State Board of Education, July 10, 2025

001I'm 92. >> It'll be a little bit long. Good morning. >> 9:02. Thank you. >> I did practice with the G just so that we all know. Um it's 902. Let's call the July 10th, 2025 State Board of Education to order. Thank you. Um, will you join me in a moment of silence as we prepare our hearts and our minds for the meeting today? Thank you. Okay, before we get started, I do want to comment on the musical chairs that our board has played. um because we have turned over and started a new season of leadership. And I just wanted to take a moment just to formally um say to my colleagues that I am deeply humbled by the faith that you have put in myself and Miss Hunter. Well, bless you because I have

002full faith in you. Um but I do just want you to know that I have deep respect and reverence for this chair. And so I feel very inadequate to fill the shoes um of my predecessors because I've been led extremely well. back in May, right after we had had the board meeting where y'all voted on this. My husband had a family reunion and my husband's uncle was a 40-year educator for Rogers Public Schools. He was a science teacher. He's a milking award winner. Like, he is the cream of the crop. And so, his opinion matters a lot to me. And he asked me, he goes, "So, what's your goal for your chair?" And I smarted back to him and I said, "To not make the paper, to put my nose down. Put my nose down,

003do the work, and serve out the rest of my term with as little fanfare as possible." Um, and obviously I don't control what ends up in the paper. So the serious answer to that is the one that I would that I told to him later and I said when I started with the board, my goal is to leave the state of Arkansas, this board and then just the system of education better than I found it. And obviously I started in 2020, so my hope is that the bar was low. Um, but only history will be the arbiter of whether or not I was able to be successful in that. And so I wanted to issue a charge today before we kind of get started just to all of us on this board to remember that

004this is a privilege that we get to have to sit in these seats um to hold these conversations that we do. And I would hope that we would be reminded as we are cultivating policies and voting on rules and sparring with one another and you know making decisions that are ultimately sometimes unpopular. um that we would remember a quote that I heard one time and I'll probably butcher it but the sentiments are that it is the primary obligation of leadership to protect the future and for us that takes a lot of different forms and so I just pray that we kind of move forward with humility but also boldly and that we will be found faithful in that task. So anything from me? >> No. >> Okay. Well, with that yes please. >> So I

005I can't help myself just If one of your goals is not to make the paper, you might want to move this because if you're sitting next to me, you're in good company to make the paper. But I I will say and I and I maybe speak on behalf of the board, but kind of all of our entire educational community and family out there. We have confidence in you and this board wouldn't have chosen you to be our chair if they didn't believe in you. And that charge of making sure that we are improving conditions for students to be successful is something I think we can all embrace with open arms. And I I love uh the sentiment that leadership is to protect the future because that's that's what's important when we look at all the

006investments that we've made over at least kind of in my tenure and and you were serving long before I got here around improving a system that's going to get um students ready to be um enlisted and enrolled or employed. I think every single day we strive more towards reaching that goal and I'm confident we're going to continue to accelerate that and do it even better, bigger, and bolder under your tenure and leadership. So, welcome aboard. We're really glad to have you. >> Thank you. All right. Well, that it is my esteemed privilege to get to introduce to you Mr. Dallas Cathy. He is a student at the school for the deaf and blind and he was actually a guest broadcaster for the Little Rock Chosen Trojans baseball team because his dream is to be a

007broadcaster and so we wanted to kick off this meeting and allow him to sort of introduce our board members. So Dallas, can y'all hear me? >> Yes. >> All right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Dallas Kathy, a student at Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind. Welcome to the July 10th, 2025 state board of education meeting. In in this first meeting of 2025 and 2026 school year, it is my pleasure to introduce to state board members state board of education members. Sitting in the middle of the day are the 2025 2026 board officers. Please stand or wave when I call your name. Adrien Woods, attorney and business owner, was unanimously elected at the April 10th board meeting to serve as chair in the 2020 in 2025 and 2026. Miss Woods and her family

008live in Bentonville. sitting to the left of Miss Woods and serving as vice chair for the 2025 2026 school year is Lisa Hunter, a banker who resides with her family in Whiteall. In April, Miss Hunter was also unanimously elected to this position. On Miss Wood's right is Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva, the state's educational leader who serves as board secretary after being appointed by Governor Sanders to serve as the Arkansas Secretary of Education. Mr. Oliva was unanimously approved by the state board of education to serve as commissioner which comes with the position of board secretary. Also on the deis is Randy Henderson, a state board of education member who is a native of Bleville. Mr. Henderson works with New Core Steel, serves on the Arkansas Workforce Development Board, and is known across the state for

009supporting CTE initiative. State Board of Education member Jeff Wood is an attorney from Little Rock who previously served on both the Little Rock School District com Community Advisory Board and District School Board. Now serving on the state board of education is Ken Bragg. previously served as state representative for 10 years. Now retired, Mr. Bragg and his wife reside in Sheridan, but you may have seen him at the capital during the 2025 legislative session. State Board of Education member Lee Kenir is passionate about education of young children and serves as a chair of state board committee on early learning. She and her family live in Little Rock. With a career in educational leadership, Gary Arnold spent more than 15 years leading an independent school in central Arkansas and has had many articles published on leadership. and

010the educational landscape. Also sitting on the DES this morning is the 2025 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Jeannie Wiloxen. This is the first member of her m first meeting of her year-long service as a non voting member on state board. And Miss Will Coxin comes from Chenol Elementary School in Palaski County Special School District. She taught Ma. She taught math and her students consistently ranked in the top 3% on standardized tests. This is the 2025 2026 Arkansas State Board Education uh of education. Hey, don't can you st up here? I think the rest of us would like to get a picture with you. >> Well, can can we ask Dallas some questions if we may? I don't know if any board members have any. >> So, I did want to point out I was told

011that he is a baseball enthusiast and that he um basically experiences baseball through sound. So, and for those that are on Zoom that couldn't see him, he was reading that entire prompt through Braille. So, Super impressive. >> Dallas, that that was amazing. Thank you for being here today and for all your kind words for all of us. Tell us a little bit about your experience at the R baseball game. I want to hear more about that. >> It was great. I I really enjoyed it. You know, listening to the to all the sounds, listening to the crowd, everybody there, having my partner Max Colin with me there announcing, I really enjoyed it. You know, we both worked good together as a team and in the press box it was great. Especially the inning breaks, you

012know, we would we we would all laugh and talk and have fun. >> You've got a you've got a great voice that sounds wonderful for for broadcasting. I I wish you all the best, bud. >> Well, thank you so much and thank y'all for inviting me out. Um, couldn't have done it without all of y'all and thank every one of y'all for letting me come out here. >> Well, and uh I recently saw you on the news on both Fox 16 and Channel 4. Tell us about that experience. >> Well, I tell you, it was a little nerve-wracking at first. kind of stressful, but I got through it. And yeah, I got I got through it. Read the prompt. It was great. I I I enjoyed working with Mr. Ernie Pollson. Greatest man I could

