Most K-12 accountability systems rely on a narrow set of measures, primarily test scores and graduation rates, to define learner success. While these measures can serve as important markers of performance, alone they tell a limited story about the progress that is happening in classrooms and schools every day. Kentucky’s efforts to reimagine its K-12 accountability systems offer an early glimpse of what an alternative approach could look like and a pathway other states might follow.
There are dozens of districts across Kentucky creating local accountability systems, and Rowan County Schools and Woodford County Schools in Kentucky are two that are at the forefront of this work. Both districts are developing local systems that better align with the district’s broader vision for what learners should know and are able to do.
While both district accountability systems include traditional academic measures, they also include metrics grounded in a desire to align success with learning experiences that are, in Kentucky’s words, “meaningful, engaging and connected to real life” with the goal of sparking “curiosity, creativity and collaboration.” These types of experiences have been termed “vibrant learning experiences” and “learning that matters to students” in Kentucky. Rowan’s includes measures of durable skills and industry certification attainment while Woodford’s will report on successful completion of required defenses of learning in grades 5, 8 and 12. Further, these measures are transparently shared through public facing dashboards, ensuring they reflect community needs and expectations.
What does vibrant learning look like?
Rowan and Woodford’s efforts are not taking place in isolation. They represent a broader shift at the state level to help communities reimagine how they might capture and report the learning taking place in schools that are responsive to learner needs. These efforts have been crucial in energizing communities and developing a sense of shared ownership over local accountability. This progress reflects the sustained leadership of Kentuckians at the local and state levels, strategic federal and philanthropic investment and a statewide commitment that has endured through changes in leadership.
Most recently, the passage of HB 257 in spring 2026, specifically creates a framework for local accountability systems in law, allocates funding for its development and requires the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to provide technical assistance to districts who are attempting to build these systems.
Why rethink assessment and accountability?
The beginning: creating the conditions for local innovation
The genesis of the state’s focus on creating opportunities for local innovation in measurement extends back to the 1990s and the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). In addition to making changes to what the state measured, KERA was ahead of its time in enshrining in statute a set of goals and objectives that mirror what is now found in 23 statewide portraits of a graduate across the country, including Kentucky’s own model portrait. Kentucky’s statewide portrait draws deeply from locally developed portraits created over the past decade, with more than 160 of the state’s 171 districts now having developed their own.
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) convened a series of statewide listening sessions beginning in 2021 to surface insights across stakeholder groups for what the future of education should look like in the commonwealth. These statewide sessions resulted in a series of recommendations for rethinking Kentucky’s education systems and structures.
Following the report’s release, the commissioner established the Kentucky United We Learn Council to collectively craft a strategy for action on the report’s recommendations. The Council included dozens of stakeholders from across the state including students, parents, school and district leaders, community voices, philanthropy and many others. Most notably one of the major accomplishments of the council was establishing a “moonshot” vision for what the future of accountability could look like and creating the framework that led to HB 257.
How does this work build on Kentucky history?
Turning local momentum into state policy
Two federal funding sources have largely supported the Kentucky United We Learn Council’s work: a 2022 Competitive Grant for State Assessment (CGSA) from the U.S. Department of Education and funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). ESSER supported the Local Laboratories of Learning (L3s) while CGSA helped fund later convenings and technical assistance. The L3 initiative was designed to encourage districts to partner with community stakeholders to develop local accountability prototypes that deeply invest each community in the process. The funding sustained the KUWL Council, helped Kentucky build on lessons from L3 districts and other leaders across the commonwealth and supported the development of a framework aligning the state’s assessment and accountability system with the moonshot vision. It also allowed Kentucky to engage a network of technical experts to support various aspects of the work, including the National Center for Innovation in Education (CIE), the University of Kentucky’s Center for Next Generation Leadership, the National Center for Improvement of Educational Assessment, KnowledgeWorks, the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, Lyons Assessment Consulting and HumRRO.
