{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-156.565","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 156.565","heading":"Definitions for section -- Principal leadership development practicum --","body":"Administrative regulations.\n(1) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Department\" means the Kentucky Department of Education; and\n(b) \"Principal\" means a person who:\n1. Is the primary administrator and instructional leader of a public school\nor program;\n2. Supervises students and school employees; and\n3. Is selected by the district's superintendent pursuant to KRS 160.345.\n(2) There is hereby established the principal leadership  development practicum to\nprovide all new principals within the first four (4) years of experience in the\nposition with leadership development training. It is the intent of the General\nAssembly to ensure that a school district or principal incurs no cost f or the\nparticipation in the practicum and the principal receives a stipend toward the cost of\nthe third year of the practicum. The Kentucky Department of Education shall\ndevelop and operate the practicum, subject to the following provisions:\n(a) The practicum shall operate based on cohorts of new principals and offer four\n(4) years of leadership development training with specific requirements in\neach year. The department shall annually establish a calendar for the operation\nof the practicum;\n(b) Each year's cohort of new principals shall consist of those people who first\nbecame principals by September 1 of each year;\n(c) The department shall establish the minimum requirements for successful\ncompletion of each year, including hours of instruction o r specific work\nproducts;\n(d) The first and second year of the practicum shall provide professional learning\nand mentorship supports to new principals, subject to the following:\n1. The mentors shall have significant and successful experience as a\nprincipal and may be currently employed in a school district or retired.\nThe mentors shall provide ongoing support to the new principals\nthrough the first and second school year with regular personal sessions\nto provide individualized support to the new principal;\n2. The mentorship shall also provide the cohort of new principals an\nopportunity to build a peer support network;\n3. The professional learning provided by the department shall be aligned to\nthe most recent professional standards adopted by the National Pol icy\nBoard for Educational Administration and include, at a minimum, the\nfollowing topics:\na. Personnel evaluation and feedback;\nb. School-based decision making and school councils;\nc. Implementation of instructional leadership, high -quality\ninstructional materials, and curriculum alignment;\nd. Assessment and accountability;\ne. Multitiered systems of support;\nf. Services for exceptional children and youth; and\ng. School safety; and\n4. Professional learning under subparagraph 3. of this paragraph shall\nutilize any existing trainings required in administrative regulation or\nstatute or developed by the department. Additional professional learning\ndeveloped by the department shall first be approved by the Kentucky\nBoard of Education;\n(e) The third year of the pra cticum shall require, as funds are available, that the\nnew principal participate in an intensive leadership program during the\nsummer with follow -up sessions throughout the following year. The\nleadership program shall be established by the department in pa rtnership with\nthe Kentucky Chamber Foundation. A new principal shall be exempted from\nthe requirements of this paragraph if:\n1. The new principal misses the intensive leadership program during the\nsummer due to illness or an emergency;\n2. The absence is a pproved by the superintendent of the school district in\nwhich the new principal is employed; and\n3. The new principal completes an alternative program established by the\ndepartment; and\n(f) The fourth year of the practicum shall not be mandatory but shall provide\nhigh-level leadership training options for new principals. The department shall\nestablish the standards for training providers and the trainings under this\nparagraph, including the number of hours required. The department shall\nmaintain a list of t raining providers who are eligible to provide the high -level\nleadership training and make it available to new principals; and\n(g) After the fourth year, each principal shall continue leadership development\nthrough the effective instructional leadership pro gram established in KRS\n156.101.\n(3) A principal may submit the participant hours of instruction that the principal earns\nunder this section during a year toward the twenty -one (21) participant hours\nrequired by the effective instructional leadership prog ram established in KRS\n156.101. The department shall grant program credit for the verified hours the\nprincipal submits.\n(4) If a person discontinues serving as a principal during the first four (4) years of\nservice and subsequently returns to a principal p osition, then that person shall\ncontinue the new principal program for the year in which the person was previously\nparticipating.\n(5) The principal leadership development practicum required under this section shall\nbegin on July 1, 2027, for the 2027 -2028 school year with a cohort of principals\nwith less than one (1) year of experience in the position. Subsequent cohorts shall\nbe admitted as provided in subsection (2) of this section.\n(6) The Kentucky Board of Education may promulgate administrative regulat ions in\naccordance with KRS Chapter 13A for the operation of the section.","path":["KRS Chapter 156"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57895","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:00Z","sha256":"f016c189b1341175065b5847aba0b00b8a2704cf37df5f3a634d9ccbe2db6828","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-156.560","next":"us-ky/krs-156.610"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}