2026-03-12 Arlington ISD Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees

001Good evening. It is 6:43 and I will reconvene into open session this meeting of the Arlington ISD Board of Trustees on March 12th, 2026. Thank you for joining us tonight. We've got quite a few things on our agenda. Um you can and thank you for for being here. You could be a lot of places, but you're participating in public education and we appreciate that. We'll jump straight into the agenda for tonight beginning with our pledges. And tonight, our pledges are led by Spear Elementary student Ethan Banks. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. Please

002be seated for a moment of silence. Okay. to learn a bit more about our student who led us in the pledge tonight. I'm going to turn it over to our chief communications officer, Tyena Northingington. Miss Northingington, >> good evening, President Chapa, members of the board, Dr. Smith. Today, you got to hear from Ethan Banks as he opened up our meeting for the Pledge of Allegiance. He is a sixth grade student at Spear Elementary, and this is one of his favorite things to do is actually to be here with his family. Uh he's has an older brother in eighth grade that I hear he's very competitive with. Um, and that's a good thing because that eager and competitive spirit is going to take him not only to be successful in reading, which is his favorite class,

003and math, but all the way to the fire academy. And he aspires one day to be the fire chief. And so, we have that program here. I want you to know that you can remain competitive, not only academically, but in things that you love passionately. And we're happy to get you certified right here in Arlington ISD. On the side, I know that you enjoy some fetuccini alfredo with your family. and you make sure you have all those carbs for when you're playing soccer. So, the best part of his day today was that they got to be and play soccer. He's looking forward to the world's c to the World Cup coming this summer. And he says about Spear, "I love the staff and students at Spear. I like the way the teachers focus on being

004great teachers. They really take time to get to know each student and make us feel good about ourselves." Thank you so much, Ethan, for kicking off our meeting tonight. All right, the first portion of our agenda tonight is for recognitions and we have quite a few things and folks to celebrate tonight. After recognitions this evening, we will take a recess for folks to continue to celebrate. Take pictures in the lobby or here in the boardroom. And so, um, when we work our way through all the recognitions and then we do have a few items on the agenda. They're indicated on your agenda as being in the action item section. Um I am going to exercise my discretion to move those further up in the agenda. And so we will also move the uh first action

005item on facilities naming uh will be part of the recognitions at the end of the recognitions program tonight. So um we will be going through all of that until we get to the recess. So our first recognition tonight is actually a student performance and I'm going to turn it back over to Miss Northing. >> Thank you so much, President Chappa. Good evening. Starting us off this evening, we have a special performance from our Buoie High School theater students. They'll be sharing a short expert from with their one act play, Maris Soul by Joseé Rivera. These students serve as officers in Buoy's thespian troop and international honor society that recognizes the excellence in theater. They are also members of the school's one act play company which recently competed at the UIL district competition with their production

006of money soul. As leaders within their theater department and across their campus, they embody creativity, collaboration, kindness, and courage in everything that they do. Written in the early 1990s, Marisol follows a young Latina professional who finds her life upended as a celestial war spills over into the streets of New York City. It explores what happens to a community when the traditional systems of protection begin to fail. The play is a message of survival and the power of human connection. Please join me in welcoming Buoie High School Theater. >> I'm sorry. This one is go to now. People are buried here. It looks like a sidewalk, but it's not. It's a tomb. >> For who? >> For babies. Unalitos. >> The city provides these coffins. This is where babies who die in the street are laid

007to rest. You've never heard of it? >> Never. Everyone who sleeps in the open air knows this address. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Bless this bed that I lie on. Four corners around my bed. Four angels around my head. One to watch and one to pray. And two to bear your soul away. Night little marasaw. >> June, >> look at this thing. This waste. This parasite. I'm so sick of it, dude. Sick of the eyesore. Sick of the whole homelessness. Sick of the whole compassion thing. That's where this whole thing started. I mean, WHY CAN'T THEY JUST GO AWAY? I FOUND YOU. >> You should see what I DID. IT'S FIRE ON A MASSIVE SCALE. >> We survived. We survived. June. >> Angels are falling out of the sky. Marisol, >> I thought Lenny killed

008you. >> I'm sorry, Lenny. >> I'm sorry for everything that I did. June. June, Lenny, I have a plan for us. We are going to join them. WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT WITH THE AGENT. >> We don't need revolution here. >> I'm killed instantly. At the moment's death, I see the invisible war. Thousands of years of fighting pass in an instant. New and terrible forms of warfare are created and destroyed in billions of a second. 300 million million beautiful angels die in the first charge of the final battle. The oceans are salty with rebel blood. It looks as if revolution is doomed. But then suddenly, as if one body, one mind, the innocent of the earth take to the streets with whatever they can find. Rocks, sticks, screams, and aim their displeas. Billions of poor,

009of homeless, of peaceful, fighting together as no species had ever fought before. Inspired by the earthly noise, the rebels advance. New ideas are created. New miracles are made. powers are signed into law. It is the first day of a new history. Oh God, what light, what possibilities, what hope. Thank you. Who else was just transformed? Does anyone remember there at a school board meeting? What an incredible performance. Thank you so much to Buoie High School, their team, their student actors outside. It's just a glimpse into the passion that they all take on and they share and their um really their passion for being an actor. And so we're just so honored to have that level of student and program right here in our district. Next, I'd like you to take a mental break and turn

010your attention to the screens for a different type of video. It is time for our student of the month for March, which is Sam Houston High School, Angelie Senior, sorry, senior Angelie Gonzalez. Angelie Gonzalez is student of the month for Sam Houston High School. I've known Angelie since her freshman year. When she walks into my office, she lights up the room and her smile is contagious. She is a senior officer and she helps me with announcements every single day. >> Angel is such an amazing student. She's always like a bright spot in everybody's day. When Angeli served on our student leadership advisory board, our board right away noticed her leadership potential and the way that she served as an exemplar leader amongst her peers. >> Angelie's one of the most committed wrestlers I've ever had.

011Uh she's wrestled me for 4 years. She's dealt with just like everybody else a lot of ups and downs and she's on her way to do something much better. Thank you for the ride. >> Regardless of all obstacles or setbacks Angelia has faced, just like all good wrestlers, she never gives up. See Luchando Angelie. Angelie's smile brights up any room that she walks into and she's always offering assistance to her friends, helping them be successful just like she is. She's good in every subject. There's nothing that she can't do. Angelie exemplifies our school model. In the halls of Sam Houston, there are no strangers and I am so proud that she is Sam Houston Student of the Month. >> Good evening, Dr. Smith and members of the school board. I am incredibly honored to stand

012before you as student of the month. This recognition means a lot to me because it represents more than academic achievement. To me, it represents perseverance, growth, and the people who helped shape who I am today. Leadership has played a big role in my high school experience. Serving as both sophomore class president and junior class president has taught me that leadership is not about holding a title or being the loudest voice in the room. True leadership is about listening. It's about bringing people together and creating a space where everyone feels valued and heard. When students feel like they belong, they're more confident, more motivated, and more willing to support each other. But my perspective on belonging actually began much earlier. When I was in elementary school, I often felt different from the other students. I was

013bullied because I didn't have the newest clothes, shoes, or school supplies. At that age, those things can feel like everything. It made me question myself and whether I truly fit in. Those moments were difficult and for a long time, they affected my confidence. However, as I grew older, I began to see those experiences differently. Instead of letting them define me, they helped shape my empathy for others. They reminded me how powerful kindness can be and how deeply words and actions can affect someone. Because of those experiences, if I could give advice to any student who feels like they don't fit in, it would be this. Your worth is not defined by what by what you have or what others say about you. Your value comes from your character, your effort, and the way you treat

014people. The students who feel different today often grow into the people who make the greatest difference tomorrow. Another place where I've learned a lot about resilience is through wrestling. Wrestling has taught me discipline, accountability, and mental strength. When you step onto the mat, there's no one else to rely on but yourself and the preparation you've put in it. It pushes you physically and mentally, and it teaches you that setbacks aren't failures, they're opportunities to grow stronger. The same mindset has helped guide me through challenges in school and in life. These experiences have also shaped my goals for the future. I hope to pursue a career in immigration law one day. I want to advocate for individuals and families facing difficult and uncertain circumstances and to stand up for people who need someone in their corner.

015I believe that education should not only prepare us for careers but also empower us to serve and uplift others. Before I finish, I want to take a moment to acknowledge someone very important to me. My mom. Growing up, she always told me something that has stayed with me my entire life. She would always say, or I want to be someone in life. At the time, I didn't fully understand how much those words meant. But as I've grown, I realized she wasn't just telling me to be successful. She was telling me to become someone who works hard, someone who helps others, and someone who never gives up. So today, while I am honored to receive this recognition, I want to dedicate this award to my mom who is not able to be with us this evening,

016whose strength, sacrifices, and belief in me are a big reason why I continue pushing forward. Thank you to my teachers, coaches, my counselor, and community for supporting me along the way. And thank you for allowing me to represent my school. Thank you. Someone else is talking. Okay, I don't know if there's a dry eye in the house right now. Um, there are some students in our district that are just phenomenal and I've seen examples of them over the past couple of nights at different events that I've been to, but I think the one that we see in front of us here is pretty special. Um, I need you to know, you can tell by the hugs, too. I need you to know how proud we are of you. It is my honor to present you

017with our student of the month award for Arlington ISD. You have a home here and you're always welcome here and you're always welcome to come back and work here because we're we want good people here and this one right here, like I said, I can tell is pretty special. So, congratulations, Angel. This is really neat for our board because this is sort of a reunion with Angeli. I don't know if in the video you saw, but she used to be on our student leadership advisory board as a junior and now you're about to graduate. And just even since then, we have seen your leadership just flourish. And I was so excited to see you in the video say that you want a future standing in the gap and advocating for others. And I know that

018you're going to achieve that. And I want you to know that as a student, you have already done that for your school community. You exemplify what it means to be a long tall Texan. And we are just so proud of you. Congratulations. >> Right now. >> Okay. Where do you want me to go? There we go. Look right here. Smile. >> You're good. >> You got one. We were >> Oh, no. >> I can tell you. >> There you go. >> Congratulations. And we will make sure we clip this so that your mom can see it and put it on our Facebook and our YouTube channels. So, thank you so much, Angelie. Next, we are proud to recognize six Arlington ISD students that have earned one of the highest honors a high school musician in

019Texas can receive. These students were selected as 2026 all-state musicians by the Texas Music Educators Association. Each year, you all should know more than 70,000 high school student musicians from across the state audition for all state ensembles. Through multiple rounds of rigorous auditions, fewer than 1900 students are ultimately selected, placing five students from Martin High School and one student from Arlington High School among the top 3% of high school musicians in the state. Now, becoming an all-state musician requires exceptional talent, discipline, maybe earplugs at sometimes, thousands of hours of practice, and students begin auditioning with their region before they even advance to that next level to earn the opportunity to perform in one of the Texas All-State ensembles. So, these students are have also performed at the TMEA clinic convention in San Antonio just this

020past February, joining the best young musicians from across the state. Please join me in congratulating Arlington ISD's 2026 Allstate musicians. I'll read them all and they'll come to join you guys. From Martin High School, senior Thomas Ingram May. From Martin High School, senior Rose Namu Namohia. Nope. Let me try it again. Nia Muhokia. Nyamuhokia. Let me do that one time for a good take. From Martin High School, senior Rose Namokia. Nope. Come on. That's all right. We're gonna get this right. We got this. I'm My name is Tyena. Let me hear you say it. Nia Muhokia from Martin High School. Senior Rose Nia Muhokia. >> Names are important. I know that. from Martin High School. Senior Arlo Peacock from Martin High School. Junior Elijah Curley from Martin High School. Sophomore Avery Barton. And from Arlington

021High School, junior Caleb Lad, we'll have all of our students shift to the middle once we have it to the middle right in front. This is the hardest part. And parents, you're more than welcome to stand up and take a picture. We It's okay. We'll also post all these pictures on our Flickr page, but you're more than welcome to take a picture. And we will have some time for this also during our recess. We can stagger a little bit. Can we stagger just There we go. Congratulations to these students, the highest musicians in Texas. Also tonight, we are proud to recognize 15 Arlington ISD campuses that have been named in the top 40% of the 2026 best elementary and middle school list by US News and World Report. Each year, the rankings evaluate thousands of

022public schools across the country, focusing on student performance on state assessments, proficiency in core subjects, and how effectively these schools serve all students. Students that earn this distinction, rank among the top 40% of public schools in their state, and earn the eligibility to even display the US Newsroom of Report best badge on their campus website. And you'll soon see these also in some billboards around town. This recognition reflects the dedication of our educators, the leadership of our campuses, and the hard work of our students and families. It highlights the strong learning environments being created right here in Arlington ISD. We are joined by all 15 principles this evening. We're going to call each campus up. We'll start with our four junior highs and they'll take one group photo with you all. Please help us in

023welcoming new to the list. We've got Bailey Junior High, BS Junior High, Alley Junior High, and Young Junior High. We'll have our principal shift to the middle to take one photo with the board and then we'll have a flag that comes out. Shift So each campus receives a feathered flag for them to have outside of their campus and proudly display the news. And then they'll be on their campus websites, social, and also our campusformational cards. and Matt's invited you to stay the whole meeting. Next, we'd like to recognize our elementary campuses. And this is a long list, but this is a great list to be long. So, we're excited to recognize Beckham Elementary, Bryant Elementary, Butler Elementary, Corey Academy of Fine Arts and Dual Language, Ditto Elementary, Duff Elementary, Little Elementary, Piery STEM Academy, Rammency

024Elementary, West Elementary, and Wimish World Language Academy. Thank you so much. Thank you for your help. There's some proud staff members and supporters of these schools. So, we're going to organize them so we can take this picture. Um, but as I said, this is such a big honor. This has the family commitment. You guys are just entertained watching to see how they're all going to take one picture. They lead schools. I promise you, they're capable of taking this picture. Might have to take the cheerleading squat. There we go. Okay. >> Congratulations. This makes 19 campuses of ours that have made this list in the top 40% and earning this recognition. Board members, please stay behind. But this is 19 campuses for us. I already have some principles asking me what it takes to get their

025school on this list next year. I love the passion and the little bit of, you know, energy that's behind it. And so these are great recognitions for our campuses, but for our families to know that we have schools that are making this national recognition list. Finally, this evening, we are proud to recognize a talented Arlington ISD student whose artwork has been selected for a prestigious statewide exhibition. Bergen Elementary sixth grader Camila Lopez has been chosen to be a part of the 2526 Youth Art Month spring exhibition hosted by the Texas Art Education Association. Her art piece, which you'll see on the screen shortly, the elements of a colorful palette, will be displayed at the Bob Bulock Texas State History Museum in Austin throughout the month of March. It is gorgeous. Now, her artwork being selected

026at this level just shows the level of visual art programs and fine arts programs that we have right here in our district. This actually showcases outstanding work from students across the state from preK to 12th grade. And it really highlights visual arts. Having artwork selected is an honor that we're excited her family is able to join us here this evening for and to celebrate her. You actually get free admission to see her artwork throughout the entire month of March if you need something to do for spring break. So, that's really exciting and we're excited to have an Arlington ISD student um on exhibition there. So, please welcome and congratulating Camila Lopez. And if they'll stay smiling so that Cadence once you move, you got mom right behind you. She can take a p proud picture.

027Hold those smiles. Here we go. You got it. One more. Mom's joining. Does she want to remove her headphones for the One more. Congratulations. This concludes tonight's honors and recognitions. All right. Well, that concludes the formal recognition portion of our evening tonight, but we're going to continue on. We we just celebrated a lot of the great things that are happening currently in Arlington ISD, and tonight we're going to honor a few folks who have done a lot of work to make the district what it is today over the years. Um, I am going to exercise my discretion now to move action item A up in the agenda. Uh we do not have any registered speakers on this action item. So therefore we will not have open form on this action item and we'll proceed to

028the facility naming item. I understand we don't have a presentation but we do have resolutions and so we'll first go to I understand Miss Fowler has a resolution and a motion that she would like to make. Miss Fowler. >> Thank you President Chappa. Whereas Kurt Culbertson was a proud homegrown Arlington ISD athlete, graduating from Arlington High School, where he excelled in baseball from 1975 to 1978, earning UIL District A4A first team all district honors and being named Arlington High School baseball MVP in 1978. And whereas he continued representing Arlington with distinction as a three-year starter at the University of Texas at Arlington, earning all Southland Conference second team honors in 1981 and 1982 and was selected in the 1982 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds. And whereas coach Culverson devoted 38 years to

029high school baseball serving at Alvaredo High School, Weatherford High School, Buouie High School, and ultimately Martin High School, where he led the Warrior Baseball program from 2005 to 2023 with exceptional commitment and professionalism. And whereas his coaching career included victories, placing him among a select group of Texas coaches to surpass both 500 and 600 career wins while guiding teams to 12 district championships, seven elite eight appearances, and three state tournaments. And whereas his leadership was recognized through 12 district coach of the year awards and his induction into the Arlington Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2024. And whereas coach Culbertson was known for coaching the person before the player, instilling integrity, accountability, and respect in every young person who wore a uniform under his guidance. And whereas parents, families, and

030former players recall his ability to teach life lessons through his actions, how to treat others with dignity, and how to make honorable choices, and how to carry the values of Martin baseball into adulthood, whether or not baseball remained part of their lives. And whereas he held his teams to high standards, took pride in their growth, yet consistently deflected personal recognition even during milestone achievement such as his 600th win, preferring that the focus remain on the players and their efforts. And whereas family remember his steady presence, humor, and partnership supporting booster activities, community events, and postseason traditions that strengthened the Martin baseball family. And whereas even after his passing, Coach Culverson's influence continues to shape the character and choices of those he coached, leaving a legacy of humility, strength, and integrity that endures with deep affection,

031and gratitude. And whereas the Arlington ISD community honors his lifelong dedication to students and recognizes the profound impact he made on generations of young people. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the board of trustees of the Arlington Independent School District hereby honors the life and legacy of Coach Kurt Culbertson and formally designates the Martin High School Warrior Baseball Field as Colbertson Field in recognition of his extraordinary service, leadership, and enduring influence on the Arlington ISD community. Be it further resolved that this resolution be entered into the official records of the Arlington Independent School District and shared with the Colbertson family as a tribute to a remarkable coach, mentor, and role model whose legacy will continue to inspire future generations. Past and approved on this 12th day of March, 2026. All right. >> Okay. So, this

032is an action item. So, I do have a motion from Miss Fowler. Do I have a second? >> I have a second from Miss Haynes trustees. We are Miss Richardson. We got a vote. >> Yes, >> we are going to move to vote at this time. >> All trustees present posing in the affirmative. The motion unanimously carries. The baseball field at Martin High School is now Culbertson Field. Okay, we have one other facility naming tonight. I understand that Mr. Mike, you have a motion this evening. >> Yes, >> I will. All right, Mr. Mike. Thank you, President Choa. Whereas Thomas Tommy Edmonson Jr., affectionately known as coach Ed or Ch and Ched devoted his life to family, friendship, and service to the Arlington community, bringing passion, warmth, and purpose to every relationship he formed. And

033whereas Coach Edmonson served the Arlington Independent School District for 35 years, beginning his career at the original Ferguson Junior High 1971 to 1976, continuing at Carter Junior High 1979 to 1983, Gun Junior High 1985 to 1988, and BS Junior High 1988 to 1993 before spending his final 15 years at Arlington High School coaching softball. And whereas during his tenure at Arlington High School from 1993 to 2008, Coach Edmonson not only led the softball program with distinction, but also exemplified the spirit, pride, and tradition that define Arlington High School, modeling these values daily for his athletes, colleagues, and the wider school community. And whereas under his leadership, Arlington High School softball achieved significant success, including district and by district championships in 2001. undefeated district championships in 2006 and 2007 and co-dist and by district championships in

0342008, consistently advancing deep into postseason play. And whereas in the summer of 2006, Coach Edmonson was selected to coach the Texas Girls Coaches Association All-Star Team, a testament to his respected standing among coaches across the state and his deep knowledge of the game. And whereas throughout his career, Coach Edmonson was known not only for his strategic skill and competitive spirit, but for his unwavering commitment to mentoring young people, helping them grow as athletes and as confident, capable individuals. And whereas former players recall that coach Edmonson coached the whole person, instilling resilience, responsibility, and character, and modeling the values he hoped his athletes would carry into their lives beyond the softball field. And whereas he was deeply loved and respected both on and off the field, remembered for his kindness, humor, and the genuine care he

035extended to everyone he encountered, creating a positive and lasting influence on thousands of students. And whereas his colleagues across Texas admired his dedication and integrity, forming a wide network of coaches who valued his friendship, leadership, and the example he set for the profession. And whereas even after his passing, Coach Edmonson's influence continues to resonate throughout Colt country as former players, families, and f fellow educators honor the profound impact he made through decades of service, mentorship, and heartfelt commitment. And whereas the Arlington ISD community expresses deep gratitude for Coach Edmonson's lifelong devotion to students and acknowledges the enduring mark he left on Arlington High School and the sport of softball. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of trustees of the Arlington Independent School District hereby honors the life and legacy of Coach Tommy Edmonson

036and formerly designates the Arlington High School softball field as Edmonson Field in recognition of his extraordinary service, leadership, and lasting influence on generations of student athletes. Be it further resolved that this resolution be entered into the official records of the Arlington Independent School District and shared with the Edmonson family as a tribute to an impactful coach, mentor, and the role model whose legacy will continue to inspire future generations. Passed and approved on this 12th day of March, 2026. >> All right, I have a motion for Mr. Mike. Is there a second? >> I second. >> I have a second from Mr. Wilbanks. Trustees will move to vote. I'm trying to get Michael's attention. >> All right, the motion unanimously carries 7 to zero. The softball field at Arnan High School is now Edmonson Field. All

037right. Well, congratulations to the Culbertson and Edmonson families for um letting us share a little bit with you tonight and and your your family members gave so much to the district for so long and it's a pleasure to be able to honor them in this way. Um it is now 7:24. We're going to take a recess. We got a lot of people to celebrate. Uh, so, so let's try to keep it to 15 minutes, but I won't be uh won't feel bad if it goes a little longer. So, at 7:24, we're in recess. All right, it is 7:50 and we are back from recess. We're going to move on with the remainder of our agenda tonight. That brings us to our open form for agenda items. Miss Crossno, do we have any speakers registered for

038open form on agenda items tonight? >> President Chapo, we do. >> Although, Miss Crossno, do we also have a speaker registered for non-aggenda? >> Yes, we do. >> Okay. Um, take a look at the list here. Okay. All right. So, the next portion of our agenda tonight is open forum. Uh, as stated on the posted agenda, members of the public who desire to address the board regarding an item on the agenda required to register at www.isd/ AISD/board meeting speaker request no later than 3 p.m. on the day of the board meeting. Uh this is a routine part of the board board's agenda for regularly scheduled meetings. This segment provides citizens with an opportunity to share their views with trustees on items that are on the agenda tonight. It is not intended to be a discussion

039or debate and trustees will not reply to speakers. Derogatory comments aimed at an individual not will not be tolerated and personnel matters are not appropriate subjects for open forum. You'll have three minutes to speak and when Miss Crossno notifies you that your time is up, please end your presentation. If you have any documents for the board to review, please hand them to Dr. Hill, our chief operations, chief operations officer, who is sitting at the back. I've got two folks on my list tonight. uh one for agenda uh who will go first and we have another speaker who is registered for non-aggenda who I believe is a student and so I will exercise my discretion uh to allow that non-aggenda request to go during agenda forum. Our first speaker tonight is Corus Bunkley. Welcome Miss Funkley.

040You'll have 3 minutes. >> Good evening, Dr. Smith and trustees. Do I start the timer or do y'all? Oh, okay. Good evening, Dr. Smith and trustees. For the record, I am here as a parent, educator, and community member, and my views and opinions are my own. I am not speaking on behalf of the agency for which I work. As a certified teacher with a master's degree in math education, I know the Blue Bonnet curriculum lacks some of what our students, even those at schools with lower accountability ratings, need. While it may take things back to basics, it does not provide the conceptual knowledge that all of our students need to pass algebra 1 in 8th grade. Why is that important? Data shows that students who do not compete complete algebra 1 and 8th grade are

041less likely to take calculus in a high school, a key math course for those who plan to attend college and major in a STEM field. Guess which demographic of students is less likely to take algebra 1 and 8th grade? The very demographic of students at the schools that you are probably targeting. I've taught curricula like this and while I had some success, my students had better success when I taught them more than just math facts and equations. When I helped them understand the language behind math, the building blocks of why 2 + 2 equals 4, they soared. Was it easy? No. Should we consider the bigger picture? Yes. That being said, I understand the district is in a tough spot. We see what's happening to our neighbors and wonder if the possibility is lurking on

042our front porch. Please remember that no matter what curriculum you adopt, there must be a systematic process and how you help those schools and students who need the most support. Which brings me to TIA. If you know me, you know I'm no fan of STAR or using it to measure a teacher's worth or value added. However, I am a fan of accountability. Consistently, AISD has placed large numbers of uncertified teachers at our highest need schools. I get it. Working at a hard school is hard. However, what programs like TIA do is incentivize our best educators to go to the hard place and do the hard thing. It rewards those who are already there making great gains for the same income as those who may not be making as great of gains because the kids they

043teach are already there. AISD is at a crossroads. The only unsolicited suggestion I have is you may need to let some folks off at this stop because they're not going to want or might not be able to do the hard things or ask the hard questions. You'll have to find those who are because at the end of the day that's all that should matter are the kids. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bunkley. Our next speaker tonight who is registered for non-aggenda is believe it's Jana or Jana Velasquez. Hello, my name is Jana Velasquez Eversol. I am honored to stand here as the president of the theater department at Buouie High School. I would like to extend my gratitude to the school board in Arlington ISU for granting me the opportunity to speak at this meeting

044about a topic that is important to me. Joining me is members of our theater department and representatives from across ASD. For example, my friend Julian Beck there who is a theater department at Sam Houston. Together, we form a small part of a much larger community. We are thespians bound by our love for theater. Across Texas, more than 14,000 students participate in UIL 1Act play competition similar to the clip you've seen today. Currently, over 16,000 students are registered members of the Texas Thesbespian Society. Remarkably, Texas represents over 8.5% of all active student thespians in the United States, which totals to approximately 139,000 members. These statistics highlight the profound impact theater has on young people in Texas. Theater is more than just entertainment. It promotes personal growth by enhancing social skills and self-confidence. It provides collaboration and

045leadership opportunities, reduce depression risk, and creates a supportive school environment. Students gain life skills like quick decision-making and teamwork with 42% reporting less stigmatization. Atrisisk students engaging in the arts achieve better academically and set higher career goals. Theater also improves reading comprehension more effectively than other activities. In today's technology-driven world where teenagers are often glued to their screens, theater encourages them to disconnect and engage fully in the present moment. Amidst the growing influence of AI, it is crucial to have these activities where human interaction thrives. Allow me to share the inspiring story of Yama, a senior who has joined our theater department this year. Initially, Yama was intrigued by the performing arts, but doubted his abilities, fearing he might make mistakes on stage. One of our officers persuaded him to join just for NHS hours.

