By Jay Scott, KSDE accreditation and design team  

The December KESA virtual update, along with information about the 2026-27 School Improvement Days and the protocols for the cancellation of School Improvement Days due to inclement weather are included in the following update from the KSDE accreditation and design team.  

KESA virtual monthly update scheduled for Dec. 8  

The KESA December monthly virtual update is Monday, Dec. 8, at 10:30 a.m. Join the session here on Zoom. Discussion items include feedback from the School Improvement Days (more than 30 completed by Dec. 8) and KESA action plan trends to this point in the year.    

Information about the 2026-27 School Improvement Days  

In partnership with the education service centers (ESC), the KSDE accreditation and design team has finalized the 2026-27 School Improvement Day dates. Only the dates and the systems attending have been finalized for the 2026-27 school year.   

The default location is the ESC listed but, beginning next school year, systems have the option to host their respective School Improvement Day because KSDE will not be paying registration costs for school system district leadership team (DLT) members to attend in 2026-27 as we did during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. We wanted to get this information out early, so systems interested in hosting can formally indicate their interest to the KSDE accreditation and design team prior to finalizing the schedule by this February.    

2026-27 schedule and guidance document for hosting School Improvement Days  

2026-2027 School Improvement Days Schedule (dates and systems are finalized): Find your system’s School Improvement Day date and SAVE THE DATE now. Regardless of whether a service center or another system in your cohort is hosting, this is the date of your School Improvement Day, so please mark your calendars accordingly.  

Hosting a School Improvement Day Guidance Document: You only need to read through this document if your system is interested in hosting your cohort’s 2026-27 School Improvement Day. It outlines the process to submit your intent to host and the expectations/requirements/cost agreements a system must agree to and have in place to host a School Improvement Day.    

Both of these resources are posted prominently on the Accreditation webpage (bookmark if you haven’t done so already). If you have any questions regarding the 2026-27 schedule or the “Hosting an SI Day” resource, contact Jay Scott, jay.scott@ksde.gov.  

Canceling a School Improvement Day protocol  

As the first snow arrived this week, we wanted to remind everyone of our protocol for cancelling a School Improvement Day. Whether your system can’t make your assigned day due to unforeseen circumstances, or the host site is closed for any reason, here is the protocol we’ll follow.   

Contact Jay Scott, jay.scott@ksde.gov, with questions.