The Kentucky Academic Standards contain the minimum required standards that all Kentucky students should have the opportunity to learn before graduating from Kentucky high schools. The standards address what is to be learned, but do not address how learning experiences are to be designed or what resources should be used.
Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) Purpose
The Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) Grades Primary-12 help ensure that all students across the commonwealth are focusing on a common set of standards and have opportunities to learn at a high level. This site provides administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in local districts with a basis for establishing and/or revising their curricula (for additional guidance, see Kentucky Model Curriculum Framework).
The instructional program should emphasize the development of students’ abilities to acquire and apply the standards and assure those appropriate accommodations are made for the diverse populations of students found within Kentucky schools. The resources found in this site specifies only the content for the required credits for high school graduation and primary, intermediate, and middle-level programs leading up to these requirements. Schools and school districts are charged with identifying the content for elective courses and designing instructional programs for all areas.
The purpose of the Kentucky Academic Standards is to outline the minimum content standards required for all students before graduating from Kentucky public high schools. Kentucky schools and districts are responsible for coordinating curricula across grade levels and among schools within districts. A coordinated curricular approach ensures that all students have opportunities to achieve Kentucky’s Learning Goals and Academic Expectations and content standards.
This site contains links to the Kentucky Academic Standards documents, resources to support the implementation of the Kentucky Academic Standards and information regarding the standards revision process.
Associated Regulations
Please email the Standards team if you have any questions.
Position Statement about Open Educational Resources (OER):
The Kentucky Department of Education supports the use of OER and Creative Commons Licensing. The integration of Open Education Resources (OER) to increase equity and access to high-quality K-12 instructional resources is a reality for Kentucky. Open Education Resources are free and openly licensed instructional materials that can be used for teaching, professional learning, and research.
Directories of OER Materials:
- OER Commons – Developed by ISKME, OER Commons is a multi-disciplinary repository and community for creators, users, and re-users of multi-media OER Content and curriculum.
- Open Stax – Created by Rice University, Open Stax is a peer-reviewed directory of unique OER content. Reuse and remix as you like, or assign an Open Stax textbook for your class. Open Stax books are also available printed and can be purchased through the bookstore usually for about $15 (the cost of printing).
- Open Textbook Library – A consortium led by the University of Minnesota has curated a collection of hundreds of textbooks across the disciplines. Faculty who have used the textbooks leave reviews on their quality and content.
- OAPEN – This non-profit Netherlands-based organization works with publishers to build a quality-controlled collection of open access books, and provide services for publishers, libraries and research funders in the areas of dissemination, quality assurance, and digital preservation.
Thank you for your interest in these resources!
Please email the standards team at standards@education.ky.gov with any feedback or questions.