046Curious about the behind-the-scenes magic of a show, Yama found a welcoming community within our department where he felt recognized and heard like never before. Yama has always been fascinated by storytelling and how has lasted in history. Initially involved in tech, but soon joined as the ensemble for a one-act play. Encouraged by his growth, Yama audition for a spring production of Shakespeare's 12th Night Ling the leading role of Orsino. Watching Yama blossom creativity within her department has been truly rewarding. Yama's journey is a testament to the transformative power of theater. He found a home within our school, a place where he can truly be himself and supported by his newfound friends. Personally, attending rehearsals is the highlight of my day. It fuels my excitement to come to school and be part of something special. I'm deeply

047grateful that my school as part of ASD received support from administrators in the district, continuing funding of our productions. However, other schools face a threat of funding cuts to their departments, depriving students of these enriching experiences. Therefore, it is vital to celebrate March as theater in our schools month and to support the fine arts in every way possible. Thank you for your time and attention. Miss, thank you. Miss Velasquez Evers can I I'm not supposed to respond, but I can ask a factual question for clarification. Do I understand correctly that you are doing theater across campuses? Is that you introduced the president of the Sam Houston theater program? >> Um, no, I just do at Buoie. >> Okay. You're a student at Buoie, but y'all are y'all are working together on theater? >> Yes, we

048um we all like will meet and have um outside of We will have like the microphone. Oh, >> yes. Outside of school, um we will have like picnics and like um activities where we can socialize together because we all share the same passion for theater. The only time we get to see each other is at one act play. So, it's very nice to meet with each other outside of competition and to just enjoy each other and our love for theater. >> That's great. That's great to hear that you are creating a theater community of your own. >> Thank you. Thank you. All right, that brings us to the report portion of our agenda tonight. I understand we are not going to have a committee report from the board. Um, so that'll take us right to

049report item B, key progress measures report, campuses in need of improvement. I'll turn over to Dr. Smith. Trustees, um you had asked for us to provide you an update on a regular basis on specific campuses across our district that we're continuing to pour into support. Dr. Champions here tonight to walk you through some of the support that is going on and also some of the progress that we're seeing. Good evening, President Chapa, board of trustees, and Dr. Smith. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk about some of our campuses that are our highest need um and how we're how we're approaching that. Tonight we're going to we're talking about the KPM that we want to reduce the number of campuses having a D or F rating by 50% by August of 2026. Whenever

050I was last in front of you, we were talking about um similar type things and we had this list of campus and district responses. That was before the amazing Stephanie Safala talked about the things happening at her campus and what was happening over at Lamar. But at the end of that, there was this that I've now put in red, the big three walks, looking for academic rigor and HQIM, high quality instructional materials. And so tonight, I just want to share what we're doing with these big three instructional walks and how how they're going. Um, as well as what some of our some of our next steps are. also wanted to hit a couple of highlights because we just had our friends from TEA in the district. Um, and we had a presentation we made to

051them. I'm going to pull a couple of slides from that as well. So, the big three walks is what we call these where we look for for three items. Are we using the district curriculum? Are we within five days of the scope and sequence? And then are students productively struggling? So, trying to in terms of learning and we started those in January. We now are well over 3,000 of those walks in our in our school district. Um the goal is all about improving tier one instruction, that first level of instruction in our schools. Here's the beautiful form that our research and accountability department produced um which is super easy. You can walk in. I was at uh Rodriguez Junior High today and you just pull this out and include it and it uploads and we're

052able to pull reports um like this that we look at as a collaborative team. Um particularly our OSL department and our curriculum and instruction department. We meet, we call it the calibration team. One of the pieces of data we look at is exactly this. So this was pulled right whenever we put the slide deck together. Um, and you can see the dark blue is that uh is a yes and the greenish bluish thing is a no. And the first one is are we within five days? We using the approved curriculum. And then this is how uh this it defines productive struggle that students spend the majority of the lesson engaging with meaningful grade level practice tasks and questions. That's our productive struggle question. You can see that's the one that's that's that's a bit lower.

053Whenever we shared this information with tea, we also took a look at it. We we we can slice and dice this in lots of different ways. And so here was a way we looked at in terms of looking at those questions um in each of the curricular areas of uh of math, reading, science, and social studies. And then this slide is not connected to the data that I just showed you. Um, and it is actually the slide from our TEA visits in the in the fall and our TEA visits in the spring that we just completed. And that's the that's the change. So, this was a very slim number of campuses that we attended in both of these in both of these um in both of these data sets. And but but what you notice

054right away is that our focus on ensuring we're using the district approved curriculum and the classroom timeline of being within 5 days of the scope and sequence improved dramatically across these schools. Um we there was a question about well why did that productive struggle that student engagement piece decline in that same period? Great question. There's a couple of things that that are going on. First off it's it's maintained about the same. Second, we've gotten a little bit better at defining what productive struggle is. And I'm actually pretty proud of the fact that we're not just assuming it like we actually have to see it. One of the conversations that we have with principles is that we need to get a this isn't a um these big three walks aren't evaluative in any way. We we're

055just trying to get a snapshot of the system in a five to seven minute walk to see where what are we seeing. It's not surprising. We were in a we were in a um math classroom today where they were doing a warm-up activity and it wasn't struggle, but they were in line and they were they were within five days and they were using district curriculum. And it's okay that that's a no because that was in that five minutes that we were in the in the lesson. And so unsurprising in that regard, we're also getting a whole lot better at naming what it is and what it isn't. Let me talk a little bit about that as we think about productive struggle. Obviously, apathy is the inverse of that. Um, and we're trying to get where

056it's high skill and high challenge and to flow in productive in what would be called productive struggle. Our one of the questions that came up, so what are we doing with it? We are working with our principles to clearly define Arlington ISD's definition of what productive struggle is and what it's not. Um and you can see the the that definition the very early definition that we're working through right now. Matter of fact, we just um had a meeting about this on Tuesday. This slide also shows where again the question is what are we doing for our highest needs campuses? This was something that we shared with TEA um actually on a call that Dr. Smith le and it's taking a look at our tips and taps that the board has approved and the are we

057within are we on track with those milestones. You can see that's green all the way across the board. Curriculum and instruction is taking a look at the big three walks and and where where are we seeing? You can see those continue to be green for the the most part. Sterit um we noticed as we were walking this time they they needed some additional support. It was great because we walk. We see that there's some additional support needed. Our curriculum and instruction team is now regularly at Starret. Just ran into them recently. Um, and we did some more walks with them just this week as well. Student outcomes is where we looked at the benchmark data and where we where are we landing with that. And you can see there's three of our campuses where they

058did have some gains. In Rodriguez and Sam's case, Peach um did did have a a few struggles and some of that we'll report out on benchmark data at our at the next meeting. Um but still making progress and so overall um our focus on looking at these big these big three things has been positive. One of the questions that came up was um is that is the form look checking for alignment to the TEICSS in a deep and complex way. It's not formally. It's it is indirectly um because we're looking at the curriculum that is aligned to the TEICS. One of the ways we determine whether or not it's productive struggle is we look at the verb in the actual teik and you know this that there are these complex things sometimes that need to

059be happening and if it's just at a surface level then it's not productive struggle. So we're looking at fats in a variety of ways in these in these big three walks. Um and I believe that's that's all that I have but I'm happy to take any questions. >> Thank you Dr. Champion. Do we have comments or questions from the trustees? Mr. Will Banks. >> Thank you, President Chopan. Thank you, Dr. Champion. Let me pull up my slides. Give me a second. My computer is If you could Okay. So you said slide seven. >> Which one is it? >> Right there. >> Yes. >> Okay. So you I think you tried to explain to this to me earlier. This is not related to the >> tea. >> The tea is correct. >> Okay. Uh so when

060you guys are doing the walkth through your assessment of is it at the right rigger and they're doing productive struggles the last >> Yep. >> pie chart. >> Yep. >> And we're at 63%. Yes. >> Correct. >> How is that? And so and you also said that you're able to better define what that is. And so o since you started what what I'm looking for is what's the delta for >> right >> how are you know you're you're seeing progress >> well that unfortunately is not in this presentation >> it's not and it's not in part because of all these pieces the two and you we had this conversation the two objective measures we clearly see growth. >> Yeah. the subjective measure right there on the rigor and productive struggle. we actually are maintaining and

061maybe have maybe have even gone backwards a little bit overall as as a school school district very similar actually what TEA said and that is actually a celebration because what we call productive struggle was um pretty loosely defined when we started this and we were um we were making an assumption of giving credit with the assumption it was either going to be there or that that what that you know if just a couple of tweaks we would get there. So one of the things that we have had to try to hold ourselves to is being disciplined to to take a look at are these elements there? Are they actually there and are they there for all students? The other thing that we we sometimes saw was um some of the few of the students in

062the class were right on and they were they were clearly engaged and and and working at a at a rigorous level and some of the class was not. We now we now call that a no at the front end. Honestly, we threw it out just to have people start doing these walks and we knew we would need to calibrate as we moved forward and that's the that's the area that we are in right now. >> Yeah. I'm I'm glad you got this slide up because um this was helpful because to me what I know from talking to my colleagues across the country at council great city schools at large urban districts and around the state the biggest missing piece is teachers not teaching at grade level thinking oh my kids can't handle this I'm going

063to dumb it down and out and and they think they're helping That's right. >> Actually, it's not. And so, that's my biggest concern. And so, I see that that appropriate level of um rigor is incorporated in it. But there's a lot in here, >> right, >> to unpack when you're doing a fiveminute walk through. >> Absolutely. >> So, I think what I'm hearing you say when when you're looking now, you're looking for mainly that or no, it's something else. >> We are. We're we are actually looking to see one um to the earlier question is it is not just is it within the curriculum but is the because you you know this the TEICSS have these verbs that matter a whole lot >> and that's the very that's that's like the first the first um

064gate that you have to walk through um for it to be be considered a yes on this one. Then we look at these other pieces. Is it cognitively demanding? The question we always ask when we walk out into the hallway is who was doing the heavy lift because a lot of times we walk into a classroom and it is outstanding but it's the teacher who's doing the heavy lift where throw a question out, wait for a second and then give the answer and instead of allowing there to be some struggle um between between students and not and missing opportunities in um asking questions to the whole group instead of having an opportunity for students to talk to each other. So each of these pieces that that are included there in this productive struggle is are

065the gates to jump to jump through to get through in order to get a yes on the on that particular marker. I'll add one thing on that too. One of the benefits of having it only be a short visit and so many visits is we're getting a snapshot of what it looks like across the district. This is in no way evaluative of teachers. And we want to be clear about this. This is just us getting a dipstick measure of what's the level of rigor or what's the level of struggle that's happening in our students the ones doing the work in the classroom because we know our teachers are working hard. So this data helps us know and understand that better as a at a snapshot level across the system so that we can then design

066and use professional learning to better our system overall. So some people wonder sometimes about why such a short visit. That short visit is for a couple of reasons. one to help hold us accountable to not do what Brett said earlier and actually say um we assume it's coming we're going to just make the assumption that it's the next part of the lesson. It's really just to walk in and be observers and say are these three things are are they being seen in the classroom right now and to be able to gather that data and see that across our system to know where we need to continue to invest in learning and support. >> Uh thank you Dr. Smith for that clarification because to me it's analogous to what we actually ask teachers to do through

067the use of formative That's right. >> assessments is no stakes. >> That's right. >> But you've got to get frequent snapshots to know if you need to do that retach or >> um where exactly where your students are and so that allows you to be a >> you know in the end achieve greater results. So, uh, I appreciate this and I think that, you know, it's something we've needed for quite a while is this level of walkthroughs. >> Thanks, Trusty. Thanks. >> As long as it's >> Yep. >> not evaluative, >> right? It's it is most assuredly not. Um, and it is it and and that takes a minute to build that trust in in in in every classroom and in every school. And so I mean just an incredible shout out to our principles

068and other leaders who are doing these walks. I mean the fact that we are over 3,000 walks. We just rolled this puppy out in January and like folks are they get it. It's simple enough because there's only three questions. It may be expanding to five soon, but right now it's only three questions. And so it's it's able to move pretty quickly. And folks are now it's becoming part of the the the regular heartbeat of of the school week is that we're going to go for a for a few instructional rounds and we go go check this out. >> Yeah. All good stuff. Uh I've got questions about the past, but we'll leave those in the past. >> Great. Sounds good. >> We're moving forward. >> Excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wilbanks. Miss McMarrow. >>

069Thank you, President Chappa. Thank you, Dr. Champion. And uh you kind of touched on some of the questions I sent in advance. Um can you can we go back to the slide with with the progress with the big three under the TEA walks? >> You bet. So the fidelity to the curriculum has improved and you mentioned you already kind of gave context that there wasn't really a tight definition for what student engagement and the productive struggle was. It's still really jarring to me to see that this is only observed this percentage of the time. So I just Is there anything else you can elaborate on as far as next steps and our plan to address? >> Sure. You bet. So a couple of things. Um, thank you Trusty McMurrow um for bringing that up because

070I literally written myself a note to talk about next steps um which is Yep. We're working with the principles right now and an important part of our calibration team is professional learning is here as we look at at this data and so as we think about professional learning for next year in a collaborative way as we think about the entire system and the fact that we are now better aligned than we may have been in the past. um that it allows for opportunities then to design professional learning in a way that is very specific to the the the priorities that we're setting in this case around student engagement, productive struggle um and also assessment for learning actually formative assessments would be another piece of that. And then this allows us to have a marker to

071see how we're seeing that as an entire system. And so whatever the training is going to be, we know there's going to be a math adoption um next year and so there's going to be training around that and we need to talk about productive struggle um student engagement etc with our teachers. We also pardon me one of the questions that you you sent in was was asking about feedback for the teacher in the moment. That's actually a huge part. So, um, today, yesterday, I was, um, actually at Crouch with a with a team of folks. We went into classrooms and as we came out there, there are moments where the teacher gets immediate feedback, like literally in the moment, like, hey, here's a here's something you could tweak. Typically, not because it's we're in there

072for five to seven minutes and they're in the middle of their stuff. Um, however, I have been at on walks where there was something that could be done immediately. the principal gave immediate feedback and the teacher was like, "Oh, that's great." and incorporated it immediately. Then there's followup for those that don't that aren't necessarily in that moment with a lot of times our instructional coaches are part of these walks and they're able to they literally one of the questions we ask is what are you coaching this teacher toward um already and what did you notice while we were in there and so we're able to get real time feedback about how that's rolling as well. then that IC has the ability to focus on that um with the teacher whenever they're working with the teacher

073next. And so it really is it's it's been helpful to be to to start talking the same language and for us to be looking at for the same types of things across across these schools. >> Awesome. >> I'll can I add one other thing on that too and I think this is where the struggle also comes in with that phrase that says meaningful grade level practice. And and frankly, we see a lot of teachers in the walks that I go on and the walks I've been on in in these visits, we see a lot of teachers doing the heavy lifting all the time. And so, this is about is the student engaging, >> not just sitting and listening. Are they actually engaging in a meaningful grade level task? And that is something that we've had

074to parse out in our conversations with our leaders in our system. How do how do we actually look for that in a classroom when we visit? because there are sometimes when you have a student doing work and we see that the student is compliant, but that meaningful grade level task is the is the key piece for us in some of that. And I think that the more we talk, the more we calibrate, the better we'll be at that. >> That's good to hear. I was I was glad to hear that there's feedback because if there's been over 3,000 walks, even if it's not tied to tests, that's 3,000 opportunities for growth. Absolutely. looping in the instructional coach, looping in any professional who's working side by side with the teachers. That's that's definitely going to move

075the needle. >> So, when the calibration team walks, to be clear, are we looking at the instruction, the curriculum, or both? >> Both. >> Okay. >> Both. >> Okay. And the reason why I ask is because I remember our curriculum audit and it touched on content was pretty tight, but cognitive and context, that's where we tend to have some room for improvement. That's exactly right. >> And so this this data here, if we want a productive struggle, we can't put that all on the teacher shoulders. We have to make sure that the tasks we put in front of students, they lend themselves to that product. >> 100%. One of the things that we talk about is what is the actual task in front of the student? What what what are we asking them to do

076and that's really I mean that's the heart of it is is the actual student work that's in front of them. Totally agree. >> Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you, Miss McMarrow. Are there any other uh trustees with comments or questions on this item? >> Okay, seeing none. Thank you, Dr. Champion. >> Thank you. >> That brings us to the action item portion of our agenda tonight. I am again going to exercise my discretion to mess the agenda up um that we took so long to put together. And I'm going to move up item D to the beginning. I understand that we have a guest here tonight and I don't want them to be waiting um a considerable amount of time to get there. So we'll move first to item D. Consider approval of

077an of a resolution authorizing participation in interlocal agreement and delegation of parameter authority to superintendent and chief financial officer for the procurement of electricity services. Dr. Smith. Uh, and I'll just turn it straight over to Kelly because he knows a lot better what that means than I do. Um, but we're uh we've been through this before with y'all and we have a timeline that we have to come back to you again when we don't hit that strike price. So, I'll let Kelly explain more. >> Perfect. Thank you. Uh, President Chopper, members of the board, Dr. Smith, before I begin, I just would like to introduce two exceptional employees here to my left. Uh, Miss Shauna Alberman, our energy manager, and Mr. Corey Robinson, our director of facility services. Both these indivi individuals do a great

078job of leading and managing both our energy management system and other departments but also our building automation systems. And so as uh Dr. Smith mentioned as you begin to consider this uh authority again tonight, I've asked for our energy consultant, Miss Anette Ben Brunt, to come uh and speak to you tonight about uh briefly about our history, our partnership together, some of our successes from this past year, and then the two methods of procurement that we have uh available to us to to begin to consider as we go forward and look for energy into the future. So, Annette and Brunt will take over from here. >> Excellent. Well, um, Dr. Smith and esteemed, uh, board members, thank you very much. And also, thank you for moving my agenda item. I am trying to catch a

079flight tonight, so I really appreciate that. Um, let's see. So, I'm going to get started with just talking about the energy management goals, and it's a pleasure to see y'all again. Um, we really are working to always buy at the lowest price currently available with the most manageable risk with a high quality vendor, and with value added services for the district. And we like to make sure that we're doing all of those things simultaneously as we approach the marketplace. Do I just click? Nope. Uh here. Awesome. Okay. So, to give y'all a little bit of history, um first of all, before you joined the Texas Public Energy Alliance, and I represent the Texas Public Energy Alliance, which is a co-op. It's a political subdivision corporation. When Texas deregulated its energy markets in 2001, they created

080another purchasing method called a political subdivision corporation specifically for the procurement of electricity. And that's what TPEA is. Um the district joined TPA in 2017 and at the time when you joined, you were in contracts that didn't expire until the end of 2019. Um but at that time, we approached the market because the market was at a very low um time period. So, um, together with your team, we were able to, um, secure two contracts, um, both through a strike price process. The first strike price was that 37 3625. We put that out to the market and we were able to achieve 35.81. Um, and that was for four years. Um, and then just a little while later, um, we actually entered into another contract with EDF. Um, at the time it was EDF, they've

081been purchased by BP. And that got us from 2024 to 2028. and we are still enjoying those very very low prices. So $35 is the equivalent of 3.5 cents a kilowatt hour. So extremely low prices and the district has been able to enjoy that for some time. Um and so you know through the TPA process. Um the other thing I want to talk about is one of the pro one of the products that we provide the district is providing notification. A big part of the district's 4C uh demand charges, your encore charges are based on how much you're using when the rest of Texas is peaking. It's called the four coincident peak. It's June, July, August, September, the four summer months, and you peaking at the same time that Texas is peaking. So, what we

082do is try to predict the load in in Texas and then um provide alerts to turn down. Um, one of the suppliers in the marketplace, one of the large suppliers, gave 60 alerts this summer for three of three hours each for 180 total hours. We provided a service that only um needed alerts of um 22 alerts of a total of 27 hours. And I want to tell you that this team over here kicked it out of the ballpark. Um, you have 18R meters. This service is only applicable to IDR meters. And for every megawatt you reduce, you save between 52,000 and $58,000 a megawatt. So reviewing all of your 4CP performance, this team um based on its performance. So it's reducing trying to time that reduction with when Texas is is peing reduced your peak

083demand charges by $394,000. And you're getting that benefit in this year. And if you can see the red one down there, the athletic center is the only one that didn't have a huge reduction because we we were um I think we were not sure we could do some. We've now we've now figured out some ways that we think we can do some reductions at that at the athletic center and hopefully extract even more value in the next year. But that is all from the efforts of your energy management team. So now talking about procurement. Um, so just so you know, it used to be the highest prices happen in the middle of the day and that's when you're using energy, right? You're using energy in the middle of the day. That's when the kids are

084here. That has turned upside down with the with the rapid growth of solar in our marketplace, right? So now during the day we typically have extremely low in and it's sometimes negative pricing in the daytime hours because there's more solar generation than there is demand for power. So this is a very typical chart here um where we and the cursor doesn't show up there. Okay. So um where we see after the sun comes up we see prices come down and then come back up again. So we see negative prices at times. We do see evening spikes when the solar is down and the wind hasn't started blowing in the evening. We see prices come up. But guess what? This district is not using energy at those price spike times, right? Because the kids are out

085of the school. It happens from 67 to 10 p.m. Um so we um we think that there's there's a lot of weather driven extremes that also um impact this when it when the sun is shining great. And then when it isn't it, you know, it changes that curve. So it the prices these days are much more reflective of that constant change of supply and demand. So what we want to talk about with you today is the different contracting considerations. Um we can continue with the traditional fixed price and it's one price for all of your load. It provides budget certainty. It's very easy to administer and we can do that through that same strike price process we've used before that you're very familiar with and we've had a great deal of success in. However, there

086are things that are different in today's market that didn't exist the last times we were we were trying to buy an electricity and that is that the forward market which you see in that in those up and downs up there. The forward market if you're trying to buy into the future there's so much uncertainty built into that price that there are prices in the $17 $120 a megawatt hour for August September time frame. um and as such those prices get factored into the prices the the market is offering you. Conversely, real time prices, real time index pricing is averaging less than $40 a megawatt hour, whereas forward pricing is averaging in the 60 with your shape in the $65 per megawatt hour. Um so yeah, we we're seeing just large spreads between forward pricing and

087real-time pricing. So what does that mean for you? Um, one of the alternative structures it is a block, fixed block and index. So basically we fix still a a percentage of your load with fixed blocks and we leave the remaining up to an index price. Um, we capture some of that low time pricing for your volumes above the blocks and really work on maintaining that price stability on a core portion. Um we we have members that are enjoying $15 to $25 benefit versus a fixed price because they're school districts and they're not using during those high time uh price times that the market is trying to protect from. What is a block? There are three block periods. 5 by6 which is the five days a week 6 to 10 p.m. Weekend 6:00 to 10 p.m.

0886 a.m. to 10 p.m. sorry. And then um on the overnight and the weekends and holidays. So basically we lock up that fixed quantity and then we have that real-time price. The benefits is we can lock up as much load as you want by month and not be subject to those shaping premiums. Your supplier is at risk if they they offer 100% no matter what. They're going to protect themselves from that risk that you could use a whole lot during those high dollar times. So that turns itself into a much larger fixed price. Um so we think you can get the benefit of a lot of fixed price without um without all of it without paying that huge premium. Um so the risk is there's no upside protection from consumption above the block or protection

089from low prices if you've got your block too big in certain time periods and you have to sell it back to the market and it's more difficult to audit. I need you to know that I don't present this product option to every one of my school districts. There are most school districts don't have an energy management team as strong and committed and engaged as the one at Arlington ISD. There are there are very few um districts that are good candidates for this. And the other thing is that we need to have leadership buyin to know that that's that's what we're doing. Um so the other thing energy load modeling really matters. Um you have seasonal load patterns. You we have heavier block sizes in winter overnight. Everyone says what happens if February 2021 happened? Well,

090if we have a good big big block overnight and you're protected for whatever you normally use during a winter event and that winter event happens and you get your power shut off, what happens? Your block gets sold back into the market when prices went up. You're not if you're not if you're not getting any power and or you're using your power, so you're protected. Um, we also protect from your summer peak times. We make sure that 6:00 to 10 p.m. is also protected. Um so the first thing we do is norm is model your normal operations. If you see this chart on here that is the collective over 90% in your case it's 95% of all your load every 15 minutes is modeled on this chart. You can see actually the weekends you can see

091Thanksgiving Christmas on the low end. You can see spring break. Um and you you can see each weekend in the gaps because this district turns down when the kids are out of the out of the buildings. Um and this is a very this makes this makes your load very predictable and a a very good candidate for block and index. Um so we have identified patterns your operate you know hours of operational your seasonal load your weather and temperaturebased load and your academic calendar. So with that the key takeaways are really markets are more complex than they used to be. Volatility is normal, but we really want to work to match your load shape with what's what's available in the marketplace to get you the best and lowest price. That's the end. I'm open for questions.