013have ever worked with. >> Oh, that's great. >> Well, you did a wonderful job. Thank you for coming today. >> Well, thank you all for inviting me. >> What's your hometown? Dallas. Um, I'm out of Warren, Arkansas. Okay. About 100 miles south of here. >> Yeah. >> Dallas, this is Jacob. What grade are you in? >> I am going to be a junior this year. >> And so, what are your plans after high school? >> My plans after high school is I plan to go to Uler for college and get a sports broadcasting degree. So if if sports broadcasting is in your future, we we may hire you to be our official hype man at the state board and we can start every year or every meeting like this because that that's just a wonderful

014kickoff to our new because this is our first meeting in a new school calendar year. So what what a wonderful way to kick us off. Thank you. >> Well, thank you all. >> And I want to compliment you have quite the cheering section behind you even following along with every word. So, uh, we should all be so lucky. >> I I I do. And I thank all of them for being behind me and supporting me and rooting me on. All the people that have rooted me on. I thank every one of them. >> That's great. >> Awesome. >> Thank my lucky stars. >> Can we do a picture with them just right here? Yeah. Pull him over. What are we going to get? [Music] Thanks for being here. ankle. One, two, and [Music] I did

015I did announce for our homecoming Yes, he did really good. We all I mean I can come up with a walk out song if you want to do it next time. We can all have a walk out song. >> Okay. Are you next? I think you're next. All right. >> So, our next recognition is actually going to be presented by our own Miss Lee Keenir. Good morning. Thank you so much. Um, Rachel, do you want to join us up here? >> It is my pleasure to introduce to you Rachel Parker. She is the visionary leader of Ferncliffe Nature School. It is the first licensed preschool of its kind in Arkansas. Under her guidance, Ferncliffe Nature School, Nature Preschool, has pioneered an innovative approach to early childhood education where preschoolers spend around 80% of their day

016outdoors through engaging activities as like nature walks, interactions with farm animals, constructing natural structures, and creating art with natural materials. Miss Rachel fosters a deep connection between young learners and the world around them. Her exceptional dedication to environmental education was recognized when she was named the 2024 Arkansas Environmental Education Associations Outstanding Formal Environmental Educator. That is a mouthful, but you deserve every word. Director Parker's leadership continues to set a transformative standard for early care and education in Arkansas, inspiring both students and educators alike. Dr. Jordan Peterson tells us, "If you're going to make kids tough, which they better be if they're going to survive in the world, you can't interfere when they're doing dangerous things carefully." And the Reio Amelia style tells us that the environment is the third teacher behind only the family and

017the teacher, the classroom teacher. Oh, shoot. I got my page. Hang on. In establishing Ferncliffe, you are the living embodiment of both of these two ideas. Now, for the fun part, I got some quotes from those that know her much much better than I do. One from a colleague. I began working with Miss Rachel in her quest to be part of the state's quality rating improvement system. Her motive was to make her program available to all families. We met routinely with a focus on her role as director. Over time, we became a cohort of two. me supporting her growth in program management and her teaching me all about the advantages of outdoor learning environments. Rachel has created something very special at Ferncliff Nature Preschool and I'm proud to have played the part of cheerleader in

018her recent years. Now, from a family that has had two children go through her program, Rachel Parker is a worldclass program director, setting a bar few others can match. Having trusted her in her program with two of our children, she is kind and genuine towards all she encounters and has a true passion for growing young people and their love of natural spaces. She is an innovator and a trailblazer and has been a wonderful person to get to know professionally and personally. We appreciate all the hard work and contribution she has done not only for us families at Ferncliffe, but for education programs across the state and beyond. And most importantly, a quote from a recent student. I believe she's six. She was the best teacher because she's nice to us, kind, and loving, and helped

019us. You get a full thumbs up. >> Thank you for letting me introduce Miss Rachel. >> It's wonderful. >> Thank you. Thank you to the to the uh board. I'm out of my element. I'm used to being in the woods playing in the mud. So, this is uh very different for me to be standing in front of all of y'all. But, uh I want to say thank you to Lee uh for I think putting me up for this recognition with the board. Uh thank you to the board for recognizing this work. Um and to my colleagues who have helped make this happen over the years. I got emotional. I didn't I had not heard those quotes. Um and it I just feel really honored um to have support from our community uh to do this.

020Um, that third teacher part is so important. Arkansas has such a dynamic environment to teach children in because we are the natural state and so doing this work with three to five year olds and even beyond. I'm so excited to hear about the governor's pilot program with K through 12 uh environmental education and I just feel so honored to be on the forefront of that working with our youngest uh learners in this program. Um, and so it's just it's my life's work and I just hope to help continue that and to help the state uh, you know, bring nature-based education uh to as many students as we can. So, thank y'all so much. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Any questions? >> I'll ask a question. So, you just mentioned the term nature-based education. >> How

021did that vision come about? What what was that calling and what what led you to say, I'm going to create an environment that's transformative and innovative in making sure kids are um well prepared for kindergarten, an environment that's not sitting behind a desk and in front of a tablet. >> Yeah. So, I'm a special education teacher by background. I was trained at the University of Central Arkansas right here, right in in our wonderful state. Um, and I was in an environment that felt um, pretty rigid and there wasn't a lot of creativity maybe in the classroom. And so I started to get my students out. Uh, we developed a garden uh, program, got our youngest learners outside and started seeing the learning that came from that. And so then that sparked in me, you know,

022a desire to find more professional development opportunities uh, regarding nature-based education. And so as I began to look, I found this model of almost fully immersed education for uh birth, you know, pretty much birth of five. Um there's many, you know, different models out there, but the specific one was a forest kindergarten type model and kids were out in the mud in the woods and they were just living their best lives. And so in seeing that, that in me just made complete sense. Like I think this is how I was meant to teach and where I'm my best version of myself. So I imagine children are their best versions of theirelves in that environment. And so I just started working for a couple years to make that happen and was connected to Ferncliffe who saw

023that vision as a camp program. They already knew about risky play for children and getting kids outside and the value of that. And so then when we met it was like a match made in heaven, you know, and so that's really where this vision came from. And then they've helped me develop that from there. So >> a risky play, there's an expression for you. It's coming back and it's coming back strong. Well done. >> I might suggest a a board field trip maybe one day to go do some risky play out in the woods. >> Please. >> Come out to visit us anytime. I'd love to to show you what we're doing out there. Yes. >> Incredible. >> Thank you'all so much. >> Thank you for all your work. Want a picture? >> All right.

