Kentucky Department of Education

Kentucky's Consolidated State Plan under ESSA focuses on improving student outcomes by increasing academic achievement, reducing achievement gaps, and ensuring equitable access to high-quality education. Key areas of focus include rigorous standards and assessments aligned to postsecondary readiness, a multi-dimensional accountability system that incorporates multiple academic and school quality measures, targeted support and improvement for low-performing schools, and a strong emphasis on career and technical education to meet workforce demands. The plan emphasizes equity, high achievement, collaboration, and integrity, and involves extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure its effectiveness. Long-term goals aim to significantly increase academic achievement for all students, decrease achievement gaps, increase graduation rates, and improve English language proficiency for English learners by 2030.

The strategic plan for the Kentucky Department of Education focuses on encouraging innovation, improving student opportunities and educator access to high-quality resources, and engaging stakeholders in consultation and co-creation. It also emphasizes advocating for equitable funding, promoting operational efficiency and integrity, empowering employees, and making strategic spending determinations to support vibrant learning experiences through collaboration with communities.

This document overviews changes to Kentucky's school accountability system as proposed in Senate Bill 158. The current system uses multiple academic and school quality measures to promote student learning, reduce achievement gaps, build a culture of improvement, and communicate school performance. The proposed system, effective 2020-2021, will use a combination of "status" (current year performance) and "change" (improvement from the prior year) across state indicators including assessment results, English language proficiency, school climate and safety, graduation rates, and postsecondary readiness. Each indicator will have five performance levels. Achievement gaps will be reported but not included in the accountability score. An online dashboard will display results.

The Kentucky United We Learn Council charter outlines the council's mission to advise the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) on educational transformation. The council focuses on student learning experiences, assessment and accountability, and educational policy, engaging stakeholders through inclusive co-design. The council's structure includes three constituent committees (Vibrant Learning Experiences, Accelerating Innovation, Building a Bold New Future with Communities) and a facilitation team. The council aims to build a prosperous Kentucky by launching a meaningful and useful accountability system for all learners.