Despite a series of leadership changes during 2023-25 at the commissioner level, the council continued to meet to examine the early results from its L3 pilot and give recommendations to the Kentucky education commissioner and the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE). In late 2025 and early 2026, KDE and the state board advanced the work of the council to the legislature, proposing a series of legislative changes that would support the continued growth of local accountability systems. This culminated in the passage HB 257 in 2026, which in addition to establishing a legal framework for local systems, permits KDE to offer a one-time grant of up to $15,000 per district to offset costs incurred by local school districts in the development of locally developed indicators of quality. The legislation also requires the state department of education to offer technical assistance to local school districts that are developing their local accountability systems. As its first step toward implementing the new legislation, KDE has opened the application process for districts seeking funding and technical assistance.
What this means for districts
KnowledgeWorks spoke with several practitioners and policymakers to better understand the impact this legislation is having, and all agree that HB 257 will play a critical role in advancing the state’s vision for local accountability.
Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher believes that having local models of accountability for others to consider will go a long way in providing a more comprehensive picture of school quality. “It’s about how you become a lifelong learner, create experiences that are joyful and put students on multiple career pathways,” he said.
With a future landscape of both education and work that is dominated by technology and artificial intelligence, State Board Chair Lu S. Young sees this new infrastructure as crucial to positioning Kentucky students for success in an uncertain future. “It helps us meet the moment in terms of what families want for their kids out of a modern 21st century education system,” she said.
District leaders in Rowan and Woodford also see HB 257 as a critical step that allows them to have meaningful conversations with their communities about what they value and how to measure success beyond test scores. “This legislation moves the conversation from something that is wholly locally owned to something that is endorsed and supported by the state,” said Ryan Asher, Woodford’s Chief Academic Officer. According to Asher this makes it easier to raise awareness within his community and continue the conversations.
District supporters and intermediaries are also seeing movement. UK Center for Next Generation Leadership Executive Director Karen Perry says that she is already seeing increased interest from districts in the wake of HB 257, mostly by creating local portraits. “We’re seeing so many districts this year that have kicked off communications around portraits of a learner, more than we’ve ever seen before,” she said.
Why do Portraits matter?
What’s next for Kentucky
HB 257 is an important step in what has been and will continue to be a long road to reimagining assessment and accountability in Kentucky. Stakeholders across the state acknowledge that while there is much to celebrate, the work is not finished. Referring to the moonshot vision, Chair Young notes that “we’re orbiting the moon, but we haven’t quite landed yet!” That said, the work to date provides a valuable roadmap for other states considering how they might craft a grassroots-driven vision for evolving K-12 accountability.
Kentucky’s L3s and the Kentucky United We Learn Council have given districts the agency to test new ideas, the state the opportunity to conceptualize a new vision for measurement and the community the beginnings of a coalition that can continue to push for change. This work has also served to ignite interest within communities in developing metrics that have real meaning to local stakeholders.
This multilevel collaboration represents an important element emerging from this work. Traditional K-12 accountability systems that rely on rankings often pit districts against each other. By contrast, local accountability systems that don’t compare one district to another make space for greater collaboration and engagement across districts. It also creates a sense of collective momentum as districts regularly swap and share tips and strategies from their own experiences creating their local systems through forums like Kentucky United We Learn council meetings.
From Innovation to Transformation
Brandy Carver, assistant superintendent in Rowan County Schools, believes that this legislation will help communities recognize and showcase how students are more than their test scores. In her words, “we have a responsibility in our communities to graduate students who are ready to be a part of the community.”
With the implementation of HB 257 taking place over the next several years, Kentucky is well positioned to build a vision for what a successful collaboration between communities and the state can look like in building a new collective vision for K-12 accountability. Kentucky’s work can also serve as a lesson to other states and to the discourse around education about how local communities and state level policymakers can work together to drive meaningful school improvement strategies that are rooted in grassroots efforts rather than top-down initiatives.