024Congratulations. two. Okay. So with that I think we move on to unless you have anything else. >> No. Okay. Do we have any changes to the agenda? >> I have one that I would like to propose. I would like to propose I would like to add an I believe it would be an action item. Action item I guess V4. uh to consider moving the August 14th meeting to Friday, August the 1st. >> From a procedure standpoint, can we vote on moving that to an action item? >> Is that Yes. >> What was the date again? >> It' be Friday, August the 1st. >> The first. >> Yes. You can vote to move the regularly scheduled item or you can also vote to hold a special meeting instead if you'd like. >> Okay. >> Are there

025any objections to moving the meeting to the first? >> Well, I think that >> Oh, okay. So, we'll put that as >> Okay. Do we need to vote on that or can we just move it? We just move it. >> I'm new here. So, >> okay. That's okay. Well, and there's no hard and fast rules, but we would recommend you vote to add it to the agenda, and then when you get to that item, you vote to um again either hold a special meeting or move the regular meeting. >> Okay. Then I'm going to need a motion and a second to move it to the action agenda. >> So moved. >> All right. >> Second. >> Motion by Dr. Arnold, seconded by Miss Keenir. Does that work for you down on the end? Taking our

026stuff. Okay. All right. All in favor of moving the August 14th meeting to the action agenda to be voted on, vote by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Any other changes? >> All right. Then with that, we will move on to our action agenda. And I think we have two sets of rules, both that are being presented by Miss Salis Ford. Correct. Excellent. >> Good morning, Courtney Solace Ford. Um so the first rules are governing student discipline and these proposed rules incorporate changes from acts 565 and 805 of 2025 as well as acts 237 of 2023. Um so specifically these incorporate the belltobell no cell act one of governor Sanders key pieces of legislation. um as well as changes to the provisions regarding bullying and a teacher's ability to address um students

027with severe disciplinary disruptive behaviors in the classroom. Um this is asking for your approval to release these for public comment. So in accordance with our standard process, they will go out for 30 days. We will hold a public comment hearing and then after we review all the public comments, we will bring them back to you for final approval. So today we're just asking to release them for public comment. >> Any questions? >> Seeing none, I need a motion to release for public comment. >> I move we release them for public comment. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. First motion was made by Mr. Bragg, seconded by Mr. Henderson. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Unanimous. Motion passes. >> Okay. The next rules we have are for final approval. So

028these are the rules governing the public school rating system on annual school performance reports and the school recognition program, otherwise known as school letter grades. We brought these rules to you back in May that addresses the new way that letter grades will be calculated for schools and for districts. Um they went out for public comment. We did receive a few public comments. However, we did not make any substantive changes. Um, so if you all approve these for final draft now, then they will go to the legislative council for final final approval. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions? >> Do we need a separate motion on each one? >> Well, so we just voted on the releasing for public comment and then these are the final rules on a different set. >> Yes.

029Just so the board knows, during my update briefing today, I'm going to roll out the timeline for um our second year administration of Atlas scores and provide some updated information to the board as well. So, this times in perfectly to to start lining up how we want to get this information out to students, families, and schools. If there are no questions, I need a motion to move these to final approval. >> I move we approve for final >> motion. Motion made by Mr. Bragg. >> Seconded by Miss Hunter. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> Hearing none. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Before we move on to our third action item, can I substitute in we go ahead and vote on the final meeting >> beforehand? Do you is there any opposition to

030moving our final board meeting to the first or is there another date that's been proposed? >> I guess the motion >> I don't want to speak on behalf of Mr. Wood. I think his recommendation was to move the 14th meeting to the first. >> Correct. >> Yes, >> Dr. Arnold. Oh, that's what you want to do. Okay. Any questions? Okay. So, then we will vote on moving the regularly scheduled August 14th meeting up to August 1st, which is a Friday. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> All right. Motion was made by Mr. Wood. It was seconded by Dr. Gary Arnold. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion passes. So, our next regularly scheduled board meeting will be August the 1st, 2025. All right.

031Then our final action item of the day will be the PLSB hearing. Miss James >> is opposing council here or the educator. >> Educator is not here. He did receive notice of the hearing and as far as I know, he did not have counsel. He did not at the evidentiary hearing. >> Okay. So there's no one to swear in. >> There is no one to swear in. But just a reminder of the procedures. Each side gets 10 minutes. Anyone who is speaking who is not an attorney would have to be sworn in. But that doesn't really apply today. Um normally the educator would go first, but because he is not here and I've just checked outside again. I will go ahead and um the transcript has been provided to you in this case. Uh this

032was an educator at the Hawky School District um who allegedly um violated the code of ethics on a couple of different occasions. Since he's not here and he doesn't have an argument, I don't know if you want to hear a summary of the case or if you're ready to go ahead and make a decision. You went to my right have questions. Normally then a non-appearance is in essence a surrender. >> Well, in the rules it says that the educator does not have to appear. If the educator does not appear, we just proceed without him or her. >> So can we just move to adopt the PLSB outcome if that's >> Yes, ma'am. If that's what the board wishes to do. As a reminder, there are three motions. The first motion is the violation of the

033code of ethics and the standards. Second is the sanction. Third is the rationale and I do have the rationale from the ethics subcommittee and the ethics hearing subcommittee. Well, if there are no questions, do I want to have a motion to adopt the violation found by the PSB? or we can have discussion. Either one. >> Okay. I think that's why I phrased my question the way I did because it seems like if there's if there was an objection and we're not hearing it then the uh existing decisions stand. >> Yes, I'm in agreement with that. I'll move to uh accept the violation of the code of ethics found by the PLSB. Would that be the first motion that the educator did violate the code of ethics, namely standards one and two? >> Yes, ma'am. >>

034Okay. So, that's my motion. >> There's a second. So, first motion was made by myself, Miss Woods. Seconded by Miss Hunter. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you. >> All right. Okay. So I move to accept the sanction of permanent revocation of license that was put forward by the >> motion was made by Mender. >> seconded by Mr. Henderson. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposition? >> Hearing none. Motion passes. So the third motion would be based on the rationale to adopt the PLSB rationale for >> there are two rationale in this case one from the ethics subcommittee and one from the ethics hearing subcommittee they are fairly similar I'll move to adopt the rationale second >> motion made by myself miss

035woods seconded by Miss Hunter all in favor say I >> any opposition? >> Hearing none. Motion passes. >> Just to clarify, is that the rationale of the ethics hearing subcommittee or the ethics subcommittee? >> I'm comfortable with the one of the hearing. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I've got it. >> Works for me. Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. If there's no additional business, then I would say All right. Is there any new business that we need to discuss? Nope. All right. Then moving on to consent. Is there any items that need to be pulled from consent to the action item for next month? I would move to pull item uh number 15. >> Okay. >> Regarding the PLSB case 25-094. >> Okay. Any others from anybody else? No. Okay. Then item ma'am. >> Do

