UK Center for Next Generation Leadership

09/23/2026

What changes when a district stops treating its Portrait of a Learner as a new initiative and starts treating it as a lens: the organizing frame through which everything already in place begins to cohere?

On September 11, the Kentucky CAO/Learning Leaders' Network convened instructional leaders from across the commonwealth to sit with that question together. Clark County Schools shared their multi-year Portrait of a Learner journey not as a highlight reel, but rather as an honest account of what community-defined, systems-level implementation actually requires.

That account included a deliberate pause. Midway through Year 2, building walkthroughs and student conversations revealed uneven uptake. The team made a principled call to slow down. To revisit, deepen, and build new structures before moving forward. Two years of that patient groundwork later, the challenge for staff this year is simply to live it.

That's what it looks like when a system builds for coherence rather than compliance. The Kentucky CAO/Learning Leaders' Network is an open community of practice for district instructional leaders across the state, and this is the kind of peer-to-peer work it exists to support.

If this is the conversation your district has been looking for, reach out to Carmen Coleman ([email protected]) or Susan Dugle ([email protected]) at UK Next Gen.

Clark County Public Schools

09/22/2026

Justin Bathon's travels surfaced something worth sitting with: some countries are doubling down on standardized, top-down systems, while others are moving toward deeper learning and broader competencies. He says Kentucky is swimming upstream, in the best sense.

Rather than leaning on charter networks the way other states have, Kentucky has tried something harder: moving the core of the public system itself.

What would it take for your own district to make that shift, without carving out a separate track to do it?

Read how he connects that to what's happening in Kentucky classrooms today:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/where-kentucky-stands-global-shift-toward-deeper-learning-flcse/?trackingId=EdNJ2WDbmFEnTB4RHwnaSA%3D%3D

In April of 1990, Kentucky decided to rebuild its entire public education system. The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) signed by Governor Wallace Wilkinson aimed to fundamentally change Kentucky’s education system so that every student had access to a high-quality education and was held to hig...

09/21/2026

Day 2 of the UK Next Gen Leadership Academy centered on a question that sounds simple and isn’t: what makes teaching joyful, and what gets in the way?

Two practitioners from Shelby County High School , Casey Page and Bobby Caranna, shared what happened when they began rethinking what teaching could look like.

Casey Page, the 2024 National High School PE Teacher of the Year, built his program around a simple goal: get students moving outside the classroom for the rest of their lives. He earned his commercial driver’s license so he could take students to disc golf courses, hiking trails, rock climbing walls, and ski slopes, making those experiences part of the actual class.

Bobby Caranna created a two-credit multimedia English and journalism course where students wrote research papers, produced documentaries, and designed projects of their own. Her role became less about having all the answers and more about asking the right questions.

Both were good teachers before they became vibrant ones. The shift came through reflection, feedback, and the freedom to rethink what wasn’t working. Administrators who said yes more than no, colleagues willing to offer honest feedback, and a district willing to encourage educators to think bigger all helped create the conditions for that growth.

We want to give a big thanks to Casey and Bobby for sharing their experience with the Next Gen Leadership Academy!

Shelby County Public Schools

09/15/2026

Day 1 of SFMI (School Financial Management Institute) is in the books, and it did not disappoint!

Finance Officers from every corner of Kentucky packed into KDE in Frankfort for the first time this crew has all been in one room. Round two in-person starts tomorrow. Day 3, we're ready for you!

Learn more about the program here: https://nextgen.uky.edu/sfmi

09/09/2026

“It definitely transitioned Kentucky from a stagnant, low-performing state, honestly that’s where we were, to nationally respected,"

That's how UK Next Gen's Justin Bathon describes what KERA did for Kentucky's education system nearly 40 years ago.

Bathon spent this summer with education leaders across Europe, and he's got a new read on where the state stands now: further along in the global shift toward deeper learning than most people realize.

Watch the full conversation and read the article here:

In April of 1990, Kentucky decided to rebuild its entire public education system. The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) signed by Governor Wallace Wilkinson aimed to fundamentally change Kentucky’s education system so that every student had access to a high-quality education and was held to hig...

09/02/2026

Fifteen years of showing up for Kentucky educators. That's what UK Next Gen is built on.

We're a team inside the University of Kentucky College of Education, and our work is simple to name but hard to do: partner with districts across the Commonwealth to build schools that work for every student. Not programs. Systems. Built alongside educators, not delivered to them.

Since 2019 alone, we've worked with 110 Kentucky districts, supported 643 Leadership Academy participants, and walked with 241 teachers through rank change. The work looks different in every community — because communities are different, and that's exactly the point.

Tag a Kentucky educator who should know about this work.

08/28/2026

Our Next Generation Scholars started their first college courses this week, right from their own high school classrooms.

Dual-credit work asks a lot: keeping up with a college syllabus on top of a full high school schedule. One week in, these students are already finding their footing, and we're glad to be part of that first stretch with them.

Here's to a strong semester ahead.

08/27/2026

"What kind of education do Kentuckians want for their children?"

That question launched Kentucky United We Learn in 2022. UK Next Gen has been part of the work ever since: helping districts listen to their communities, define what student success actually means locally, and build systems that reflect those answers.

We believe communities define success. Not the state. Not the district alone. The community.

What does a graduate from your district look like?

Drop one quality in the comments.

08/26/2026

👏🏻

08/12/2026

Welcome back to the classroom! 🍎

UK Next Gen wants to give a warm welcome to school leaders, teachers, and students back for a new year of learning, growth, and possibility!

The work of creating strong schools and communities starts with the people who show up every day, in classrooms, hallways, and central offices, working together to make a difference.

Here’s to a year of shared leadership, steady progress, and learning shaped by what matters most to each community!

Wishing everyone a great start to the school year! 💙