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Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to everyone beginning the new year in our classrooms! Personally, I hope you had an opportunity to rest and relax with your loved ones over the holidays.
There is a lot of excitement surrounding the new year, with many amazing things happening in our schools. We just announced the All In for Ag Education Week dates for 2026 – March 16-20 and Sept. 21-26 – where students can get their hands on agriculture education for some truly vibrant learning experiences.
Agriculture is vitally important to our economy, so we have teamed up with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman to get kids engaged and excited to learn about it. We started this hands-on event last year and 84% of Kentucky’s counties participated, which is something to be proud of. We are developing even more resources for educators to help with agriculture lessons, including classroom activities for all grade levels and subjects – all of which are aligned with the Kentucky Academic Standards – so please visit the All In for Ag Education Week website for more information.
I am excited to see we as a state are progressing in our efforts to improve both chronic absenteeism and teacher recruitment and retention. GoTeachKY and members of the Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) are hard at work to address many of the obstacles to becoming an educator and help elevate the profession. These efforts include the new Ask Diego chatbot on the GoTeachKY website to help educators navigate the different pathways to becoming a teacher and the opportunities for professional development.
Our efforts to address chronic absenteeism are well underway and we have already started seeing more kids in the classroom since we launched our initial campaign in 2024. We just announced the new You Belong! Attendance Matters student video and poster contest for the upcoming Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) State Championship to encourage more student input on our attendance campaign, and we hope to see your students get involved.
Registration for the contest is open through Feb. 13, and the winners will be declared on April 24 during the STLP State Championship.
The works of the winners will be published in future KDE statewide social media campaigns. More details about the contests – including rules, resources and registration – can be found in the video and poster contest packet or on KDE’s Attendance Matters website. I am looking forward to seeing the projects our students create as we continue our efforts to improve attendance, and having their voices as part of this discussion will be critical.
This week also marks the beginning of the Kentucky legislative session, and we have already seen some bills filed dealing with education in the Commonwealth, with many more items expected over the next several weeks. We at the Kentucky Department of Education, as always, will follow what is going on in Frankfort to keep you informed of bills that could potentially impact your schools and districts.
As always, thank you for being …
All In,
Robbie Fletcher
Commissioner of Education
George Couros to Provide Mid-Day Keynote at 10th Annual Principal EdCamp
The Principal Partnership Project (P3) and Kentucky’s educational cooperatives are excited to announce George Couros will provide the mid-day keynote address at the 10th annual P3 EdCamp on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
George Couros is a worldwide leader in the area of innovative teaching, learning and leading, and has a focus on innovation as a human endeavor. Most importantly, he is a proud father and husband.
His belief that meaningful change happens when you first connect to people’s hearts is modeled in his writing and speaking. In his 20-plus years in the field of education, he has worked at all levels of school, from K-12 as a teacher, technology facilitator, and school and district administrator. He is currently an adjunct instructor with the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Cuoros is also the author of the books, “The Innovator’s Mindset; Empower Learning, Unleash Talent,” “Lead a Culture of Creativity, Innovate Inside the Box,” and his latest release, “Because of a Teacher” and “Because of a Teacher 2.” He is preparing for the release of a new book in January 2026 entitled “Forward, Together: Moving Schools from Conflict to Community in Contentious Times.” His keynote for EdCamp 2026 will be his first time utilizing this book as the basis of his presentation.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to attend the 10th annual Principal EdCamp on Jan. 14, presented by the P3 Team and the eight regional cooperatives as part of the Kentucky Principal Network. Open to principals, assistant principals, aspiring principals and other school leaders, P3 EdCamp is a professional learning experience for principals and by principals. The morning welcome will begin at 8:25 a.m. ET with greetings from Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher. Join three keynote sessions and five breakout sessions on the topics of your choice, ranging from technology, literacy, vibrant learning, and much more. EdCamp is 100% free and Effective Instructional Leadership Act (EILA) credit is available for three-hour or six-hour participation. Additional EILA credit is available to presenters.
Visit the P3 Website to learn more about Principal EdCamp and view previous EdCamp grids and archived presentation videos.
If you have any questions about EdCamp, please contact Keith Griesser. Visit the P3 EdCamp 2026 registration webpage to register.
New Adaptive Schools Cohort Offered This Spring
The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Office of Continuous Improvement and Support will be offering the second Adaptive Schools cohort this spring.
The Adaptive Schools training provides participants with the skills needed to lead collaborative groups in becoming more effective and better equipped to resolve complex issues around student learning. It takes teams beyond the idea of professional learning communities to the actual implementation of principles and understandings to engage in a continuous cycle of team and individual improvement. School leaders learn how to embrace the hard-to-talk-about details of learning, teaching, data analysis and assessment to evaluate the cumulative effects of their work with students and each other.
Adaptive Schools is the “how” of professional learning communities: how to behave in groups, how to lead them, and how to facilitate them for improved leading, teaching, and learning. While it is not necessary to have completed Cognitive Coaching, it complements these seminars perfectly.
The four required sessions (at no charge to participants) will take place on March 4, 5, 12 and 13 at 300 Sower Blvd, Frankfort, KY, from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET with a 50-participant maximum. We encourage teams to come together where possible.
To register, please complete the Adaptive Schools registration form. Priority will be given to schools who are designated for more rigorous intervention (MRI), comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) or targeted support and improvement (TSI), although all Kentucky leaders are invited to attend.
If you have any questions, please contact KDE Educational Recovery Director Shannon Gullett by email.
Kentucky Reads to Succeed Summer Conference 2026 Save the Date
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Division of Early Literacy (DEL) invites you to the third annual Kentucky Reads to Succeed Summer Conference June 8-9.
The conference, which will require registration but will be free to Kentucky's K-12 public school educators, will offer focused learning paths to meet the needs of teachers and administrators. Attendees will learn from KDE Office of Teaching and Learning consultants and partners about:
- Evidence-based instructional shifts for literacy;
- The benefits of structured literacy;
- Why high-quality instructional resources matter; and
- Available resources for implementing the Read to Succeed Act.
Mark your calendar for this June 8-9 event, and stay tuned for registration information coming in the new year.
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