculum Development Process;
- An overview of specific markers and equity “look-fors” of high-quality science instructional resources;
- Four key steps districts may use as they seek resources, evaluate their effectiveness and ultimately select high-quality primary and supplemental resources for use in schools;
- Key questions to consider when working through each step;
- Considerations for navigating the current science market; and
- General and content-specific tools to support local teams in the selection process.
The Science Instructional Resources Consumer Guide is available now on the High-Quality Instructional Resources webpage on KYstandards.org.
Register Now for the Reading and Writing HQIR Implementation Community of Practice
Per amendments to KRS 158.305 as part of Senate Bill 156 (2023), by July 1, 2024, “each superintendent … shall adopt a common comprehensive reading program that is determined by the department to be reliable, valid and aligned to reading and writing standards … for kindergarten through grade 3 for all schools or a subset of schools, with consultation of all affected elementary school councils.”
To assist districts in effectively implementing an approved Tier 1 comprehensive reading program so the resource adopted ultimately leads to high-quality instruction and improved student outcomes, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is offering a community of practice for district and school leaders responsible for supporting curriculum implementation beginning in April. Applicable role groups might include district instructional supervisors, high-quality instructional resource (HQIR) coordinators, building principals and instructional coaches.
The community of practice will build capacity using key tools to support local implementation of an HQIR including:
Participants will have opportunities to network with other districts across the state while working through the first year of implementation and also to learn from districts that are further along in their implementation journey. Each virtual session will tentatively meet from 10-11:30 a.m. ET on the following dates:
- April 18
- June 6
- Aug. 8
- Oct. 10
- Dec. 12
- Feb. 13, 2025
- April 17, 2025
The online registration is open through March 29. Please contact Fox DeMoisey or Misty Higgins if you have any questions.
To assist districts in effectively selecting an approved Tier 1 comprehensive reading program, KDE provides the Reading and Writing Instructional Resources Consumer Guide as well as a recording of the one-hour High-Quality Adoption Support webinar offered on Nov. 20, 2023.
Register Now for 2024 March Leadership Meetings
In order to provide equitable learning environments for all students, it is important for schools and districts to translate the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) into a guaranteed and viable curriculum. The regional educational cooperatives, in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education, will host in-person meetings in March for district and school leaders to explore new resources available to support effective implementation of local curriculum supported by high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs).
The purpose of the meeting is to provide the following:
- HQIR Implementation Support
- Curriculum Implementation Framework
- Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Guidance Document
- Structuring Professional Learning Cycles
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Kentucky Academic Standards for Science Resources
- Science Instructional Resources Consumer Guide
- New Science Module
- Academic Standards Update
- KAS for Visual and Performing Arts
- KAS for Health Education and Physical Education
Click on the date to learn more and register for the live, in-person three-hour session of your choice:
Participants will need to bring a personal device to access documents from the digital meeting folder.
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