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Dear Colleagues,
Your districts should now have all student-level data from our 2025-2026 assessments. It’s incredible that we have gotten the data to districts so soon after the last tests were taken in June, and I want to pay a special appreciation for KDE Associate Commissioner Jennifer Stafford and her team with KDE’s Office of Assessment and Accountability.
House Bill 7: Bus Safety Traffic Law Change
A recent change in state law means new rules for when drivers must stop for school buses.
Passed during the 2026 legislative session, House Bill 7 requires all drivers on highways with four or more lanes to stop for a bus with its stop arm extended and lights flashing unless that road is divided by an elevated barrier or unpaved median. Stops are required on all lanes for four-lane highways that include a painted median, paved median or center turn lane.
Drivers in both directions still need to stop on two-lane roads when a school bus is stopped to pick up or drop off students.
Prior to this legislation, drivers on any road with four or more lanes did not need to stop if a bus had its stop arm extended and was picking up or dropping off students in the opposite direction. Now, all drivers must stop unless there is a divider between the sets of lanes, such as a raised concrete barrier or a grass median. This is an important change to help increase the safety of the almost 400,000 students who ride a bus to school each day.
Your help in getting the word out about these changes within your districts and your communities is so greatly appreciated. The safety of our students is always a top priority at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), so we want to make sure as many people as possible know about this so there are no issues on the roads in your communities.
KDE has provided a series of handy tips for families that you can share to ensure students ride the bus safely. Students should:
- Arrive at the bus stop five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.
- Have all items in their book bag before they leave home so they do not drop anything.
- Wait at the bus stop in a safe place, 10-12 feet away from the road.
- Keep electronic equipment packed away as they prepare to board. Never use an electronic device or wear ear buds when walking to the bus stop or when getting on or off the bus.
- Either call or return home for help if they miss the bus.
- NEVER chase after the bus.
- NEVER walk to another bus stop.
And as a reminder, families should never drive their student to another bus stop without permission. The bus driver is not expecting them, and your child may not be seen and can be injured.
If a car is caught running a stop arm, the violation may be enforced by a law enforcement agency, a certified peace officer or a school resource officer. A person who violates this law can face a civil penalty of $300 for the first offense.
As always, thank you for being …
All In,
Robbie Fletcher
Commissioner of Education
Civics Test Reporting Requirement Reminder
Pursuant to KRS 158.141, any local board of education that requires the completion of a civics test for graduation must submit the following testing data to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) by Sept. 1 of each year.
- The first-time successful completion rate of the civics test; and
- The average number of times a student takes the civics test for successful completion.
School districts that have chosen to require a half-credit course in civic literacy instead of the civics test are not required to submit any reporting information to the KDE.
For questions regarding the reporting process, please contact the KDE Social Studies team.
NEW Blog Series: Chronic Absenteeism in Kentucky
The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Strategic Planning and Research team is excited to launch the KDE Research Blog, a new online resource dedicated to sharing research, data, and strategic insights on the issues shaping education across the Commonwealth.
New articles will be published approximately every two weeks, offering research-based perspectives, practical resources, and data visualizations designed to support educators, school and district leaders, policymakers, and anyone interested in Kentucky education. The KDE Research Blog webpage will serve as a central hub where readers can explore the latest posts as well as past blog series and archived articles.
The inaugural series explores one of Kentucky’s most pressing educational challenges: chronic absenteeism. Through research, data, and real-world examples, the series examines how attendance has changed since the pandemic, the factors driving chronic absenteeism and the statewide efforts, partnerships and policy changes helping schools reconnect students and improve attendance outcomes.
The first post, “Beyond a Definition—The True Scale of Kentucky’s Attendance Crisis” by Leslie McKinney, researcher and strategic data analyst for the Kentucky Department of Education, examines how high levels of chronic absenteeism has evolved from a concern affecting a relatively small number of schools before the pandemic into a statewide challenge impacting nearly every community across the state.
Read more of the blog series on the KDE Research Blog.
Comprehensive Improvement Planning in the New Cognia Improvement Platform
Kentucky educators will soon begin accessing improvement planning resources through the updated Cognia Improvement Platform which has been redesigned to create a more user-friendly experience and stronger alignment across the four phases of comprehensive improvement planning.
District and school leadership are invited to join the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) District 180 staff and members from Cognia for a guided walkthrough of the redesigned interface.
During this session, attendees will explore the redesigned platform, learn what’s new and what remains the same for improvement planning processes, review the KDE’s updated comprehensive improvement planning expectations and receive practical tips for using the platform to support high-quality improvement planning.
Please visit the Cognia Improvement Platform session registration page to register for the session that fits your needs. District and school leadership responsible for improvement planning and other reporting requirements (safety reports, trauma-informed care plan, etc.) should register for one location and time only. Morning and afternoon sessions will be made available from 8:30-11:30 a.m. or 12:30-3:30 p.m. local time.
