(FRANKFORT, KY) – Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher, leaders with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), and superintendents Jesse Bacon of Bullitt County and Brian Creasman of Fleming County discussed the latest innovations around assessment and accountability, as well as the latest framework to revamp the Commonwealth’s systems, with state lawmakers during the Interim Joint Committee on Education meeting on June 3.
Creasman said the district’s system reflects years of conversations with the community and the skills they want to see students have before they graduate.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really create an accountability model that is meaningful to our communities,” Creasman said. “It’s responsive, it’s transparent and it’s about shared ownership of what’s happening in our schools.”
Bacon said his district has been working on the Bullitt County Public Schools Graduate Profile, which includes six pillars for every student to achieve before they graduate.
“What this has done for us has really brought our community into our work in a really true, authentic way,” Bacon said, “to help them understand the challenges that we face and also the opportunities that we have in front of us and the experiences that we’re trying to design for our students so we can ensure that we are creating the best people we can possibly create; that will be ready to go out and contribute meaningfully to our community.”
KDE and the Kentucky United We Learn Council started working on the future of assessment and accountability after KDE conducted a survey during the COVID-19 pandemic and a listening tour in 2021, asking people what worked for their students, what could be improved and what kind of education system they wanted to see.
The United We Learn vision for advancing education was developed, focusing on three big ideas: creating a more vibrant learning experience for every student, encouraging innovation in our schools – especially when it comes to assessment – and creating a bold new future for Kentucky’s schools through collaboration with our communities.
KDE, in partnership with the Kentucky Board of Education, the Ohio Valley Education Cooperative and the University of Kentucky Center for Next Generation Leadership, established the Local Laboratories of Learning, to begin proactive work on innovative systems for student assessment and accountability. This initiative includes Bullitt and Fleming counties.
Fletcher said these districts are already incorporating innovation and collaboration, including work-based learning opportunities with businesses and community groups, to help students learn more about their communities, the world around them and what opportunities they may have.
“What we want to do is reimagine an assessment and accountability system that not only encourages (vibrant learning experiences) but catalyzes the spread of these types of opportunities throughout our Commonwealth,” Fletcher said.
The Kentucky United We Learn Council, which is comprised of a wide-ranging group of people – families, students, educators, legislators, business leaders and community members – has contributed to the development of a series of assessment and accountability model frameworks, incorporating information and data gathered by the Local Laboratories of Learning.
The work also included nine regional town halls KDE hosted earlier this year, with more than 600 people attending to give their feedback on the proposed framework. KDE also sought input from a variety of stakeholders and advisory groups, including the Kentucky Board of Education.
The latest framework, Framework 4.0, centers around local accountability indicators and state accountability indicators that meet federal requirements. Local accountability includes flexible options for districts to determine their own indicators, while other indicators that would be required at the state level – writing, social studies and vibrant learning experiences – would have options for flexibility within them.
More information about the current framework and the Kentucky United We Learn Council’s timeline can be found on KDE’s Reimagining Assessment and Accountability webpage.
Fletcher, Bacon and Creasman fielded questions from lawmakers about the assessment and accountability work, including a question from Rep. Sarah Stalker from Louisville about how the framework would help address poverty.
Bacon said one of the priorities in Bullitt County is to address poverty and how it impacts student achievement both in and out of the classroom, following discussions with community members.
“By engaging with the local community authentically like we have, we’re actually bringing more of those issues to the surface,” Bacon said.
Sen. Stephen Meredith from Leitchfield asked how students in rural areas – where there may be fewer opportunities for work-based learning, pointing to a lack of hospitals in some counties as an example – would be guaranteed access to vibrant learning experiences under the framework.
Fletcher said districts are already working together to ensure students have access to opportunities, partnering with neighboring counties to create work-based learning experiences and utilizing technology for other vibrant learning opportunities.
Rep. Jennifer Decker of Waddy said she wanted to encourage community members to witness the defenses of learning, where students go through mock real-life situations – such as work presentations – to exhibit what they’ve learned and accomplished.
“Every single person I talk with who has attended one of those is not only impressed with the student, but with the school system,” Decker said.
Fletcher said the rollout of the framework, if it is approved by the legislature, would go slow, starting with a pilot phase to ensure districts have time to grow their own programs.
“Our main goal is to make sure our students have vibrant learning experiences. If we go through this model in four or five years and nothing has changed, then we have failed,” Fletcher said. “We want to make sure our kids have those vibrant learning opportunities that our communities are proud of, that our communities are a part of; that our chambers of commerce, that our faith leaders, our parents, our students are proud of.”
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