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Dear Colleagues,
One of the roles we at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) take the most pride in is helping our fellow educators with exciting professional development opportunities that enhance their abilities in the classroom and ultimately provide a better atmosphere for our students to learn.
This is a tall task, with more than 43,000 teachers spread across 171 districts. The work involves a massive network of professionals, all coming together to strive for the same goal of improving outcomes for our students.
One of the premier events KDE hosts each year to further this effort is the Continuous Improvement Summit in September. The summit allows attendees to invest in their growth as a leader and a teacher and offers strategies to make a difference in their work and in their students’ experiences. Many school leaders are honored at the end of the conference for best practices they’ve championed in their districts; efforts the entire state can look at and emulate.
This year’s Best Practice winners were:
- Fleming County – Local Accountability: A Thriving Learner
- Carroll County Middle School – Intentional Strategy Mapping for Student-Led Math Discussions
- Corbin School of Innovation (Corbin Independent) – Designed for Discovery: A Look at Virtual, Hybrid and Hands-on Learning Spaces
- Bryan Station Middle School (Fayette County) – Addressing Multifaceted Needs of English Language Learners
- Jacob Elementary (Jefferson County) – MTSS: Real Talk on Real Support
- Jacob Elementary (Jefferson County) – Healing, Learning, Leading: Rebuilding Jacob’s School Culture with Neuroscience
- Jacob Elementary (Jefferson County) – Solving for Success: A Systematic Approach to Tiered Math Interventions
- Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services, Sproutbox: Elevating Learning, One Box at a Time
- Owensboro High School (Owensboro Independent) – Teaching Multilingual Learners in the General Content Classroom with an Asset-Based Approach
- Owensboro Public Schools – Developing a Successful System Using the Curriculum Implementation Framework
- Rodburn Elementary School (Rowan County) – Math Mastery: Building Foundations for Equitable and Effective Instruction
- Rich Pond Elementary (Warren County) – Lead By Letting Go! Building Systems of Shared Leadership
- Whitley County, Grade-Level Roundtable Discussions
A lot of the individual sessions included talks on local accountability, one of the top priorities at KDE. This encompasses school districts and their communities working together on things like creating a local portrait of a learner – which outlines the essential skills, knowledge and dispositions every student needs to thrive in the world – and how vibrant learning experiences take place in their classrooms.
The team in Fleming County, led by Superintendent Brian Creasman, shared their journey with local accountability and how they reformed their academics by creating a holistic focus on each student and making sure they have the skills to thrive, rather than looking solely at standardized test scores.
This work, along with the work of our Local Laboratories of Learning, also has informed KDE and the Kentucky United We Learn Council as we have worked on a new assessment and accountability framework that has culminated in the Model Framework we are advocating for statewide. The Continuous Improvement Summit featured several discussions on local accountability with leaders from several districts.
Learning from local leaders who are doing this work is critical to helping other districts determine what makes the most sense for their communities, and not just in the assessment and accountability space. Many of our district partners shared strategies on what they’re doing on a variety of different topics, ranging from how to improve literacy and numeracy education to how districts are energizing their students.
The Continuous Improvement Summit also provided KDE with the opportunity to share our insights with more than 1,000 educators who attended this year on topics ranging from mathematics, literacy, special education, multi-tiered systems of support and continuous improvement.
There are always great things going on in our districts and opportunities like the Continuous Improvement Summit allow everyone to not only share what’s working in their districts but also to affirm what our educators are doing here at KDE and in our schools.
As always, thank you for being …
All In,
Robbie Fletcher
Commissioner of Education
School Report Card Update No. 11: SRC Timeline Extended
The timeline to complete work for the initial release of the School Report Card (SRC) has been extended to Oct. 1. Initially, the School Report Card Portal was scheduled to close on Sept. 24. This delay is to provide districts with additional time to complete this work. The initial public release is now scheduled for Oct. 15.
You can check the status of your district’s domain-level approvals within the portal or using the SRC Approval Status Report available on the SRC Resources webpage. Oct. 1 is the statutory requirement for having the School Profile Report complete with signatures and available in the local board office. That date has not changed.
The Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Assessment and Accountability is communicating with district assessment coordinators on the availability of academic achievement and accountability data. Quality Control day is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 23. Public release of the School Report Card with all data is scheduled for mid-to-late November.
Known outstanding issues:
- The school-level view of the superintendent message is not currently displaying data.
The SRC Resources webpage serves as the central repository for communications and resources. The SRC timeline, resources and all SRC communications are posted to this webpage.
Kentucky Department for Public Health: Flu and COVID-19 Testing Supplies Available
The Kentucky Department for Public Health will begin distributing over-the-counter combo COVID-19/Flu A&B antigen tests to public and private schools on Oct. 15 for the 2025-2026 school year. The over-the-counter combo test provided is the BinaxNOW COVID-19/Flu A&B, which uses a single nasal swab to simultaneously detect COVID-19, influenza A and influenza B, with results available in 15 minutes.
To expedite requests, school districts are asked to provide shipping information for one primary location by Oct. 3 so accounts can be established before program launch by completing the Kentucky schools COVID-19/Flu A&B registration form. Districts are still eligible to receive testing supplies after this date but could experience delays in receiving testing supplies.
A link to the resource request form to order testing supplies will be provided to the school districts that have registered on Oct. 15. Testing supplies will be shipped directly from McKesson to the primary address indicated for the district. The school district will coordinate distribution to each school. Allocation of testing supplies will be determined by federal funding, available inventory and state-defined priorities.
School districts are eligible to request COVID-19/Flu A&B professional point-of-care tests. For more information on ordering tests, please contact Kentucky Department for Public Health COVID-19 testing inbox or Jennifer Broussard with the Kentucky Department for Public Health.
Annual School Immunization Survey for the 2025–2026
The Annual School Immunization Survey for the 2025–2026 school year opened on Sept. 15 and must be completed no later than Dec. 31.
The Annual School Immunization Survey is an assessment of the vaccination coverage of children in Kentucky schools, meeting the requirements of 702 KAR 1:160 and 902 KAR 2:060.
All public or private primary or secondary schools in Kentucky are required to maintain a current immunization certificate on file for each child in attendance by KRS 214.034, unless exempted by KRS 214.036.
All public or private elementary or secondary schools must electronically submit their immunization results to their local health departments for kindergarten, seventh grade, and 11th-grade students in accordance with KRS 158.037 and 902 KAR 2:055.
All instructions and links to complete the survey are available on the Kentucky Department for Public Health's Immunization Branch website.
Schools that do not submit reports by Dec. 31 will be contacted by a Kentucky Department for Public Health Immunization Branch representative.
If you have any questions about the survey, please email the Kentucky Department for Public Health's Immunization Branch or call (502) 229-8597.
NEW: Virtual Program Indicator and KRS 158.120 Tracking
A new virtual enrollment indicator has been added to Infinite Campus enrollment records.
Districts must select the appropriate code for students enrolled in a full-time online virtual/remote program. The Virtual Program indicator includes four options for reporting:
- Full-Time Enrolled Online Virtual and Remote (OVR);
- Full-Time Enrolled OVR with sibling exception (OVRSE);
- Full-Time OVR with Armed Forces exception (OVRAFE); and
- Full-Time with medical conditions exception (OVRMCE).
Most full-time online/virtual and remote students will be reported as No. 1 OVR; however, code students with well-documented qualifying exceptions accurately so they are recognized as exceptions for KRS 158.120 tracking. The virtual enrollment indicator must be used for all students in a full-time virtual/remote program.
In accordance with House Bill 241 that amended KRS 158.120, Section 4, KDE must report and monitor the annual Virtual Program Nonresident Enrollment Cap. Non-resident students enrolled full-time as virtual/remote students are capped at 1% of the previous year’s statewide enrollment. Data reported in the new virtual program indicator and the non-resident indicator in Infinite Campus are used to monitor the number of statewide full-time virtual/remote enrollments.
If the total statewide virtual/remote enrollment hits 0.85% of the cap on nonresident students KDE will notify districts with requirements before any additional non-resident virtual students can be enrolled. Students identified with an enrollment exception, per KRS 158.120 - via the new virtual program indicator, will be excluded from the statutorily defined statewide enrollment cap.