092>> Yes. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to try to get back to my I've lost my screen here, but I'll get back in just a moment. Okay. Are there comments or questions from trustees? Okay, seeing none, I just have one question. >> Sure. >> Could you walk me through again and I know you mentioned the 2021 scenario, but you can you walk me through again why the district would not be at risk from abnormal weather events by going to this model? >> So, yeah. So, first of all, we would model all of those past most three three two to three years recent events, right? So we model all your normal operations and how did what did the district do when those events happened and and then we model it against what prices did that during

093those time periods. So if we've protected for if it's a cold cold event like we didn't lose power in January of this past you the cold front we had this past 20 the 28th I believe. Um and so you didn't lose power. So we we got a good idea of what you're going to use in an extreme cold event. Right. So, we we make sure that your block is large enough to cover your needs at that time. But let's say the February 2021 event happened, prices went to 9,000, but you didn't have power, right? Power was shut off. It was not delivered to you. Well, that means you're not using the block. Your block will get sold out into that 9,000 market. >> Okay. Um, on the chart here, there's a chart that we're looking

094at on slide three. >> Three >> on three. >> This one. Yes. >> Um, one more back. >> One more back. >> Oh, yes. >> There we go. So, is this um is what we're looking at here, that's how much we saved when we made the contract move indicated at the line or is that how much we would have retroactively benefited from by if we had had this plan in place at that time? >> No, these are the benefit from compared to the previous contract. So, when we went from this constellation contract to the MP2 contract, the savings was 1.8 8 million a year for those four years relative to the one before. And then when we went from the MP2 contract to the EDF, it was an additional 121 above additional savings above the

095MP2 contract. >> That's great. And that's annually, which is >> Yes, >> I like to put it in terms of of how much we can do for our employees. And that would be a good chunk of a 1% raise. >> It absolutely would. But but just so you know, those $35 will be they don't exist anymore. >> Okay. What do you project? Do you have any sort of modeling or estimates on what the cost savings would be by making this move given our past usage if it had stayed relatively constant? >> Right. So I the estimates are if you do a fixed price it'll be somewhere in the $60 range. >> Okay. >> And if you do a block in index it will be somewhere in the low sorry high 40s low 50s. So $10

096a megawatt hour and you use about 81,000 megawatt hours 85,000. So let's 850,000 a year. >> Okay. >> So it's 850,000 less of an increase in your costs. >> Okay. So if it's if we're going from 60sish to 40sish, low 50sish, we're looking at somewhere between around 18 to 22% potential savings. >> Yes. But you're still going to have an increase from the because you're going from 35 >> up to let's say 50. >> Okay. Okay. And the but the alternative would be to just go >> go up to 60 60 something. >> Yeah. I'm thinking of the the delta that we will >> gain by not doing that. >> I just want to be sure everyone knows that I'm not saying that they're saving. I'm not claiming savings that you is not there. The

097market is is I I'll say that the other thing is a big chunk about 7 to8 of what's in the current market price is due to new fees that were imposed after the February 2021. There are new ancillaries. There's debt securization to cover defaults that occurred in the marketplace. Um there's new u payments to keep gas plants running. Um there are there are other there are other payments to get people to turn down. So there's a there are seven new fees that were implemented since February 2021 that are not going to go away. >> They're not going away. >> No. >> Okay. >> Everybody's paying them. >> Okay. All right. So it sounds like if we do nothing um we're going to pay more. If we do this, we're still gonna pay more, but we're

098gonna pay considerably less. >> You'll pay less more. >> Okay. >> Less more. >> Okay, I've got it. Okay. Um, is there a motion to approve the resolution authorizing participation in the interlocal agreement and delegation of parameter authority to the superintendent and chief financial officer for the procurement of electricity services as presented? >> So move. >> I have one from Mr. Willbanks. Who do I have a second from? I gave that one to Mr. Mike. Okay, trustees will move to vote. All right, trustees voting unanimously. The motion carries. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. Thanks for your attention. >> Hope you make your flight. >> Good luck. >> All right, that brings us now to we'll go back to we are now at action item B and this is an action item to

099consider potential approval of teacher incentive aotment application. I'll turn it back to Dr. Smith. >> Trustees, we have brought this topic to you numerous times and tonight we're um coming to you asking for action on this. You know, Ms. Dollaris Johnson and Mr. Scott Kale, and they'll walk you through presentation tonight and answer your questions. >> Good evening, President Chapa, members of the board, and thank you, Dr. Smith. Tonight, the administration is seeking board approval to move forward with uh submitting a teacher incentive allotment application to tea in April of 2026. We've spent several years studying the program and gathering feedback from our teachers. This program will provide a highlevel overview of the program, what participation requires, and how Arlington ISD has prepared for potential participation. Most importantly, we want to demonstrate that this request

100is about positioning the district for long-term retention and support at some of our highest needs campuses. Approval tonight does not implement the program immediately, but it allows Arlington to submit the an application to the state to review our proposed system. To begin, we'll take a look at TIA implementation across the state. The teacher incentive aotment is fully funded statewide, designed to retain teachers at hard to staff schools. Teachers who work at campuses with the highest needs receive larger payouts or designations. Just in the 2425 school year, as you can see in that teal box, the state awarded just under $500 million to teachers across the state. More importantly than the amount of money that was awarded is how the state is awarding the money. This is not a locally funded program, but is funded through

101the state's tier one allotment through the foundation school program. That is the system where school districts receive school funds. This system grounded in the Texas education code creates a sustainable funding source for districts implementing TIA. Unlike performance um phase systems in the past, this graph here shows year-over-year participation in TIA. Many districts similar to Arlington, including our neighboring districts, have implemented TIA or are currently applying. By the close of the 2025 application year, we had over 800 districts in Texas participate in TIA. We want to bring this a little bit closer to home. We've shared this slide before. This slide provides a snapshot of several of our neighboring districts and where they are in their TIA journey. Some districts begin implementing as you can see in the orange as early as 2019. This the districts

102listed on the right along with us. They're just considering next steps. The colors along the road represent the different cohorts of districts across Texas and where they have entered the TIA process over time. As you can see, many districts in our region, Dallas, Fort Worth ISD, Grand Prairie, and others are already participating in TIA or in various stages of the implementation. So, what does this mean for us? Right now, we currently have over 30 teachers in our system that are earning a designation from other districts. This just reflects how widely the program is being implemented in our neighboring districts and across the state. In addition to the participating districts, I want to bring your attention to the districts with the star. We have Irving, Everman ISD, Fort Worth, and Grand Prairie. These districts are now

103exploring or implementing what the state refers to as strategic compensation. This gives these districts access to an enhanced teacher incentive aotment program where they can draw down 10% more TIA funds from the state and it also allows them to include principal and APS in their performance-based compensation plans. So while each district's approach looks a little different for TIA, we know that Arlington's goal is to move forward in a way that reflects our district's priorities and readiness. Next, we're going to review the statutory application components in district readiness. In order to submit a TIA application, TEA requires that districts demonstrate readiness across several categories. These categories include both statutory requirements and system design components. The statutory categories include components such as how will the system be weighted? What is the teacher observation system that will will

104be used and which student growth measures will be included. It also includes an explanation of how the district plans to spend the money that they receive for the designations. We're going to carefully walk through the statutory requirements tonight and how the district intends to answer these questions on an application should we be approved. The main takeaway from this slide is that Arlington can't just simply decide to participate in TIA. We must demonstrate to TEA that we are ready and that our system is fair and valid and reliable. With those requirements in mind, this next slide actually highlights the two two core components of a TIA system, including the teacher appraisal system. You'll notice listed there, there are a number of teacher appraisal systems used across the state of Texas. and then valid and reliable student

105growth measures. The measures evaluate how academic progress student the academic progress students make over time over the course of a school year. Um districts can use a variety of student growth measures such as student learning objectives, pre and post tests, portfolios, or value added measures depending on the subject area and grade level. Districts are advised to use student growth measures that are ready and available for the initial year that they apply. Now, I want to point your attention to that center box that says correlation. One of the key requirements of TIA is that the two components must show a positive correlation in order for a teacher to earn a designation. This requirement helps ensure that the system is both fair and credible and that teacher designations reflect both strong instructional practice and student learning. Texas

106Tech actually owns a part of this process and it is the state's data validator proving checks and balances on all TIA systems across the state. So if these two data points don't show correlation uh once we do our have a data capture year and we're capturing our data and submitting it to Texas Tech, we would have to pause and make sure those things are aligned. Should Arlington choose to apply, we would not have to build some a system from scratch. We would just refine what already exists in our system. Arlington currently uses TA test, which is the state's recommended teacher appraisal model and using feedback from our teachers. The steering committee's recommendation includes using student assessments that we are already using in our system. We want to minimize any change for our teachers. Student growth

107measures that we currently use in our system are listed here. the STAR test, the screeners, NWA map, circle, and MCL class. But what happens if an assessment shifts or changes? If the state of Texas updates or replaces the STAR test, Arlington would adjust it student growth measure to align with the new state assessment framework. Historically, this has happened while others have participated in TIA and TEA has provided guidance to TIA participating districts by updating growth methodologies and adjusting statewide performance standards to ensure this continuity across the state and TIA systems. Districts are required to recalibrate locally approved systems to maintain an alignment with the statewide performance standards and statutory requirements. So any significant change in an assessment would require state level validation through Texas Tech before impacting a teacher's designation. Another important feature of the

108TIA program is that there are multiple safeguards built into the approval process to ensure fairness and and reliability. Part one includes that review of the district's application, the artifacts, the supporting evidence to ensure that the teacher observation system and student growth measures meet the state standards for validity and reliability. Then step two is that validation process through Texas Tech. The second review is where Texas Tech analyzes district data to confirm that teacher observation ratings align with measurable student growth and that the results are statistically reliable. Another safeguard that is not listed on this slide, um there's a part in the application process where our teachers would receive what they call a teacher buyin survey. This survey is given by Texas Tech and is not given by the district, but we do get the results of

109this survey and it gives us a lot of feedback from our teachers on what they think about the system that they've built. So in short, TEA reviews the design of the system and then Texas Tech validates the data behind it. This is the timeline from application to payout. If approved tonight, Arlington would submit the application in April. TEA would review and potentially approve the application in August of 2026. And the following school year would serve as what TEA describes as the data capture year. The best way to describe the data capture year is a year that we collect our evidence. We're looking at those teacher observation scores and we're collecting those student the evidence of the student growth measures. We gather teacher observation scores and student growth data and that information is later reviewed by

110the state to determine which teachers qualify for a teacher designation. That data is the data that is then validated by Texas Tech before any designations are issued to teachers. The earliest potential payout, should we apply in April to teachers, would occur in July of 2028. TIA is intentionally structured as a multi-year process so the state can validate the system before designations or compensation can occur. What you also notice is this timeline allows the district to continue refining the system should we apply and be approved. and it allows us to continue getting stakeholder feedback throughout the process to discuss possible expansions to other content areas and teaching assignments. Now that you've seen the timeline from application to teacher payout, I'd like to now walk you through the administration's recommendation. As we review the committee's recommendation, it's

111important to note that these elements not only reflect the work of the TT TIA steering committee, but also years and years of feedback received from our teachers across the district as we've shared in our previous board reports. The steering committee recommends submitting an initial TIA application beginning with a focused group of campuses. These campuses were identified using our high needs campus index that incorporate several indicators that are listed there and summarized on the right hand of your slide. In addition, 15 of the 23 campuses are currently identified by the state as campuses needing targeted improvement or turnaround support or that tip and tap. These are campuses that are being monitored by TEA because many of these campuses are already working under state improvement plans. Implementing TI there allows us to align that additional teacher support

112and different differentiated compensation with the campuses that are already focused on improving student outcomes. We do not recommend expanding beyond these campuses at this time. In addition to identifying campuses, TEA requires that districts identify eligible teaching assignments. The assignments listed here reflect areas where we have strong student growth measures and where the district has ongoing strategic focus, particularly in math and literacy. As we know, math and literacy serve as foundational skills that support learning across all subject areas. and special education inclusion and resource teachers in reading and math were also included because we know these teachers play a critical role in supporting students within the general education classroom, particularly for our students who require additional support instructionally. Based on these assignments and the proposed campuses, our initial analysis suggests that approximately 50% of the proposed

113campuses of the teacher, excuse me, at the proposed campuses may be eligible to participate in the TIA system. And that percentage would vary across campuses depending on the grade level and the course offerings. Eligibility simply means that a teacher is in an assignment where a student growth can be measured. designations are earned based on performance criteria established within the system. While approximately 50 cent may be eligible or 50% excuse me may be eligible. We want to also point out we're going to talk a little bit about the compensation plan. Our teachers were adamant and cons and they consistently shared that while the designated teacher may be recognized for strong performance, the growth of a student is influenced by many educators across the campus. So this is reflected in the feedback we received in our proposed

114compensation plan. One of the required elements of a TIA system is determining how much each measure contributes to the final designation decision. This is where what we refer to as waiting. Arlington's proposed model includes the two components teacher observation scores and student growth. And Arlington engage teachers directly when determining how designation should be calculated. This means that half the decision is based on what we see in the classroom using tests and the other half is based on the academic progress of students that they make ac over a year. Teacher stakeholders recommended that we weight these two things equally. This chart that you're seeing outlines the statewide performance standards established by the Texas Education Agency for earning a TIA designation. At the very top in the blue, the teal and the green you see that there

115are three primary levels of designation recognized exemplary or master. Each level represents increasingly strong teacher performance and designations are determined by those two measures. You'll see in the rows the teacher observation scores looking at test domains two and three and student growth outcomes. As the designation level increases, the expectations for both of those measures increase as well. At the statewide level, the recognized designation represents roughly the top third of teachers statewide. Exemplary represents the top 20% and master represents the top 5%. It's important to note that these are the statewide standards. These are recommended minimum performance thresholds. The state established TIA standards and performance criteria will serve as a foundation and guiding framework for the design of Arlington's local eligibility system. Also in the last row, I want to point your attention to the possible

116allotments. You will see the possible allotments that are associated with each designation. This chart shows those broad ranges from the state. But as we shared earlier, the allotment generated depends on the campus demographics. So, based on our proposed pilot campuses, we did um look this up and the highest estimated aotment would be close to $28,000 under the master's designation. Every TIA application must outline how the district will use the allotment funds generated by teacher designations. During our stakeholder engagement sessions with teachers, as I shared, teachers consistently share that while a designated teacher may be recognized for strong performance, student growth is influenced by many more educators on that campus. Because of this, teachers express support for a compensation structure that both recognizes the designated teacher and allows a portion of the funds to support the

117broader instructional team. So based on that feedback, what you see here is an approach where 70% in the teal box, 70% of the aotment goes directly to the designated teacher and 20% is shared with teachers who work with the same students as the designated teacher. So you're looking at co-teers, interventionists, and and specialists. And then 10% would be held back to support administration of the TIA program. This structure is designed to balance several of the guiding principles that you see listed there. teachers expressed they wanted to maintain meaningful recognition of that teacher that experienced the growth. They would like to encourage collaboration and strong professional culture across the campus. They would like to support staff stability for all teachers at those campuses and they want to recognize the role that interventionists, specialists and co-teers play

118in the growth of students and they also wanted to reinforce campuswide improvement efforts that are happening at those campuses. So the state law requires that we spend 90% of the designation that we received on the campus where the teacher earned the designation. What this means is we have flexibility in how those funds are distributed among teachers on that campus. Many districts begin with a similar phase and approach to support collaboration and campus culture. You will see this compensation structure again as the district's full compensation plan is brought to you later this spring. uh TIA compensation has to be included in our compensation plans every year. So if it needs to be adjusted, it can be adjusted with a compensation plan. An approved TIA system would allow the district to strategically recognize and reward strong teaching

119at our highest needs campuses. By providing differentiated compensation, we believe we can strengthen recruitment and retention at some of our highest needs campuses and retain some of our effective educators and support greater stability on those campuses. Ultimately, the goal of the program is to build strong instructional teams and improve outcomes for all of our students. If we are approved to move forward tonight, the district will focus on strengthening the systems that are in place that support a TIA program, including continue calibration of our evaluation processes. We shared in one of our previous reports that we had a uh principal focus group. The of the 24 campuses that are listed here uh for proposed initial program, those principles have volunteered, some of them have volunteered to lead TA test calibration efforts across the district. We will

120work to also ensure there's consistency in the administration of student assessments and ensuring administration of assessments look the same across the district at all campuses. And we're committed to continuing to seek feedback from our teachers and principles concerning any ideas for expansion or any system refinement that may need to take place. This brings us to our recommendation. So over the past three years, we have engaged teachers and the campuses campus leaders in thoughtful discussions about differentiated compensation and system readiness. Based on that feedback and after reviewing statewide implementation models, we are recommending a phase TIA program at our highest needs campuses and approval to submit the application in April of 2026. Thank you all so much for your time and I'm willing to take any questions you may have at this time. Okay, before we

121move on to trustees with comments or questions, Miss Johnson, I just want to say congratulations on the award that you got from HR.com. Uh, Miss Johnson was recently named as one of the top human resources professionals in the country um at the HR.com annual awards and so we are proud to have you here. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, President Chaplan. >> Okay, we've got some folks lined up tonight. Uh, Miss Fowler was the first to hit her button, so she goes first. >> Thank you, President Chapa. Thank you for this information. This this was very enlightening and and and I learned. I have some I don't know if they're questions, probably comments. Um, the thought of, you know, giving teachers more money, I am all for that and that's wonderful.

122And when I taught, I taught English one and so I would have loved the opportunity. I'm still teaching, but when I taught public school, I would have loved to be able to possibly get that additional money. Here, here are some of my concerns. My my fear is that teachers that are not teaching those designated subjects, are they going to feel somehow less than, you know, that they're not they're not getting that extra money, that they're not as important or what they're teaching is not as important. And I think it's more important for students to get a well-rounded education. And that includes science, humanities, the arts, all of that. And so that's my fear. I don't want any teacher to feel like they're not as important because they're not teaching certain subjects that are tested. And

123I think we've worked really hard in this district for culture where everyone feels equal and everyone's important and more of a family atmosphere. And I just don't want any kind of competition or anything like that with the teachers. Um, you know, I think about when they all get together for their planning periods and, you know, there has to be, I would think, a little bit of resentment that, you know, you're getting 28,000 extra dollars and what I'm doing is just as important and I'm working just as hard as you are and my students are doing well, but I'm not getting that money. And so that's a little bit of a concern for me moving forward. I just don't want that that division, you know, but the thought of teachers getting more money, I'm I'm all

124for that, but I just don't want there to be anything with the culture or people feeling less than or that what they're teaching is not as important and that they're not getting the same money. So I just I just have those those fears. Thank you. >> You >> Thank you, Miss Valor. We'll go to Mr. Mike. Thank you. Uh if we look at slide 15 and and I know before when we were studying this and this slide came up with the proposed campuses and I didn't hear it tonight but prior to I asked a question about the provision of the optin um and I didn't hear an opt-in provision this time. Does that mean that these proposed campuses no longer have an optin provision that they are in it? They did have an opt-in and

125all of them would like these campuses did want to be a part of it. They did have an opportunity to go back talk to their staff and when we had the principal lunch and learn uh they all wanted to be an opportunity have an opportunity to be involved in it. >> Okay, that's the only question I had. >> Thank you, Mr. Mike. Mr. Will Banks, >> hang on, Mr. Will Banks. My finger is is larger than the button that I hit. I will fix this. Okay, you're good to go. >> Thank you, President Choa, and thank you, M. Johnson. Uh, if we could start with slide seven. This is something I missed when I was reviewing it. Um, so you pointed out or maybe it was slide where you talked about the enhanced TIA. >>

126Yes, it was the slide. >> I know Fort Worth is trying to implement it right now. >> Just to be clear, we're not doing enhanced, right? >> No. Um, in order >> Thank you. >> I'm hearing nightmares from our district next door about trying to implement that. So, thank you. >> Yes. >> Yeah. and no plans. We're not going to be forced to go that route later. >> In order to participate in the enhance program, you have to be a regular TIA um district. And right now, we are not approved to be a regular TIA district. And we are not discussing um plans to move into an enhanced program at this time. >> Okay. So, yeah, let's go to the other one. and I said, "So, thank you for sending the data on our campuses."

127Um, I I thought at one point some of our campuses could earn this the 3,600, >> but it looks like 28. >> Yes. >> 800 somewhere around that ballpark, which is still a significant pay raise >> uh for our teachers. Um, if we go to slide 19, I've got a few questions. You mentioned that we have 30 teachers getting TA currently. Yes. >> Okay. Looking across the state and our neighbors around us, um I like the fact that you guys, you know, my when I met my wife, she was um she was a waiter and she um very gladly paid out the bus staff and the kitchen staff because they determined how much she made each uh night. Uh and it was considerable. So, um, but she gladly did that. So, I kind of, you

128know, I what you're doing is not found frequently across the state with people doing TIA, and I applaud you for trying to tip out very important staff. I know Fort Worth they do the same thing but they do it out of that 10% so it's still a 9010 split and they tip those I don't want to say tip those folks but they share the wealth a little bit with those uh very important GT specialist um but I'm also torn because if you look at our numbers oh so question so let's say someone in for who's earning 90% at a similar district uh campus that earns uh 28,800 a year and they come here and we implement this program, would because they earned outside, would they be getting a pay decrease even though they're at a

129similar Echo Disc campus? >> Yeah. Well, um I think there's two parts to that question. One, move it over into Arlington ISD if we're approved and uh for a TIA program. And this is our compensation structure. The teacher would then fall under the same same compensation structure as the other teachers on that campus. Also, the designations are determined by the social economic status of the campus. Uh so the amount that they earn will be based on the social economic um status of that particular campus where they're working. >> So I'm very sensitive. I appreciate my colleague Miss Fowler's comments and >> we we need to not lose sight of that and focus on the culture. So I applaud you for that. But >> on the other hand, we're trying to compete for the best the

130absolute best teachers in the area. And if they're coming to a campus that is at our max 28800 from one that was at 2,800, that's going to be a 5,800 5,700 uh dollars a year pay decrease to come here. Likewise, once a teacher earns that here and they can see they can go to a similar campus in HB and earn5 to $6,000 dollars more going there. I think that would kind of I'm a little torn because I think we're kind of from a competitive standpoint of attracting the best and maintaining the best teachers, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot. So, how do you you know, I would be reticent. I don't I'm not sure what we're approving tonight, but I'd be um hesitant to approve that kind of split without knowing competitively what that's

131going to do um in terms of attracting and and retaining the best teachers. >> You have something to add. >> Yeah, if I could just add a quick thought. So, thank you. I think that's a very thoughtful, insightful question, Mr. Wilbanks. that I just wanted to add that this particular first pass of the pilot there's probably going to be quite a few things that are going to evolve over time and where we're starting in terms of the recommendation of the application that we'd be submitting is very much based on the input of the teachers and and the inputs we've gotten from them. So, we've tried really hard to make sure that of all these variables because there were many that that teacher voice was heard and and the people it's going to affect directly and

132this is one of those things that came out of that as well. So, I completely understand your point. Um, I just wanted you to know what the origin of it was and that the capacity is certainly there as this program evolves um to to make more on what's working and ultimately in future years modify those things that need um a little bit of adjusting. Yeah, I I'd be more comfortable if we did maybe an 80 1010 approach just so that we kind of still acknowledge those GT and interventionists and other classroom uh teachers are able to share in the wealth because of all the work that they do to contribute to it. But we got to we got to find that right zen balance between the two competing constraints here of attracting the best and

133and and creating a a good culture under TIA. So um I would appreciate thoughtful consideration of that uh and maybe rethinking after polling the teachers specifically at those campuses in the pilot. Um and then um >> Mr. Wilbanks, can I ask a quick question? So, Mr. Kale and Miss Johnson, by submitting the application before we even get to data validation and payout, I assume we can still continue to have conversations about this PI. Is that correct? >> The uh compensation plan does have to be submitted with the application. However, I know tonight we're just seeking approval to submit the application, but if we want more time to revisit the proposed compensation plan with the teachers on that campus, we we can have that opportunity to do that. >> So, I just bring that back because

134I think that uh tonight what we're asking you you said, I don't know what we're approving tonight. Tonight, we're asking to seek your approval to submit the application. If there are concern, >> they're not the details. >> Correct. And if you have some concerns about that, we can absolutely do a little more digging on some of these things and bring some more information. I definitely want more digging on those because we got to strike the right balance and figure out what our you know rank our goals with this program of even going down this path and and get the feed make sure that we hear all the teacher voices that are interested in this program um so that we do the right thing and meet our objectives. Um, another question in regard to that split

135if if we do the 70 split is is it I think my understanding is those that are eligible for that split would basically be you know your 087 ps quote teachers right so anyone that falls in that category >> yes um as Mr. Kale explained this compensation plan was built with teacher the teacher voice and stakeholder input and they expressed uh the other 20% going to teachers on the campus that supported the growth of that student. >> Okay. So you're right, 087. >> How do you measure? Well, is that going to be hard to measure which additional quote teachers are eligible for that 20%. Like obviously if it's a GT, I mean that GT teacher is assigned to multiple classrooms pretty much in that campus from what I understand. and then um the interventionist like

136how do you split that out? >> We've had we've had a lot of good conversation about this and I realize the complexity of this grows but um Donald Russell will correct me if I'm wrong. The the teachers that are eligible for a teacher who received a designation are other teachers who had facetime with those same students. So it's not teachers across the campus per se. it's teachers who actually had facetime direct some level of instructional interaction with those same students as opposed to just the teacher of record. So it's fairly straightforward I think in terms of its application uh at the individual campuses for the teachers who would be uh within those categories that Miss Johnson showed earlier. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. It bars further study. I still have questions, but um I think that

137I think that covers all my questions and I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Well, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Wilbanks, Miss McMurrow. I am not doing well tonight with the buttons. >> Thank you, President Sha. Um thank you, Miss Johnson, and thank you, Mr. Kale. So, I I want to echo what someone said earlier and just say thank you to our human resources team. This has been years, not months, but years in the making. And I want to thank you specifically, Dollaris, because I know it's been very important to you to amplify teacher voices throughout this process. Um, and I feel like every time we've gotten a report, I do see the progression. And at the same time, TEA has really evolved in what they allow districts to do. Um, this has just been

138really complex and I've I've really tried to learn as much as I can as things evolve and see what other districts are doing and not just pay attention to plans and data, but also pay attention to the word on the street, listen to teacher voices and just get that anecdotal um anecdotal feedback from teachers about TIA. So the hard thing about about this all is that we we as trustees don't want to leave money on the table for our teachers ever. And I want to say that with confidence about my board. Like we have never um shied away from top compensation. And that's something that I I I just want to commend y'all for. And that is also something I want to elevate because I understand the complexity of the decision that y'all make tonight.

