The Kansas State Department of Education’s Accreditation and Design (AD) team hosted the first Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA) meeting of the 2023-2024 school year on Tuesday, Oct. 10. 

1. Learning Year 2023-2024: The “Learning Year” is a transition year between KESA 1.0 and 2.0, which is coming in the 2024-2025 school year, so the expectations for each system this year are a mix of KESA 1.0 and also setting the stage for KESA 2.0.   

• Expectations for all systems this year in accreditation: 

  • KESA check-in - One-on-one between the system and the KSDE AD team. 

    • The AD team is checking in with each system from January to May 2024. Here is the KESA Check-in survey to identify dates/times that would work best for your DLT to meet with at least one AD team member. Please respond as soon as possible if you haven’t already done so. One response per system. 

• Peer review - Each system has the following options for peer collaboration in 2023-2024: 

  • Regional peer review - Contact your regional educational service center. 
  • Traditional peer review - Meet with your existing Outside Visitation Team (OVT). 
  • Like-systems peer review - Systems of similar size, and demographics meet. 

For each peer review option above, a minimum of one in-person meeting is required for this year.  

• Gather system improvement data and store it locally. 
  • Analyze your system’s student data in areas that could include, but are not limited to academics, postsecondary preparedness, social-emotional learning, etc. Store your data locally. 

  • Set, revise or maintain your system’s goals (measurable, student-centered). 

2. Future state - KESA 2.0 beginning 2024-2025: KSDE intends to make accreditation synonymous with school improvement so that when systems are doing the work of improvement, they are also doing the work of accreditation. Pending Kansas State Board of Education approval, accreditation will be based on a system’s implementation of fundamental practices, student results and compliance. In addition, KSDE is revising the annual accreditation review process to increase support and accountability on a yearly basis. 

• The Fundamentals: 
  • Ensuring effective literacy instruction. 
  • Aligning classroom instruction to standards. 
  • Using data to inform instruction. 
  • Promoting quality instruction through high expectations. 

• Annual accreditation review process: 
  • Focusing on a few high-leverage practices (Fundamentals) that KSDE can fully support. 
  • Creating a more dynamic, yearly accreditation review process that allows for a rapid response to system needs. 
  • Higher expectations in a few key areas with increased accountability and support. 

3.  Next Steps 

• Make sure your system has completed the KESA Check-in survey. 
• Ensure your system has analyzed student performance data and has student performance goals or is in the process of setting goals. 
• Engage in the discussions on the Fundamentals and the annual review process of accreditation. The KSDE AD team encourages everyone to attend the KSDE Annual Conference, Oct. 25-27. The AD team will be presenting and discussing KESA 2.0 on Friday, Oct. 27.