036you have something to say? Please. >> We just need the rationale. The rationale, >> yes sir. >> Uh being to review the underlying facts of the case and the decision by the PLSB for a three-month probation. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Then we will move that. Then I need a motion to accept the consent agenda in the second. >> So move to accept the consent agenda with the exception of item 15. >> Okay. Second. Motion made by Miss Hunter, seconded by Miss Kener. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> Hearing none. Motion passes. And on that we've made it to board reports. Do we want to take like a five minute break just to allow the court reporter to grab her stuff? Okay. We'll be back

037here at like >> 9:47. How about that? Oh, there we go. All right, let's call back to order. Thanks. All right, are there any board reports? Lee, any updates? >> Not yet. >> No. Okay. Excellent. Okay. Well, then, Miss Wil Coxin, welcome to the board. We're so excited to have you for this next year. >> I I can't help it. Every time I see Miss Will Coxin, I just remember an entire cafeteria full of kindergarten through fifth graders going Miss Will Cox. >> So, we always got to pump her up. >> Should we do that? >> Yeah. Every time she does a report, we can just pump her up. >> Well, we're excited for your report. >> Okay, I gotta figure this out. Go for it. This works. So, >> first I just want to

038say thank you. Good morning to everyone for welcoming me today to my first official board meeting. This is definitely a different role that I've played for the past 25 years standing in front of little, you know, kids teaching and so I look forward to this opportunity working with all of you, learning from all of you and as well as the learning experience that this year will bring for me. So, I haven't since I started my service on July 1, I haven't had the opportunity to participate in many activities thus far. Um, but I do want to share with you just a little bit about me, my family, my classroom, my students, which is of course where my passion has been for the past 25 years. And then just some upcoming things and goals that um

039I have in mind so far for my year of service. >> So, Oh, there we go. Okay. So, a little bit about me. Um, I began my teaching career in 1999 where, um, I graduated from the UFA at Monaceel. A lot of that people do not know, but my original plan was to be a PE teacher. And for 25 years, I've never been a PE teacher in my life. Um, I did get the opportunity to coach uh our junior varsity volleyball coach at Robinson High School for six years, and that's pretty much the only time I've used that degree. So, shortly after I graduated, I moved to Louisiana. my husband's job was there and so I began my teaching career in Louisiana and while there I could not find a PE job and my degree

040and so I decided to go back to school to LSU and I took night classes and earned uh or received my certification for the classroom for prek4 and that's where I've been teaching ever since. Um I after 10 years of teaching in Louisiana, we moved back um to Arkansas. My husband had an opportunity to transfer and um we had had some recent losses in our family and we were wanting to relocate back to Arkansas to be closer to our families. And so I did teach in Dumis, Arkansas, which is where I am from. And I was born and raised in Dumis, grew up there, attended public school there, K12, and I taught there for one year. And then after that year was over, we uh finally got to move to Little Rock and I began

041my teaching career at Chanel Elementary School in 2010 and I've been there ever since. And primarily I've been teaching math and science, mainly math. I've had a few years where I was teaching science at Chanel, but um and I've had a tremendous amount of success there and um just love my Chanel family. So this is my family. Um they are my life. Everything we do we do as a family. Um you can see my husband Brian and then my two daughters Sydney and Emma. Um Sydney graduated college. She's graduated college and um she starts dental hygiene school at US in August. And then my youngest Emma's attending the UFA at Fatville pursuing a nursing degree. And then of course I had to include our dog Kane, our German Shepherd. He doesn't realize he's a dog.

042I think he thinks he's a human. Um, and so we live here, of course, in Little Rock and like I said, I was born and raised in Dumis down in the Delta. And so I wanted just to kind of show you a little bit of my journey. so far as the Arkansas teacher of the year. Um, back in August, I visited I was invited to attend the governor's mansion banquet and there I was recognized as a state as a first as a regional um finalist and then on that same day I was recognized as a state semi- finalist. So that was a really exciting day. Hey, I was super nervous looking back and but um it was such a rewarding experience and just to know that I was selected out of so many amazing educators

043across our state means the world to me. And then um this day was absolutely amazing. So this was the day that I was announced as Arkansas Teacher of the Year. It was also special because it was my daughter's birthday. Um, and it was a complete surprise. So, my principal had scheduled a bus safety assembly. And I remember that morning I was just a fussing because I had, it was a Friday. I had my assessments planned for the week. And if you know me, I'm that teacher who does not like my classroom to be interrupted, you know, for things unless it's absolutely necessary. Because if you know anything about elementary education, every minute counts. I mean, every second counts. And so for me, you know, I was like, why, you know, why are we doing this

044on a Friday? And in the middle of the morning, you know, during my assessment and I was just a fussing. And so I was I happened to hear a colleague of mine, a fifth grade teacher, walk down the hall and he's like, "There's news people all over." And I'm looking and going thinking, what in the world did we do to get in the news? You know, I was like, why are all these news people here? And then it dawned on me. I was like, is today the day? And so I tried to call my husband. Well, he answered and said that he was off. He travels the state um for work. And so he was played off this story that he was going out of town for work and he'd be back later. And so

045then I tried to call my mom and I couldn't get in touch with her. And so I was starting to kind of panic and um and I thought, you know, my principal knows how much of a family person I am. And I'm like, she would never not let my family know something was going on. And surely they would have told me if they knew something, but that was not the case. So eventually they call us all down to the assembly and of course I was the last class to enter. And when I walked in, you know, there was just tons of people there and everybody was just kind of looking at me funny and I was like, I think today's the day. And so that's when it initially like set in. But then I couldn't

046see my husband or my mom and my girls, you know, they were out of town and they were like, "We can't come home because, you know, we you' be asking tons of questions like, why aren't you at school?" And, you know, and all those things. And so unfortunately they didn't make it. But um my principal had hid my husband and my mom in her office. >> They were at the school and I had no idea. And so I walk in, they snuck them up behind me and on the bottom left picture you can see my husband giving me a big hug. And um they were sitting behind me the whole time and I had no idea that they were even there behind me. But this day was such so amazing. I mean, I mean, my

047kids were so excited and I mean, at the end of the day, it's all about them. I mean, you know, my success story revolves around them and all their hard work and as well as all the people in our school community from admin all the way down to the cafeteria workers. You know, it takes a huge team to make teachers successful in the classroom. But this day was absolutely amazing and so special. So, I just kind of wanted to give you just a little walk inside my classroom just to kind of show you the kind of teacher that I am. Um, so as you can see just from a few of these pictures and there was so many to choose from. I had a hard time picking the ones to share today, but it's my

