Kentucky Administrators’ School Reopening Planning Guide for 2020–21

It’s clear that “back-to-school” will take on a whole new meaning this academic year. Whether students return to campus, log in from home, or a mixture of both, your return-to-learn plan should incorporate best practices that prioritize safety and success. To support you during this planning process, we’ve curated a list of our best resources and recommended solutions aligned to the goals of Kentucky's Reopening Guidance Resources.

Utilize School Reopening Guidance Resources from the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE)

Coronavirus Information Hub for Kentucky Schools
Consider this page your one-stop shop for guidance and resources from the KDE.

GEER Guidance
Learn more about the $30 million available to Kentucky schools (via the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER)) to support learning this year.

Plan for Family Preferences and the Effects on Student Enrollment

If your plan includes students returning to campus for in-person classes, there will probably be a percentage of families that will decide to keep their learners at home. There also may be teachers who won’t feel comfortable returning. Consider surveying your district faculty, staff, and families to gauge their feelings and preferences. Their responses will likely call for you to design a program that leads with flexibility and agility.

Edmentum Courseware provides completely customizable digital curriculum that, with the guidance and support of your own teaching staff at the helm, will allow you to provide both in-person and virtual instruction, and pivot swiftly between them. Consider the many different ways that online curriculum can be used with our online curriculum guide.

Additionally, if virtual instructional services are needed, our EdOptions Academy allows for a fully accredited learning option that keeps students in your district and provides a Kentucky-certified virtual teacher. You may pay for only the course enrollments you need with post-pay billing options. Use our Virtual Learning workbook to evaluate if a virtual implementation is the best option for your school.

Establish an Academic Baseline

Students will begin the 2020–21 school year with larger gaps in learning and a greater variety of learning needs than most educators have had to navigate in their teaching careers. Assessments that evaluate each student’s starting point, strengths, and weaknesses are essential for learning.

Using an adaptive diagnostic assessment, Exact Path works to understand each student’s specific competencies and skill gaps regardless of grade level and then meets students where they are by automatically creating an individualized learning playlist for each student. Review our step-by-step guide to help develop your own personalized learning plan.

Study Island also offers brand-new Kentucky benchmark assessments to help you assess standards proficiency for specific grade levels and subjects. Each fixed-form assessment is built from your state’s standards and guided by your state assessment blueprint.  

Identify Essential On-Grade Concepts and Skills

Whether instruction occurs in the physical classroom or virtually, use Study Island to make sure students that are mastering your state’s standards. Study Island offers K–12 formative assessments and meaningful practice to build proficiency with embedded high-stakes test preparation. Use this formative assessment workbook to plan for effective, data-driven instruction.

Address Learning Loss

As a result of COVID-19 school closures, compounded by the yearly “summer learning slide,” some students will return to school with up to six months of learning loss. Build resources into your plan to help students recover and close the achievement gap.

Use our Credit Recovery Program Planning Worksheet to discern how you can set up or enhance your current offerings for those in need. Courseware offers proven curriculum perfect for credit or unit recovery.

It’s also a well-known fact that a strong foundation in literacy is key to future academic success in any subject. Reading Eggs offers learn-to-read support for your youngest students. Leverage our Reading & Literacy workbook for even more support in ensuring that students are on track to become successful and lifelong readers.

Prepare for Potential Future Distance Learning

Virtual learning comes in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing every variety has in common is the need for parental support to amplify success. This parent guide unpacks eight challenges you may be facing and accompanies them with best practices to help you facilitate learning successfully.

Looking for online programs to help your school or district improve outcomes for all students? Check out Edmentum's suite of K–12, evidence-based assessments and digital curriculum, and see why 8,000 U.S. school districts proudly partner with us.