The National Association of State Boards of Education invited the Kentucky Board of Education to participate in its High School Transformation State Network, which builds the capacity of state boards to enable rich student experiences that foster content mastery and durable skills.
“This is about getting better and you can’t get better without transforming; without changing,” said KBE member Juston Pate, one of the leaders for this work on the board. “That’s what we’re talking about. We’ve got so many good things in place, but we still have to transform to get a state to a better place in the high school experience.”
The Kentucky High School Transformation Work Group is made up of individuals focused on examining policies and implementation practices that affect the high school experience. The work group includes Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher, KBE members Pate and Lu S. Young, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, school district leaders and other education stakeholders from across the Commonwealth, including representatives from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Council on Postsecondary Education and representatives from the executive and legislative branches of Kentucky’s state government.
Following a review of existing policy flexibilities that support high school transformation in Kentucky, work group members discussed a need to share best practices that support districts in this work and to identify barriers that may be impeding innovation. Pate said the group also may want to consider if any policy recommendations may be needed to further support high school transformation.
Kentucky began transforming high schools in 2021 with pilot programs focused on fostering innovation and through greater local flexibility, beginning with community-driven portraits of a learner. These sets of high-level competencies will in turn guide districts in the design of aligned local accountability systems.
KBE Vice Chair Lu S. Young said the board’s goal is for every school to deliver vibrant learning experiences.
“When we create school environments where young people feel known, seen and challenged, we create school environments where young people thrive. Kentucky students always rise to the occasion,” Young said. “But United We Learn is not just a slogan. It’s not just a website. It’s not just a poster. It is a commitment to innovation, equity and authentic community partnership, and it is the foundation upon which this high school transformation effort stands.”
Young provided an overview of Kentucky’s United We Learn vision, which focuses on vibrant learning experiences, innovative practices – particularly around assessments – and collaboration with the community. This vision was developed with the Kentucky United We Learn Council and the voices of Kentuckians across the state.
Young also explained how the statewide portrait of a learner was developed, focusing on competencies that are important to school leaders, community members and business leaders.
“It’s this kind of learning … that makes schools relevant to kids and engaged in their communities and reflects what communities say matters the most,” Young said. “(The competencies) represent what employers, colleges and families tell us are essential for success in a rapidly changing world.”
Commissioner Fletcher reviewed the Kentucky Innovation Guide with work group members, inviting them to consider how the guide could be maximized to further transform the high school experience for Kentucky students. The guide, developed by KDE in 2024, details policy flexibilities available to districts to support personalized learning and highlights the innovative work happening in Kentucky schools to create vibrant learning experiences for students aligned to Kentucky academic standards.
Fletcher said that even though KDE has not required districts to do any portrait of a learner work, 155 of Kentucky’s 171 school districts have developed – or are in the process of developing – a set of competencies for their students to achieve before graduation, along with the Kentucky School for the Deaf.
“There’s flexibility and innovation,” Fletcher said. “State policies specify what must be learned, but policy doesn’t state how, allowing districts the flexibility to design personalized creative learning experiences that foster mastery of the portrait’s attributes and meet academic standards.”
The work group spent much of its time after the presentations during the first meeting discussing next steps for the work group and the Kentucky High School Transformation Network, including barriers many of the work group members have seen to implementing new policies.
Pate said that when he was principal of the Mason County Area Technology Center several years ago, the school chose programs based on what instructors were available and if there was any funding available for such a program.
“These districts are doing things differently now,” Pate said, “and I think for me, when I look at what we are here to do as this transformation network team, it’s really about are there policy recommendations that we need to make, maybe from one entity to another?”
The discussion during the first meeting also focused on how districts are engaging their students and communities.
Robert Moore, chief of schools for Jefferson County Public Schools, discussed how Jefferson County and the Academies of Louisville involve community members and local business leaders as part of its guiding team to determine what is important for the community’s graduates. He said the variety of challenges for each school in the Academies, 15 in all, can be a barrier to closing the gaps between students in the district, though.
“Variation is a good friend to inequities and achievement gaps,” Moore said.
Jesse Bacon, superintendent of Bullitt County, said one of the biggest challenges he faced when working on Bullitt County’s graduate profile was being patient and giving educators time “to transform their practice from a more traditional mindset to a transformational mindset.”
He also said some of the changes can be tricky because of the workload both teachers and students have, especially at the high school level because of how specialized the classes are.
“I think we’ve got to really think critically about what we’re asking our teachers to do and how we’re asking them to transform,” Bacon said. “And then what opportunities are we providing them, and (what) space are we providing them to be able to start to change, because this is extremely uncomfortable for them.”
Jon Ballard, former superintendent of Elizabethtown Independent and current senior policy analyst for the Kentucky Senate Majority, mentioned working on schools of innovation legislation, Senate Bill 207, which gives schools flexibility with efforts to improve student achievement. He said the challenge now is trying to incentivize buy-in for some of the innovative efforts that are underway in the district.
“As much as I hate to say it, I think part of our biggest problem in education is we become complacent; we become comfortable in what we’re doing,” Ballard said, “but … we’ve got innovative leaders who are willing to push the envelope a little bit; who are willing to, as Jesse said, kind of make folks uncomfortable a little bit and willing to move forward with some innovation. I think the next thing we need to do is look at how do we incentivize folks to do these things.”
The work group will continue meeting in 2026 with its next scheduled meeting on Feb. 26. Pate said the group may also visit a school to see first-hand the work some of Kentucky’s school districts are already doing to transform the high school experience.
Kentucky Department of Education