048hopes that this year that I can travel the state and share some of my experiences and strategies and things that have made my students successful in math. And I'm not saying I have all the answers, but you know, I would love to share some of my expertise because I think a lot of the things that I do make a big difference in my kids success. And so you can see it's, you know, I'm really rich in academic vocabulary and using diagrams and anchor charts that I leave up all year long for my kids. We do a lot of project-based learning. Um, using highlighters and models to show kids the concepts. you know, I'm a I'm a firm believer in them seeing the big picture of it all. And so, in being able to make make

049connections and um just starting and doing activities like this and then we build upon those. Um this is just a little glimpse in science. So, I've primarily taught math, but this year we had only two classes and so I taught science as well. And so, this is just a few pictures of my kids with a lot of the projects and activities. um experiments that we've done this year in science. One I wanted to kind of talk about was our fishing derby. So we have a pond at our school and no one has ever thought there was fish in it. And so for years I've been taking my fourth graders and we and we have a deck and can have like an outdoor classroom with it as well. But we um arranged this fishing day and

050I invite um grandparents and dads to come and help with that day and they help the kids fish and um it's amazing how many fourth graders at Chanel Elementary have never fished a day in their life or caught a fish. And so this is always a special day and we partner with the community to um like provide donations and have just a just a big food food. they they come out and cook and I mean it's just an amazing day for the kids. They told me this year um so when COVID hit we couldn't do this anymore and so this was the first year that we actually that I brought it back this year and my kids tell me at the end of the day they're like we don't ever want to go on a

051field trip anymore. We just want to go fishing. >> So um that was a really eye openener. So even this year during my year of service, I hope to go back and and continue this and hopefully not just do it with the fourth graders. I would like to do it with, you know, some other grade levels at Chanel to give them that same experience. So and so in um February, this was like my first big step in my journey. I had the journey to um the opportunity to travel to Santa Clara, California um where I got to meet my cohort of teachers. And if you're not sure what that is, so that's all the teachers from around the nation um who were teachers of the year for their state. And so I got to meet

05255 other amazing educators. We attended uh multiple PD sessions. We even got to attend the Google campus which is absolutely amazing. And the picture on the far left is Missy Tester. She was the 2024 National Teacher of the Year. So I got to visit and talk with her. But it's been absolutely incredible to join a cohort of teachers who have the vast experience in education and and you know and to hear so many different ideas and wonderful things that they're doing in their states. Um we talk almost daily and so this has been an incredible support system. Um and I look forward to meeting them again real soon. So, some upcoming events, uh, I'll be traveling to Space Camp next week in Huntsville, Alabama. And then Washington Week in Washington DC is coming up at

053the end of September along with the Governor's Mansion banquet, which will honor the this year's recipients. And then the Arkansas Travelers game. And so, I remember last year being at that and Bo, the former Arkansas Teacher of the Year, had to throw the first pitch of the game. And so I told my husband, I said, "You know, I might ought to get my hands on a baseball and start warming up in the backyard." So I look forward to these events that have already been scheduled. And then these are just some of the goals as you know, I've been reflecting and thinking about some of the things that I would like to do across the state. Of course, you know, looking back at my success story with um math, you know, my students have performed very

054well on the state test. And so, you know, my main goal is how can I help others achieve that same goal? And so when I look, you know, I look forward to being able to travel to different schools and working, you know, with other educators and hoping that I can make a difference in that area. Um, serving as an advocate for teachers and students, you know, talking with the board and the state department about issues and things, you know, concerns that elementary teachers face in the classrooms, you know, because, you know, not everyone always knows those things. So having a voice for them and being able to try to help um teachers and students alike across the state is important to me. So leading professional developments is another one on there. And so I look

055forward to yeah getting started and see how this journey plays out. I know I'm looking forward to being probably the most unforgettable years in my career. So I'm excited to be here and thank you all. >> Thank you. You got us the cream of the crop. >> She's great. >> Thank you so much for being here. We're really excited. >> Yeah. For for those of you that don't know, Chanel Elementary might be the second best elementary school in in Little Rock. It's a very very good school. Obviously, I'm kidding. My kids went to Robert's Elementary School. >> Just a little rivalry there. >> But but Chanel is fantastic. and every parent that I've talked to whose kids went through there uh loved their kids' experience at Chanel. So, you come from a fantastic place. These

056people are probably going to make you you listed a few of the things some of the fun things. They're also going to make you do some other not so fun things like you might have to go to the college football national championship game or something like that. If you need somebody to step in for you for that, I'm I'm willing to carry that carry that water for you. Thanks. >> You going to talk to us about Atlas? >> Well, I'll also just want to formally show our appreciation for Miss Wiloxin and thank her for the board and you survived your first update. You did a wonderful job. And if if you do get asked to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game and want to throw it underhand and roll it like a

057bowling ball, I got you. I can help you out with that. And nobody will judge. It's all okay. But in all honesty, I I've been actually pretty fortunate to be in our classroom a few times. And when I tell you that Miss Wilcox is a master educator, you can sense it from the second you walk in the door that um these students are listening to every word she has to say and is taking it to heart. And she prepares them to not just be ready for the next grade, but to have a love for math that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. And um one day we we need to bring everybody in there to watch watch a true master teacher at her craft because Miss Wiloxin is definitely that.

058And um I'm going to talk a little bit about some of our data and how we want to build out math paths and acceleration. And I was like guess what? We got to add some more bullets to that list because we got some work for you to do. But welcome aboard. So thank you. >> So >> yeah, please enlighten us. So, what I what I like to do is spend a little bit of time and in the report I might ask for the clicker. Um, or Kim's gonna grab that real quick. Just kind of give uh summer update if that uh is okay with some members of the board. Just kind of give a a little state of the state. Uh it it's kind of funny because a lot of people that don't work in

059schools may or may not realize that the summer is probably busier in a lot of schools with administrators than during the school year because there's a lot of planning, a lot of ordering, a lot of professional development, mapping out bus routes, figuring out classes, and it's just a bustling time. So, we're really fortunate that um we've been able to as an agency stay engaged with our superintendent and our leaders and um and everybody out there working on the work to make sure that when our school doors open in August, we're ready and welcoming for our young scholars to learn. Well, part of that is is we want to make sure we know whether or not our students are learning what we want them to learn and how do we know how well they're doing. So,

