A new version of Kentucky Teacher launched on April 4, 2022. Kentucky Teacher is the flagship publication of the Kentucky Department of Education. Photo by Danielle Harris.
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) launched a new version of their flagship publication, Kentucky Teacher, on April 4. Over the course of nearly two years, KDE has been working on a redesign of the site.
The goal of the redesign is to make the website more user friendly and accessible to everyone. It also features a clean layout, new colors and new logos. Kentucky Teacher staff are continuing to expand the publication’s reach to includes as many students, educators, families and community stakeholders as possible.
“We first started working on this redesign several months before the pandemic and discussed different ideas and versions in order to deliver on our promise to highlight the strengths and triumphs of Kentucky’s public schools,” said Toni Konz Tatman, chief communications officer at KDE. “Telling the stories of our students, school employees and districts is important now more than ever. You will continue to see feature stories and news coverage from various KDE meetings, but you will also begin to see how our students and schools are benefitting from more than $2 billion in federal pandemic relief funding.”
Kentucky Teacher also will continue to share more stories about KDE’s groundbreaking vision for the future of public education, United We Learn. This vision builds around three central themes: creating a more vibrant experience for every student, encouraging innovation in our schools – especially when it comes to assessment, and creating a bold new future for Kentucky’s schools through collaboration with our communities. Kentucky Teacher will contribute to this vision by sharing stories on education stakeholders from all backgrounds and provide updates and insights on United We Learn.
When it first launched decades ago, KDE published Kentucky Teacher to communicate directly with the state’s 45,000 public school teachers. The stories of this award-winning publication include news, features, perspectives and practical, workable ideas for guiding students to higher levels of achievement.
Kentucky Teacher’s subscriber list has grown to about 150,000 people every week. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was receiving more than 100,000 hits a month on the website. On average, it currently gets between 40,000 to 50,000 hits a month.
“Despite its name, I want Kentucky Teacher to be a place that amplifies the voices of not only teachers, but also students, families, community members and all education stakeholders,” said Kentucky Teacher Editor Jackie Thompson. “I hope it will continue to demonstrate what these individuals need to be successful and highlights the incredible triumphs happening among them every day.”
If you have a story you would like to see on Kentucky Teacher, or you would like to submit a guest column for consideration, email Jackie Thompson or kentuckyteacher@education.ky.gov and subscribe to the newsletter to stay up to date on all thing KDE.
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