139I need y'all to hear that. I need y'all to hear that. I completely understand all the perspectives about tea. The the things that I cannot get past with any kind of TIA plan, which again, this was a very thoughtfully put together plan that included those teacher voices. As an educator, I just I cannot get past paying teachers more based on things that are beyond the scope of their control. And that is something that unfortunately TEA does not allow districts to do right now. I can control where I choose to teach. I can control what I teach, but I can't control if I have a lot of chronic absenteeism issues in in the period of a school year. I cannot control that maybe this year I have a bunch of high achievers. So, my growth measure

140wasn't quite um what met the threshold for my TIA, but I had the best instruction and commitment of my whole career. And so that's something that I I'm I'm really still struggling with and unfortunately that's not something that our district is able to exempt from from a rubric or an application. As a parent, I still have a really hard time getting past that my son's teacher salary part of it would hinge on their performance on any test, even if it is growthbased. I know that my sons have had bad days and even though we're measuring growth over achievement, which I I do like that um it's our instruments that we use to measure that is still a one-day one-way test. And as a trustee, my concern is still the implications that this may have on

141culture. And that's been mentioned several times tonight. So because of those things, I I really have to stand behind my values. and I tonight seriously commend the work and the thought that's been put into this, but I I won't be supporting teacher incentive aotment. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss McMo. Miss Richardson. >> I have a question. I know we're still working on details, but some just a couple of basic questions. Um, one of the things that you listed are the different ways that we determine grades eligibility, different qualifications. McLass and then MAP are two of the different tools that we use in our schools. McLass is a little bit easier to manipulate versus map cannot be. Do we know which of those that we would lean towards using when measuring our student our uh

142teacher success rate? >> I'm actually going to lean into Dr. Warts. You're going to phone a friend? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, it would depend upon the teacher and the content area that they're actually being assessed in. So, in primary grades and reading, for example, we use MC class, but we'll use MAP in STAR grades. And so, it would be whatever the assessment is that you use with your classroom to drive the instruction in your room. Um they're both um they're they both have measures that we would measure against in terms of an EOI and you can measure growth and there's growth measures in each of those. They just are measured in different ways but you it it would be the one that's actually utilized in their classroom. Yeah. >> This is

143an opinion question, but do you feel like inclass can be manipulated that data and success rate compared to MAP? >> Well, they're both they're both assessments that students would take independently. whether or not it's not like back in the day where your their their teachers are going to manipulate it. I don't I don't I personally don't believe that it's I would worry about that. >> Okay. >> Not in my opinion. >> Um what about our teachers at CTC programs? Would those teachers who have would they qualify for any of this? Because I don't see them on the list, but they might be teaching students from Lamar or Sam Houston. >> Sure. Um the initial recommendation is to focus on math and literacy with possible expansion to other teaching assignments in the future. >> Okay. Um

144when we looked at that list of uh 23 schools, you talked about that our principles have said yes and opted into it. Did they and Dr. Smith, that may be something you need to weigh in. Is that something they pulled their teachers and staff on or did they make a unilateral decision for their campus? >> The uh the principles were invited to a lunch and learn to learn more about the program and they were supposed to check the pulse and they did the pulse on their campus come back and report whether or not they wanted to participate. >> Okay. My concern is only if we have teach uh have teachers reach out and say well my principal wasn't didn't actually ask me my principal did this without taking my polls and want to make sure

145that we are true to the teacher voice while also understanding that a lot of these campuses have chosen to opt in and when that's something that we want to also respect them >> yes >> and their autonomy to do so. >> Thank you >> Dr. Smith. Do you have feedback on that about principles and their teachers getting the pulse of the campuses? Yeah. And I think they did a really good job because they know how important this is. And now is there still hesitation on some? I think absolutely because this is a an an um new frontier for some of these schools and and I get that. I think that there's some ability to also remember this isn't districtwide. So there's still to Sarah's point earlier about choice. There's still some choice involved in all

146of this too. And I I so if a campus is participating and a teacher does not feel very comfortable with that, remember they still have the ability to teach in Arlington ISD, not in that program. >> And I think that that's important for us. We we did not want to go um full scale on this. And I think for me that that's really important. And I think that having the ability to have um a targeted staffing model for some schools that need it the most makes a lot of sense. and to also make sure that we give our teachers in our system choice still. And I think both of those things are true with the proposal that they've laid out. >> With the 15 out of the 23 campuses being already on a tip t

147or a tap plan, where do you see the benefit to that with TIA? Yeah, I think that that uh definitely well what we can I can go back to say we've seen significant turnover at some of those schools over a number of years and I think that this could be an incentive to help create some stability for teachers at those schools and so I think a tip and a tap plan or talking about what we're doing academically in the school. This helps us potentially and potentially because we would see create some stability for staffing in those schools too because one of the challenges we've seen is we sometimes have teachers who want to get into the district and they take a job at a school that might be struggling some and then they they head

148somewhere else after a year or two. And we want to create some stability in staffing at these schools >> because in turn when we have stability with our staff, we also create stability with our students who we know that that's one of the things that kids need most is stability. >> Absolutely. >> Um with TIA we see the road map of when we would be able to um file to get in when pay all those things. What is the chance if we decide this is not for us and we want to either a pull our application or b we do the program for a year two years and we want out what is our commitment to the state at that point that we're locked into. >> So once you're approved for TIA system you can

149submit teachers for a designation every year if Arlington decides CIA is not for them. We just simply don't submit teachers for a designation. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you and congratulations again on your award. >> Thank you, Miss Richardson, Miss Haynes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so Trusty Richardson asked basically the heart of what my questions come down to. So I'm going to piggyback off it a smidge and then say where I'm at on TIA. So she brought up the fact that um often after we make decisions that regard feedback of any kind, people come to us and say, "But I I was not actually asked." And so transparently, most of the educators that have given me their feedback on TIA are not educators on those campuses. Um, and so I want to really make

150sure that to the response you gave to Trusty Mike and Trusty Richardson that those campuses have buyin, which it sounds like they do. And I know that you said the process the principles went and had conversations. Was it literally with what what was the guidance given to the principal? How how did those discussions go? Was it every p every teacher that would be eligible to participate? Did they have a meeting? Did you give a survey? Was there any sort of something I can speak to when a teacher comes and tells us inevitably that they weren't consulted? >> Yeah, our principles had the autonomy to check the pulse on the campus. However, they uh deemed to be deemed to check the pulse. We didn't give a a survey to ask the teachers yes or no, but

151we gave the principal the autonomy to um speak with the teachers on their campus and report back whether or not they wanted to participate. >> Okay. Um so with that, knowing that those campuses want this for their campus and they want the opportunity to have this, um I would support I would support trying it. I will admit I was skeptical when you guys brought it. each presentation I have um I have learned something new um and I've remained skeptical up until trustee Mike asked that question because that is really that's really what matters. We need we need achievement on those campuses. We need teachers to want to be on those campuses and if they have the buyin then I want to give them the opportunity to utilize this program for that. >> Thank you Miss

152Haynes. Are there any other comments or questions from trustees? Miss Valor, >> another question. If we apply and we're accepted, how soon could we possibly add in uh some other subject areas, history or science, biology, something? How soon could we do that? >> You can add in, you can submit teachers for a designation every year for a data capture year. So, if we apply and our initial teachers that we're submitting are in the content areas and subjects that we've presented tonight, if we wanted to phase in other teachers on those campuses, um we can add those designations in in the next data capture year. We just have to remember we got we have to have valid and reliable student growth measures to submit along with the teacher observation data. >> And how soon could we

153add in possibly other schools, other campuses? Right now, the um committee with feedback from our teachers and understanding that we have campuses um with with the greatest need and retention and recruitment of for retention and recruitment of teachers, we're not recommending that we expand beyond the proposed campuses that were presented this evening. Okay. And what would we look at if a teacher decides, well, I think I want to go teach on that campus because I'm I would be eligible. What do you will you look at the tea test and the growth from that teacher from that school to see if they could go to another school that's offering the TIA? >> So, our uh processes for transfer would not change. If a teacher felt they wanted to be on a TIA campus, they could put

154in for a transfer during our regular transfer window. >> Okay. And hopefully my last question, what if growth is measured and that's good, but maybe the test score was not where it needs to be. what how does that work out? >> And that's where the state has um put in checks and balances for the system. So Texas Tech validates our data and make sure there's correlation and they let us know if there's skew and say there's skew and we need to go back and adjust and figure out why there's skew and that's where our t test calibration team would come in and and make sure we're making adjustments on the t test front. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Fowler. Mr. Well, thanks. >> I have one more um point

155I want want to point out. If you could go to slide six uh that one. So, here's the reality in Texas is that there's,200 school districts um 89 are applying. I don't or have applied and will be implemented and then the cohort with us and others pretty much every major district in the state is going to be offering TIA. If we want to attract the best and the brightest teachers we are going to be left in the dark and if you go back to the effective school framework, right? We just had a presentation on the instructional core from Dr. champion. The most effective lever for moving student outcomes, the next biggest lever is the teacher in that classroom. If we want to close the gaps, to me, this is a no-brainer. We It is proven,

156it's evidence-based on closing those gaps. And teachers benefit and they benefit big. So, I will be supporting this. I think we're we're kind of behind the eightball on this and and I'm I like the slow measured approach. I like some of the aspects of mitigating some of the concerns on the culture. So, I will be voting for this. >> Thank you, Mr. Willbanks. Mr. Mike. Well, Mr. Mike, >> just um real quick if we can go to slide 15. Um and and I the reason why I keep harping on the opt-in provision of these particular campuses because the majority of the students that go to these campuses are at least from my understanding uh Hispanic and African-American. there there's a high population and I know based on the data that we have when we're looking

157at the learning gaps um our Hispanic and black kids have consistently scored lower. So to me it just the only way that we can help improve scores in this district is to help target those demographics that are scoring consistently low. And I think it just makes sense to me to have very experienced teachers who know this is what I'm walking into and this is where I need to be to help achieve that. So um that is why I have been in favor um of this program. Although I do have the sentiment that my colleague Miss McMurl shares that I wish every teacher there um could have this because it it takes a village and and it's not just one particular subsection that that makes what we're trying to do with our children is to teach

158the entire whole child. So that's just the unfortunate circumstance that we are placed in not because of our choosing but because of what the state rules are. Um and and we're backed against the wall, but we've got to do something. And so, um that's why I'm supportive. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Cham. >> Thank you. Um I did want to take a moment and share I know there was a question about how did they how did principles gauge the pulse at the campus and um Stephanie Savala um wonderfully stayed tonight and so I had the chance to talk to her. Spear is one of those campuses and and I asked how did you take the pulse of your campus? She presented the facts about what was in what our current recommended plan was and then

159she said guys you tell me thumbs up or a thumbs down and she said across the board it was a thumbs up and so that's an example. It is it is an example. Um I don't pretend that happened at every single school but I would predict that that is largely how how that was run. The goal was to ensure that we transparently shared what was included in the plan, what it would look like, who would be included in in what that what that would look like, and then to ask simply ask the question, what do y'all think? In or out? And so, I think that was an example. So, I know that was three questions ago, but um I thought it was relevant information. >> Thank you, Dr. Champion. Miss Richardson, >> it was more

160of it on my sneeze again. Hold on. Bless you. >> Thanks guys. Um, what Mr. Mike said, we have these students that we have said, no, I'm sorry, not students, we have these schools that we've said we need to move the needle dramatically and we we need to do it immediately for multiple reasons. Not just because of the grades we get from TEA, but because we have students who need it. Their education depends on it. We have had complaints and when I look at this list of different schools who have said we are not getting stability in our teachers. We are not getting certified. We are not getting the best of the best. They want to go work somewhere else. We have to do something to incentivize this. It would be a great place if

161we could just say teachers want to be everywhere and we are going to pay them all like we pay our doctors and lawyers. We can't. But if there's a way that we can provide some stability for these schools that we have not been able to have in the past, I think we have to consider everything at our everything in our reach right now. Um, I appreciate the fact that you're saying that we will do an application, but we still have time to refine the process. As trustees, our role is for governance and policy. It is to not tell you how to refine the process, but it is to take the process that you do come to us with and vote on that. And tonight, I think that you have done your best to give us

162a good recommendation at this point and because of our role as governance, we now get to execute our job and I appreciate you laying this out for us in a very clear way so we can do our job without getting in the weeds with you. >> Thank you. Any other trustees with comments or questions on this item? I don't have much to add beyond what my colleagues have said. Um, I'm going to support this tonight, too. It just is a matter of it wasn't in this presentation, but it was in a prior one. There was a map of the DFW area showing the districts that either were already in TIA or were applying and and we were essentially the donut hole in the middle. Um it looks like almost 80% of districts across the state

163are in this progre um progressing this direction in some way. And we have made a very strategic decision to be market leading in pay for a while now than starting to pay big dividends for us. And just as an example of that um we recently hosted a a targeted mix and mingle for trying to recruit folks from other districts. Um in particular one district close to us that is large and has has been in TIA for a bit and we expected 200 folks to show up to that. we had 750 and our applicant pool then is going to be larger which necessarily means we're going to have larger number of folks who have this type of credential uh looking for a place to go and if we don't have a if we're not able to

164meet that credential that they have we're going to be at a strategic disadvantage that is going to counter um the work that we've done to be market leading in pay and so I certainly recognize concerns that there is not ever going to be a perfect TIA system that is fair to everyone um it is sort of a built-in flaw that's unavoidable Um, but if we don't make this decision, I think at this time, especially given that we are significantly behind this process, um, then we will shortly be at a choosing to be at a strategic disadvantage on compensation and we've done such hard work to get here. I'm not willing to to go to that point. Um, on the proposed TIAA compensation plan pie chart that came up earlier, um, just my two cents on

165that. I mean, we've had so many meetings on this and I I think this is a fair proposal. I'm happy with the 702010 split um if that was the consensus of the committee in particular because if that 20% is going to interventionist, dyslexia folks, GT folks, these are sort of our most specialized people um who do an intense amount of work with some of our hardest to serve students. They're also some of the hardest to recruit folks to. And so, um I think it's a very good idea to try to give them as reasonably much of this pie as we can, still realizing it's flawed in some way. um because that will allow them to have their sort of their tide get lifted too along with the classroom teachers. So um the last thing I

166wanted to close with is the point has been made. This allows us to be much more strategic um with the our deployment of resources. Um it's not just you know for a long time we've focused on racial composition or socioeconomics but in a district that is 80% at this point almost socioeconomically disadvantaged um we're an 85% minority district. I mean, our average campus by and large is is for black and brown kids. And so, by necessity, we are having to more strategically look at ways to more nuance, take a more nuanced look at needs in our district. And with our campus needs index, um, we have begun to take a much more granular look at needs across campuses that might be very socioeconomically and demographically similar, but in if you were only to look at

167those metrics or performing in different ways. And so now that we are doing that and able to more accurately identify where our needs, our resources need to be deployed, I think this allows us will allow us in the long run to be much more strategic about that and get the highest quality teachers we can at the campuses that most need them because that's just a reality of of what this is designed to do. And I think um this is a good strategy to try to do that. So that's where I'm at tonight. Um I don't see any more requests to speak. So I will um we'll call to a motion tonight. Do I have a motion to approve the teacher incentive aotment application as presented? >> I have a motion from Mr. Mike. Do I

168have a second? >> Second. >> Have a second from Miss Fowler. Trustees will move to vote. All trustees voting. The vote is 6 to one. Uh the motion carries. Right. Thank you, Miss Johnson, Mr. Kale. >> Trustees, I want to um publicly thank Miss Johnson and Mr. Kale and others on their team for leading this. We know that this is a difficult decision for this board and there's some trepidation about it and this team can tell you that I have had my trepidation along the way and uh I I am proud of the steps that we've taken and the one thing that I can assure you of is with Dollar's leadership in all of this. She has definitely focused in on that idea of how do we um create a system where we're able to

169do this and make sure we're continuing to build the right culture in our system. So just thank you both for your leadership in this and board thank you for engaging in some tough conversations about this over time. >> Thank you all. Uh we have been going about two hours. I recognize that our next agenda item I think is going to generate um some con some discussion and so we're going to take a fiveminute recess. It's 9:37. >> All right, it is 9:44. We're going to get back uh to our final agenda item tonight, at least on the action uh portion of the agenda. So 9:44, we're back from recess. We have one more uh non-consent action item, and that is item C. Consider approval of instructional meth >> and item. Thank you. >> Yeah, two

170items. >> I didn't flip over. Consider approval. Don't worry, we have got it. Consider approval of instructional mathematical materials and expenditures for the 2026 2027 instructional materials and technology aotment. Dr. Smith. >> Yes. Uh trustees, Dr. WZ will be here presenting tonight. We have some others that are here in attendance and we'll be adding in the presentation as well. Um this is a topic that I've talked to you about over the last month or so and asked you individually, trustees, what do you need to make a informed objective decision and things like this? And so tonight we're presenting some of your feedback to us so that you uh have information to for consideration this evening. >> All right. Good evening, President Chapa, members of the board. Dr. Smith, we're here tonight to uh talk about

171our instructional materials specifically for the area of mathematics and um getting authorization to utilize our instructional materials and technology aotment to purchase those materials. Specifically tonight, we're going to be talking about the consideration to adopt Blue Bonnet Learning as our designated high-quality instructional material for kindergarten through algebra 2. I just want to start off by saying that the conversation about instructional materials really relates to three priorities that the board is uh has adopted. Obviously, there's one that's prominent, which is academic growth. specifically academic growth that's designed to really help students have a passion for learning and to really engage in the type of learning that's going to help them master concepts that they can apply in a variety of settings, but also the culture of the classroom and also the utilization of uh resources in

172a way that's going to build and maximize the capacity and talent of our teachers in the classroom. When you think about mathematics and uh the success of mathematics programming in a school district, there are key questions that you want to ask yourself as you start thinking about where you're going to go. And the first one is really around this concept of beliefs and framework. So the question is is do we have a clear evidence-based framework for math instruction? And I'm going to talk a little bit about that and even reference a little bit about the things we've learned on in another content area such as the science of teaching reading and how similar concepts about structure apply in the mathematics realm as well. Uh instructional materials are we using high quality instructional materials that are

173aligned to the master schedules and is our assessment system strategic, efficient and aligned to really understand where kids are moving across the curriculum and making adjustments along the way. and then asking like what is our approach to really build capacity for teachers in the classroom in terms of their ability to deliver instruction in the area of mathematics um and professional learning. And then the last question is if we have clear set of expectations for what math instruction needs to look like and how are we monitoring those expectations and also supporting and managing them. Now the thing I want to first start off tonight is to start by saying that of all the materials we looked at all of them are considered high quality. Uh in when House Bill6005 was actually adopted they replaced uh what

174is known as the proclamation of the Texas resources review systems with something called IMRA which is the instructional materials review approval process. And their gold standard for this process is that the materials that are approved by the state board of education 100% of those uh of those materials uh are aligned to the TEICSS 100% of the TEICSS and the ELPS and the process that um the EMR process is really important because you're identifying HQIM which is a core component of the effective schools framework. And so when you think about what you're adopting the first question that you want to figure out is is it considered high quality? In the past, we had to determine a lot of those things in terms of baseline understanding at the district level. Now, uh teachers and educators across the

175state are utilized to help assess against a couple of components. And I'm going to talk about those tonight. The first one is quality. And in mathematics, they use rubrics, quality review rubrics that assess two areas of a curriculum. They look at implementation quality and they look at learning quality. And there are three categories in the implementation quality that are actually reviewed. There's intentional instructional design. So, does the scope and sequence actually yield a learning of 100% of the TEICSS and ELPS? They also look at progress monitoring. Are there aligned assessments and diagnostic tools with data analysis guidance for teachers so they can shift and make judgments in the classroom? And is there supports for all learnings and is there support for all learners so that teachers can differentiate and scaffold with just in time interventions

176extensions and you utilize pre pre-taught vocabulary in learning quality. They look for depth and coherence of key concepts. So vertical and horizontal alignment with space interleaf practice for students. And then they're also assessing the balance that happens in that that are in curricula in terms of the teaching of both conceptual and procedural understanding with students. So, uh, the there needs to be a balance of both those two parts. So, you don't want students just simply knowing how to solve a math problem. You want to under you want them to understand why they're solving it in the way that they are. And then finally, productive struggle. And we've talked a lot about strug productive struggle this evening in some of the other presentations. One of the quality components that are reviewed by the by the IMRA

177in the EMR process is whether teacher guidance is provided to facilitate effectively productive struggle in the classroom with teachers and build students own self-efficacy in that content area. The other area that's actually evaluated is suitability and there are basically three big things that I'll highlight around suitability. One is again 100% of the standards are being taught. there's factual accuracy and then are is there all these prohibitions that you kind of see in front of you are those omitted from from the curriculum. So all the the like I said all the uh materials that we reviewed went through that process and met the qualifying criteria in each of those two uh rubrics and we thought about this in when we thought about the needs assessment in our district and how we would go about selecting instructional

178material. we try to triangulate it and there were three major components that I want to talk tonight about how we landed on what our recommendation is for you this evening. Um the first thing is we started back in November um and we had our CNI team start looking at what are the materials that are even eligible because if the state board didn't approve a material we didn't even consider it and once those materials were identified then we assembled a district instructional materials committee that had representatives from elementary and secondary campuses and multiple departments and there was representation for teachers for every grade level and course that was being considered and some and instructional leaders that were involved and they reviewed the materials for engagement and problem solving. They looked at uh real life application. They

179looked at manipulatives. They looked at building numeracy and numeracy attributes. They looked at math discourse and they these representatives from all these different grade levels also went back to their campuses were invited to share their their materials at their PLC's, gather feedback and bring that to our discussion. The other thing we thought about too was the actual curriculum audit and context. So when I say triangulation in terms of decision- making, we thought okay, what is what are the materials? What does the audit actually say that there's deficits in our system that we should be addressing in anything that we adopt? And then what's the context of Arlington ISD? and how do those things come together to actually generate an experience for kids that actually going to move the needle and move some of this the

180results in math that we've been talking about actually this evening some of the other presentations. So I thought tonight let's we would start at least with context and the question we've been asking ourselves is how do we raise the floor for all learners across the system. So it doesn't matter where you are norththeast west what school you're in or which classroom you have. How do we ensure there's a baseline level of expectation in terms of quality of curriculum for all students? And when you think about curriculum design, there is actually a continuum in education. Um you you often hear about district- managed curriculum, which is on one side of the continuum. The complete opposite side of the of the continuum is individually determined curriculum, meaning like a teacher with or without district approval would do

181their own, design their own. And you have so the continuum would go uh an individual with or without district approval. And then the next one would be like a grade level may decide to do it with or without approval. And then you might have a campus may may be decide to do it with or without approval. And then the last step would be district managed curriculum that's required and supported. Now districts all across the country depending on their size and their needs have like have expectations on curriculum design all across that continuum for every component that I just described with the exception of district managed and supported curriculum. There are like five things that really have to be in place in order for you to ensure that it's there's actually quality. You have to have

182high teacher skill. You have to ensure that there's significant time for teachers to actually build lessons. You have to ensure that you have high teacher retention, that there's strong leadership and coaching, and that you have low student mobility. You if you if you have those things in place, then you can consider other things. But if you have other situations, you have to consider how you guarantee it for all students. And so, I thought we would spend a second just looking at our context in Arlington because it was important part of our needs assessment. We currently, as you know in front of you, have about 75% of our students who come to our campuses that are economically disadvantaged, which which is directly related to achievement. And we also have a very mobile student population. About 20%

183of our students move across our system. And that actual number is higher in in some campuses than others. And in many of our more impoverished campuses, it's a it's a real issue. So kids are coming and going. And the reason why that's a really important thing is because if a student leaves one classroom and they go to another classroom and they're either doing different curricula or they're at different places or the or it's dependent on the teacher's lesson design, you start to create gaps. The other thing that we had to think about too is what is the makeup of our actual teaching population. So we just had a whole conversation about retention, especially as some of our most challenging campuses about um about almost 35% of our teachers are 0 to 5 years of experience.