060I want to kind of take a a step back and and remind you that we've been on a a journey of alignment for about the last two and a half years. And and we started with Arkansas Learns, saying we want to make sure that the system is aligned, right? We want to have clear and concise expectations for teachers, students, and parents to know what we want students to learn in each and every grade level. We want to develop a unified coordinated progress moning system to monitor the performance of those students. and then ultimately have an assessment whose test items reflect the standards that we see in our progress monitoring. And we made a big transition. This board, most of you have been on this board throughout that transition from updating standards, adopting new assessments, adopting

061new cut scores, linking equip percentiles from ACT Aspire to Atlas to try to get some kind of definition of how our students performing. So this is uh an exciting time because last spring we gave year two of the Atlas assessment. So if you go back the prior year, I guess that'd be the 24 administration. That was our first year and that was our baseline year. And once we got that assessment, we had to pull a bunch of teachers and leaders all across the state to kind of rewrite new definitions of what does a level one mean, what does a level two mean, what does proficiency mean, what does advance mean, and getting that data back to school was severely lagging. I want to say it it went into almost December um by the time schools

062were able to get that data. But we know getting individual student reports is important and is it a priority for those leaders that are making decisions on placements and professional development and intervention acceleration. What are those opportunities for students? So, we've made a commitment that as a system is getting built, we want to turn around this data a lot faster. And I I want to I see um Hope Warham and Michelle Johnson out there. Those two have been working night and day for about two years to get this vision to come alive because this is a big deal I think for the state because this is some very valuable information and tools that are going to help our teachers make the right instructional decisions around the practices and lessons that are going to best benefit

063the student. So today we're able to release individual student results from last spring's assessment on ELA math and science. And um if you remember pretty much those are tested grade levels grades three through 10. Our end of course exams for algebra, geometry and biology. So getting that out to school districts before October was a really big deal. So, we're really excited to announce today that um parents, teachers, leaders will be able to see individual student results. And then I'm going to talk about the timeline a little bit for next steps. As this system is being built and getting more efficient, our anticipation is by next year at the close of the assessment window, results will be back turned around within a week. So we feel like beginning of June, maybe even as much as the

064end of May, we're going to be able to turn these results around. So the system takes a little bit of time to get built, but we have we have really um done a lot to make sure that we're putting everything into practice to get things done the right way. So I want to remind the board that we wrote these new definitions of what is level one, what is level two, what is level three, and what is level four. and we wanted to make sure they were aligned with what we saw with some national assessment data. Most of us, we remember I've done some reports on NATE scores. And when we look at defining proficiency, meaning that that student has a strong understanding of the knowledge and skills and mastery of the course and content at

065the grade level, we set a high bar and that's at level three. And level four would be a student that has advanced understanding. But then we also have um a basic understanding which means students are able to demonstrate mastery on some of that content but they're not quite at that proficient independent level. They may need some reminders. They mean of some additional support and a level one is a student that really demonstrates limited understanding of what's happening and we know they're going to need strong intervention and support to fill in those holes. So when we developed last year we set that baseline. We set a high bar for what it meant to be proficient. And that was the right thing to do. And that took a lot of courage by this board. We saw nationally

066other states lower their definition of proficiencies to try to make it sound like their students are doing better than what they really are. But we're not going to be dishonest. We're not going to lie to students and families. And we want to say if a student is demonstrating a proficient level, that means their likelihood of being successful at the next grade level with a lot of intervention and support is really high. in that when they graduate from high school they're going to be on a path to be enlisted, enrolled or employed. So this is a big deal when we can say we're moving the number the number and the metrics in that space. I'm going to give you a little bit of highlevel data if that sounds good unless there's any questions on what we're

067seeing nationally in some of our trends. So this slide shows in green the 2024 students in um the three content areas of ELA, math, and science. And then in the blue bar, you'll see the 25 data. And so when we say ELA aggregated, basically that's all the students in grades 3 through 10 that took the ELA assessment. And that's the assessment that we use that goes into school grades and that will go into our district grades and how we inform schools and school districts of how their students are overall performing. In math that is grades 3 through eight primarily and that also includes algebra and geometry scores. And then in science it's grades three through eight and also includes biology scores. Now when you see that ELA had a 0.8% 8% increase from this year

068over last year. I think a little bit more significant, a 2.7% increase in math and science. Just remember that is the percentage of students meeting that threshold of proficiency, meaning the percentage of students that took this assessment that got a level three or four went up overall as a state. That's not the number of students that met their learning gain target because that's something that we're still calculating, but just overall the the percentage of students that met that threshold. So, I think there's a lot to celebrate there and there's a lot of testament that as teachers are getting better at understanding this the standards, they're getting better at implementing high quality instruction materials, stronger accelerated pathways, improving um support for our lowest cortile, we're starting to see some positive trends overall. So when we share

069this data with districts, things that we ask them is, is your district seeing the same results as the state? Are you above it? Are you below it? Let's start unpacking. And this is why it's important to get this data to schools so that they can make some data informed decisions. >> Is there a comparison, Jacob, to the last couple years of ACT Aspire and how what whatever number was proficient? >> Yeah. in those years. >> So that's a great question and um I don't know if we're able to do that maybe proficient level because we had to do an equentile linking for learning gains to act aspire because one of the first goals that we wanted to ask is are our students at least where they were pre- pandemic level or worse off or above?

070Well, remember last year I said today is a new day, right? We're setting a new baseline when we define proficiency and we started with that mindset in place. So, this is building on year two. When we do the learning gains data, I think we can do that to try to look at the percentage of students making learning gains and see how far back we can go because we want to get that snapshot to prepandemic level to see if if we we've gotten to where we were. I I know um my first year here when we got the ACT Aspire data, we had a lot of improvement, but we were still below prepandemic level. We we need learns. We need to keep supporting learns. We need to keep our foot on the gas with implementation because

071we're starting to see trend lines where things are going in the right direction. >> It just seems to me from from my memory of a couple years ago, the last few act aspire results were roughly the same. The the the range that you wanted students to their achievement to be in was in the if I remember correctly in somewhere in between 30 and 35% statewide. And so it it seems like Atlas is measuring something consistent with what we were seeing years. >> Yeah. And I and I would commend the state of where they set those cut scores on ACT Aspire because the state did have high cut scores. So we wanted to maintain that through um Atlas. What what I think is is a is a good reminder is that ACT Aspire was a college

072and career readiness assessment. >> It wasn't a criterion reference assessment. So these test items are getting are the students that these test items are measured against is the standards we expect them to learn. It's not a predictor. So when we used um a fourth grader was proficient in reading, basically what they were saying is that they were on track by 10th grade to get I want to say it was an 18 uh on the ACT, which was their predictor in college that if they took a freshman course, the likelihood of getting an A or a B was over 90%. It didn't tell you whether or not you could do third grade math. It just said, well, it looks like you're on a trend. And I think that was why when we were rebuilding a new

