Welcome!
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the TSI newsletter. We hope that this is a source of information and support for schools identified for TSI and additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI). Throughout 2026, we plan to provide schools with resources and opportunities that will enhance the educational outcomes for all students.
We also would like to take this opportunity to remind schools and districts that schools identified for TSI or ATSI must complete the TSI Addendum and submit it along with their comprehensive school improvement plan (CSIP) in the Continuous Improvement Platform (CIP). Additionally, districts with schools identified for TSI or ATSI must complete the TSI and CSI for CDIP Addendum for their comprehensive district improvement plan (CDIP). These elements were due Jan. 1; however, if they have not been submitted, please submit them as soon as possible.
Additionally, schools and districts are encouraged to review their plans using the CSIP and CDIP rubrics found on KDE's comprehensive improvement planning webpage. This rubric can assist schools and districts in ensuring compliance, correctness and high-quality planning/best practices.
Strengthening Access and Achievement with Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a research-based instructional framework designed to help educators proactively create flexible, accessible learning environments that meet the widest possible range of learner needs.
Rather than retrofitting accommodations after instruction is planned, UDL encourages intentional design of curriculum, materials and assessments so that barriers to learning are minimized from the outset. When implemented well, UDL helps all students, including those in a special education identified subgroup, engage more deeply, demonstrate understanding in varied ways and progress toward standards with greater confidence.
The Kentucky Department of Education’s Instructional Resources webpage includes a robust section on UDL as part of its collection of tools to support instruction for students with disabilities. Schools can access a variety of UDL-specific resources that align with this framework.
These UDL supports complement other instructional resources on the webpage – such as literacy and mathematics toolkits, evidence-based teaching practices and IRIS Center modules – by adding a lens that centers access and learner variability as core design principles. Schools working to accelerate growth for TSI/ATSI subgroups often find that UDL strategies reduce barriers that can disproportionately affect students with disabilities, leading to more equitable participation and outcomes.
Key Core Work Processes: What They Are and When to Use Them
Key Core Work Processes (KCWPs) are the major, repeatable processes that make a school run well. They are the work that most directly influences teaching, learning and student outcomes.
In Kentucky’s improvement planning process, KCWPs function as the organizing structure that connects goals to the daily work happening in classrooms and leadership teams. Instead of treating the CSIP or CDIP as a compliance document, Key Core Work Processes help schools name the core work that must improve and then align strategies, activities, evidence and monitoring to that work.
A key benefit of KCWPs is that they are useful year-round, not just during the completion of the needs assessment diagnostic in phase two. Because improvement planning in Kentucky is designed to be continuous, KCWPs provide a steady framework for regular leadership conversations, progress monitoring and course corrections. They help teams stay focused on implementation, not just writing the plan, by keeping attention on the processes and practices that produce results. When a team reviews progress regularly, KCWPs make it easier to answer the most important questions. Are we doing what we said we would do? Is it happening with fidelity? Is it improving outcomes for students?
For TSI and ATSI schools, Key Core Work Processes are especially valuable because they support targeted and sustainable improvement. They help schools avoid initiative overload by grouping work into clear buckets and making alignment visible across curriculum, instruction, assessment, data use, student supports and learning culture. For example, KCWP 1, Design and Deploy Standards, emphasizes coherence. It ensures standards, instructional materials, assessment practices and professional learning all point in the same direction, so the intended curriculum is consistently reaching students.
When Key Core Work Processes are used intentionally, they strengthen focus, improve monitoring and create a clearer path from plan to practice that supports meaningful growth for identified student groups.
Featured Spotlight School: W. B. Muncy Elementary
W.B. Muncy Elementary School (Leslie County) offers a powerful example of how intentional scheduling, strong culture and student ownership can drive improvement in high-needs settings.
As a small K-8 school serving a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities, Muncy has built a system that prioritizes strategic intervention time, data-driven goal setting and early literacy development starting in kindergarten. Their professional learning community (PLC) structures focus on continuous improvement, and both students and staff are actively engaged in reviewing data and setting goals before MAP and Kentucky Summative Assessment testing. The result is consistent Blue ratings and a school culture that puts people, relationships and growth at the center of the work.
All of this makes W.B. Muncy a strong model for TSI and ATSI schools looking to strengthen intervention systems and instructional alignment. Inspired by what you see? We encourage you to schedule a visit to a Spotlight School.
Whether you prefer an on-site tour or a virtual discussion, you'll find the contact information for arranging your experience on each school's story card. For general inquiries about the Spotlight Schools program, please use the contact details in this newsletter.
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