184So 430 of our teachers zero years this year and 894 are between one and five years. And the reason that's really important is because when you're teaching, you have to learn not only pedigogy, like how you're teaching instruction in the classroom, but you have to have time to master math concepts and math curriculum. And so when we thought about our context, we started thinking like, well, what is it that we have to provide to ensure that our students and teachers have the things they need in the context we live in to provide students with meaningful instruction. Now, one of the things that I know you've heard because we've talked about it many, many times that we've gotten feedback over the years um with curriculum that we hear from teachers and we actually did a dipstick

185survey um just to get a pulse on how people are feeling as part of our culture survey recently. And some of the feedback that we got even most recently was we would like our curriculum to be more streamlined and user friendly. We need curriculum that's less overwhelming because right now there's feedback about the volume of resources not and the the need to put those resources together into a lesson plan is overwhelming for teachers and it's distracting from their ability to implement in the classroom and of course always the need for more planning time. So the other thing we thought about in terms of our context was okay, so we're getting feedback from teachers, we know what our student and teacher population look like. What have we been using? Well, in our classrooms in grades three

186through five, we've used Envision, Savas Envision. We've used supplementals with STEM scopes. In grades 6 through 8, we've used McGra Hill. And yet, when we look at our results for mathematics, they're consistently been struggling. right now last year we were at 65% approaches 36% meets and 14% master and when I look at all the grade levels across the district from li from uh the tested grade levels and start from third grade all the way to specifically algebra 1 with the exception of one grade level which is seventh grade every grade level is below the state and in most cases it's double digits so we had to ask ourselves okay we have these students who have these specific needs we have a very specific student population and teacher and we've been using certain of the materials

187that were actually part of our review and yet we haven't been moving the needle in the way that we actually need to. So we're asking ourselves this question. Do we want to adopt more resources that teachers then have to design on their own to deliver to their classroom or do we want to adopt a curriculum that provides that baseline for teachers so they can spend their time internalizing the lesson and figuring out how to deliver it to their class and not just on designing their own lesson. So some of the things that we've learned over the last little while is we've talked about this balance between the art and the science of teaching. And you hear this talked about a lot in the classroom. Um and so the best simple way I can say it

188is if you hear the con that if you hear someone say like I teach students that you could relate that simply to pedigogy. If you say I teach math then that's content. But what you're looking for is someone who can say like I teach students math which is I have the art of teaching and I also have the ped the the pedigogy and I also have the science behind it. When we were trying to move the numbers in terms of achievement in literacy this year, we moved really tightly to structure literacy. And when I mean tightly, we moved from a very balanced literacy approach, which was much more teacher dependent to here is the science the way it should be taught, here are the materials you're going we want you to use, and this is

189the time and the way we want you to use them. And our results in primary grades reading this year have moved in ways we haven't seen actually in prior years, specifically in some of the skill sets we were looking for. Well, the concepts of math are very similar. So, there is a science to teaching math just like there's a science to teaching reading and there's been research done on it. What is the best way to teach math? So, there are there is constructive inquirybased approach to teaching and then there is what you would call systematic direct instruction teaching and the research is clear when it comes to math explicit direct instruction yields better results than a constructivist kind of inquirybased model in mathematics. And why would that be the case? Well, in mathematics, there is

190a hierarchal way of teaching math. Um, concepts naturally build on themselves in a very structured way. And so, you're looking for a curriculum that builds vertically with specific skills while at the same time increasing the level of cognitive sophistication that students are actually engaging in. And there are three things you want to look for. You want to look for a curriculum that has a baseline for acquisition, meaning there actually is a simple there's a way to teach new concepts. You want fluency built in there because we talk about fluency in reading a lot, but you also have to have fluency in mathematics because when you're problem solving, you want things to be automated for you after over time. You don't want all your time being spent trying to figure out how to solve a problem

191because you're stuck on, for example, a math fact. And then you also want the concepts to become so integrated in the way kids understand that they can apply it in lots of situations. You're not looking to teach kids how to solve problems that are very defined like this is a very specific one way to solve. Most problems in life and even in math are much more complex and there might be multiple algorithms that have to be used and you want kids to understand what they're using and why they're using it. The other thing when it comes to direct and explicit instruction um is you teacherled is in terms of a model where teacher teaches directly works with the students and then releases them. And you often hear this concept of gradual release where you model

192first practice with feedback and then practice on your own works best when it comes to actual instruction mathematics. You want stu you want teachers to model clearly for for students to guide their practice facilitate engagement strategies where students are having discourse and think aloud so that people the the students can physically hear the thought process that's actually going on and then the teacher giving them immediate feedback on their thinking. The other component that I was mentioning earlier when I said fluency was around this concept of automaticity in math. When facts are automatic, then students are allowed to focus on the complexity of the problems that are in front of them. If they're stuck on that, they lose sight of what the problem's actually asking. So, there is a component of math instruction that you want

193to be automated. Um, you want them to actually take what they know um and know how to apply it in um in a very uh simple but accurate quick way. Another component is this concept of that you'll hear us talk a little bit about which are interled and space practice. And that's basically saying uh you want different types of problems mixed together because you want students to understand what is the strategy that I need to be selecting to solve the task that's actually in front of me. And you want kids to also be able to explain why they're actually solving it in the way they are. Because as we all know in math many times there are multiple routes to a solution. You want kids to understand that when you see that missing a lot

194of times you'll notice in the classroom that if it's very algorithmic based so it's just focused on like solving the actual math it turn sometimes students will turn to tricks but they don't necessarily know they know how to solve the problem but they don't actually understand the why they're doing it and that really leads me to my last point which is this balance between con conceptual and procedural understanding they actually strengthen each other um you want kids to understand how to do the math but you also like I said want them to understand the why. So what did we do with these things in mind? We did a review and there were five um there were five resources we actually looked at. We looked at amplify desmos math. We looked at Savas um um we

195looked at Savas both for secondary and elementary and vision uh in Envision Plus. We looked at agile math McGraill and Blue Bonnet. And here are some of the things that we heard. So when we invest when we when we looked at a Amplify, some of the strengths we heard were that they had interactive lessons, that they were storytelling elements that were embedded in there to help kids connect math to their literacy and their and their culture. That there were ready to use slides and there were centers and there were structure lessons that reduced some teacher prep time. They had a realistic pacing and they also liked the fact that there was a low floor, low ceiling for instructional design so they could actually access a a wide range of learners. The concern that came from

196that specific um resource was that there was a heavy reliance on technology. They felt like there was a distraction from math concepts by overrelying on technology. teachers noted that there was an initial learning curve in navigating the digital platform and there was a lack of integration with our in NWA map assessment that we use for SAVAs in vision uh and in vision plus there were strengths that the integration of map was there and there's uh extensive digital tools and there's AI assisted lesson creation adaptive supports that people really liked um there were multiple pacing options which provided some flexibility to calendars um and there were also instructional resources such is like digital manipulatives, videos, there was canvas integration that people liked and there were a lot of engaging components people liked that were connecting math

197to the real world. The concerns on the SA side that people uh shared was that there was a large number of resources and a large number of tools and they were worried that that was going to be very overwhelming. Um some reviewers felt that the program really resembled previous editions that they've had they've seen in that in um in Envision and Vision Plus. And although the the pages and the materials were highly visual, there was some feedback that they could possibly be overstimulating for some students. Um the scope and sequence in some cases specifically in secondary felt disjointed because you could occasionally split some instructional days into two parts. And so there was concerns about that. And then there was a heavy focus on digital automation. um which could reduce the face-to-face instruction if it

198was not carefully facilitated and there was concerns about that. Agile mind is actually developed out of the University of Texas Austin out of the Dana center that was another one we looked at and some of the strengths that came from that one were research it was it had the researchbased instructional strategies which we called the RBs those were integrated it aligned to our model of CRA. Um there were data dashboards to help understand where kids were in their learning gaps. They offered curriculum, advanced curriculum for seventh and algebra 2 and they also had really good hooks that help kids get caught into the lesson. Concerns around this one were uh they didn't like the digital platform and the materials were really difficult to navigate in their opinion. Um the materials felt dated and less visually

199engaging and there was limited differentiation specifically for multilingual learners in Spanish and GT and there was some concern specifically around some of the standards. They felt like there was missing some standards although I will say it did go through the emmer process and the emmer process it did meet their expectation. The last one I would talk about before we get to blue bonnet just so I can share with all the all the parts is McGraill. Um, McGraill uses Alex which is an adaptive AI um tool and that was found as a strength in this in this um adoption or this material specifically in identifying learning gaps, tracking progress on standards and kids mastery of standards and helping teachers to group students into small groups. Uh they also felt like there was features that really helped

200make uh align the standards easier and there was a logical sequence to lessons that people liked. Uh there was also quick teacher prep videos that that and digital platforms that were aligned to Canvas that people enjoyed and they also like the fact that you could get on a mobile app. The concerns were that Alex um is often noted as something separate or an additional purchase and reviewers were worried about that. Um they were also worried about the ability to finish the lesson within the the prescribed bell schedule and that the materials were less engaging. they weren't culturally relevant and they were leaning heavily on teacherdirected instruction. So, Blue Bonnet, what is Let's talk now about Blue Bonnet. Blue Bonnet uh and I'm going to I'm going to share both some of the strengths and some

201of the concerns that have come up um in as we're talking. But Blue Bonnet um the one of the things that's important to know about Blue Bonnet is first of all the design design blue bonnet is designed in such a way to actually tell the story of math where students start to draw connections between the concepts that they've been learning as they metriculate through the curriculum to really try to drive their conceptual and procedural understanding to deep levels. Um the positive thing that's different that we've never had in Arlington is a cohesive curriculum that is uh articulated from kindergarten all the way through algebra 2. So if you think about that, one of the feedback points we often get from teachers is we really want to be able to collaborate with other teachers. Well, the

202challenge around that is you don't have every grade level working under the same language or the utilizing the same curriculum. This would allow some of that coherence to be in place. It does uh utilize an instructional model which moves kids from the concrete to the representational to the abstract and of course as I mentioned earlier um it does meet the suitability and the quality requirements that are part of the IMER process. I had mentioned as part of our triangulation we look specifically at the curriculum audit and there are four major areas in the curriculum audit that are directly addressed through the blue bonnet curriculum that I want to talk about tonight. The first one is the strengthening of the curriculum quality and its alignment. So, one of the things that came out in the audit

203was that the documents um met expectations, but 31% of the reviewed activities were not fully aligned to the standards in terms of rigor or content. And I think that was referenced a little bit in Brett's conversation with earlier when you go into the classroom. Teachers right now are using our curriculum and they're actually using it in the scope and sequence, but the task that teachers are designing are not aligned to the standards. They're the level of rigor engagement is still low. We have to work through that. Blue Bonnet strategically sequences the models that build on learning and ensures that there's alignment in the activities that students are engaging and that those that alignment is aligned to the rigor of the standard and that the ELPS are integrated. The other component that we're looking at is

204specifically around the systematic assessment and feedback loops. So one of the things that we heard in our curriculum audit is that there was a lack of a comprehensive assessment plan that ensured that our local assessments were directly lined to the rigor of what you would find in STAR. Blue Bonnet embeds a continuous cycle in the way that it's taught like so for example in the elementary campus in the elementary grades K through five it uses a cycle of diagnosing planning assessing analyzing that assessment and teaching. So it goes in this cycle and then in secondary it even it integrates an additional formative assessment cycle which is the demonstration portion. Um so when it comes down to the the assessment cycle the assessments are embedded in there as part of one component even though the district

205will still continue to include the other assessment parts of of our comprehensive plan when it comes to like addressing rigor and cognitive demand. Um and I mentioned this a little bit earlier. Many of our classrooms that the auditors observed saw students engaged in teacher centered materials or teacher developed materials that had low cognitive tasks and that they lack the meaning to really help students in math really justify their thinking. So if you remember when I was mentioning we want kids not only solve problems we want them to be able to talk about why they chose the solutions that they did. Um that's lacking right now. So, but Blue Bonnets uh pra the the the Blue Bonnets practices that are actually integrated into the actual curriculum here um develops that deep com uh uh that deep

206uh understanding or conceptual understanding for students so that they're able to navigate problems but also discuss them, represent their solutions and actually write in a way that justifies or integrates writing to justify their thinking um and how they got to those solutions. And then finally, the last one that we that's connected to this specifically is around professional development or professional learning. In the curriculum audit, there was a there was a finding about trying to coordinate professional learning. I know you we've talked a lot about that in the last year and we've been working really hard on that. Blue Bonnet includes built-in implementation supports, which I'm going to talk about in a few minutes. um such as leadership unit uh snapshots that help administrators really understand what they're supposed to be seeing in the classroom when

207they're conducting walks so they can give uh meaningful feedback like right then or in a coaching environment. And there's also internalization protocols that help teachers actually understand and own the lesson that's actually that's been written. Now, what is the feedback we've been getting about Blue Bonnet? So, I'm going to talk about some strengths and then I'm going to tell you what some of the considerations or concerns were that have come up. So some of the strengths were the things I've been talking about. The rigor is there. There's coherence between kinder and algebra 2. There are specific supports for for teachers which I'm going to actually go into some detail in a few minutes about what those are. There's the lessons and then there are also slides that are editable that teachers can actually use to

208help guide them along the process and actually adjust to meet the needs of the kids in their class. They follow the RBs. They have they have our concrete representational abstract model embedded. There are trans adapted Spanish materials. So when we adopt in English, we also will have all the materials for our students in Spanish. They have the integrated assessments I talked about. And then there are student opportunities for practice and digital tools. And I'll talk a little about those digital tools in a minute. Some of the feedback or concerns that pop up and are that I I'll talk about are the first one which is more an administrative component is there's a there are books in all these modules. Where are you going to put all these? So we've talked about that. Um there's concerns

209about how do you scaffold the instruction differentiate for students who not only need intervention but those that actually come and they actually understand the prerequisites. How do you accelerate or deepen their learning the the pacing there's a perception that you don't have a lot of flexibility around the pacing that came out. So I'm going to talk a little bit about how we're addressing that. And then there is um some feedback around the computerized resources, the interfacing of students, the the the all the bells and whistles we've seen on some of the other adoptions. Uh there was some feedback specifically around Blue Bonnet around that. And then of course that the most common one that I think everyone has heard is the idea the lessons are already written for teachers and that people have the perception

210or the worry that it's going to turn into a black line master that kids are going to just be doing worksheets. So with those things we started thinking like well what are the solutions to some of these actual concerns that people may have and there are six things I want to kind of address tonight and I'll talk about each one of them individually but um you can see them across your screen materials management in terms of addressing the first problem uh differentiation support collaborative PLC's for teachers so they can unpack the lessons and really consider their actual student population in their room and adjust for their student needs structured lesson internalization which I'm going to talk about and then ongoing coaching and responsive leadership. So what are some of the things that we could do?

211So when it comes to strengthening instructional delivery, we are committed to providing robust training, coaching and lesson internalization protocols for teachers to help them deliver highquality instruction in the classroom. We are committed to ensuring that there are scaffolded supports so that our students who are emergent bilingual or students who have needs uh have differentiated strategies that are provided. And in the PLC protocols when teachers come together to actually talk about the lessons and to practice the lessons that they'll be doing can consider how to integrate those strategies into lessons specifically for their students so they can deepen the the learning and extension for students who may have mastered prerequisite skills and also intervene for students who may be coming with some deficits. We also want to have some balance um in terms of fidelity and

212flexibility. And what we mean by that is there's pacing in and lessons that are written and scripted out, but we also want to consider the fact that they are framed in in coherent using utilizing a variety of tools and data informed flexibility. So the the perception that you follow point A to get to point B to get to point C and you have to do it exactly this way without actually internalizing and accommodating your own students, that is not the goal that we're actually trying to get to stream. We want to streamline logistics. So, we talked a little bit specifically around printing and distribution of materials and we'll have a plan for that. And then finally, engagement, utilizing visuals, manipulatives, instructional supports to make sure that we're really helping kids to understand the things that

213they're learning. So, the first thing I want to talk about is the lesson structure. And I'm going to share with you both elementary and secondary, but I want to pose a question or just define what we mean when we say what is lesson internalization. And so there's a metaphor that's very simple that I'll I'll I'll use. So when you go to the movies, you're watching actors who have learned lines. And you won't watch a movie if the lines, you can tell they're acting. Really strong actors have internalized those things and made it completely their own. And they pivot and make the movie what it is. Now, I'm not suggesting that our teachers are actors. That's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to get to is when you when the when the foundation

214is poured for you and the structure of the lesson is researchbased and you have the tools to internalize it and make it completely what it needs to be for your class and you're fluent in it. You can integrate the art of teaching because now you can pivot. And our our goal is to ensure that our teachers have the ability to actually internalize their lessons and not spend their effort writing lessons but actually focus on how they're going to teach their act their students. So in the elementary structure there are four main components. There's fluency practice which is really building on that speed and accuracy that I was talking about earlier with mental math and quick checks. And then there's a component around application of problems where kids are integrated and learning things within the real

215world context. they're applying their concepts and they're trying to make connections. There's there's strategies that are embedded to try to have students work in in collaborative groups. There is a concept development and problem set that's there and it utilizes this gradual release model of I do, we do, you do. And students are engaging in guided practice and new learning with scaffolded text that scaffolded tasks that lead them from something that's more simple to to something that's more complex so that you can deepen their understanding around the math they're learning. And then finally, there are assessments that are integrated. There are mid-m module assessments, there are end of module assessments, and there are also exit tickets to help teachers gauge right then whether students are understanding the things that they're actually learning. And so the four

216key features that these this four con this construct actually represents are there on the bottom. The other thing I think that's important to note about lesson internalization is there's an arch. And so when you think about the arch of the modules, the way that they're actually designed, it's important for the teachers to consider like where their students are in terms of whether they need intervention or whether they need extensions or accelerations. And they're allowed to take these materials and integrate those um into their their actual delivery. In secondary mathematics, there's a three it's a three-phase method where they look at engaging students, developing students, and demonstrating. So the bas the the simplest way I can say like engage is is there's a hook. You're generating curiosity. You're trying to help kids think about where the

217real world math application is. They engage in tasks and work um they work through examples. They have peer discussions and representations and then they work to actual practice. The mathematics um secondary elements are designed in such a way so that there's actually a pacing and scope of documents that go over units of time over the course of the school year. and teachers have access to detailed tasks and overviews like pacing guides and lesson materials. And then of course there are both print and digital workbooks that kids can work through. So what are the additional resources that teachers administrators have at their hands to do some of the things I'm talking about? Uh and there there's a there are several in front of you and I'm I want to talk about briefly what each of those

218are. Teachers administrators will have access um to a module and topic lesson internalization protocol. So there will be structured protocols for how do you internalize what do you do? Uh will they these will help teachers thoroughly understand the lessons and apply the lessons specifically to the needs of their students and integrate the art of actual teaching. The other thing is that stu teachers will have access to those editable editable slides that I uh mentioned about uh mentioned earlier and then there are also short videos that teachers can use to see how specific concepts are to be taught with students. So, one of the things we've actually heard from our teachers is it would be really great if you could have some videos of these specific things being taught because I've never seen it done before

219or I don't know how to do it. These are integrated there. There's also a blue bonnet learning portal um that point K through five math and secondary math supports to help them in their implementation and unit snapshots and podcasts which provide summaries of the lessons with key concepts and also help teachers understand in principles what the look fors are. There are manipulative kits, which I'm going to share what what they are, um that are specifically aligned to each of the grade levels so that teachers have access to handson resources to help kids understand concretely what the math is. And then there are protocols to help um teachers actually analyze the work students are doing. So, they're engaged in tasks. Like we were talking, you want them to be engaged in rigorous tasks. there's a protocol

220that they'll be able to use that helps them analyze and think about how students are mastering and performing against the standards of the sta of of the TEICSS and then finally there are highle overviews um for understanding just the structure and the sequence and the way the lessons should be taught. Now here are um here's a just a quick sampling of all the different types of u materials that will come in the classroom kits. So we are committed to purchasing um resources and ensuring that kind of what we have done even well what we've also done in literacy the same thing in math if you if you're asked to teach it we want to make sure you have all the resources to actually do the job and this will help reinforce that CRA component that

221I mentioned it it's not considered supplemental these materials are part of tier one integrated instruction and it really helps kids um build their understanding between the concepts and the procedures and ensure that kids understand it across classrooms, across grade levels, and across schools. So, you might be asking you, okay, so what are all the benefits of doing something district-wide, why don't you just do a few here and there? Um if we by adopting a curriculum across all of the campuses in the grade levels that we talked about, it ensures that we reduce the probability of students who are mobile of having gaps in their learning and it it ensures that our curriculum is guaranteed for all kids and that it's actually viable. The other thing is it it allows us to really strengthen instructional quality.

222A lot of our time is spent helping teachers to write lessons and we really want to help them understand how to teach the lessons and internalize the lessons rather than trying to figure out what materials to put together to actually generate a lesson. It also helps support the changing workforce that we I mentioned earlier. We have a large subset of teachers that are brand new. We want to make sure that we maximize uh those resources for them and also provide opportunities for them to tap into expertise and we want to maximize our district capacity as well to provide professional learning and coaching around one highquality framework that all are engaged in. And then the last couple of things is it really allows us to do what I mentioned earlier which is give teachers a place

223to collaborate with each other and meaningfully uh talk about the work with one another. not just at your own school but in professional learning across campuses because they'll all be using the same thing and it really enhances and strengthens the the quality of the PLC process. Um and then the last thing is really to streamline our resources, reduce fragmentation, ensure cohesiveness by sustaining it over time. We want to we want to create a system or integrate a curriculum that we know is going to be viable for years to come. Now, um, when we thought about this, one of the things we thought about was like, well, what kind of supports are available to us? Well, there is a grant that we applied for and we were awarded. We haven't accepted yet, and we're actually going

224to come back and share some more information about that grant with you all later on this month. But one of them is called Lyft Implementation Grant. And what this grant does, it'll it awarded us 1.3 million almost$ 1.4 $4 million to to work with a partner to help us in our implementation and also to support that implementation in the classrooms. And what this will allow us to do is to provide uh ready coaching support at all the campuses. Help us to monitor and manage it and put our systems in place to ensure that it's happening across the classrooms. It really will help us with teachers in their lesson internalization and ensuring that there's a process to unpack the scaffolding that's needed to make sure we're meeting the needs of all the diverse learners that are

225in the classroom. Um there they will help with analyzing student work um and helping the teachers understand where to make adjustments for their students and then also help us as we put more robust observation and feedback cycles into our system so that we can sustain them over time. The last thing I'll just say, and uh this really isn't a a major point, but because there's a dollar attached to it, I just wanted you to know that when it comes to the dollars for um adopting SBOE, if any SBOE adopted resource is you can use this eligible $40 per student that you get. Uh and then there's an additional $20 that is available to us to print the materials because technically Blue Bonnet is a free resource. you want to print the materials so that people

226can use them. So there is a printing cost attached to it and but there's money for that. So the very last thing I'm going to talk about tonight is um implementation. And when we think about our our implementation across the district, we've tried to think about it in in like five primary steps. And the first one is setting our goals. What does success criteria look like if it's actually being implemented well? And we specifically are focusing on these four components. Consistent use, ownership across the system, not just in some departments or within some campuses, the quality of the internalization, and then student engagement. The other thing we're also looking to make sure is that that teachers are being set up for success. So when I say that, what I'm also referring to is making sure

227that the schedules protect the instructional time, that there are clear tier one instruction uh expectations, and that we've distributed the materials in a timely manner, and that there's supportive professional learning to support them. One of the questions that came up that people worry about is around pacing. Um we will work with our provider to help us adjust the pacing without compressing uh concepts so that we're skipping things by utilizing our data understand like what spirals need to happen more frequently based on the data that we have and ensure that's what's in our calendar and that kids are ready to take the star when they take the star. The other thing that's important to note too is when we think about our processes, we've been talking about how do you lead or improve the PLC's uh

228that are happening at schools and their lesson internalization. So these are the three criteria that we're actually thinking about specifically around that. And one thing you'll hear us talk a lot about is not just a PLC, but what we're calling curriculum based professional learning and coaching, which focuses on collaborative learning with teachers, helping them to shift from lesson design to internalization, and then working, like I said, on student analysis. And then the observation tools and expectations and feedback cycles. And then the last one of course is one we've talked about earlier tonight which is around the alignment of our assessment strategy specific looking at the practices in the classroom and then the authentic tasks kids get engaged in and how we analyze the work samples that come from that place. The last thing I want

229to say is we've done all this kind of work and research but we wanted to see it in practice like what does it actually look in practicality. There are currently 543 districts across the state of Texas who have adopted math ma blue bonnet learning math and there's another 410 that have um submitted and been approved for blue bonnet math implementation lift grant. So it there there's a lot of districts. So we're like where are some districts that we could actually go see it in practice? And we went to Aldine, we went to Birdville. We had conversations with leaders across different parts of the states that were implementing to ask them their feedback like how's it going? And we went specifically into classrooms like we interviewed principles. We went into the classrooms and watched teachers teaching

230and saw the kids actually engaged because to be honest we wanted to make sure that it wasn't what people were worried about. We aren't interested in people doing blackline masters and worksheets. We want kids actively engaged in math. We want them to build their concepts. We want to see student discourse and interaction engagement strategies. And we consistently heard and saw lesson plans. The feedback we got was that the lesson plans were really supporting teachers and provided the needed space for them to actually deliver instruction that there was alignment and we saw it clearly from classroom to classroom and from school to school that we went to. We also saw that it allowed for meaningful support that and really maximized the district's capacity like we interviewed district staff and we talked to them about the providers

231that they worked with and how it helped them in their implementation and consistently we heard from principles from teachers and from district staff that it increased the rigor and the coherence across their system and that kids understanding about the conceptual side and the procedural side of math was actually better. They did also say you need to make sure you think about these things. They said you have to make sure that time is protected for teachers to internalize lessons because that's hard work. It's not easy work, it's hard work. They also said that it's important to have observation feedback loops that you're supporting the growth and coaching teachers that you ensure that you align the pacing to your district calendar which is something we had already thought about and that we make sure that we integrate

232prof curriculum based professional learning. So teachers aren't learning professional learning from an agnostic content way like a professional like strategies that were content agnostic but that they were teaching them specifically math strategies in the context of the curriculum they're actually implementing in the classroom. So these are this is the process we went through. I we wanted to give you a minute to hear from someone other than me. So um I have invited Tiffany Lrand to share some of her thoughts. She's our math coordinator and then Dr. Dr. Elena Guerrero is our one of our directors in CNI. She's also going to share and then Brett is going to talk a little bit about some of the from the campus lens um things that um we've heard and talked about. So, Tiffany, >> good evening uh

233President Chapa, members of the board, and Dr. Smith. Uh my name is Tiffany Lrand, and I currently serve as the K12 mathematics coordinator here in AISD. Um, but I've been in this district for a while. Um, I've also served as a secondary instructional specialist, um, a mathematics instructional coach, and most importantly, um, a highly effective junior high mathematics teacher. Um, and when I left the classroom, uh, my students were at 100% success uh, for the star. Um, that was way back when we had to do multiple administrations. So, my kids passed the first administration. and we did not have to do it again in April. Um that was 100% at approaches, 91% at meets and I think 27 at masters. So um I'm here to speak to you guys about Blue Bonnet um and how

234I think it will support our teachers and strengthen our math instruction across the district. Um, as a math coordinator, it's my role to support teachers in delivery of highquality mathematics instruction. And I believe that this resource is a tool that can help do that. Blue Bonnet Math benefits teachers because it doesn't just outline what students should learn. It describes and grounds teachers in what strong mathematic instruction looks like in practice. It gives teachers clear guidance for structuring lessons and engaging students in productive struggle and mathematic thinking. It also creates a shared structured framework for reference for PLC's and model lessons that will help teachers collaborate more effectively and strengthen their instructional practice. Blue Bonnet streamlines framework that allows teachers to spend less time figuring out how to teach and what within the resource to use.