073system, we want to use criteria and we want to build it around a blueprint that teachers have access to because we we asked teachers when we were building out this assessment thing, what what is important to you that we can get better. One that we heard very clear is that they want a blueprint so that they know what's on the assessment. Well, we didn't have that with ACT Aspire. They want to have progress monitoring at the standard level so they can see which students are getting it and which ones aren't. We didn't have that with the ACT Aspire. We were able to build a system that is unique to the state that starts now kindergarten through high school. And this this assessment the summer assessment is 3 through 10. But this past year we will

074implement a kindergarten through high school and our K3 literacy assessment. and it includes a dyslexia screener that leads to different testlets that teachers can administrator to get more information on student performance. And in fact, we even tested with a handful of VPK sites um the atlas so that we can see if we can bring it down to prek. So that's a little bit trickier. Le shaking her head. Yes. So >> kindergarten was tricky as well. >> Kindergarten was a we had we there's been growing pains. I'm not going to deny it. So, we we even when we started with kindergarten last fall, we we heard from the field real quick, we need to improve this and we were able to do that throughout the winter and have a much better assessment through the spring. And

075we're navigating in the early learning space and I think even throughout this year, we're going to ask some more people to be on board so that it's it's it's aligned and it's not confusing and it's easy for teachers to understand, it's easy for parents to understand, and it's not a mystery. One of the things I think that was really important that we heard from the field was that uh we want to go back to end of course exams like in our tested content area and I'm going to talk about why we're getting the results that we're getting because we would I would like to say we were really good at putting teachers in a moral dilemma right if you're in high school like so if I was uh a ninth grade algebra teacher and I'm

076making that up and I'm being told I have to teach algebra I I know the content of algebra I know what what those students need to be ready for geometry and algebra 2 and go on beyond. But the assessment I give is nth grade math and it doesn't measure algebra, but that's the assessment that tells the community whether or not our schools are doing well. Do I teach to an assessment or do I teach to subject that these kids need? We did that with biology. We we would put a a a kid in ninth grade biology and say, "Well, here's a grade level assessment that's made up of physical science, earth science, and life science, or the teacher should just teach life science." But I'm getting evaluated on my student performance, and we're not measuring

077the courses that the kids are in. So, yes, it's it's a great observation. We have not arrived, but we had to set that bar, and we set that bar high because we know our kids can do it. And I have full confidence that our schools are going to continue to administer this and get that out. I don't know if that helps clarify. >> No, it does. Yeah. >> Miss Kener, did you want to jump in there or did I >> No, that was perfect. I was My point was it's hard to compare the two when one is based on standards that are available to teachers and the other wasn't. You said that perfectly. Great. >> So, and and I told you like next year this timeline's going to get even more accelerated, but some of

078the things that we're tasked to do is is we've built out a new accountability system. And if you remember, um for the last school year, the accountability system, we released a district simulated grades because it was a new assessment. It was like, oh, I don't know, March maybe when we got the simulated grades out, which meant there was only like two months left of school. So we we we we knew that these systems were delayed. So now that um we have the achievement data, we're working on learning gains. We should have that hopefully completed. Those folks are doing that sometime in August. So maybe by the August board meeting if um if we have time or have that data available, we'll be able to do an update. And then once those learning gains and um

079achievement levels have all been verified and codified, we'll be able to use that data to implement into our school grades. and then we'll be able to run district grades is just something that we need to do. So we we haven't arrived but we feel pretty confident throughout this fall this past year data I would just say I guess it would be the 24 25 year school data and information will be complete and then um we're going to have more information for students uh and and teachers and leaders as we go through the school year. So in the in the K2 space uh we had to build out and we made some adjustments to our progress monitoring. So those folks are also going through standard setting. So that's going to be a little bit later um

080throughout this year that we'll see. But by next year when the system is completely done and everything's defined it's going to really uh move much more expeditiously. So overall uh in ELA uh we showed improvement over a prior year which is what you want to see in your trend lines moving forward. We had a couple grade levels that stayed flat and some had a little bit of a decline in math in the EOCC's. Um we showed uh an overall pretty much increase in all of our grade levels. We had a couple that stayed flattered and decline in including in science. Um pretty much the same trend. So, I I think there's a lot to celebrate here because we're seeing our scores move more to that proficient level. And that's what we want to see. We

081want to see more students and proficient in advance. We want to see less students in level one. Are we declining that and moving more students into into two if they were one and then moving twos into threes and threes into fours? >> Hey, Jacob. I'm sorry. >> Yes, ma'am. So, um, whenever I read this, when it says except grade nine, I mean, that's not following cohorts. That is just nth grade last year, nth grade this year. >> Correct. And I'm going to show a little bit of cohort data, but that that's a that's a that's why it's hard to compare over prior year because you're just looking at the percentage, >> right? It's not the same >> proficiency. And when we get the learning gains, I think that tells a little bit more powerful story

082because then we can look at each each student at an individual level. Did they meet their learning growth target? So, this is just overall proficiency scores. So, in ELA, oh, in math, we had some gains in our end of course exams, and I'll show that, too. So, um I think some pretty significant gains in our end of course exams, which shows that we're getting away from teaching grade level math and actually teaching the content that kids are in. So, if you look at ELA, this is all of the grades three through 10. And you can see there's some differences between what's in I would say it's like the orange shade, the light green, the dark green, and the and the blue. The orange shade is the students that are at that lowest level that we

083know need the most support. So, that's a bar we want to see get smaller. And then the blue and the dark green is a bar that we want to see get bigger. So you can see when we say overall as Mr. Woods point out it's about 30% you know between 30 35% of our students are hitting that three and four level that was pretty consistent with what we saw with ACT Aspire. So we we've set that foundation and our intention is to continue to see that increase and improve as well. If you look at math, you'll see um this trend is pretty consistent. And that goes Whoops, I think I hit that twice. There we go. If you look at math, you can see there's a little bit of nuances moving up and down. But

084the big buckets I tend to hone in on on the far right is those algebra and geometry scores because that was a big change to what our expectations were in schools. And when we set that baseline, like that was hard for us to come out and say we have to be honest with when 18% of our kids pass geometry, right? That means they're not being set up to be successful on higher level math. And then if they do try to go to college or university, are those students having to be put in remedial math because those courses um weren't be hitting the mastery level that you can see. So you can still see there is a lot of work to do in our end of course exams. A lot of work to do overall the

085state but moving the trend lines in the right direction shows slow and steady progress. science was actually pretty much across all of the grade levels fairly consistent with the level ones, twos, threes, and fours and even floating into biology, which I think is a little bit encouraging that the foundation that kids were getting in three, three, eight or preparing them to be a little bit more successful on that biology of course exam. That's a little bit different distribution between one, two, three, and four that we see with geometry for example. But thi this is probably of all the charts the one I like the most because it it's pretty much shows all the subject areas. Um you can see like that first quadrant's ELA, the second one's math, the third one's science. If you look

