Upcoming Events, Trainings and Recognition

If students are gaining decoding skills and STILL struggling with comprehension, what might be the problem? Join us to learn from a leading scholar about Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD. 

KSDE will host a free webinar with Dr. Tiffany Hogan to teach educators about DLD, 4-5 p.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 24. (registration link below). You will learn what this disorder looks like alongside dyslexia; how it may present without dyslexia; and how we might identify it with our youngest of students and get them the help they need before they struggle with comprehension as they get older.  

Are you looking for a specialized professional development opportunity for Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) educators in your district? This two-day training in Salina, Sept. 9-10, is tailored directly to the needs of FCS educators in Kansas and will cover topics like work-based learning in the FCS classroom, managing an effective Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) chapter, methods for running a high-quality FCS program, and much more. 

Whether you are a new or veteran test coordinator, make plans to attend one of the mandatory trainings held across the state beginning in September.  

Every district must have a district test coordinator and each district test coordinator is required to attend annual security and ethics training before training all district staff involved in giving state assessments. 

Make plans to attend this year’s Great Ideas in Education Conference, “Lighting the Path Forward,” Oct. 23-25 in Wichita, by clicking here to register, make room reservations, access the schedule and see the list of titles, strands and audiences for the breakout sessions.  

Chris Perry, co-founder and executive director of Cultivate Education, an educational consulting company based in Baldwin City, will be the keynote speaker on Oct. 23.  

College credit is now available for attending this conference. Click here for information. 

FastBridge screening assessment measures give instructional teams a wealth of data. Yet, how do teams harness that data to inform instructional practice at the ground-level?  

During this free, one-day event, the Kansas Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) and Alignment team will guide districts in navigating several key FastBridge reports to make sense of the data and connect it to specific practices that ultimately impact student learning. 

Veteran educators, anyone considering a career in education, and anyone in between is invited to Bethany College’s education conference, Feb. 8, 2025. 

Click this link to register: https://www.bethanylb.edu/education-conference 

Districts with virtual learning to complete now have until Dec. 31 to schedule your session(s). Check this recording at the 1:37 time stamp to see if this deadline applies to your district. Districts can use their allotted virtual learning for any 60-minute session(s) in the Professional Learning Catalog.  You do not need to hold the session by Dec. 31, but you do need to schedule it before then so that it does not expire.  

September

2: KSDE offices closed in observance of Labor Day. 

3: Counting KIDS Workshop, 1-4:30 p.m., Kansas City USD 500 Central Office. Email auditing@ksde.org with questions.

4: Counting KIDS Workshop, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m., Olathe USD 233 Instructional Resource Center. Email auditing@ksde.org with questions. 

5: Blue-Ribbon Task Force on Student Screen Time, 4-5:30 p.m. Click here to access the livestream.

5: Counting KIDS Workshop, 1-4:30 p.m., Andover USD 385 District Office Board Room. Email auditing@ksde.org with questions. 

5: School Transportation informational meeting, 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Bishop Professional Development Center, Topeka. Questions? Contact Keith Dreiling at kdreiling@ksde.org or (785) 296-4567.