The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has long prided itself on national technology leadership. In 1995, Kentucky was the first state to provide high-speed Internet service to every school district in the state. 20 years later in 2015, the state became the first to meet the national goal of 100kb of Internet bandwidth per K-12 student.
Today, Kentucky continues its commitment to education technology as a pioneer of statewide cloud-based computing and as home to the largest student technology leadership program in the United States.
David Couch, Chief Information Officer and Associate Commissioner of Education at the Kentucky Department of Education is particularly proud of how his department has consistently used technology to enable students to succeed over the past three decades.
Student success and education have always been important to Couch, who inherited these passions from his mother, a Kentucky school teacher. He shares, “She introduced me to the importance of education and the impact of great teachers.”
While his mother made a lasting impact in the classroom, Couch hopes to have a similarly meaningful legacy in education overseeing technology strategies and implementation for KDE – an organization he’s been a part of for over three decades. He believes technology is one conduit to student success, and that every child is capable of learning at high levels when equipped with the proper tools and guidance.
Finding Partners with Passion
When it came time to assess new technology vendors, it was imperative to Couch that whichever network provider KDE onboarded share his and his organization’s passion for education. KDE was assessing new connectivity partners for the first time in 30 years, so the decision wasn’t one they took lightly. This passion for education is what initially drew the Kentucky Department of Education to Education Networks of America (ENA), now Zayo Education.
“Serving a corporation is different from serving K-12,” Couch explains, “ENA [now Zayo Education] stood out to us because of its history of focusing on K-12 and E-Rate in particular.”
Serving a corporation is different from serving K-12. ENA [now Zayo Education] stood out to us because of its history of focusing on K-12 and E-Rate in particular.
With ENA, now Zayo Education, KDE partners with a provider with the personal touch of a smaller, niche provider, offering a K-12 focus and E-Rate expertise as the largest independent E-Rate provider. On the other hand, KDE appreciates that Zayo Education has the scalability of a larger provider, enabling the department to grow and continue its legacy of technology leadership into the future.
Kentucky Schools Benefit from Efficient, Cost-Effective, and Secure Zayo Education Solutions
Zayo Education’s Solutions for KDE:
- Dual resilient Internet access circuits
- Broadband connectivity statewide with out-of-band management to all Kentucky public school districts
- Hosted and advanced firewalls
- DDoS Protection
It was important from the start of the engagement with Zayo Education that KDE’s network does not experience any hiccups. Any network issues in the transition period could disrupt student learning and school operations and expose student data to security threats. Luckily for KDE, the transition from their old vendor’s network to Zayo Education’s was a smooth one. The team at Zayo Education ensured quick ramp-up, allowing efficient use of the districts’ many shared, cloud-based services.
In his decades-long tenure at KDE, Couch has learned that not all Internet networks are the same. He likens networks to well water – while some water runs clean and clear, like an efficient, well-run network, others don’t. As Couch puts it, “We needed our network to be clean and clear, not filled with critters and rocks.”
In addition to network efficiency and a smooth transition, KDE prioritized vendor flexibility, visibility, and partnership. “It’s important the district can see the health of its network.” KDE appreciated the availability and flexibility of our team to address KDE’s needs, without the department having to deal with the levels of bureaucracy one may need to deal with when working with a larger vendor.
For KDE, this time and attention Zayo Education has given their network and technology has been noticeable. “One significant improvement with ENA [now Zayo Education] is that a district is notified quickly if something’s down – not all providers do this.”
Cybersecurity is also a huge consideration for the department. Schools are some of the most targeted institutions for cyberattacks, and attacks are detrimental as learning and operations are increasingly digitized.
Couch says Kentucky districts are hit with 137 billion cyberattack attempts annually – a figure over 30 times as large as it was pre-pandemic. Luckily, Zayo Education has the resources and scale to deal with the volume of attacks facing KDE’s districts. With hosted and advanced firewalls and DDoS mitigation services from Zayo Education in place, KDE can rest assured their network is adequately protected.
Perhaps the most notable difference between Zayo Education and KDE’s prior vendor was cost. Couch tells Zayo Education that our bandwidth services provide at least 75% more capacity for the same price as their prior service. The additional 75% boost in bandwidth has helped Kentucky meet the national goal of 1000kb of Internet bandwidth per K-12 student.
The bandwidth boost also helps to support KDE’s many cloud-based systems. “Kentucky is unique in that no other state requires cloud-based computing or presses the use of the network like ours,” Couch shares, “With how quickly we were able to ramp up bandwidth, we can more easily and efficiently enable shared services over the Cloud.” This additional bandwidth has been a game changer as KDE uses standardized cloud-based services for several critical technology functions across Kentucky’s more than 1500 schools.
The team at KDE hopes this bandwidth will be enough to support their growing technology needs for at least another decade, enabling student achievement and solidifying their national technology leadership position for years to come.
What’s Next for the Kentucky Department of Education
KDE hopes to continue leveraging technology to enable student success and tackle modern challenges.
In addition to leveraging a robust network foundation to take on new technologies like AI soon, Couch is hoping technology can help KDE tackle some of the state’s most pressing issues today.
One of these is chronic student absenteeism. Nearly one in every three students in Kentucky was considered chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year. By implementing early warning systems to identify students at risk of chronic absenteeism and making the classroom more engaging with the help of technology in addition to running positive campaigns to get students back on track, the department is confident they can make a dent in these numbers.
In addition, teacher shortages have been another issue plaguing school districts nationwide, especially post-pandemic. KDE hopes that digital tools like learning media and educational television in the classroom can help supplement education and keep students engaged, in turn aiding burnt-out and understaffed teacher populations.
All-in-all, having a future-ready network foundation was step one in solidifying a position of technology leadership and ensuring students across Kentucky could continue to find success and learn at high levels for years to come.
Why KDE Chose Zayo Education
E-Rate and K-12 Focus
Cost-Effective Bandwidth
Fast Deployment and Transition
Quality of Service and Relationships
Learn more about what’s next in education
Learn more about Zayo Education
Learn more about the Kentucky Department of Education
About Zayo
For more than 17 years, Zayo has empowered some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies to connect what’s next for their business. The Zayo group of companies connects 400 global markets with future-ready networks that span over 18 million fiber miles and 145,000 route miles. Zayo’s tailored connectivity solutions and managed services enable carriers, cloud providers, data centers, schools, and enterprises to deliver exceptional experiences, from core to cloud to edge.
In 2022, Zayo, the largest independently owned fiber network in North America, acquired Education Networks of America (ENA), a top-five E-Rate service provider involved with the E-Rate program since its inception in 1998. This partnership offers affordable network infrastructure solutions from a partner who understands the intricacies of serving education.