Without Trumpets: Continuous Educational Improvement, Journey to Sustainability

Empowering leaders at each level of the implementation of improvement processes is essential if public schools are to survive moving forward. The story of Kentucky's continuous improvement can be evidenced from the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990, and the intensive systems work since 2009 outlined in Senate Bill 1 and amended by House Bill 176 (2010). Even with a significantly different governance and support approach outlined in Senate Bill 1 (2017) by aligning federal statute regulation and initiatives, state statute and regulation, state school board goals, local school board policies and school improvement plans, a consistent message of expectation is clarified for schools and classrooms. Key core work processes aligned behind those policies lead to systems that can be flexible and adjust to the political and economic climates that surround the work of learning without total disruption of the system. The use of transparent design and common instruction while monitoring quality tools is making a recognizable difference. Funding from the sometimes-maligned School Improvement Grant (SIG) process from the United States Department of Education and work with key partners enables the establishing of sustainable systems for continuous improvement in the areas of planning, use of data, fiscal management, student support, and teacher support owned by leaders at each level of implementation. The pertinent data and reports, the human story, the tools used, and lessons learned are a continuous improvement story into sustainability which will resonate with all who lead in education at any level reaffirming that we can do this!