235It gives them more time to build their understanding of the content and how to really respond to their students thinking. Um the balance of conceptual and procedural understanding is there. The coherence in the math story to assist with vertical alignment is there and is clearly outlined within the resource from module to module from lesson to lesson. Um the strategies are there to really help the teachers help the students engage in productive struggle and it's intentionally embedded within this resource. So ultimately, this resource provides our teachers with the clarity, the structure, and the support that they need to deliver strong math instruction that will help every student develop a deep understanding of mathematics. And I'm really excited about what this resource can bring to our district. Um, so again, thank you all for your support of

236students and teachers here in our district. Um, I'm going to turn it over to Elena. Good evening, board. Thank you so much for having us here tonight. I would like to share with you some of the benefits that we see from Blue Blue Bonnet Learning Math, specifically centered around our elementary grades. One of the things that you noticed and captured from Dr. awards uh presentation is the focus on the conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts and one of the things that we are really ready for in early liter in early childhood is specifically centered around how we have supported our teachers this year with the implementation of structural literacy practices. So our teachers are really excited and ready to have that really robust um outlined support system that encompasses the components of the lesson. Dr. Wards

237talked a little bit about the K5 lesson model where students begin with that fluency practice. Students then transition to problem solving and application when there's a quite a bit of time within the scope of the lesson under conceptual understanding. And this really takes our students to internalize the mathematical concepts especially as they're transitioning from more concrete way of understanding to a more representational and then being able to produce and solve problems. One of the things that we have recognized is the focus on lesson internalization and really supporting our teachers in developing that opportunity to engage in the learning. Once they begin to internalize lessons, they will um that will allow the opportunity for students for teachers to be able to discern what is needed to differentiate what is needed to scaffold and level up their

238students. Um really understanding those concepts. This resource, as we mentioned to you tonight, provides an opportunity for teachers to focus on the mathematical content and how to deliver that for students so that they're able to capture and support and scaffold and develop the next steps. Um, one of the things that we're really uh proud of in and seeing is a continuity as we've mentioned, especially when we talk about our primary grade. Some of our students start uh you know, for perhaps they might start early grades at one campus and then end at a different campus. So the continuity of instruction and the language that the resource having a consistent resource throughout our campuses uh will provide that support. So thank you for allowing us to share with you tonight some of the benefits for early

239grades. And now I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Champion. >> Thanks Elena. Hello again board members. Um, my charge was to ask Jackie Burton, the principal over at Foster Elementary, who ran a a pilot over the last three years using the Eureka resource, which Blue Bonnet Math is based on. And she's done that for the last three years, K through two. And Jackie went and uh talked to teachers this afternoon about what their thoughts were. And so I'm just going to share what what what their their thoughts were because as was pointed out earlier I mean you know blue bonnet math is just a resource and at the end of the day it's about how the teachers implement and what students are actually doing. We just talked about this in the last presentation

240um that that what the work is in front of them. So, um, this was first off Jackie's point was said. Jackie's point right off the bat was Blue Bonnet's not an easy thing. There is lift involved with Blue Bonnet. There's there's productive struggle that that educators go through in the implementation of of Blue Bonnet. Um, she said, but once you get to where lesson internalization becomes a a natural piece of the conversation with teachers, it does smooth out. And so you have to have really strong training at the front end. This aligns perfectly with our our friends from region 11 who have talked to us about uh blue bonnet math. You can do blue bonnet math very badly. Um where you run a bunch of black line masters that that can happen. So you have

241to be very intentional around training and expectations and making sure that we're holding true to this notion of lesson internalization. So Jackie wanted to make sure that we talked about that. She said the thing that the teachers mentioned more than anything else was the scripted nature of the lesson plans that they were appreciative of that and the teachers said it allowed them then to spend time on the internalization of the lesson like that's actually what they said um directly from from the teachers which is which is precisely what we are we are after. They also appreciated that blue bonnet math provides exemplars for each lesson. You've heard about gra the need for gradual release and they said it provides that gradual release as well. They're students are exposed to different computational methods um which allows

242for a deeper understanding of the concept and then there's opportunities for flexibility in math. Overall teachers said there is a complexity and rigor to the to this um instructional material that that they really felt like they needed. She they said that as far as challenges go that it again understanding the lesson cycle what exactly that looks like that takes a little bit of time to get to and so there was a a conversation around that and then there's there was a concern about occasionally with the pacing sometimes it felt a little fast sometimes it felt a little slow by its nature it's a circular it's a circular curriculum and so there is some repetitive pieces that go along ong with that and they said sometimes um that that can that that presented a little bit

243of a challenge as well. And so that was just from a a school that that gave it a shot um and has been working with it and the words directly from the teachers. Thank you. I'm going to turn it back over to Stephen. >> All right. Thank you. So, uh, we're recommending that the board approve blue bonnet learning mathematics for the HQIM for kindergarten through algebra 2 beginning next school year, the 26 27th school year. And we're requesting authorization to use our instructional materials and technology aotment for its procurement. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. WZ and staff. I really appreciate you all being here tonight. I know you're not folks that we normally hear from, and so I appreciate you being here and giving us your perspective and especially staying late. And thank you

244all for the very thorough presentation. Um, I'm just going to jump right in with where I'm at and add some context to this because I think um, this is a bit of an odd thing to for us to have at least in this uh, portion of our agenda. We we ratify curricular decisions all the time that staff makes on the consent agenda and um, so I contextualizing that and the reason we do that is because um, we are frequently taught as trustees that there's two modes that there's two things that go on in a district. There's the management operational level which you folks inhabit on the daily basis and there's a governance level that we inhabit and curricular decisions usually fall on the side of daily operational management decisions and so I know that this

245is a issue that districts across the state have encountered um frequently as of late that's got a lot of attention um because I feel like curricular decisions are becoming more politicized in this state and across the country in a lot of ways and so it's it's garnered a little bit more attention Um, I just want to clarify for everyone involved here tonight, which I know you know, um, we are not considering Blue Bonnet EL. Um, this is Blue Bonnet Math. >> Yes. >> And so, from where I'm coming from today, and and this will be, you know, one of those harder calls that I think we make on this board. But tonight, I'm going to support the administration's proposal. And the reason I'm going to do that is because TR, in my view, in our

246governor's role, curricular decisions come down to the person who gets to make the call. And in my view, the person who gets to make the call on this issue is Dr. Smith. And if there's a staff recommendation coming on a curricular issue that Dr. Smith supports and I and that you support, Dr. Champion, you we've got most of our CNI leaders down here support as well. You guys are the folks that get to make the call. You're the educational experts that we have delegated the authority to you to make most of these decisions. We get to make a ratification here with this vote. But I when I'm analyzing how to exercise my vote, I want to be very strategic about how I do it and remember my governance lane. I at one time was an

247educator, but I don't have nearly the educational chops that you folks do. And so when there's some discussion about a curricular issue, I will cast my net out and I will get feedback on it. and the feedback that I've gotten on Blue Bonnet. Obviously, all of you are making this recommendation tonight. And so, I'm I don't mean to be a little flimp about some things, but we got a lot of people with ed PhDs here tonight. And I've talked to folks with ed PhDs who support this decision. I've talked to folks with ed PhDs that I respect a great deal who do not think that this is a great decision. Um, I'm on the TASBY board and I work with a lot of folks who've adopted blue bonnet math from across the state and there

248are some trustees who were hesitant to adopt this a few years ago and feel like it's working in their district and they can point to actual hard um data to show that they're making gains in their districts. And there's some folks that I've talked to who feel like maybe the uh the jury is still out on that. And I use this the word jury a little bit to segue to how I analytically approach this in in my daily job as a lawyer. And I've had the the privilege to work with some extremely intelligent folks over my career in teams where we're analyzing very hard legal issues and and we're brief writers. And so we have to make hard calls about what arguments to put into this brief. And so when you're working with a lot

249of really smart people on complicated issues, you're going to have disagreements about what might be the best argument to make, the best way to make it, the best way to to frame that within the brief, things like that. >> But at the end of the day, there was one person that it got reported up to, and that person got to make the call. and Dr. Smith and you all get to make the call on what you think the best curricular choice is. And so my job in this role is sort of we have governance oversight. So we're looking for things like did you do your due diligence? Did you make this decision in good faith? Do you actually believe that this is going to improve or likely to improve student outcomes in the district? And

250did you faithfully go through ask the hard questions, evaluate it against the other options, and then address the shortcomings of of those other options and the option that you're ultimately recommending? And you did and you did pros and cons on each one. You did site visits and all of you down there at one time were teachers in a classroom working with students very much like ours. And you're making this call tonight. And so I don't view this as as um please don't understand that. I feel like I'm abdicating my role here um to just turn this decision over to y'all because I'm not. This is the lens with which I view I think I have to view this decision and it's not I I I'm not Dr. Afterwards, you and I have had some discussions

251and and when you get into your curricular mode, I mean, it's over my head a little bit sometimes, but that's your role. You're in that day in and day out. And if we had a discussion about legal issues, the same. And so, um, tonight, I I think that's where I've got to end up because, um, you're the people that we hired to be the educational experts on this subject, and you are making a recommendation in good faith after due diligence and taking into account the issues. And I'm sure some of my colleagues up here will have questions that I didn't think of that weren't in the presentation, but that's where I um really where I am. And I just wanted to have one one more thing to say um which is that part of our

252governance role is on our back end. We have our own due diligence to do. That's the asking the hard questions going forward, monitoring the implementation and holding you accountable for the decision that you are recommending tonight. >> Absolutely. >> And I expect every person on this DAS is going to do that. We if this passes we will be monitoring this implementation. We will expect the data to conform with the expectations that you have and if at some point in the future it does not we will expect corre course correction. >> Yeah I understand. >> So that's where I'm at tonight. Thank you. We'll go first to Mr. Mike. >> I think that leads into a perfect segue. I I've got um quite a few questions. This is a first for me. Uh speaking of implementation,

253um if we go to slide 12, there's essentially four slides on slide uh focusing on the strengthen curriculum quality and alignment. And I I know there was a combination of the audit uh and then I guess some of the the conclusions or the things that Blue Bonnet is supposed to help with. Um particularly on this slide with the strengthen curriculum quality and alignment. Um with regards to the audit data, the teachers were heavily supplementing. Um and and I I think that points to a fidelity issue, not necessarily a materials issue. So I would like to know what systems will the district put in place to ensure fidelity of implementation with a new curriculum so that teachers do not supplement in ways that result in misalignment to the TEICSS. >> So that's one of So Brett

254actually spoke to some of the processes that are already starting to be implemented in anticipation as of a move actually across all curricular compon um curricula that we have in the district but specifically when it comes to blue bonnet we'll be enhancing some of those things. So, we'll be working obviously with a partner. We're going to be developing specific protocols for internalization, for student analysis, um for what PLC's are supposed to look like. One of the things that we've talked about too is understanding not only uh protocols to implement those, but also rubrics to when we go to observe even a PLC. Uh what's the quality of the PLC that you would actually be looking for, what are the components or the things teachers should be engaged in? is it happening the way that it

255should so that we can provide professional learning and realtime coaching when necessary. The other component too is you'll we will be observing classrooms. Principles will be observing classrooms and giving feedback. Coaches will be observing classrooms and giving feedback. District staff will and we'll be looking for implementation of the materials following the scope and sequence utilization of the strategies the lesson internalization is actually happening and aligning those to like what Mr. Chapa was referring to to outcomes. Is it actually getting better? Because the reality is is that you can do all of these things, but if it isn't moving the needle, then you have to do something different. So, those are all systems that are being designed that'll be put in place so that when we launch, we're ready to go on day one. >> Yeah.

256>> Uh the next portion is the address instructional rigor and cognitive demand. So this this is more of a sustainability question because we know that even strong materials can be implemented in low rigor ways. Um what systems will the district use to monitor classroom implementation to ensure that students are regularly engaging in the problem solving discussion and justification described on on this slide? >> Well, I think there are two components to that. So one is the one I just described which is actually being in the classroom and watching the instruction happen and being part of se PLC's and seeing how those PLC's actually translate into classroom practice. The other one specifically is helping teachers to ensure that they're integrating those strategies into the actual lesson. So it is not the the blue bonnet instruction is

257not designed so that you just start at the top and work your way down. I you're going to hear us talk about lesson internalization almost till if you're probably tired of hearing the word but the reality is is you want to spend the time considering the data in your classroom. What kinds of activities or strategies are actually lying to what your students how your students learn and what you want your students to be engaged in and those things should be integrated into the lesson. So if you go into a classroom and you observe you shouldn't just to be observing a lesson being implemented. You should see evidence that those specific engagement strategies are actually happening with kids. So, I'll give you a concrete example. When I went to observe in a classroom in one of

258the other districts, I walked into a room and frankly it was some of the best math instruction I've ever seen. I would immediately put my own child in that room and what I saw were was student discourse, group work. I saw kids using manipulatives and the teacher was was even while she was doing direct teach there was a lot of student engagement and I asked myself gosh she really is you couldn't even tell she's has a lesson plan that was provided to her I'm like where is she so I pulled my I personally pulled the lesson looked at the lesson plan myself and I listened for the planned question and she delivered the exact question that I saw on the on the in the lesson plan and we ask teachers do that all the time.

259One of the things we talk about when it comes to rigor is you want to see teachers plan for the rigor in their classroom. I actually watched a plan someone implement a plan and I could tell exactly where she was on that on that in that lesson. But you would not have known by being in there because she had taken time to internalize it. So what we will do is we will work with principles and our staff and coaches to help teachers do those things and we'll monitor and adjust our professional learning to help people do that along the way. Uh this may have been asked in some sort of way but because you talked about audit and and I've read a lot of this the audit. >> Yeah. >> Uh for this established systemic

260assessment and feedback loops. >> So I think this particular slide identifies a district-wide assessment system issue. Mhm. >> Um and so I just want to know how Blue Bonnet addresses the design, administration and analysis of local assessments at the district level. >> Right. So Blue Bonnet has assessments embedded into the curriculum. So there are two components. Some that are you'll see just by looking at the actual documents and others that are in the digital platform. So teachers have embedded in the actual curriculum mid-module assessments, postmodule or end of unitit assessments. They also have exit tickets at the end of every lesson. They can get a quick gauge on how students are doing. Not to mention the formative assessments by just the tasks that kids are doing along the way. Inside the digital tool or digital

261platform, there's also a bank of all sorts of assessments teachers can use that are directly aligned to STAR 2.0. But keep in mind those are when you think of like the curriculum audit. Um, what I would like to say is that it talks about a comprehensive assessment plan which doesn't include just like assessments in a curriculum or assessments that teachers would utilize in the classroom. It also would include all the other components that the district would utilize to drive learning across the system. So, it would also include like our screeners. It would include when those are actually assessed. It would include an assessment around identification of students that have disabilities or learning needs or students that need to be accelerated. So the the actual comprehensive assessment plan is more robust. The components that are in

262the Blue Bonnet curriculum address the components that need to be in the curriculum in the math content area. >> Okay. And then uh you know we talk about the sustainability of this of this model. Um it looks like Blue Bonnet relies on a lot of district systems to sustain it. So when I read the audit, it looked like there were a lot of things that were implemented and you may have had some supports in place, but they faded out after the initial implementation period, after that initial adoption period. So what is a district going to put in place to ensure that those supports remain over time versus fading out after that initial period? So I think there are a couple things that we've already started doing that actually work towards those things. So the the

263point I one point I would like to make is while the curriculum a we looked at the curriculum audit and the findings to try to see like what this supplements or what how this help addresses some of those findings but the solutions to the things you're talking about include not only blue bonnet but lots of things. So, one of them is a cohesive professional learning process and um plan that integrates curriculum based professional learning which we're not only doing in blue bonnet we're doing across the system in a way that integrates into our district calendar. So, one of the things that we hear actually I heard feedback from teachers yesterday in about that the fact that they're having opportunities to engage in professional learning slowly over the entire year helps them modify their practice. So,

264that's that's one of the components. The other one is the systems that you put in place to do what I was just describing which is understand what's the quality of implementation how you need to adjust adjust the training and support that you're providing to the teacher and the wraparound supports principal the coach and the district staff and also make sure that there are systems in place to monitor what those look like and if they're happening at the quality level you expect and if they're generating a student outcome. So it's the alignment of all those pieces and all of that is part of our planning. Some of it's already started in terms of implementation. >> Okay. >> I also want to add one thing to that. The implementation data that we were discussing already with Dr.

265Champion earlier tonight, >> that was a missing component in our system and we have to continue that no matter what because we always have to use it. If we if we think of it with a continuous improvement mindset, when we talk about implementation and use of the resources that we're using public dollars to actually buy and use in a system, we have to be able to see how it's playing out in the classroom, gather data, pro provide professional learning, and adjust that. It has to be a continuous cycle. And until this year, I don't know that we had that data on a on a systemwide basis. In my point earlier, that's not evaluative data. That is how do we get people into the classrooms on a regular basis to see is this at the right

266level of rigor? Do are we ensuring that it's engaging for the students and they're actually the ones doing the work in the classroom? And are these grade level appropriate and aligned materials? Those things have to be we have to gather that data on a regular basis. So the things that you've heard already that that can't stop. That's not one of those things moving forward that can stop. That will be an ongoing thing and we'll continue to use it in the same way. Look at system data to be able to say here's the health of where we are. Here's where we need more support and then we provide that support based on that data. Okay, I'm I'm almost done. If we move to uh slide 13 under the considerations, there was a strict pacing and scripted

267lessons. Um, so I just how will the district balance the fidelity of this curriculum with teacher professional judgment when we're looking at these two issues here? >> So there's two components to pacing. Um, one is what I would call the pacing guide that you where you'd implement the scope and sequence over the course of a full year and we will adjust it. So you can adopt different versions of blue bonnet like there's a 165day calendar, there's 150day calendar. We will we will customize it based on our students needs while ensuring like I said earlier that we're not compressing concepts that um students need to learn. That being said, the second part of pacing is how fast or slow I go in a class. Because the reality is is sometimes you plan a lesson and you

268think you're going to spend one day on it and you need more time. Well, we adopted a 172-day calendar um in for next school year. So, when we build our calendar, we want to ensure that there's space in the calendar for teachers to respond to their group of students, which means that you might go a little faster, you might go a little slower, and frankly, that's where the art of teaching comes in. That's part of teacher judgment. Um it really depends on the kids in your class. It's not a one-sizefits-all. So when teachers are while there is a lesson that's been written for them and while there is a pace that's in the lesson it it is paced out for you. It's our expectation that the teacher would consider the group of students that they're

269working with their needs and adjust accordingly knowing that there's a general guide about how fast you need to go to get through for the year. Um and we have that expectation even now. You know one of the things is um that we monitor. you heard Dr. Champion talking about is are they within five days? Well, the reason we say five days is because you can recover from five days. What you can't recover from in terms of learning is if students are three weeks behind, four weeks behind. So, the structures are put in place, the monitoring and supports will be there to help teachers, but on the day-to-day basis, it's teacher moves. >> And and coincidentally, that that brings me to learning gaps. Uh specifically, we we've just talked about TIA um the 23 schools that

270were listed that were high needs and and we know from district data that not all students enter the next grade level with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to access grade level math successfully. Uh some students arrive with significant gaps in learning. In that scenario, what support does Blueboded Math provide? Or what is the district's plan to help teachers deliver tier one grade level instruction while also addressing unfinished learning so that gaps are closing rather than widening. >> So the curriculum is vertically aligned. So you do have kids just like in reading that will show up in a classroom that are missing concepts. and the teacher will have to reach down and either provide instruction in those areas or mitigate in some way. And the opposite is also true. Some kids will show up and

271they'll already understand the prerequisite skills and your job is to take them deeper. You don't want to hold them back from their learning because uh other kids in the class haven't done that. So part of the lesson internalization process will include that. We also have resources that will help teachers to fill the gaps during tier not well obviously in tier one it would be integrated there and then in tier two resources. There are also some other resources that are aligned to Blue Bonnet that we're considering like Zern is an example of one which is a resource that allows teachers it follows the scope and sequence of blue bonnet and allows teachers to um reinforce concepts where kids are struggling um and then we have our own intervention um systems that will still be in place

272uh because the standards are the same and we can create the scope that we want kids to focus on. So, it's not um it's not a one-sizefits-all where you come to class and this is the lesson and and we're going to do what we're going to do. Um when you're going through the the internalization process and you're considering your data because remember we talked about there's a data cycle as part of PLC, the teacher can then adjust the lesson and the activities of where kids need to fill gaps in. Um most of our elementary for example have 90-minute lesson times and these plans are that gives enough time to address your tier one and also address um for gaps that might exist >> and and I just want to say something. I mean I've written

273down a lot studying this stuff. Um, just to close up, I think a a yes vote for blue bonnet math is a vote to move the work of academic growth forward within the timeline and conditions that Arlington ISD is currently facing. Uh, it reflects a decision to adopt a state developed program and align with the direction the Texas Education Agency is encouraging districts to take. Given that the Texas Education Agency is both the publisher of Blue Bonnet Math and the creator of the STAR assessment, it is reasonable to expect that districts implementing the program may see short-term gains in test performance due to that alignment. But our goals for Arlington ISD students should extend well beyond improved test scores. We must ensure positive, engaging learning experience for every student that both promote academic growth and

274ignite a lasting passion for learning. We want students who are curious, confident thinkers. We want classrooms where learning is meaningful, joyful, and intellectually rich. Right now, we are navigating two truths that we must hold at the same time. We must continue moving the work of academic growth forward within the realities and timelines we are facing while also ensuring that the decisions we make today leave space for future decisions to serve the broader vision we hold for our students and their future. Thank you, Dr. Words. I would like to add one thing, Mr. Mike, to your uh last question about specific student groups and investing in in the student groups across our system. So, I've spent some time recently with my friend and colleague uh Dr. Molar from Fort Worth ISD and you know that um

275they've been working hard on some things there and they did implement Blue Bonnet math this year and so she has shared their data with me from their assessments throughout the year and they are seeing significant growth and there's some things that and lessons learned along the way. Obviously, whenever you implement a new curriculum, you have those lessons learned, but they are seeing outcomes in all student groups in math right now that are meeting the growth targets on MAP. And I think that that is something that um Fort Worth ISD, who looks a lot like Arlington ISD in many ways, uh it's something for us to be able to again look at our our district neighbor and learn from them and grow from them. And they are using those uh tools and seeing some results there.

276I'll get into a little more detail uh later about in my comments about uh uh the other parts that you just said, but just as an aside, we did reach out and ask some districts about how the students are performing in took a look specifically at student groups that are predominant in our system. >> Thank you, Dr. Smith. And Mr. Mike, are you >> Yes. >> Okay. All right, we'll move on now to Miss Fowler. Miss Fowler, and now she's gone again. Um, okay, Miss Valerie, I'm just going to activate you from the left screen here. There you go. Okay. >> Thank Thank you, President Choa. Um, Mr. Dr. Chapa since you brought up the point of governance versus management and I understand our role is governance but it has been brought to us and

277so I think that that's open for a good discussion. So I'm a teacher so I did my homework and so I have some things that I that I want to ask and some comments that I want to make. So I understand there's two different versions of blue bonnet math. There is not that's a misconception and I tell you where it came from. >> So when we um there's one blue bonnet version there have been some edits that have adjust that have been made over the course of this year because teachers been using it. So just like any kind of publisher you make your corrections as you as um as you get feedback. The reason why there's a misconception is I think when we were soliciting feedback the way that we did it. So when we

278solicit feedback to the community, we provided the actual link that's on the great minds learning platform, which is the basically the creator and the vendor that we potentially may work with. And it had the specific student materials and it also had the resources that parents would use because our thought was well parents are going to want to see what their kids are doing or what they're looking at and what their parents would need. um on the TEA learning platform. If you were to go to the TA learning platform, that platform has all these other resources and that's because it's integrated into Canvas. And so there was all these other parts that they would see. So what I guess I'm saying is it what there really isn't two parts. We're going to have all the things.

