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Dear Colleagues,
Everyone at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), myself included, wants to send our condolences to those affected by the plane crash in Louisville on Tuesday. Our thoughts are with Jefferson County Public Schools and all of the families dealing with the aftermath of such a tragedy. We also want to send our appreciation to the first responders who helped with the scene.
Last week, we held our first Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council meeting of the 2025-2026 school year. We discussed objectives for the council, strategies to address chronic absenteeism and suicide prevention. Council members narrowed down their top focus for the year to addressing student progression from high school through higher education and will continue discussing a potential project aimed at addressing the topic.
KDE has a goal to reduce the state’s chronic absenteeism rate in Kentucky from 28% to 15% by the end of the 2028-2029 school year. When we talked about chronic absenteeism during the CSAC meeting, students shared experiences related to attendance. Some explained difficulties they have noticed with illness and economic issues producing barriers to consistent attendance. Other CSAC students shared stories of their fellow students who must work to provide for their families instead of going to school, and some simply do not want to go and do not have families that push them academically. These are all valuable insights from peers who are close to the students we hope to reach.
We want to do everything we can to encourage student participation in school and make them feel they belong in their classrooms. One way we can do that is to encourage more vibrant learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom, which can provide incentive for students to come to school. I have seen countless examples across the state, such as tiny house projects and job shadowing opportunities, that students get excited about. When students are excited to participate in something at school, they usually feel more motivated to keep coming.I appreciate the stories you have shared from your districts about strategies you all have implemented to get students more engaged in the classroom and address chronic absenteeism in your communities.
The council also discussed mental health supports and suicide prevention with Blake Konny in KDE’s Office of Continuous Improvement and Support. We asked students about what supports their schools have, along with barriers for students to get the help they need.
We also talked about initiatives to help address mental health in schools, including CODE RED training sessions for universal safety planning, the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program, QPR suicide prevention training and Mental Health First Aid training. We all want to work together to address the issues our students face in the best way we can.
These students, who represent schools across the Commonwealth, will help us at KDE understand how decisions made at the state level affect them and their classmates. These students are also your students, and I want to thank you again for letting them share their valuable time with us. I look forward to future meetings with this group and listening to the insights they have.
More details about the makeup of the Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council can be found on the 2025-2026 Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council announcement on Kentucky Teacher.
As always, thank you for being …
All In,
Robbie Fletcher
Commissioner of Education
School Report Card Update No. 17: SRC Portal Close
The School Report Card (SRC) Portal closes today, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. ET. This will be the last day to add or update data for the School Report Card or School Profile Report before the public release tentatively scheduled for Nov. 19. This information was shared earlier this week with our SRC contacts within your districts.
This upcoming release will feature Assessment, Accountability and Career Readiness data and will open for an embargo period to media and applicable district contacts on Nov. 17.
During the embargo period, district and school staff may discuss the data internally; however, the data cannot be shared in public meetings or by the media until public release.
2026-2027 Course Codes View Now Available in the Searchable State Course Codes Database within KECS
The Searchable State Course Codes Database (SSCCD) within the Kentucky Educator Certification System (KECS) is now available with an updated view for the 2026-2027 school year. The Course Codes Frequently Asked Questions document also has been revised for 2026-2027 and remains an excellent resource to help new and returning course codes contacts familiarize themselves with proper course code usage.
Academic courses received minimal updates this year with most revisions reflecting course description changes to align to Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing revisions or course description changes coming from the College Board and International Baccalaureate. Additionally, as announced last year, the Integrated Science series is being deprecated. The Integrated Science series can be replaced with one of the following four options for meeting the required minimum high school graduation requirements for science:
- 302601 Biology 1, 304521 Chemistry I, 304821 Physics I, and 304611 Earth Space Science
- 302061 Biology 1, 304058 Introduction to Chemistry and Physics, and 304611 Earth Space Science
- 302698 Biology with Earth Space Science, 304598 Chemistry with Earth/Space Science, and 304898 Physics with Earth/Space Science
- 303051 Conceptual Science I, 303052 Conceptual Science II, and 303053 Conceptual Science III
The career and technical education (CTE) course catalogs were revised to ensure program relevance and student preparedness. Outdated courses were removed because they no longer aligned with current business and industry needs. Concurrently, financial literacy courses were streamlined to offer schools maximum flexibility in integrating the new, required one-credit course for all students entering grade 9 on or after July 1, 2025, ensuring compliance with House Bill 342 (2025).
For a detailed list of course code changes, please see the Course Code Changes spreadsheet. A Deprecated Course Codes and What to Use Instead spreadsheet is also available to help schools replace deprecated course codes. Both sheets include historical changes from the 2016-2017 school year to the present and can be found on the Kentucky Uniform Academic Course Codes webpage.
Please contact the Kentucky Department of Education's course codes email inbox with any questions.
Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Fund: Read to Achieve Grant Deadline Extension
The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Office of Teaching and Learning has extended the application submission date for the fiscal year 2027 Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Fund: Read to Achieve Grant due to changes made within the request for application (RFA).
The updated RFA and FAQ can be found on the Competitive Grants from KDE webpage.
New RFA Schedule
Application submission deadline is Dec. 2 at 4 p.m. ET. All applications must be sent to KDERFP@education.ky.gov.
Review the links within the RFA for further guidance when writing the submission. If you have any questions, please contact KDERFP@education.ky.gov.
Please pay close attention to the blinding/redacted language within the RFA. Improperly blinded grants will be deemed non-responsive and not eligible for award.
Fiscal Year 2026 KY Transition 360 Spark Request for Application Posted
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is issuing a request for applications (RFA) for KY Transition 360 SPARK: Supporting Postsecondary Achievement and Resources for Kentucky Students with Disabilities (SPARK).
Grants will be awarded to 20 districts, with each district receiving $75,000. These funds will strengthen existing systems and build sustainable practices that improve post-school outcomes for students with disabilities.
General Information
Applications will only be accepted from public school districts that submit a complete application, including narrative responses for a comprehensive needs assessment, project design, transition team and budget plan. Applications must clearly describe how the district will strengthen transition programming by increasing interagency collaboration, enhancing family-school partnerships, using high-quality transition assessments and building sustainable systems that continue beyond the grant period.
Grant Period and Contract
The grant is anticipated to begin Feb. 2, 2026, and go through June 30, 2027.
Submission
To assist applicants in preparing a quality application, please review the prerecorded technical assistance webinar that addresses essential grant requirements, budget preparation and state guidance.
The deadline to submit applications is Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. ET. The application and technical assistance webinar can be found on the KDE Competitive Grants webpage.
New Data Verification for the Technical Education Database System (TEDS)
As we grow in our data collection processes, there is a need to adjust our data validation. Infinite Campus no longer requires a social security number, and it has been removed as a collection point for the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).
Beginning Oct. 1, TEDS import data will be validated based on the State Student Identification (SSID) number, date of birth (DOB), first name and last name.
If there is a mismatch, you will see the following message:
- Error: The specified SSID and DOB combination does not match the SSID and DOB stored on the existing TEDS student Demographic record. Verify DOB.
Please test your import early and often until you are prepared to complete an official import.
If you see an error, it is because the data already in TEDS does not match what you are attempting to import. Please do the following:
- Verify the SSID.
- Use documentation, other than Infinite Campus, to verify date of birth and name.
- Correct any errors discovered in Infinite Campus, then create new export files from Infinite Campus and test the import into TEDS.
- If data is verified and there is still an error on import, email KDE CTE Data Services.
An import can be tested at any time. Please do not finalize an import until the data is error-free. If an import is finalized with errors, any records with identified errors will not be imported into TEDS.
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