Constitutional Prayer Required Annual Certification
As a condition of receiving federal funds under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a local education agency must annually certify to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) that it has no policy that prevents, or otherwise denies participation in, constitutionally protected prayer in public schools (ESSA Sec. 8524).
This requirement is being met through one of the District Funding Assurances. The fiscal year 2027 District Funding Assurances are currently available in the Grants Management Application and Planning System (GMAP). Once the assurances have been completed in GMAP, they must be printed and presented to the local board for approval. Then the superintendent (not the designee) must upload the assurances statement by Sept. 30. By Nov. 1, KDE is required to report to the US Department of Education a list of local education agencies that have not filed the required certification or that have been the subject of a complaint, so it is important for districts to upload the assurances statement timely.
Information about completing and submitting the funding assurances is available on the Comprehensive District Improvement Plan Funding and Finance web page. For questions about Constitutional Prayer, refer to the U.S. Department of Education guidance or contact Tara Rodriguez by email or phone at (502) 564-3791 ext. 4042.
KDE to Host General Grant Q&A Session
Representatives with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will offer a brief overview of the KDE Request for Application (RFA) process and a time for general questions related to RFA grants offered by KDE during a virtual meeting on Aug. 18 from 10-11:30 a.m. ET.
This session will be recorded for later viewing if you are unable to attend. If you cannot attend but have a question you would like answered, it can be sent to the KDERFP@education.ky.gov email inbox.
Questions related to specific RFAs will not be answered during this session. Please visit the KDE General Grants Training Q&A Session meeting link on Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. ET to participate.
Nominations Sought for 2026 Alternative Education Programs of Distinction
Do you know an alternative education program that’s making a powerful impact? One that’s redefining student success, fostering innovation, and transforming lives? Now’s the time to shine a spotlight on excellence.
To highlight exemplary practices in Kentucky’s alternative education programs, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is offering an opportunity to nominate the alternative education programs from your district that meet the criteria to be recognized as a 2026 Alternative Education Program of Distinction.
Superintendents or their designee can nominate one or more A5 or A6 alternative education programs from their district. The selected Alternative Education Program of Distinction will be determined by compliance with ILPA completion requirements, evidence aligned with the Alternative Education Program Quality Indicators, and site visits. Alternative Education Programs of Distinction will be recognized at a Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) meeting, featured in Kentucky Teacher, and may be utilized as a hub alternative education program for professional development.
The application window opens on Aug. 19 and KDE will send the application link in the Commissioner’s Weekly Message when it is ready. All districts that wish to nominate an alternative education program should submit their application no later than close of business on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
We hope you will participate in this process by nominating any worthy programs in your school district. If you have questions about this process or need additional information, please contact Cristina Green or Leticia Porter.
Initial Certified Evaluation Training Registration Now Open
The Principal Partnership Project (P3) team is excited to once again offer Initial Certified Evaluation training — and as always, the training is completely free of charge! Registration is open for new evaluators of certified personnel.
Per 704 KAR 3:370 and KRS 156.557, all new evaluators are required to complete Initial Certified Evaluation training and pass the corresponding assessment. The training provides Effective Instructional Leadership Act (EILA) credit upon completion. Virtual and in-person options are available, so just choose the format that works best for you!
Visit the Initial Certified Evaluation training webpage for more details, including how to sign up. For questions, contact Stacy Noah.
Regional Innovation Specialists are Partners for Sustainability and House Bill 257 Success
The progress we have seen across Kentucky over the last several years is the result of local vision. With the passage of House Bill (HB) 257, Kentucky formally recognizes that communities are well-positioned to define and measure the quality of their local education system. At the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Division of Innovation, our goal for the 2026-2027 school year is to help you embed these systems - from Portrait of a Learner to performance assessments - into your district’s DNA.
KDE is pleased to offer the continued support of our regional innovation specialist. Funded through June 30, 2027, your regional innovation specialist serves as a sustainability architect to help you engineer the policy, data, and leadership systems for long-term success.
During the 2026-2027 school year, your regional innovation specialist is prepared to partner with you on five key sustainability objectives:
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HB 257 Strategy and Local Indicators of Quality: Assisting with the design process for a set of local success indicators aligned with HB 257.
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Systems Coaching: Coaching a local innovation lead to ensure expertise remains in-house.
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Spreading and Codifying Success: Co-creating strategic implementation plans to transition local pilots to scale and board policy (e.g., embedding Portrait of a Learner into local graduation requirements).
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Evidence Systems: Acting as a “critical friend” to ensure local data collection and assessment systems are rigorous and manageable.
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Professional Learning & Peer Networking: Facilitating collaborative, multi-district professional learning opportunities on topics such as vibrant learning, Portrait of a Learner, performance assessments, and local indicators of quality.
For more information or to connect with the specialist in your region, contact Robert Meacham.
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