279It's I think in the way that the feedback was solicited, I think that's where the misconception was accidentally drawn. But there is only one version. >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. And and let me ask um I don't think that it's been around long enough for us to really know the results and I and I question because I know Keller ISD had been using Blue Bonnet and they're pulling away and going to and I can't pronounce it correctly. Save. >> So we don't we don't know of any districts that are pulling away from Blue Bonnet. I think what you may be referring to is they they adopted Eureka or using Eureka which is the precursor to Blue Bonnet and they may have not chosen Blue Bonnet. There are some districts that have done that. Um it's less

280there are way fewer of those than the other way around. Um there is so my response to that is we have been to districts that have done Eureka which is the precursor to blue bonnet and when when blue bonnet was bas when it was I'll just say revamped for simplicity and it became blue bonnet they continue with blue bonnet. So we dug in to see like has your math improved over time and their scores went up. I've looked at districts all over the state because I like I mentioned there are 543 right now that are currently doing it and um some of them have been using Eureka before Blue Bonnet which is basically Blue Bonnet and se the districts that I was trying to compare ourselves to that were in a range of between like

28150,000 students and um 20,000 students somewhere around there. They all all their ratings are going up. So, I'm not trying to imply, and I I I think this is really important that I say, I'm not trying to imply that, oh, because you use Blue Bonnet, your district rating goes up, because we all know the complexity of your district rating is way more than that, but they're all they're reporting that they're they're getting better. Kind of like what Dr. Smith had said. Um, so the other thing I would say too, so to the to the question about, you know, what do you do? It's kind of new. It is true. Blue Bonnet Learning with the label Blue Bonnet Learning as you currently see it was approved by the state board of education a year ago and

282this is everyone's first year through. So no one's actually even gotten all the way through Blue Bonnet learning but many districts have implemented Eureka and Carnegie which is what Blue Bonnet was before and have continued with Blue Bonnet. So like I was saying earlier the the volume is pretty high. There are 410 more that are trying to implement. So there may be some districts that are doing what you describe. I would suggest that they're probably a lot fewer than more. >> What is the difference between Eureka and Blue Bonnet? Why did it change? >> Well, so every time a publisher makes adjustments, so I'll just something simple. So um when when when the so TA is actually the one that's now developing Blue Bonnet and the found the the starting point was Eureka and the

283starting point was Carnegie and they have adjusted it enough that it's a it's a it's they would we would call a new curriculum program. It's actually the case I'll use SAS and stem scopes. Savas and STI scopes like we've used in our system for years we've used McGraill in grades six seven and eight. We've used Envision um in grades three, four, and five. We've supplemented with STEM scopes and none of those were initially part of an adoption either with state board of education, but when they go through a strong enough revision, they get a new ISBN and then that's the specific ISBN that the board approves. So if you adopt for example uh like if I let's just say worst case scenario like you adopt a a curriculum and it's a specific ISBN and a

284stateboard approved and then the publisher makes enough revision that it actually gets a new ISBN. It has to go through the whole IMR process all over again. So Eureka um was the starting point for Blue Bonnet but the EMR process that went through is the version that's now Blue Bonnet and that's the one that we would be adopting. >> Okay. And is it true that there's over 4,200 edits and fixes? I can't speak specifically about the number, but there are edits and fixes. A lot of them were um so you might have read about this. There was some challenges around some of the images that Blue Bonnet was using. There were copyrighted images that they didn't realize about. So, they've edited those out. I actually spoke with TA myself. Um and they the corrections of

285any edits or mistakes um are being made. So, I'm not concerned about edits. Um I I don't think that that's uncommon. We in in publishers you usually will have >> I guess I I you know I worry that it's not just an an editing you know a picture or a diagram but actual material that was incorrect that was being taught to students. >> I'm not concerned about that. >> Yeah. >> I don't I don't know that we know enough to know. Well, we haven't we haven't in our review and looking at the materials, that hasn't been a prominent feedback point and it hasn't been something that our staff specifically has like found as a prominent problem. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um All right. Another thing that that I found, it said that the program is

286rigid, fast-paced, and very demanding. >> So, um I'll I'll talk about all three of those. The rigidity I think the is the perception that people feel around this concept of the art and the science of teaching and the fact that it's a lesson plan that's given to you. But I really would encourage you to the the board to lean into the concept that I was talking about earlier around lesson internalization because uh right now in the district we are currently writing lesson plans at the district level for schools that are struggling and even then a teacher has to take our lesson internalize it. Um a teacher sits on a grade level and there are four teachers on the grade level and one often will write it and share it with others. Well, those others have

287to internalize the lesson to their own class. The concept is very similar. So, we're not asking or suggesting that teachers would give up the art of teaching. We actually want the quite the opposite. I want teachers to implement it in the way that I saw and that's the kind of way that we're going to train to it. Um, in terms of like um you said rigidity and then what was the other two? >> Uh demanding to implement >> demanding. So, um there are the the lessons are robust and um there is a lot of material in there which is why um kind of like Brett was saying lesson internalization is is the demanding part part teachers have to make instructional decisions and there you there's a a way of teaching that requires deep understanding around

288mathematical concepts. You're not just teaching kids how to solve problems. So there is a lift and I think it's important for everyone to know like it's not like you're just adopting a curriculum and it's easy. It's a new curriculum. The way that you teach requires like I said an internalization and the lift that we hear from teachers who implement from principles and districts. It's in the internalization process and it's actually it's real. I think what I would say um that has been that that Brett actually talked about that I feel like was repetitive in some of our visits and discussions with leaders and also in the classroom like I visited with a principal at a school that I think pretty much mirrors Thornton is a good example high performing high performing school and the instruction

289was amazing and she says you have to make sure you set time aside for teachers to plan so they meaning internalize the lesson provide them the support in some cases they even pivot so one of them is lesson rehearsal. They'll go through a PLC process of internalizing lesson. They'll realize that this part is the part that's hard. This is where misconceptions happen. Let's practice together. And they actually will rehearse right there because the lesson's already designed for them. So, I think that's where the con the honest thing comes from. But it's not no matter what you do, if you're actually teaching me real like strong lessons, there is a lift. That's just part of teaching. But it's a it's a it's a it's there's it's additive a little when you adopt something new. It just

290takes time. I think Brett made a comment that the teacher said once you get going it starts to feel better. I think that's that's how it is. >> And I worry if it's if it's that demanding and fast-paced is it are we going to lose students? >> You know, I I I >> math is not my thing. You know, give me words, don't give me numbers. >> And I feel like teachers sometimes are forced to go faster faster. You got to get through the material. you got to get through the material. And I think a lot of our students never get the opportunity to get a strong foundation because they're having to move too quickly. >> No, I don't feel like I don't want I don't feel like it's it's what's being it's not it's

291not fast-paced where you can't get through it. They're designed to be 60 minutes. We have 90-minute lessons. If you're in junior high, they're 45 minutes. Um the teacher has to adjust. So you have to keep in mind like when we think about our scope and sequence and our pacing guides, we building time in for teachers to go faster or slower based on the their their class that's actually going to be in the pacing. So there will be some days I think where a teacher will teach a lesson and it will call for it to be this amount of time and she has to spend longer because the kids don't get it. >> That's being accounted for. So it's not there. We're not creating a scenario or an expectation where a teacher has just to fly

292through lessons. I'm sorry you don't get it and we're going to keep on moving. Uh we're not doing that. And to layer to Dr. I'm sorry to Mr. Mike's point, we're monitoring the data. We want to know are kids actually achieving? If they're not, we're going to figure out why. So, um yeah. >> Okay. And I know one of my worries is just, you know, handing this and this is what you're going to be teaching because I remember way back when I was teaching public school and I was teaching on the whatever they it star but whatever they called it back then >> and I remember the department English department head handed me this binder >> and she said here's what you'll be teaching and I was looking through it and I said well you

293know where's the literature where's the poetry where's the oh no No, no, we we don't do that. This is what you will teach until star and then you can try to work that stuff in later. >> Yeah. >> And I felt so defeated as a teacher and I felt like I was doing such a disservice to my students >> that I had this scripted >> notebook that I had to be teaching to get so that they would do well on the star. >> Yeah. And I just don't want our teachers to feel like, you know, everything that they've learned, everything that they've practiced is is no longer good enough. This is what you need to do. >> And I and I worry about that. >> Yeah, I would say um I 100% am aligned to

294that. That is absolutely not what we want. Um it's part of the reason why we talked about the strategies that we want teachers to actually integrate into the lesson like as they're thinking about their class. It's a reason why we're purchasing manipulatives for every classroom based on grade level standards to make sure that the kids are integrate are actually utilizing hands-on experiences. There is engagement strategies there. Engagement strategies to integrate into the curriculum that encourage um student discourse and collaboration and you know talk about math. So we want quite the opposite. What we're not doing, I think it's really important that everyone knows we're not trying to hand people a script and say this is all you do. I don't want you to think about anything else. We're actually doing the opposite. We're saying, "Here's

295your lesson plan so you don't have to spend time on that. We're going to give you all these resources and time to internalize and think about how you implement it in such a way so students are engaged in the classroom. We want, you know, one of the things I think that's important in the vision statement that the board adopted that we want kids to have a high quality learning experience, but we want them to find joy in it. Like school should be fun. It should be enjoyable. We're not looking to make it wrote um in the math classroom. That's not the goal. Well, as a teacher, I know when I first started and I was teaching sixth and seventh grade, and the sixth grade lead and the seventh grade lead would bring me their lesson

296plans on Friday so I would be ready for the next week. >> And I thought that was so much harder to use somebody else's plans rather than to come up with my own because I knew what I wanted to teach and where the students were. So I think about that and yeah I appreciated their help but it was so hard to teach somebody else's lesson plans and again that's my fear with this >> right so I think there are two things to think about around that the first one I'll say is uh we do have a range of teachers right we have experienced teachers we have inexperienced teachers um right now if you were to walk classrooms the quality of learning that the students are engaged in is completely dependent on the quality of the

297lesson which we consistently find do not engage students in the way they should and don't have the tasks at the rigor level they should. Outside auditors are finding that same problem. So I think you know pro providing teachers with a baseline about what high quality instruction is supposed to look like in the form of a lesson plan is a starting point to ensure that it's not dependent a teach a student's experience and the mastery uh the opportunity to master curriculum um is not dependent on the skill level of the teacher in terms of the way they're integrating resources to make it happen. The other thing I would say and I I know I'm sounding like a broken record tonight so I acknowledge it is the internalization process. The reason why lessons are difficult for a

298teacher, even if someone else is writing them, which by the way is happening consistently across our district, because exactly the way you described is is actually a common practice across districts in general, um, is if a teacher doesn't have the time to internalize that and adjust it for their class, that's what we're not that's what we're going to fix. Like we're not going to just have a lesson and then not provide them the the internalization process or the time to do it. Um, and back to the question you asked earlier, that's just where the lift is. That's where we want people spending their time. We don't want a teacher to spend their time trying to peace meal, which is where the feedback we often get is, I have all these curriculum resources. I have to

299figure out like where I'm supposed to put all this stuff together. We're actually saying, don't worry about that. We're going to tell you where that goes. Now, all we want you to do is think about your class, the needs of your class, and how to internalize and adjust the list so you can deliver it in the way that they need it. That's where we want them spending their energy. That that makes me think about one of the slides where they had about the different resources. >> Mhm. >> And this and this and this and this and videos and so you know when are teachers supposed to watch the video and look at this and look at that with the brand new scripted lesson that they have to learn. >> Well, the the thing to keep

300in mind is even even if you don't provide a scripted lesson, teachers are doing that right now. They have to do that because you you have to know the materials that you're teaching. What we're doing is we're we're absolving them of the lift of having to assemble that together. Now they can look at all those things, internalize it, and decide where they have to pivot with their class. Right now, we're asking them to do both things. And the the reality is is there's not a lot of time to do all of those things and do them well. So, we're trying one we're solving we're trying to solve one problem to give them space to do exactly what you described because right now they're doing both. >> Yeah. >> And this may be a Dr. Smith

301question. I'm not sure. If we have we have our curriculum department, we have teachers on campuses that are the lead teachers. If we know what students need and the best way for teachers to teach, why aren't we writing our own curriculum? Why are we buying Blue Bonnet or or whatever else? Why aren't we writing our own curriculum for our students? So, we have actually revised our curriculum two times over and we do write curriculum. Um, we don't write lesson plans typically. We're doing that right now for some schools, but we don't write lesson plans. We write curriculum. And the curriculum, we do have our documents. We tell everyone, we have the all the pacing guides. They're vertically aligned. We uh break down the standards. We tell you what order to go in. Here are the

302resources to use. This is the concept you're going to teach for this many days. And here are the resources to use. But teachers still have to do what I just described and that's where all of our feedback comes. And the reality is is we have right now um 4,500 teachers across multiple content areas. And even though you have if you just mathematically you think about it like you might have an instructional coach on a campus but that instructional coach can't spend time with every teacher in the building. Um they have to be strategic about who needs the assistance. curriculum staff, we strategically decide and think about where we can where our need where the need is. Um, and so that's really this allows our staff to focus their energy in other places. So right now

303like if I if you want to think about the curriculum department um it's not as big as most people think. um we don't have a lot of people. And so if you spend if you have curriculum experts spending all their time writing curriculum that we already know that educators who are experts in math, for example, can do. It's advantageous to not have them spend their time replicating something that has already been done so that they can actually help teachers. So, what we really want to have our our department do is deploy them into the campuses so they can do sideby-side work with the teachers, model lessons with them, give them coaching feedback. If they're all writing curriculum, that can't happen. There's no way. There's not enough time to do it. So, we're we're really trying

304to make a shift to help because we've tried the way we I like writing writing writing, but we're not getting the results that we think our kids deserve and we're not moving as fast as we need to. And we recognize where people need is they need professional learning that's job embedded and coached on like in real time and we want to we want our people to be doing that. Yeah. >> Thank you everyone for letting me take so much time. I just had a lot of questions. Um I will not be supporting Blue Bonnet. I I need more information about some of these other curriculums. Um, and I I I'm just not ready to make a decision on that. I don't think it's been out long enough. I don't think there's enough research. I need

305I need I need to see more data that it's as good as people think that it might be. So, I I won't be supporting it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Fowler. We'll move on to Miss McMurro. >> Thank you, President Choa, and thank you, Dr. Warts. So, um, yes, I agree with how President Chappa kicked off the conversation about the line between governance and management. And as we also know from our Holdsworth training, that line can sometimes be porous. Right now, we're looking at adopting and requiring a scripted curriculum that 50,000 students are going to get instruction from. So I think I should elevate that because that is where governance meets management. And even though we are looking at revising and and adopting a new AE local, our AE local as it stands today,

306I see conflicting with this and I also don't think it aligns with our newly adopted vision vision statement which I'm going to talk about later. There is one piece of AE local, our current AE local that I actually really want to hold tightly to and I've shared this with our superintendent. I've shared this with our governance committee and that's the piece about pedigogy. The board acknowledges that effective teaching is both an art and a science and desires creativity and flexibility in teachers as the professionals who have the greatest impact in helping students achieve the board. therefore provides district teachers freedom to teach the district's curriculum using their preferred teaching styles in accordance with the framework of the instructional model. Because the district must strike a balance in controlling the delivery of a well-managed curriculum, ensuring

307adherence to an instructional model, and yet promoting teacher expertise and creativity to affect student high achievement. The interplay between requirements and flexibility in this regard must be constantly monitored. The administration shall report periodically on its efforts to achieve and maintain an effective balance. In my experience both as a trustee and as a former teacher for this district, that is what I have seen transform student outcomes. That is what I have seen attract and retain highly qualified successful teachers. And I do want to elevate to our my colleagues. We can have tight alignment to the written curriculum including streamlined pacing, pedagogical support, especially for our new teachers, spiraled skills, hands-on learning, science of math best practices, including nixing the tricks, wraparound supports, and exemplar lesson plans. with any of the adoptions that were considered. We can

308have all of that. And that is because an adoption and a curriculum are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In high-erforming districts, all research shows that they're usually not. Um, tonight is the first night I've actually heard us use these terms interchangeably. Um, no adoption is 100% aligned to the TEICSS or ARFree. And we have the capacity in AISD to offer our teachers a guaranteed and viable curriculum and reimagine our rules and how we support instruction. We did, it's been mentioned tonight, we did our curriculum audit and I do believe that that audit gave us a great very specific and achievable roadmap to get us to a cohesive vertically aligned guaranteed and viable curriculum. With that said, adoptions and and curriculums are still interdependent. So, that's where I want to bring my my concerns about how Blue

309Bonnet will actually be a barrier for those efforts. Blue Bonnet Math, it's been mentioned tonight that it's still fairly new after the rebrand from Eureka. There is no published evidence showing that Blue Bonnet Math improves star outcomes. It is documented that multiple districts report challenges with blue bonnet math. Districts report that assessments are limited, not star formatted, create difficulty in instruction matching assessment and monitoring TE's mastery. Many of the school districts in Texas that have adopted Blue Bonnet are rural and I want to elevate that too. Many of our rural school districts don't have a curriculum instruction department at all and they also don't have the budgetary um they they're budgetarily reliant on that TEA incentive. So a lot of folks that I've met like at SLI Edcon they're sharing with me directly as trustees

310that they're adopting it because they're already in such a deep deficit they have no other choice. Other concerns that I have with Blue Bonnet that I want to take this opportunity to share. Despite the fact that it has not been around for long, there are several districts that are already dropping Blue Bonnet. Um, I understand that Abene ISD is going from Blue Bonnet Math, not Eureka, Blue Bonnet Math to Amplify. And Amplify's website, I just found it reports that Northeast ISD recently selected Amplify for K through five and Savas for secondary. And it this quotes that they said the choices are grounded in stronger day-to-day progress monitoring and again star readiness. It really concerns me that a lot of the people who have been in the trenches with Blue Bonnet, that is one trend I

311keep hearing across the board is it does not prepare our students for STAR. And even though we don't have data to say for or against that yet, I have multiple multiple um anecdotal res sources sharing that there people are concerned that that instruction does not match the state assessment. Um, Trusty Fowler mentioned earlier there have been lots of articles floating around about those 4,200 heirs found in Blue Bonnet. I wish I read the article wishing that it was just referring to their reading. It was not. Um, last night a state board of education member called my cell phone and she reached out to me directly when she noticed this adoption on our agenda bringing being brought to us for recommendation. Um this SBOE member shared that she was surprised to see AISD bringing this for

312recommendation and reiterated that those errors are very real those and she also reiterated this these are the errors that have been found and reported. So we didn't get to see the material materials adoption committee or parent survey data as far as how the preferences fell. I really wish we got to see that. Um but Dr. Afterwards, you did share that our teachers are, as it currently stands, feeling a sense of overwhelm um with our current curriculum and they voiced the need for more planning time. So, ironically, this is the feedback that I've received anecdotally from teachers in other districts who are currently using Blue Bonnet. Lesson internalization is very time consuming and overwhelming. Blue Bonnet has had to deploy their own representatives to help our team make sense of the materials and multiple strategies per

313skill. Our rep told us scores would drop the first year and possibly the second, but then improve. Blue Bonnet helps my students gain number sense. That's a positive. It's not rigorous enough for my advanced learners. Not much growth this benchmark, especially for my advanced students that came from an algebra one teacher. My parents are confused on how to help their children. Students are disengaged and grown every time I pass out the workbooks, which with Blue Bonnet, this means every day. And Blue Bonnet's assessments are nothing like STAR. So some some might be thinking okay this is all hearsay but this matters to me because it matters that we listen to the educators that are closest to the children and that is the teacher. My biggest concern personally is that it is highly prescriptive and I

314think there's a difference in offering a prescriptive versus a descriptive adoption. The art of teaching is something that as as an educator and especially as a trustee in policy in in vision and everything I do on this service I want to advocate to preserve. I want to protect the art of teaching because it's essential for student engagement, student performance, differentiation for all learners and a commitment to our vision. Our new vision is Arlington ISD creates exceptional learning experiences that inspire all students, empower their dreams, and prepare them for the future. some of our slab students tonight, they they um presented a workshop to us and they were describing um just in passing and also at our table group the exceptional classroom experiences that they have had as students in our system. I don't think any

315of them would have been possible without the art of teaching and I just see that as sacred for us to preserve the adoption from everything I've learned and objectively looking at this all I still feel like it conflicts with the direction I want to see our school district go. There are other TEA endorsed highquality instructional materials and I feel strongly that we should adopt an alternative to Blue Bonnet. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss McMahero. We'll move on now to Mr. Will Banks. Mr. Will Banks. >> Thank you, President Chapa. And I really appreciate the remarks and the passion from especially our former educators on the board. And Dr. You've done a phenomenal job of presenting um the data and I particularly appreciate Mr. Chapa's comments about our governance role, but you know, the fact

316of the matter is is we're the ones required to vote on the adoption and that porous barrier that Miss McMuros talked about from our holds training. You guys are the experts. We have to defer to you oftentimes, but it is our governance role to make sure that you guys were careful enough to bring the right level of discernment to such an important decision. I think you guys have, but I'm missing data. What I would like is to see those numbers at districts where they have implemented blue bonnet. what the initial issues are, what and you know, we've heard some of that feedback. You've addressed some of them. Um, but specifically, I'd like more, you know, I do have concerns around three core areas. Differentiation. If you go to slide, is it slide nine where you

317talked about our student population, our teacher population, or is that slide four? >> It's slide nine. >> Slide nine. um the scripted nature. I've heard from teachers that are using it and I've heard from districts and and superintendents in the area. Much of what you said aligns with what I've heard from those districts and other trustees from across the state. they appreciate that they can focus on how to adapt >> to their classroom and their needs and and I am very passionate that our future version of AE local has something similar about the art of teaching that's very important to me but I think you made a point that they're not mutually exclusive this blue bonnet and giving our teachers the art of teaching and I assume that, you know, for teachers and campuses that

318are not struggling and that are proving that they're not knocking it out of the ballpark, there will be earned autonomy to add more flexibility to the um say this pacing and um and move flexibility to move away from the scripted >> uh nature of the lessons plan. Am I wrong in thinking that? >> So the the idea really around lesson internalization is that it's you have to think of it. It's I know we call it a scripted lesson because it is scripted. It tells you exactly what to do, but the lesson internalization process actually makes that possible for everybody to integrate the art of of of teaching. And you want everyone to do that. Um, you want teachers to understand the lessons so deeply that they can think about the content they're trying to teach,

319the teaching moves that are actually in the curriculum and which ones apply and how to do it with the group that they're with because you're we're not we're teaching kids and they all have different needs and the the classrooms all look different. The the thing that a a lesson does it doesn't it is not intended to remove the art of teaching at all. In fact, I personally witnessed it myself in multiple classrooms where I would bring any of you with me. You would not know that that that was actually the case. Um, and keep in mind that even when a teacher writes their own lesson, there's still an internalization process that has to happen. Uh so what it does though is it creates a baseline so that every classroom that's being taught where math is

320being taught in our district regardless of you have a zeroyear teacher or an experienced teacher if you come from a school that's highly impoverished versus one that's not. there is something guaranteed for everybody that raises the floor and also allows a space for teachers to meaningfully work on the art of teaching together because they're all working around the same thing. They're not designing lessons that are different. Um so that's the intent behind it that you can't they're they're not m you need to do the science and the art together and you if you were if you don't include the art of teaching then you're not going to have engaged kids, >> right? >> Yeah. So if you go back to slide nine if we can see that on the screen. >> Yeah. >> Um thank

321you for that. So, if I go through just starting with the student groups, one of the complaints that I've heard from talking to experts across the state um and around town is there is a perception that Blue Bonnet is limited in the enrichments and um differentiation. Um so that um I had a everyone knows my son was way off the charts and was not served well in this district. >> Um because there was no enrichment provided >> um when he finished a worksheet in five minutes that was supposed to take 30 minutes. his choice was to go up to the front of the room and grab another worksheet out of a bin and keep doing that until the 30 minutes were up. Um, which didn't really endear him to his third grade math teacher. Um,

322and we've done a much better job in this district of pro providing differentiation, but what I hear is or maybe you can address this. What supports are there to differentiate for our GT students? >> So what I would what I would refer back to you is so is the components that I had shared earlier that are accessible to teachers and digital tools. There's I'm not saying that digital tools are the reason you get to GT. What I'm suggesting is that there are resources outside of just the strict lesson plan that teachers can use to integrate into their classroom. Um when you think about internalization, you have to actually consider both sides of the spectrum that I was talking about. kids who have gaps and how you intervene and kids who need to you actually deepen

323their learning because they're advanced like your son may have been. So the teacher can actually integrate things into her lesson that allows students to deepen their knowledge if they have some prerequisite skills that are already there. Um and there are resources to do it if you're on the opposite end of the spectrum. um even where you need something that's even more concrete or because I said it's vertically aligned and you have concepts that you're in third grade that you missed that are need to be built for you because you're now sitting in fourth grade behind the teacher allowed to make those pivots. So, um I just can't overemphasize the idea that you're it is not we don't want teachers just following a script and moving through a curriculum day by day. We want them to

324do it in consideration of the class they have so that kids feel engaged and that's what we saw when it was being done well. Well, and to be fair, looking at this slide, only 12% of our students are GT. What I'm more concerned with is the emergent bilingual students. And >> there is a p, you know, given the other approved curriculum, >> there's not a robust support, language supports for emergent bilingual, especially in Spanish. But you think a Texas approved >> um >> yeah so >> high quality instructional materials would have robust Spanish language supports >> well the curriculum for kids that are in the bilingual classroom they'll they have Spanish materials like there the materials are in Spanish um the other thing I would keep in mind too is in our professional learning that

325we do with teachers we are integrating CBLI and other strategies into the training so that when teachers are actually working with emerging bilingual students and they may may not even be Spanish bilingual students students, they could be ESL students that there's an opportunity for them to integrate those things into into their lessons. So, um it's not a standalone, like I said, when you're internalizing as part of the protocol that you would go through when you're PLCing, you're talking about the kids that you're teaching and the strategies and the art that you know, and you integrate those things in. >> Yeah. >> I appreciate that. And and so moving to the teachers, I think this gets to the heart of the appeal of Blue Bonnet is when you look at the number of beginning teachers and

326when you look at districts around us, the number of uncertified teachers um and but frankly what I heard from superintendent and others were that in their districts >> teachers don't oftentimes know how to really give effective math instruction. they really >> right >> maybe that wasn't their strong point like it wasn't Miss Fowlers and that that's where a lot of the struggle that we see is is they may be great ELA teachers but they need help when it comes to um teaching math and they feel the feedback I've I've gotten on my own indicates that in districts that are using it currently those type of teachers feel relieved But now they feel enabled and emboldened to be able to teach math effectively when before they didn't. It was a heavy lift, but there's a plus

327side there. >> And we've got to be cognizant of our, you know, the teacher population that we have today is is much different >> than it used to be in the past. Um, the other big area of concern for me, and this has been a red flag that's been raised before, and it was the most probably the um most concerning finding from our curriculum audit was the lack of a formal assessment system >> in Arlington ISD for for uh from formative ative assessments all the way integrated into our benchmarks and other summitive assessments particularly with blue bonnet. You know I what I'm trying to do is separate fact from fiction but that it gets low marks when it comes to a robust assessment >> system for us to utilize for formative assessments outside of those

328exit tickets. We know that teachers need a robust assessment model. I think you one of Mr. Mike's questions revolved around this. I think you answered it earlier, but what else can you say in terms of the lack of um a good assessment bank? >> So there are two parts to that. Um, one is the reference point that the that the auditors because I spoke with them specifically about that. Um, is not that we don't have assessments in the system. We don't have an articulated written plan that shows how they're all linked together. And that's where our effort is. But if you were to think about the assessments we give, they're there are the assessments that are in the system. Meaning, we have assessments that screen. We have assessments that are formative assessments that are integrated

