News Releases

Our press releases provide timely, accurate information about key initiatives, policy updates, and important events in Kansas education. They serve as an official source for news and announcements from the Kansas State Department of Education, helping educators, families, and communities stay informed about developments that impact schools statewide.

The Kansas State Department of Education’s new division of accountability and technology is intended to create a coherent, sustainable approach to the school improvement model K-12 education systems are employing to raise student achievement.

Dr. Renee Nugent, deputy commissioner of the KSDE division of learning services, said school improvement has always included accountability and a system of supports for filling gaps in the processes and resources needed to improve student success. However, she said in order to take a more systemic, objective approach to increase student achievement, accountability and supports work best if carried out by teams in different divisions.

 “It's just separating the emotion from the true data,” she said. “We're separating that compliance versus true achievement measures into two buckets, and I think that is the difference. It's really hard to support districts, and then also try to be objective in the measurement part. It’s putting all of the current departments we have under the right division that can produce what we need for the field to be the most successful.”

The Kansas State Board of Education approved the new division of accountability and technology during their May meeting along with the appointment of Dr. Zach Conrad to lead the division. He will oversee the design and continuous improvement of state and federal accountability systems, ensure timely and transparent reporting of education data, and lead the state’s assessment and research efforts. He also will direct KSDE’s enterprise technology systems, supporting secure and reliable infrastructure that meets the needs of schools and stakeholders statewide. 

Nugent said the decision was made to separate KSDE’s evaluation and assessment team and create a new implementation and supports team, formerly accreditation and design. This new team will concentrate on all the mechanisms of school improvement.

She said the bottom line is districts and systems are going to be held accountable for their outcomes with an equal amount of support to raise student achievement.

“It isn't accountability without any support or explanation,” she said. “It’s ‘here's what we expect, and here's how we're going to support you in meeting those expectations. We're here to support and work with you’.” 

Nugent said over the next few months, the career, standards, and assessment services (CSAS) team will become teaching and learning (TAL). The special education and title services (SETS) team will become special education and title services staff will be split between the compliance and school improvement teams.