For general questions related to on-line virtual/remote programs or House Bill 241, contact the KDE online/virtual support team for assistance.
Nominations open for 2025-2026 Kentucky Education Support Staff Professional Award
Gov. Andy Beshear’s Office, in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education, has opened the nomination window for the 2025-2026 Kentucky Education Support Staff Professional Award.
The top two nominees also will be considered for the national 2026 Recognizing Inspirational School Employees (RISE) Award. Enacted by Congress in 2019 and overseen by the U.S. Department of Education (USED), the RISE Award recognizes classified school employees who have displayed exemplary service to students in pre-kindergarten through high school.
From driving students to school or preparing their meals, to working with partner agencies to ensure essential needs are met, classified employees serve in a variety of vital – and often overlooked – roles.
Eligible candidates must work in any of the following occupational specialties: paraprofessional, clerical and administrative services, transportation services, food and nutrition services, custodial and maintenance services, security services, health and student services, technical services, and skilled trades.
Nominees must illustrate excellence in each of the following areas:
- Work performance;
- School and community involvement;
- Leadership and commitment;
- Local support (from co-workers, school administrators, community members, etc.); and
- Enhancement of classified school employees’ image in the community and in schools.
The nomination period will close at 11:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 2. Each nominator can submit up to two candidates for consideration via the 2025-2026 Kentucky Education Support Staff Professional Award nomination form.
Beshear will forward the names of the top two classified employees to USED as Kentucky’s nominees for the national RISE Award by Nov. 1. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon will select a single classified employee from among all nominees to receive the national 2026 RISE Award.
Applications Open for the 2025-2026 Class of GoTeachKY Ambassadors
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is looking for new GoTeachKy ambassadors for the 2025-2026 school year.
The mission of GoTeachKY, an initiative of KDE, is to ensure that all students across the Commonwealth have equitable access to effective educators. GoTeachKY seeks to recruit the next generation of teachers in Kentucky, helping remedy the critical teacher shortage that affects every state in the U.S.
GoTeachKY ambassadors will act as the face of the GoTeachKY initiative, connecting with prospective educators and community members primarily through digital platforms like social media and Microsoft Teams. They also will foster positive in-person connections with colleagues and students at secondary and post-secondary schools. As representatives of the teaching profession, ambassadors will provide valuable information to those considering teaching careers and contribute to the elevation of the teaching profession.
GoTeachKY ambassadors also must be able to attend a minimum of 80% of monthly meetings. The first meeting is in person and required. Reimbursement for your substitute will be available. Ambassadors will receive a $75 monthly stipend with opportunities to earn additional compensation.
Visit the GoTeachKY Ambassador Program Application to apply and learn more information on the program requirements. Applications close on Sept. 30.
For more information, please email Justin Edwards and Jarvis Terrell at the Kentucky Department of Education.
Accepting Applications for Diagnostic Review Team Members
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and Cognia are accepting applications for diagnostic review team members to serve during the 2025-2026 school year.
The Cognia diagnostic review process is a performance-driven approach that relies on data from student performance, stakeholder feedback, classroom observations and a review of documents, artifacts and school practices.
Diagnostic reviews yield a comprehensive analysis of an institution in an extensive report intended to energize and guide continuous improvement planning for underperforming schools and districts.
All diagnostic review team members must have experience or expertise in the following areas:
- School or system administration with a specific emphasis on instructional leadership such as superintendent, principal, instructional supervisor, director of curriculum and instruction, assessment, special education, etc.
- Leading or supporting turnaround/improvement initiatives at the school, system or state department levels.
- Familiarity with the analysis and use of data as a driver for improvement.
Diagnostic review team members are required to complete specialized training. While there is no compensation for participating as a diagnostic review team member, all expenses associated with travel for an onsite visit will be reimbursed by Cognia.
If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please begin by submitting your contact information on the Diagnostic Review Team Member Interest Form.
We will send next step information to support you through the training process. We will have multiple training options available throughout the next few months in preparation for reviews scheduled for the 2025-2026 school year. If you have questions, please email the Cognia team.
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