329into our curriculum and things like that. What blue bonnet does is it has those assessments that are built actually into the curriculum. So there are two parts to that we we're hearing feedback around. Um how do I assess my students formatively formatively along the way to make sure that they're I have ready information about how they're progressing through the curriculum and those are you can assess your students by the tasks they're doing. You can assess your their students by the mid and end of unit modules and also exit tickets. Remember, formative assessments aren't even just just the tests. Teachers are making formative assessment moves throughout their lesson cycle. So, even the ones that I observe, the teacher is teaching directly and explicitly. So, she's walking the room and listening to students. The other thing that

330the the other feedback point that we hear is, "But they're not aligned to STAR." So, there's two things I would con I would ask everyone to consider around that. There is in the digital tool a robust bank of of starbased aligned questions that kids can use, but and we want them to have that practice of course because they're going to have to be assessed in a specific way that demonstrates mastery in a test that is structured very specifically like here's the problem and here are the multiple choice answers. But you also want kids to learn math in such a way where their assessments are authentic so that they know the concepts. Because just because you pick B doesn't tell me that you actually know it. Um, you want kids to do things like write their

331justification to their answer. You want kids to explain their thinking and that's all part of the assessment process. So that's integrated into Blue Bonnet and that's what we would expect teachers to do. So they'll have the practice so that you actually know they understand the concepts and are able to apply it in this variety of ways, but they'll also have the opportunity to practice and actually be assessed in the way that it will look like on STAR because that that bank exists. Um so yeah. >> Yeah. Um the other side and I think you've addressed this is the amount of work >> of printing and unpacking. Um, and the lack of online or digital digital assessments requires a lot of manual grading and writing and and printing on the teacher and >> where I guess

332what I'm curious is when compared to I I don't know that you shared what are the other um curriculum that you looked at that are on the IMRA list. Which ones did you seriously consider? >> We we shared um Hold on. >> Well, you you gave the whole list. Did you look at every one of them or >> All right. So, which one was on which ones made the short list >> specifically the like Stem Scope? I mean, Savas and Vision was one and then the other one was McGraill and then Blue Bonnet. Those are probably Yeah, those are probably the um the top three. Agile Minds was one in secondary got really low scores. Yeah. >> Um but I would say those three um the the one the one that I say that was

333probably the most competitive was probably Savas. That's probably where we got the most. And I can tell you specifically what some people said about that. >> Um >> yeah, I mean just for context, Savas has a perfect score on the on the IMRA rubric. >> They do have a perfect score. Yes. Um and remember >> but Blue Bonnet was right up there. >> They are. and they have they they have thresholds. Um they have thresholds because you're looking to make sure they meet 100% of the criteria and Blue Bonnet meets 100% of the criteria. I think the thing that feedback that we got about Savas that and um that I think is important to note um is they there's people like the digital platform. They like the tools and the resources. >> The digital platform

334is highly rated saves teachers a lot of time. >> They also say um so yes, they do like that. They also say um the feedback is it's overwhelming. It's rep it's replicating the problem that we actually have. Um they still have to put those things together and access them and put them in a way that has coherence in their classroom. So um the big idea is more isn't always better. um you know um in terms of like the resources we want to make sure that teachers have all the materials and tools to have innovative classroom instruction that's meaningful um but we want to do it in a way that actually can be implemented well. The other thing I would just say too just as a point of reference is we've we've used Envision in three

335of our grade levels. the one that's in IMRA right now that is the revamped version that got IMRA approved but we've had Envision for years we've used McGra Hill which is another one for years we've even used stem scopes for years in our district and our data is showing the same and the wondering about blue bonnet that I hear and I I do respect it which is well it's just started this year that's actually the case for every one of the ones that we looked at they were all recently they were all part of IMR process that just So, everyone's in a new cycle around these adoptions. Um, the new versions. We can tell you in Arlington, in our context with our kids, two of the three highf flyers with Blue Bonnet that we were

336looking at, we've been using them and we already know what our data looks like. And we we are we were charged to do something with our teachers and our students to do something different to move the needle. And we do believe that this is the the best way to go. Yeah. Um the final point I'll I'll make on this in terms of an area of concern that hadn't been brought up before is the total cost of ownership. >> Um yes, Blue Bonnet's free. In fact, not only is it free, but we get money from the state and then we get money for the printing cost. But then you I think you alluded to it tonight that to fill in the gaps on what was your slide that showed the >> the lift >> pros and

337cons and the lift. >> The lift grant. >> Well, no, not the lift grant, but the um slide number 13. >> Oh, going the wrong direction. >> That one. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So you addressed a lot of the and in throughout your you mentioned purchasing manipulatives and >> what other programs that are you anticipating um in terms of big dollar purchases to supplement blue bonnet say for our emergent bilingual or other populations. >> Yeah. I don't know that we have a list of other like a long large list of things we want to like purchase on top of what we've talked about. We are we're considering Zern for example, Matia as another which is a digital resource that's aligned to this curriculum that helps with interventions but we haven't landed specifically on that yet

338because we already have like imagine math and the concepts that are there. The the appeal about Zern potentially is the fact that it's directly aligned to the curriculum and it flows the same scope and sequence in terms of the dollars. Um, as you mentioned, it's free technically. It's printing cost, but I really think this is an important point to emphasize. So, I appreciate you bringing up is we're not actually making a recommendation at all based on dollars. We're not asking to make a recommendation because there's a $20 people think, oh, the what you hear is TA's dangling a carrot of $20 per kid, which in our system is like 1.3 million. That's the reason why you're doing it. That's actually not our incentive. It may be to your point, Miss McMurl. It may be that

339case for other people, but for us, it's it's not about >> Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking at >> Oh, no. I know. I was just making the point because it's it's something that people >> So, let's let's say that Savas >> Mhm. and and Blue Bonnet were neck and neck in your evaluation in that >> but when you looked at the cost of augmenting >> Sabis and >> or the cost of printing and doing all the things to make >> and the all the PD that went along right >> with I mean there's a lot of costs that are going to be involved this is going to be a huge shift for the CNI department Well, the cost for us actually is pretty minimal on Blue Bonnet. I would I would actually say

340that if we were trying to do something, it would be more on the other end. And the reason I say that is because the printing costs specifically for Blue Bonnet are completely supplemented. Like the money is already there. And that $20 is only available for Blue Bonnet printing. If we don't if we don't do Blue Bonnet, you wouldn't use it anyways. The other thing that's important to remember is that we applied for a grant that's almost equivalent to $1.4 $4 million to help with this implementation. We we didn't apply for, you know, a planning grant. So, it's the implementation of Blue Bonnet actually is going to be pretty cost effective for us. Um, and I don't anticipate that we have all these supplemental things that we'll be purchasing on top of it to try to

341supplement. Um, that's not what what we're working towards. >> Um, I'm queuing up the next um my next point, but I do want to close out by saying I appreciate everything that you brought. Um I wish we had more insight to, you know, I agree with what Mr. Choa said, but we do have to make sure that we are voting for the right decision. It does fall on us, but we do have to give a lot of deference to you guys. Um, there's a lot of aspects of Blue Bonnet I'm not comfortable with. But when I did research today, I was 50/50. I was on the fence. I heard from trustees from across the state. Miss Fowler, I want you to know I reached out to several in the leadership TASBY class and they've toured

342a couple of campuses that are using Blue Bonnet math specifically and uh on their benchmarks they were all rated D on star last year and their benchmarks are in the 80s high 80s. 84 was the lowest. So it is moving the needle and the teachers do like it in the campuses. Now we know that when you go on a a tour you're you're it may be curated. So there's that caveat but the teachers did generally look and the teachers much to what Dr. Smith said the teachers were engaged and and the students were engaged and it wasn't this wrote scripted like what I experienced when I was doing math in third grade. Um, so there is that. I did also talk to superintendents and people nearby us and they're also seeing the same kind of

343double-digit gains on their benchmarks and their predict predictions for how their U district will end up on STAR in elementary math. So, I need the data to know that you're making that I have to give you guys a broad swath of difference on a big decision like this, but we are supposed to vote on it. So, I need to make sure that you brought the right level of discernment. I can't really tell that, but the data is pointing that why it's not perfect. What we know from the Harvard study on this subject was it's not really about the curriculum. It's about all the things that Miss Dr. Champion and others and incentivizing teachers to go where the highest need is and sure that we have highquality teachers in this district. Those are the main things

344that are going to move the needle. This simplifies it. And I remember I remember one of your first presentations to me when I was on this board. Um we had a lot of heavy rocks. We had to move in a lot of different areas. I think Cindy Pal had one and I called it the night of the um the uh Greek heroes. Um because Cindy Pala had a herculean task with the budget and your staff in terms of writing curriculum and having your team write curriculum for us instead of adopting curriculum was a cisophian task because every time you wrote curriculum the takes changed and you had to go back and rewrite the curriculum. So every time you thought you were almost done that rock would roll back down the hill and you'd have to

345start all over again. I don't want your staff being in the job of writing curriculum. I want your team out in the classroom where we know it's going to make a difference. And I think for that reason alone, I've gone from kind of slightly negative on this to giving you guys the benefit of the doubt, but we know I'm concerned enough to know that we as a board need to have you on a short leash to make sure that this is going to move the needle. I'm not comfortable making this decision. It's a tough decision. I'm not the expert. You guys are. I appreciate President Choa's comments and I will be reluctantly um supporting this adoption. >> Thank you, Mr. Will Banks. Uh next in line is Miss Haynes. >> Miss Haynes. >> Um thank

346you. So it's late. I'm tired and I really want to be standing like everyone else in the audience is doing now. Um, that would be lovely. So, I'm going to try to be super quick with what I have to say. Um, I think most of the discussion tonight has been centered around questions that we've all received. Some of us have received them from the same people. Some of us have different pockets of the community. And I think that you and your team have done a great job of answering them to the best of your ability with what you know. Um, and so for me, to President Choppa's point, that that is what I what I need to know as a board member because I have put my trust in you guys. What I want to

347point out is that we um we skipped the governance update tonight because we had a packed agenda and now I kind of regret that because in our governance update we were going to talk about how we are actively working on our um AE local policy which uh trustee McMurro brought up and that addresses our educational philosophy and you know she read some of the current one that is incredibly important and spot on and I'm Sure, pieces of that will be woven into our new one. But even more than that, the curriculum audit pointed out that we lacked policy that tightened up our curriculum that held our district accountable to curriculum management. And so, as a governance team, we are addressing that and starting to develop a policy ch local, is that right? >> Eh, local.

348There you go. Um, to address that. And so I think to President Choa's point of living in the governance lane, how we can answer, you know, Trusty Mike's questions about how is this going to be sustainable? How do we hold you accountable? And to your very short leash comment, um I mean that policy does that. And so I would encourage my colleagues that when we have a draft of that policy come to you guys to consider that you really consider it because that policy is what is going to hold Blue Bonnet or whatever other curriculum we go with accountable. It's going to hold them accountable for managing that in the way that all of you have spoken to that we want our curriculum to be managed for student achievement, student experience, student learning. So, while

349at the end of the day, I am not an expert, I do trust you guys. And I do think that knowing what I know as a trustee, I trust my ability to put a policy in place that is going to support the management of that. And so, I will be voting to support Blue Bonnet this evening. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Haynes. Miss Richardson, >> I am also going to go very quickly based on the time of night that it is, and it is now actually Friday morning. Um, >> I had no idea. >> Yep. It is now Friday morning, guys. Congratulations. >> This has happened twice in my time in our >> Your spring break is about to start. Um, one of the things that I want to push back on, and it's

350one of the few things I want to push back on. What you said was when you were going through all the different options that we had. One of the things you talked about was this is what would probably be easiest on our teachers. I don't necessarily want to adopt something that it's easiest on our te and that's my putting it in my words. My words, not yours, Dr. Words. I want to make sure that the rigor >> is there for our students because I think we have such good teachers that they can teach to anything we give them. They truly can. And so I know that we talked about, well, this could be this is going to be harder. This is more complicated. At the end of the day, I want to do what's best

351for our students because our teachers truly can adapt to anything. Um, I really like your example about the actor script that has really landed with me that I feel like our teachers, when I think about all the teachers that I know and especially when I think about like a second grade class, think about these teachers, they can all take that script, but they are all so different as who they are as teachers, they are going to make it uniquely theirs. And I have no doubt if I walked into each classroom, they will have adapted it to who they are, their personalities, and their students. So that helped me um put that be able to visualize it a little bit better. Um there was concern some some concern that this is not going to align with

352star and what our students are needing to learn. One of the things that we talk about over and over from the dis is that we don't teach to the star. We do not we teach our students what they need to know along the way. They are going to learn what they need to learn from the star but we do not need to teach to the star. That's a one-day test that determines their worth. and we know they are so much bigger than that. Um so I am not concerned about that because our teachers will make that happen. Um I do have a personal um concern for our students that we are talking about how many of our Spanish speakers we have. We also have um some dual language programs here >> with that. Does Blue

353Bonnet have curriculum that is going to meet what those schools need? Yes, >> they do because currently we right now we do not have um we do not have curriculum in place for some of our older students going through the program to keep going. >> So that is Spanish. >> So the Spanish materials um so I think you're referring to like high school courses. I am >> right. So high school courses specifically for a two-way dual program may need to be adapted. the specific programs that we're talking about for here would be for like the bilingual classrooms. They are in Spanish. Um, but we will have to address um if you're taking a course in like the dual language program at Arlington High and your student is actually taking it in Spanish, we'll have to

354probably make an adjustment there. >> I would encourage you to do that. We have sophomores right now that are headed to juniors and they're being told they do not have Spanish classes next year to be taken. Uh I've brought it up repeatedly with Dr. Smith, but I'm going to bring it up now from the DAS. We have parents that have stuck with this program since kindergarten. We knew they were coming. We knew they were going through. And so for them to be sophomores right now and going to book their senior classes and being told, >> you've aged out, we have no more Spanish for you. That's not appropriate. And so we've got to figure that out. Whether that's Blue Bonnet or something else with our curriculum department. I want to make sure that as we

355are doing this with Blue Bonnet that we make it very clear that we are making this decision based on whether we believe Blue Bonnet is the best or not. >> But it does not have to do with TEA. >> We are not making No, no. I'm saying for us because the truth is TEA is right now the boogeyman that we all know about that is coming into districts that is shutting them down. We do not want to do things because we are afraid of what Austin might come and do to us. We are making our decision based on your recommendation, what your staff has told us. We may vote yes or no individually, but at the end of the day, we're doing this based on what we believe. And it has nothing to do with

356TEA. And I want to make that very clear because I don't think any of us sit up here and make a decision based on what Mike Morath would tell us to do. >> Um, we believe individually in you. I personally will be supporting it. And the reason is this. I'm not going to have you on a short leash. What I will do is you are our employee, Dr. Smith. You are going to be the one we hold accountable because this is your staff and at the end of the day, you trusted them to come to with this recommendation. You know what's on the line. You know our test scores. They are not our employees, but you are. And so we don't need to have you on a short leash. You know what's on the line.

357You know the test scores that are going to come back. You know what Arlington stakeholders and parents are going to say when we study this. And so do you, Dr. Smith, so we don't have to threaten you with a short leash or anything. At the end of the day, you want the best for our kids. You are not here at midnight because you just want to give them worksheets to be done. Um, I trust you. When we hired you, we said we would trust you to make the best decision. And so I am going to put my money where my mouth is right now and I'm going to trust you that you believe in what they are recommending to us. And at the end of the day, if not, we get to have a different

358conversation down the road. But tonight, um, thank you for walking us through this in our one-on- ones because Dr. Smith has done very well in preparing us in our one-on ones. And one things he said to us is, "What do you need? What information?" He wants to give us everything we need to make educated decisions from this dis. And I appreciate that. So, I don't have a ton of questions except to tell you thank you. Keep up the good work. And we want the best for our students and I know that's what everybody in this room including those standing want too. >> Even you, Dr. Hill. >> Thank you, Miss Richardson. Miss McMarrow. >> Thank you, President Choa. Really quickly, I just have one clarification and one more question. Um my clarification was something you

359mentioned uh Miss Richardson about the um we don't teach to the test. The feedback and and the the district feedback and both the anecdotal feedback that I'm getting is that the assessments that Blue Bonnet offers are not aligned to the test. So while I agree with you that instruction should not be teaching to the test, it is very important that alignments prepare students to navigate STAR. And so that's I just wanted to clarify. >> Thank you. >> Direct question before we vote. Do because I've I've heard some different things both tonight and prior to tonight. So I just want to get really simple really simple answer to my really simple question. If we adopt Blue Bonnet, are we going to require our teachers to adhere to the scripted components of Blue Bonnet? Well, we're we

360were going to expect them to do what we described, which is we're going to provide them the lesson, which has all the components that you would have for a lesson. We're going to ask them to internalize it, to adjust to their students needs, and deliver instruction. So, you're you have students that are going to be low and you're going to have students that are high and you have students in between. And the teacher's going to have to make pivots. What they're going to have is the lesson. What we're what we're not going to ask teachers to do is to grab materials that are not aligned to the standards and integrate them. We're going to ask them to use the HQIM with fidelity and to do so integrating the art of teaching. That's what we're going

361to ask people to do. So if they're teaching a strategy >> that is not in the script and you can say this aligns to the TE is that going to be acceptable by district staff. >> I think if you can see that that strategy is actually moving the needle with kids that's what we're trying to get to. >> Even if it's not a blue bonnet strategy. >> Well I don't think there is such a thing as a blue bonnet strategy. But I think I what you're asking is the strategies that are integrated actually in the lesson plan. if they're if they pick a strategy that's outside the lesson plan and if they're teaching it that way, is that okay? And what I would say is if that's part of your internalization process and it's actually

362moving the needle with the student, then I think that that's fine. We're not asking people to just read a script. What we're asking people to do is make sure that the strategies that they're integrating into their lesson from internalization is researchbased. it's it's designed specifically for the lesson that they're teaching and it's moving the needle with kids and that they're using the HQIM as it's designed like with the resources we have. But we're not suggesting that a teacher is has can't make instructional decisions. That's not what's going to move the move the needle with kids. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Miss McMarrow. Dr. Smith, >> this has been a marathon right here. I I said to Justin, I don't know that I've been a part of a presentation this long ever in

363my life. So, I want to thank you all for your focus and your your uh deep dive in. Uh I I will do my best to keep a few things um the few things that I have brief. I believe our system is perfectly designed to get the results it's getting right now. And that tells me that we have to make a change. And that is evident in our data. It's evident in our data by student groups in our system. And it's not just a high-erforming or low performing school. It is evident that we have gaps in our system, even in our high-erforming schools. And there's a change that needs to be made across our our um math instruction across the district. And I think that change has to be that we realize that we have

364to tighten up some things. And I wholeheartedly want everybody to hear that that does mean tightening up. That also means not losing sight of what the art of teaching is. And I think Stephen and his team have done a really good job tonight talking about the tight part can be the what. And we can absolutely have conversations on the how. And that's where the internalization of a lesson and the actual student sitting in front of you matter in all of this. And so the more we can tighten up because mobility is a really big issue in Arlington ISD that benefits our kids long term. And the more we can allow our teachers to actually work on things and actually be able to internalize these things. And I keep I I heard the word internalize too

365many times tonight. So let me change that a little bit to actually be able to look at the art of teaching for the kids sitting in front of you which is why I got into the business. And just a reminder and and I know I'm sitting up here with educators, but every one of us that are here tonight presenting to you, we're educators, too. We still are. And we were actually in classrooms as well. So, while we have some people around the state that suggest that administrators make recommendations like that, ignoring educator feedback, I can promise you we didn't get into the business of teaching this to read scripted lessons like robots. And that is not the words that we put on paper for our values and beliefs, our priorities, nor our vision statement in

366my mind. And those words weren't just the trustees words. Those were my words, too. And so I'm in equally invested in creating the experience of exceptional learning for every student in our system, just like everybody sitting up here. And it doesn't mean that a resource, a set of curriculum is the answer. And while that might differ from what our commissioner tells you, I don't believe that. I actually believe that this is a piece of the puzzle and we absolutely have to have a highquality instructional resource. And I didn't use HQIM because I don't want to use their language. We have to have something that's high quality for our students. And we have to help support our teachers to ensure that the art of teaching lives. And we have to ensure that the the um content

367that they're engaging in in the classroom through a highquality instructional task is at the right grade level. And we're struggling with some of those things right now. And we have to fix that. This is a piece of the puzzle in fixing that. But it is not the answer. And so I hear you on tight leash and I'll I'll wear whatever leash you want because I can promise you that there is no one up here that takes this more serious than I do. I am equally invested in this as well as Miss Richardson mentioned. Yeah, this is my livelihood, but it's also my community now. And those are my kids sitting in the classroom and those are the my kids sitting that are coming in for the board recognitions tonight, too. And so, we bring you

368this recommendation tonight, not taken lightly, and I need you to hear that. And I feel like sometimes those things come out as like, well, you you're just proposing something that you think might be the answer. I can promise you I don't think that that's the answer only. But I do think we need a better instructional resource for our students. I do think we need to provide better training and support for our teachers so that they actually can teach math concepts because they do struggle with that sometimes. And we have teachers that will absolutely tell you that conceptual understanding for math is not the way they were taught going through school. Many of us were taught plug-and-play formulas to actually solve problems and we can't actually explain the concepts behind it and the rationale of why

369we're actually using those things. So, a change does have to be made. This is not the only answer. Could there be other answers? I believe so. But this is the one that I believe that gives us a good shot to take another really good step forward. And I also believe that you have seen through our implementation of HMH this year, through the other things that we've done as an administrative team that we are doing everything that we can to try and support our teachers in ensuring that they are uh heard in everything that they do and that they're provided highquality professional learning. In those times where we're not hitting the mark, we actually say we're not hitting the mark and we're going to improve and we're going to get better because our teachers deserve it

370and our kids deserve it. That same process is going to be applied to this. And while I know that this is one of those things and frankly I still wonder if it wasn't named Blue Bonnet if we would have had this long of a discussion tonight. And I can't help that because to to uh Mr. Chapa's point, curriculum has been politicized in our state and our nation right now. And as I've gone through in Steven's role before and in uh roles where I supervise principles and as a principal curriculum adoptions around around the nation actually I have seen differing views on curriculum and I can guarantee that I can walk down the hall in one of those districts that's implementing blue bonnet great and I'm going to have some teachers tell me they love it

371and I can guarantee you I have some teachers tell me they hate it. And I do just like everyone else. and did my due diligence and I call around. Absolutely. Had one superintendent say, "This is a slam dunk." Why? Because my teachers love it. And I can almost bet that his teachers do like it for the most part, but he probably has some teachers that are very unsatisfied with that. So, what's our job in all of these things? I think sometimes we think in a dualistic mindset that it's either it's perfect or it's not perfect. Our job isn't that. Our job is to take a resource that we know is not perfect from the start, train our teachers well, support them well, and ensure that they have the right learning and supports to actually make

372it happen in the classroom and keep getting better all the time at it and not rest until we are in a comfortable flow for the students that we serve in our district. So tonight, I know this has been hard uh and I know that there are uh a lot of uh opinions from various people around in my seat. You hired me and you set goals and you say, "Here are the things we want to achieve and our priorities in the school district." And I'm making a recommendation to you tonight to consider that you adopt Blue Bonnet because I think it's going to help us take the next step there. And that doesn't mean that I'm giving up on my values of the way I want the experience for students and teachers to be in Arlington

373ISD. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Are there any other trustees with comments or questions on this item? Okay. Seeing none, trustees will move to vote now. Um or not vote, but we do need a motion. I'll go ahead and make that motion. I move to approve the instructional mathematics materials and expenditures for the 2026 2027 instructional materials and technology aotment as presented. Do I have a mot uh a second to my motion? >> Second. >> I have a second for Miss Richardson. Now we'll move to vote. Okay, the motion carries 4 to three. And the item is adopted. Thank you. Thank you all. Let me gather my materials here. Just one second. Okay, we do have one action item left. That's item E, the proposed termination of assistant principal Vanessa Rodriguez's term contract.

374Is there any discussion around that item tonight? Seeing none, I will make the motion to propose termination. I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation and to propose the termination of Vanessa Rodriguez's term contract and further move that the record of this action reflect the following. That before voting on this motion, the board considered a draft of the letter to Vanessa Rodriguez proposing the termination of employment. That the superintendent reviewed with the board the reason or reasons for making his recommendation regarding the employee and that the board considered the reasons or reasons and any other information provided by the superintendent. and that by passage of this motion, the board directs the superintendent to prepare for the board president's signature a final notice of proposed contract termination for Vanessa Rodriguez. Directs that the notice of proposed contract

375termination include the time limitations and procedure for requesting a hearing before an independent hearing examiner. Directs the superintendent to notify general counsel of this action. Requests that office to contact and retain an attorney on behalf of the board as needed to advise the board concerning legal matters and upon the receipt of a recommendation from an independent hearing examiner. authorizes general counsel to consult with the superintendent to approve the final notice of proposed contract termination and to take whatever actions are necessary and proper to present the case in support of the proposed termination and directs that a copy of this motion be attached to the minutes of this meeting and included in the final notice of proposed termination of employment for Vanessa Rodriguez. That is my motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Have

376a second from Mr. Willbanks trustees. will now move to vote. All trustees voting in the affirmative. The motion unanimously carries. That now brings us to our consent item agenda tonight. Are there any trustees who would wish wish to withdraw items from the consent agenda? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion. >> I have a motion from Miss Fowler. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Have a second from Miss McMurro. Trustees will move to vote on consent agendas presented. All trustees present voting the affirmative. Consent agenda unanimously carries. That brings us up to our open form for non-aggenda items which we did earlier which takes us to our superintendent report. Dr. Smith, >> I will email it to you. How's that? >> Perfect. >> Which takes us

377to our trustee reports. Are there any trustees wishing to give reports tonight? Mr. Wilbanks, >> I'll be brief. I just want to do a thank you to our internal audit staff for bringing forth the new charter for the department of internal audit and for the board audit advisory committee and it was approved in consent just now. So thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Robbanks. I know that y'all have been working on that and um it's a new era in our audit uh committee and our audit department. Okay, there being no further business tonight, it is 12:24 and this meeting is adjourned.