{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-160.346","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 160.346","heading":"Definitions -- Targeted and comprehensive support and improvement --","body":"Revised plans -- Turnaround audit -- Removal of principal -- Review and\nreport -- Intervention process -- Professional learning requirement -- Adoption\nof evidence -based curricu lum and selection of high -quality instructional\nresources -- Exit criteria -- Schools requiring rigorous support and action --\nDistrict with significant number of targeted schools -- Evidence of violation --\nRestoration of school's right to establish council.\n(1) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Department\" means the Kentucky Department of Education;\n(b) \"ESSA\" means the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114 -95,\nor its successor;\n(c) \"Level\" means elementary, middle, or high school;\n(d) \"Turnaround\" means a comprehensive transformation of a school to achieve\naccelerated, meaningful, and sustainable increases in student achievement\nthrough improved school leadership and school district support;\n(e) \"Turnaround plan\" means a mandatory scho ol plan that is designed to\nimprove student learning and performance with evidence -based interventions\nas defined in ESSA and that is developed and implemented by the local\nschool district in partnership with stakeholders, including the principal, other\nschool leaders, teachers, and parents; and\n(f) \"Turnaround team\" means the turnaround training and support team described\nin subsection (9)(a) of this section.\n(2) (a) The department shall annually identify a school for targeted support and\nimprovement if th e school has one (1) or more of the same subgroups, as\ndefined by ESSA, whose performance in the state accountability system by\nlevel is at or below that of all students in any of the lowest -performing five\npercent (5%) of all schools for three (3) consecutive years.\n(b) Beginning with the 2021 -2022 school year, and every three (3) years\nthereafter, the department shall identify a school for additional targeted\nsupport and improvement if the school has one (1) or more subgroups, as\ndefined by ESSA, whose performance in the  state accountability system by\nlevel is at or below the summative performance of all students in any of the\nlowest-performing five percent (5%) of all schools identified under subsection\n(3)(a) of this section and the school was identified in the immediat ely\npreceding year for targeted support and improvement as described in\nparagraph (a) of this subsection.\n(3) The department shall annually identify a school for comprehensive support and\nimprovement if the school is:\n(a) In the lowest-performing five percent (5%) of all schools in its level based on\nthe school's performance in the state accountability system;\n(b) A high school with a four (4) year cohort graduation rate that is less than\neighty percent (80%); or\n(c) Identified by the department for additio nal targeted support and improvement\nunder subsection (2)(b) of this section and fails to exit additional targeted\nsupport and improvement status based on criteria established under subsection\n(12) of this section.\n(4) (a) When a school is identified for t argeted support and improvement under\nsubsection (2)(a) of this section, the local school personnel, working with\nstakeholders, including the principal, other school leaders, teachers, and\nparents, shall revise its school improvement plan, which shall be s ubject to\nreview and approval by the local board of education.\n(b) Each revised plan shall be informed by all available indicators, including\nstudent performance compared to long-term goals, and shall include:\n1. Components of turnaround leadership development and support;\n2. Identification of critical resource inequities;\n3. Evidence-based interventions; and\n4. Additional actions that address the causes of consistently\nunderperforming subgroups of students.\n(c) If adequate performance progress, as defined by the department, is not made,\nthe local school district shall take additional action to assist and support the\nschool in reaching performance goals.\n(5) When a school is identified for additional targeted support and improvement under\nsubsection (2)(b) o f this section, the local school district shall take more rigorous\ndistrict-determined action to assist and support the school in reaching performance\ngoals.\n(6) (a) When a school is identified for comprehensive support and improvement, an\naudit shall be p erformed by the department to diagnose the causes of the\nschool's low performance.\n(b) The audit conducted under this subsection shall be the only comprehensive\naudit required for a school unless the school fails to exit comprehensive\nsupport and improvement status as described in subsection (12) of this section\nor exits comprehensive support and improvement status but subsequently\nrepeats as a school identified for comprehensive support and improvement.\n(7) When a school is identified for targeted support and improvement or\ncomprehensive support and improvement for two (2) or more consecutive years, the\nsuperintendent may remove the principal.\n(8) (a) The audit conducted by the department under subsection (6) of this section\nshall include:\n1. A diagnosis of  the causes of the school's low performance, with an\nemphasis on underperforming subgroups of students and corresponding\ncritical resource inequities;\n2. An assessment and recommendation to the superintendent regarding the\nbest strategies to address the school's specific needs;\n3. An assessment of the interaction and relationship among the\nsuperintendent, central office personnel, and the school principal;\n4. A recommendation of the steps the school may implement to launch and\nsustain a turnaround process;\n5. A recommendation to the local board of education of the turnaround\nprinciples and strategies necessary for the superintendent to assist the\nschool with turnaround; and\n6. An assessment and recommendation to the superintendent regarding the\nprincipal's capacity to lead the turnaround effort in the school.