LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Department of Education held an inaugural session of the Kentucky English Learner Leadership Summit in Lexington on July 7, bringing together district leaders to share resources and collaborate on serving the state's rapidly growing population of multilingual students.

The new full-day conference, designed for English learner directors, coordinators and other leaders, represents the department's effort to support educators managing an unprecedented surge in enrollment. From 2017 to 2025, English learner enrollment has grown by more than 25,000 students in Kentucky, an 89% increase.

Will Spalding, multilingual learner specialist in the KDE's Office of Teaching and Learning, said the summit aimed to share updated guidance and resources with English learner leaders while providing opportunities for collaboration. "It was great to host educators with so many different perspectives," Spalding said. "We want to create more opportunities to highlight the important work that districts are doing to support multilingual learners."

The event followed the first session of the summit in Owensboro on June 17, with both locations drawing substantial participation from districts across the state.

The centerpiece of the summit was the Kentucky Department of Education's recently updated English Learner Program Guidebook, which offers practical tools and clear guidance to strengthen instruction and support alignment with state and federal expectations. The revised guidebook includes new chapters on the World-class Instructional Design and Assessment English Language Development Standards Framework and practical guidance on supporting English learners in general education classrooms, including scaffolding strategies and accommodations for students with disabilities.

Niki Montgomery, a districtwide English language development teacher in Anderson County, said the updated resource represents a significant improvement. "When I first started in this position five years ago, that was the bible that I used because I didn't really know about the regulations in Kentucky. So this has been a major improvement because they are not just addressing the compliance components, but they're also including descriptions of the accommodations and types of scaffolding that teachers can use," Montgomery said.

KDE also recently started the English Learner Educator Connect newsletter and monthly "Voices from the Field" virtual office hours, where KDE staff highlight work by different districts on focused topics. The Lexington and Owensboro summits had great participation from districts of all sizes, from the smallest districts with fewer than 10 English learner students to their largest with more than 20,000.