(FRANKFORT, KY) – The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Superintendents Advisory Council heard about the process to procure a state-provided college entrance exam, as well as literacy research by the Kentucky Reading Research Center, during their meeting on May 5.
The Kentucky General Assembly recently passed Senate Bill 197 during the 2026 legislative session, which requires KDE to begin a new procurement for the state-provided college entrance exam to be implemented in the 2026-2027 school year. Therefore, the 2026-2027 school year will begin without a decision on which college entrance exam will be administered to juniors.
In July 2025, KDE completed a competitive procurement and the contract was awarded to the College Board to administer the SAT Junior State Administration beginning in spring 2026. KDE is now working with the Finance and Administration Cabinet to repeat the competitive procurement process.
Jennifer Stafford, associate commissioner in KDE’s Office of Assessment and Accountability, said the Finance and Administration Cabinet has expressed a commitment to helping KDE complete the bid process sooner than it’s normally done.
“I want to assure superintendents that the Kentucky Department of Education understands the uncertainty that this brings for our schools and district, that districts want clarity as they plan for the upcoming school year,” Stafford said. “But we want to assure you that KDE is working with the Finance Administration Cabinet; we're working collaboratively and we're working diligently with them to complete this competitive bid.”
Stafford said if everything goes to plan, KDE is hoping to have a decision on the college entrance exam in October.
Literacy Research and Supports
The Kentucky Reading Research Center works in partnership with KDE to conduct research on literacy that can help inform statewide literacy initiatives and outcomes.
In 2022, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 9, also known as the Read to Succeed Act, which called for a multifaceted approach to improve reading outcomes for all students. In 2023, legislators passed Senate Bill 156, which tasked KDE to find the next statewide reading research center.
KDE selected the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development to create the Kentucky Reading Research Center to support educators in implementing reliable, replicable reading practices to help promote literacy development. Their goals are to make information about the science of reading available to everyone in Kentucky including teachers, administrators, parents and policymakers, to conduct research on literacy and to continue to grow the research clearinghouse with evidence-based insights on literacy education.
Terry Scott, executive director of the Kentucky Reading Research Center, said the clearinghouse offers clear summaries of hundreds of studies and findings. As it expands, additional resources will be added alongside of the systematic literature reviews.
Scott said they will be adding classroom videos about literacy practices, for example, what fluency looks like when teachers are teaching 4th grade. He said they’re filming the videos in Kentucky schools and have already filmed in Carroll County and Boone County this year.
The Kentucky Reading Research Center website has information and many resources about literacy. Scott said people can sign up for regular newsletters about research and events. He said several members of their advisory board will be hosting webinars in the coming year that will go on their website as well.
Read to Achieve Program Evaluation
The Kentucky Reading Research Center recently completed its annual evaluation of the Read to Achieve program, which focused this year on literacy team structures, classroom instruction and how school demographics relate to reading outcomes.
Scott said their team went to randomly selected schools to observe classroom instruction and interview school literacy teams. He said the center will be considering factors that encourage and support teacher recruitment and retention as it relates to literacy initiatives and classroom practice.
In their findings, schools reported that Read to Achieve funds were essential for improving literacy instruction. Teachers and reading interventionists said the training and support improved their ability to deliver science-based reading instruction. Schools with higher literacy achievement tended to have stronger Tier 1 systems and more experienced teachers, while lower-achieving schools often faced higher teacher turnover and leaned more heavily on Tier 3 supports.
“Every time we went into a classroom where a teacher was teaching literacy, we took data, so we know what teachers in Kentucky do when they're teaching literacy,” Scott said. “What's more interesting is that we can actually connect a lot of those teacher behaviors to school outcomes. From some previous research we did, we know some very basic things, like the degree to which the teacher engages the students with opportunities to respond is extremely significantly related to both the students’ active engagement during instruction and to a decrease in misbehavior.”
Scott said they’re working to provide more examples of how to create opportunities for engagement during literacy, especially with elementary students.
The Kentucky Reading Research Center also recently completed an analysis of the Kentucky Reading Academies, which shows how the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training is making a difference for student literacy success.
The Kentucky Reading Academies aim to transform literacy instruction across the state by offering an opt-in, no-cost professional learning opportunity to both K-5 educators and administrators.
The analysis found that schools above the average level of LETRS participation saw a 4.26% increase in proficient readers, compared to 2.9% in schools with fewer teachers who have participated in LETRS.
“The most significant finding that came out of that analysis was that the more schools have teachers that are trained in LETRS, the more growth we see into the proficient level with students in literacy,” Scott said.
Registration is currently open for Cohort 5 of LETRS.
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