\n(b) The report of an audit conducted under this subsection shall be provided to the\nsuperintendent, local board of education, school principal, commissioner of\neducation, and the Kentucky Board of Education.\n(9) After completion of the audit described in subsection (8) of this section, each school\nidentified for comprehensive support and improvement shall engage in the\nfollowing turnaround intervention process:\n(a) The superintendent and principal shall collaborate with the department to\ncreate a turnaround training and support team for the school identified for\ncomprehensive support and improvement. The local board of education shall\napprove the turnaround team;\n(b) The authority of the school council granted under KRS 160.345 shall be\ntransferred to the superintendent;\n(c) The superintendent shall select a principal for the school if a principal\nvacancy occurs. The superintendent shall consult with the turnaround te am,\nparents, certified staff, and classified staff before appointing a principal\nreplacement;\n(d) Upon recommendation of the principal, the superintendent may reassign\ncertified staff members to a comparable position in the school district;\n(e) The superin tendent shall collaborate with the turnaround team to design\nongoing turnaround training and support for the principal and a corresponding\nmonitoring system of effectiveness and student achievement results;\n(f) The principal shall collaborate with the turn around team to establish an\nadvisory leadership team representing school stakeholders including other\nschool leaders, teachers, and parents;\n(g) 1. In consultation with the department, the local school board shall\ncollaborate with the superintendent, princ ipal, turnaround team, and the\nadvisory leadership team to propose a three (3) year turnaround plan.\n2. The turnaround plan shall include requests to the department for\nexemptions from submitting documentation that are identified by the\nprincipal, advisory leadership team, and turnaround team as inhibitors to\ninvesting time in innovative instruction and accelerated student\nachievement of diverse learners including ongoing staff instructional\nplans, student interventions, formative assessment results, or sta ff\neffectiveness processes.\n3. The turnaround plan shall be reviewed for approval by the\nsuperintendent and the local board of education and shall be subject to\nreview, approval, monitoring, and periodic review by the department as\ndescribed in KRS 158.782;\n(h) The school district may request technical assistance from the department for\ndevelopment and implementation of the turnaround plan, which may include\nconducting needs assessments, selecting evidence -based interventions, and\nreviewing and addressing resource inequities;\n(i) The turnaround plan shall be fully implemented by the first full day of the\nschool year following the school year the school was identified for\ncomprehensive support and improvement; and\n(j) The superintendent shall periodically rep ort to the local school board, and at\nleast annually to the commissioner of education, on the implementation and\nresults of the turnaround plan.\n(10) The department shall establish required professional learning for teachers of\nstudents in schools identifi ed for comprehensive support and improvement.\nRequired professional learning shall be related to evidence -based practices in\ninstruction, instructional materials implementation, and assessment for reading and\nmathematics and aligned to Kentucky academic st andards required by KRS\n158.6453.\n(11) Each superintendent or public charter school board of directors shall adopt\nevidence-based curriculum and select high -quality instructional resources for\nschools identified for comprehensive support and improvement. H igh-quality\ninstructional materials selected by the superintendent shall be determined by the\ndepartment to be reliable, valid, and aligned to Kentucky academic standards\nrequired by KRS 158.6453 for reading and mathematics.\n(12) The Kentucky Board of Educ ation shall establish annual statewide exit criteria for\nschools identified for targeted support and improvement, additional targeted support\nand improvement, and comprehensive support and improvement.\n(13) If a school enters comprehensive support and impr ovement status and does not\nmake any annual improvement, as determined by the department, for two (2)\nconsecutive years, or if the school does not exit the status after three (3) years, the\nschool shall enter a school intervention process chosen by the com missioner of\neducation that provides more rigorous support and action by the department to\nimprove the school's performance.\n(14) For school districts that include a significant number of schools, as determined by\nthe department, identified for targeted support and improvement:\n(a) The department shall periodically review a local board's resource allocations\nto support school improvement and provide technical assistance to the local\nschool board; and\n(b) The department may provide a recommended list of turn around or school\nintervention providers that have demonstrated success implementing\nevidence-based strategies.\n(15) If, in the course of a school audit, the audit team identifies information suggesting\nthat a violation of KRS 160.345(9)(a) may have occurre d, the commissioner of\neducation shall forward the evidence to the Office of Education Accountability for\ninvestigation.\n(16) A school's right to establish a council granted under KRS 160.345 may be restored\nby the local board of education two (2) years af ter the school exits comprehensive\nsupport and improvement status.","path":["KRS Chapter 160"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56761","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:08Z","sha256":"bdf041c68c3af0bdd8accb0eb3dff85ca7f0f5c88df9d22d9f598957e4e21bd7","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-160.345","next":"us-ky/krs-160.347"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}