Feature Story

Giving districts and school systems the chance to focus on their school improvement initiatives going into the 2025-26 school year was the intent of the reimagined Great Ideas in Education Conference held this week in Wichita. 

“We have to stay true to systems and processes,” Dr. Renee Nugent, KSDE deputy commissioner of the division of learning services, told the crowd of more than 400 attendees. “Your processes are important, but your people are more important.” 

Several photos of the same rainbow were captured on Thursday of this week and posted on the Maize USD 266 Facebook page, including one taken by Kathy Massell, director of transportation for the district. 

Combining physics, competitiveness and good, old-fashioned teamwork have proven to be a winning strategy for Morgan Berkgren’s students in Oakley USD 274.  

With Berkgren’s encouragement and unwavering support, these enterprising and driven middle and high school students find success year after year in regional, state and the global KidWind Challenges, a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competition that highlights wind as a renewable energy. 

Todd Roberts believes anyone who wants to become a teacher has a story to tell. 

“And the stories they have are amazing,” he said. 

As director of the Kansas Future Teachers Academy (KFTA) and an instructor of education at Emporia State University, Roberts has had a front row seat to the stories of Kansas high school and college students who want to teach, some who have had to overcome obstacles.  

In the latest episode of the KSDE Insight Podcast, Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson and his guests explore the growing concern of chronic absenteeism and its impact on student success.