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Fayette County outlines local accountability work as House Bill 257 reshapes state testing
Summary
Dr. Bill Bradford told the board that House Bill 257 enables locally developed accountability indicators and removes certain statewide writing and climate survey components; the district will develop a public dashboard and emphasize a districtwide writing program and curriculum-embedded assessments.
FAYETTE COUNTY, Ky.
Dr. Bill Bradford, the district's assessment and accountability lead, briefed the Fayette County Board of Education on April 27 about changes in Kentucky's assessment system under House Bill 257 and what the district will do in response.
"House Bill 257 is the outcome of the most recent legislative session," Bradford said, and it permits districts to develop local indicators of quality, create a publicly available online display (dashboard) of those indicators and adopt priorities that reflect local needs.
Key points Bradford highlighted include a permissive local accountability model (the law uses "may" rather than "shall"), technical assistance from the Kentucky Department of Education and a possible one-time payment to districts to offset model development costs. For 2026-27, Bradford said the state will remove some writing-related components and the statewide quality-of-school-climate and safety survey from the Kentucky Summative Assessment; the alternate assessment (AKSA) will see similar removals for students with the most significant exceptionalities.
New accountability metrics: Bradford said the revised system will add chronic absenteeism (defined as missing 10 percent or more of school time, excused or unexcused) as a public indicator and will incorporate individual student growth in reading and math. He noted other publicly reported measures will include educator credentialing metrics, the percentage of 8th graders earning high-school credit and FAFSA completion rates for graduating seniors.
District priorities and supports: Bradford described immediate district priorities that align with the law, including strengthening a districtwide writing program with board policy to define components, and continuing investment in curriculum-embedded interim assessments and paired-assessment platforms to measure growth and support instruction.
Board questions: Vice Chair Amy Green asked whether the district plans to continue collecting student perspective data about climate and safety locally once the statewide survey is removed. Bradford said district leaders intend to replicate or adapt the survey locally to maintain information on student well-being, safety and belonging.
What comes next: Bradford said the district will continue co-creating the local accountability indicators with community and school stakeholders and will work toward publicly reporting the chosen measures and goals on a dashboard that communicates progress.
