October 15 state release shows accountability gains at both campuses
The assistant superintendent report says Kentucky released 2025-26 accountability data on October 15.
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Saturday, October 24, 2026
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Latest national stories
Syosset Central School District
State plans to end Regents exams as a graduation requirement
On Oct. 13, 2026 the district presented New York State's proposed graduation changes ("NY Inspires"): Regents exams would no longer be required to graduate starting in 2027-28, there would be one diploma statewide (January 2028), and credits would be based on showing skills instead of seat time. Personal finance becomes required in 2026-27.
Williamsville Central School District
District to write AI best practices; expert visits Dec. 1-2
On Oct. 13, 2026 the superintendent said the district will build AI best practices and procedures. AI expert Dr. Tony Frontier will meet student and parent groups Dec. 1 and the board Dec. 2. Board members have asked what training and guardrails teachers and students will get.
Board to consider floriculture textbook for Lindhurst High floral-design classes
The October 13 agenda proposed adopting *Floriculture: Design & Merchandising*, Fourth Edition, for use at Lindhurst High School in 2026–27. The proposed text covers floral design principles, flower care, arranging techniques, career opportunities and floristry operations.
Blue Valley Unified School District 229
Two middle schools launch a more structured career-exploration program
Blue Valley is launching a career-exploration and durable-skills effort at Aubry Bend Middle School and Wolf Springs Middle School this quarter. The plan connects coursework with career pathways and has eighth-graders use Xello career-interest lessons before beginning individual plans of study.
Blue Valley Unified School District 229
Blue Valley elementary schools begin a new social-emotional learning program
Blue Valley has selected CharacterStrong as its core social-emotional and behavior-learning resource for elementary schools, and implementation is underway. Staff training was completed over the summer, with elementary staff beginning lessons during a September professional-learning day.
District secures $236,177 grant to expand its welding program
Benzie County Central Schools secured a three-year career and technical education grant to grow its welding program and transition it toward a fully certified CTE course. The grant can fund salaries, equipment, protective gear, supplies, professional development and curriculum, but not building infrastructure.
Dodge City Unified School District 443
USD 443 begins planning possible expansion of community pre-K
USD 443 has begun planning a possible expansion of pre-K classrooms for the broader community, potentially starting next school year; no rollout has been approved. Currently, fewer than half of incoming kindergarten students attended pre-K, and district access is limited to children who qualify for Head Start or at-risk programming.
Montgomery County Public Schools
MCPS pauses state daily-math requirement in middle schools
MCPS has paused implementation of MSDE’s requirement for 60 minutes of mathematics instruction each day in middle school. The update places the pause within changes to the middle-school Program of Study and gives no restart date.
More from the news desk
Willows Unified School District
WUSD proposes two new supplementary novels for Willows High School
The October 8 agenda proposes adding Tommy Orange’s *There There* and Colson Whitehead’s *The Nickel Boys* to Willows High School’s supplementary novels list. The recommendation is for English classes in grades 9–12 and followed an advisory review and a public-review period from August 28 to September 28, 2026.
CCSD approves $1 million for advanced machining labs at two high schools
The board approved two $500,000 Gene Haas Foundation grants to support Advanced Machining Labs at Cimarron-Memorial High School and Southeast Career and Technical Academy. The funding is designated for career and technical education at those two schools.
Highline adds three yearly language assessments for multilingual elementary students
Highline is expanding multilingual benchmark assessments to students in grades 2–5, adding three progress checks during the school year to its existing annual state assessment. The Flashlight assessment tracks speaking and writing so teachers can plan more targeted support for individual students.
Farmingdale Union Free School District
Superintendent says state plans to end Regents exams as a graduation rule from 2028
On Oct. 7 Superintendent Defendini said New York is moving to a single graduation pathway and, starting in 2028, Regents exams will no longer be required to graduate. He said the district is ready and already has career pathways such as medical assisting and cosmetology, with construction planned.
Hicksville Union Free School District
Grades 3-8 English test proficiency fell from 55% to 47%
A district slide says Hicksville's grades 3-8 ELA proficiency went from 55% to 47%. It says Nassau County fell about 13% in proficiency, so Hicksville's drop was smaller. The same meeting reviewed Regents and AP results.
Gridley Unified School District
Agenda proposes new novel for Sycamore Advanced ELA 8
The Oct. 7 agenda proposes adding Suzanne Collins’s *Sunrise on the Reaping* to Sycamore’s approved novels list for Advanced ELA 8. Its proposed use is limited to that course and is intended to increase rigor while building on students’ prior exposure to *The Hunger Games*.
Sequoia Union High School District
Sequoia High agenda proposes replacing apartheid-focused poems with Mexican Gothic
The Oct. 7 agenda proposes adopting *Mexican Gothic* as a new Sequoia High School literary text. It would replace poems by Sydney Sipho Sepamla focused on apartheid in South Africa, with teaching on Gothic fiction, postcolonial critique, and Latin American historical contexts.
Seattle proposes Naglieri tests for universal Grade 1 screening
Seattle Public Schools is considering the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test and Naglieri Quantitative Assessment for every first grader as part of its universal Highly Capable screening process. The proposed screening would begin in December 2026.
Oakland Unified School District
East Bay Innovation Academy seeks formal end to high-school grades
East Bay Innovation Academy is asking OUSD to amend its charter from grades 6–12 to grades 6–8; an initial public hearing is scheduled for November 6, 2026. The school had already suspended grades 9–12 for 2026–27 without board approval, and its presentation projects enrollment targets falling from 770 to 330 and 12 fewer teaching positions (document 97561).
Greece Central School District
New York plans to separate Regents exams from graduation requirements starting in 2028
The district’s Graduation Measures Committee reported that New York State plans to decouple Regents exams from graduation requirements beginning with the January 2028 graduating class. Greece has begun planning a local assessment approach to continue measuring proficiency in state learning standards, while the state is also planning new high-school ESSA assessments.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Aurora Borealis Charter receives conditional approval to add grades 9–10
Alaska DEED conditionally approved Aurora Borealis Charter School’s expansion from grades K–8 to K–10 for FY2027. Final approval by the State Board of Education was still pending for its October 13–14, 2026 meeting.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
State accepts Seward schools’ new name and grade ranges
Alaska DEED accepted the district’s request to rename Seward High School as Seward Middle/High School and expand its grades from 9–12 to 7–12; William H. Seward Elementary School will expand from PK–5 to PK–6 for FY2027. The accepted changes establish a new grade configuration across the two Seward schools.
San Diego Unified School District
Empower Language Academy approved to expand through eighth grade
The board renewed Empower Language Academy’s charter and approved adding grades 7 and 8. The expansion is scheduled to begin in the 2028–29 school year; the academy currently serves TK–6 and offers a two-way dual-language immersion program.
Central Islip Union Free School District
District says Regents exams will become optional under a single diploma plan
At the Oct. 5, 2026 meeting the curriculum office said the Board of Regents approved a plan in September to move to one diploma, with Regents exams optional as a way to show proficiency. More information is expected next month.
KHSD proposes new English-learner textbooks for grades 9–12
Kern High School District presented a proposed replacement textbook series for English Language Development courses ELD 1–5; the board heard it as a first reading and has not approved it. The district recommends Lift materials because its current provider is ending publication of materials for ELD 1, with a final approval recommendation expected at the next regular board meeting.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Application proposes converting Soldotna Elementary into a charter school
A revised application proposes converting Soldotna Elementary School into a K–6 charter for FY28, adding STREAM-focused instruction, dedicated science, music and PE specialists, and more school-level governance. It says the school would preserve neighborhood enrollment, special-education supports, district transportation and meals; the conversion remains proposed, not approved.
USD 232 proposes new CTE pathways for 2027–28
The district is presenting proposed high-school Career and Technical Education additions for 2027–28, including pathways in Aviation Maintenance and Operations, Corrections/Security/Law Enforcement, and Energy. The proposals also expand existing health science, software, early-childhood, and media pathways; final Board approval is expected in November.
Piscataway Township School District
ELA curriculum integrates foundational skills with reading and writing
A curriculum committee update describes a transformed ELA curriculum organized around weekly learning outcomes instead of end-of-unit reference expectations. Foundational skills are integrated with reading and writing, and grammar is embedded in the program rather than taught separately.
Hickman Mills moves districtwide literacy plan into implementation
Hickman Mills is moving its Every Child a Reader literacy initiative from planning into implementation across schools. The work includes strengthening writing instruction, classroom walkthroughs, educator goals, and recognition of effective practices, with a stated goal of every student becoming a proficient reader.
Plaza Elementary School District
District weighs taking over its mild/moderate special-education program
The October 1 board packet includes a preliminary proposal for Plaza Elementary School District to take over the TK–8 mild/moderate special-education program now operated by Glenn County Office of Education, potentially beginning July 1, 2027. The draft would shift service-delivery, staffing, and fiscal responsibilities to the district, but is explicitly marked “not for submission” and says key staffing, cost, and program information is still missing.
Anchor Bay approves bilingual course at three schools
The board approved a bilingual course at Middle School South, Middle School North, and Anchor Bay High School. It will provide English learners with literacy and math support and help them work toward English-language proficiency.
Three Village Central School District
State graduation change: Regents no longer a separate diploma requirement from class of 2028
Under New York's 'NY Inspires' plan, one diploma replaces the separate Local, Regents and Advanced diplomas. Starting with students who graduate in 2028, passing a set of Regents exams is no longer a separate requirement. Regents exams still continue as state measures. The district is building a local assessment plan.
Patchogue-Medford Union Free School District
Board talks about easing one-to-one devices for young students
On September 30, 2026 the board discussed technology use in classrooms and its effect on students. The superintendent said the district is already making a gentle shift away from one-to-one take-home devices for the youngest learners, who keep devices at school, and may extend that to older grades, without banning devices all at once.
Livingston Board of Education School District
Livingston lists new and revised courses across K–12 for 2026–27
Livingston’s opening-of-schools report lists new and revised curriculum for 2026–27 across elementary, middle, and high school. Changes include AP Physics 2 and two AP Physics C courses plus AP Business Principles at Livingston High School; middle-school math offerings; and elementary ELA and science curricula.
Trenton Public School District
185 seniors were denied graduation, and most of those who graduated cleared the state requirement by appeal rather than by passing the test
Preliminary 2026 cohort data presented on September 28, 2026 records 185 students denied graduation from a twelfth-grade class of 794. Of those who did graduate, the numbers passing the state test directly were far smaller than the numbers cleared through the portfolio appeals process: at Trenton Central High School 261 in English and 105 in mathematics passed the test against 211 and 329 through appeals, and at Capital City High School 107 and 106 came through appeals. Separately, 2026 eleventh-grade results reported in August put graduation readiness at 38 percent in English and 28.4 percent in mathematics, and the district was told by the state that the results it received contained errors.
Trenton Public School District
Trenton failed the state's accountability review on instruction and must file a district improvement plan by November 7
At the September 28, 2026 meeting the superintendent told the board the district's results from the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum review: 65 percent in instruction and programme, 95 percent in fiscal management, 100 percent in governance, 98 percent in operations and 81 percent in personnel. Because one area fell below the 80 percent threshold, state rules require the district to write a district improvement plan addressing the non-compliant indicators, and the superintendent gave the submission deadline as November 7. Committee chairs referred to it again later the same evening. This is the only place the result appears: no posted agenda, minutes or packet in the year records it, and the district's own accountability page carries nothing newer than 2016-17.
Bloomfield Hills approved new K–5 literacy resources
The Board approved adopting Volume of Reading and Geodes Decodables for K–5 literacy instruction. The $238,601.91 purchase will be paid from the General Fund using 35M funding.
Board passed second readings for writing and dyslexia policies
On September 28, the Board passed second readings titled District-Wide Writing Program and Dyslexia Identification, Intervention and Support Policy and Administrative Procedures.
Trenton Public School District
Trenton approves revised high-school catalog with changes to science graduation requirements
The board approved the 2026–27 high-school course catalog, amending its August agenda item to update dual-credit course names and revise science graduation requirements. The catalog lists 15 required science credits, with evidence-based courses covering physical, life, and Earth and space sciences, as well as engineering and technology.
Board approves Youth Solutions as Bath High School career-awareness curriculum
The board approved Youth Solutions as the high school career-awareness curriculum for Bath Community Schools. The minutes identify Bath High School as the affected level but provide no further detail about the program’s contents or implementation.
Dillingham City School District
Board approves new curriculum for Dillingham’s alternative pathway
The board approved curriculum for the district’s alternative program. The package includes semester-long, half-credit English courses built around full novels, with Alaska-focused projects and self-paced module options.
Niagara Falls City School District
New York plans one diploma and fewer Regents requirements, starting with the class of 2028
On September 24, 2026 staff explained the state's NY Inspires plan: one state diploma starting with 2028 graduates, new ways to show learning besides Regents tests, and rules expected to begin in 2027-28. Students must keep taking Regents exams until the state changes its rules. The district says its career pathways and seals at the high school put it in a good position.
Coventry approves a redesigned World Language curriculum
The School Committee approved the district’s World Language curriculum by a 5–0 vote. The curriculum, developed over five to six years, uses proficiency-based instruction and world-readiness standards, with proficiency targets, scope and sequence, scaffolding, and performance assessment.
Garden City Public Schools, USD 457
Garden City considers making Sports Med II a yearlong course
The board considered a proposal to increase Sports Med II from 0.5 to 1.0 credit, changing it from a semester course to a yearlong course. The September 24 meeting record says this was a first reading and that the item would return at a following meeting, so the change was not yet final.
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