086at the green that's um 23 24 and the blue 24 25 and then you can see what was that percent different, right? So, it's hard to match them cohort year overyear, but you kind of slide down and I like to kind of pick out and hone in a couple things, but like if you look at that fifth grade cohort and you can see that pretty much they stayed flat on the students um scoring over the prior year cohort at that three and above and a little bit of a decline in math and then a little bit of an increase in science. That's the cohort I think a lot of us are interested in because that was the cohort that um was impacted probably by the pandemic the most in kindergarten because we closed schools and

087took away the opportunity for students to learn. But then interestingly enough, if you look at that fourth grade cohort where you see pretty significant gains in ELA, pretty significant gains in math and pretty significant gains in science. Those were the students that started kindergarten being over quarantined and masked, right? So, when we look back at all the interventions that we're doing with literacy coaches, high impact tutoring, um making sure we're getting those gaps filled for those two cohorts, like especially that we know probably had the greatest impact, which would have been our fourth and fifth graders. I think there's a lot of story there to tell us that we're seeing those investments starting to pay off. And then you can see kind of that distribution over time. Um, but when I look at algebra and

088geometry, you can see that algebra had about a 4% increase and in geometry a three and a half% increase, which is significant. And I and I want to say that we calculated and every grade level is a little bit different depending on the students, but each point um of improvement was about 300 students. So when you start seeing 4% increase, that's like 1,200 students statewide pass algebra this year that didn't pass last year. So to try to put it into context, when you see numbers like that, that's a lot more students being on on on target to be ready to be successful. But if you remember, we spent a lot of time talking about access and building out math path and pushing acceleration. Why aren't stu students getting access to high school credit and middle

089school? Why aren't we getting students into concurrent credit? We've lifted a lot of those barriers. When you look at students that are put in accelerated environments when they're ready, this is a pretty interesting chart because you can see that when you look at the percentage of eighth graders that took algebra, it was about 67% of them in 8th grade met proficiency. When you look at algebra students that waited until 9th grade, it was 20%. >> Right? These kids can do it. We need to make sure that our systems are supporting an accelerated pathway because they're able to do it. If we can get them the right tools, the right resources, the right learning environment, we're seeing great things. Even students that were say super accelerated and took geometry in eighth grade, which typically a normal

090path or typical path we see as a geometry student in 10th grade, they're they're at a 89% pass rate. So, we have kids that can do algebra in seventh grade and geometry in eighth grade. Those are the questions I'd be asking as parents and and if I'm seeing in my progress monitoring data and I and I challenge the team all the time like we're going to have kids walk into school in August and in fourth grade get the highest score they can get in math. What does that school year look like for that kid? What is that pathway? What is that acceler opportunity? Does our course progression lead us so that kids can start taking algebra in seventh grade or or eighth grade and in geometry in seventh grade or most mostly probably geometry and

091eighth grade because those are the tickets to getting an IB diploma becoming an AP scholar. If you're not taking accelerated math in middle school, it's really hard to become to be ready for AP CalBC BC unless you're taking double core content math while in high school. So, let's build out an accelerated path that starts at elementary school. Identify these students and push them. Miss Wiloxin, this is what you're going to be doing this year. We're adding another bullet. >> I just want to say, you know, even this past year, some of my fourth graders were performing at the eighth and ninth grade math level in my classroom. >> They're ready. >> Some of their end of the year scores were eighth and nth grade math. So, this is I love this. >> Right. And and

092this this goes back to what we've been doing with learns and access is we're building a system that's going to identify a student and determine whether they're ready to get pushed an accelerated pathway. Are they on the right pathway for layers of support or do they need additional intervention and support? We don't want to wait till the summer to say, "Oh man, we should have gave, you know, little Randy some opportunities or Mr. Ken some extra support." like we're going to have this data in real time and then teachers can build out their own progress monitoring as needed and we're going to make informed decisions and I I'm confident that we're going to see rapid growth and improvement on these assessment scores year after year. >> Do you also track a a group of students

093as they go through school? So if you in fact if you go back can you go back? Yeah, that one right there. >> Yeah, this one's fascinating. >> If you if you look at the 2023, look under math. Uh if you go down the the 2324 school year, and there was one that caught my eye. Um okay, look at the seventh graders in the 23 24 school year. Math, 37.8%. But then as eth graders the next year 31.7%. So that group of students went down, you know, 6.1%. Do >> do we tear that data apart and say what what happened to this group of kids when they went from seventh grade to eighth grade? >> No. you're you're thinking in the right manner and that and that's that's exactly what we need to do and

094and that's why this is this is good data to start with the percentage of students meeting proficiency because the the other question is is even though proficiency let's say for that cohort in seventh grade to eighth grade that eighth grade assessment may have been higher and we saw a growth over prior years but some of those kids may have went to algebra and we see a huge growth in eighth grade algebra which is hopefully you know where it is. So that's why this chart may not be the best one, but when we get those learning gains charts, I think that tells us a little bit better story because now you're tracking are the kids making their gains because I think you're going to see less kids taking grade 8th grade pre-alggebra if they're ready for

095algebra because we've been pushing that as a state. So hopefully I think like that next column I would ask is what was those number of students tested? Because like if there was 500 in seventh grade and it went to 250 in eighth grade, where did those 250 go? Well, they went to algebra and then our algebra scores increased 4%. Right? So yes, we we have to track that data and there's a lot to unpack here, but we like this this is like when you know like our getting ready for the Super Bowl. I feel like we're in the playoffs and we're we just finished the first game and as these next rounds of data come in, we're going to be the Super Bowl and and the data nerds of the world, this is what we

096live for because we're going to really just start asking those questions. So, but you're spot on. Dr. Were you going to say >> just one comment and that is um I'm really pleased that we're focusing on levels three and four other states might focus on two or one. All levels need to be studied and learned from but the fact that our um lift is on three and four is really important. The so just because of the microphone I can repeat just the focus on level three and four is a philosophy statement. It's really paradigm shift. Other districts, other states might be looking at to one and two. All levels should be scrutinized and and understood, but the fact that we're having that that draft upwards and focusing on the top learners is really important for

097the whole system. >> And I and and I appreciate that and I that's been something I I think most superintendents and leaders would echo that I've been saying that from day one. We've done a really good job at as a state at focusing on the bottom. And I think that's why it's important to have assessment systems like this because when when we would tell a teacher, you know, in third grade, 35% of your students are proficient, right? But you don't know what that means on an ACT Aspire. They look at it as like, well, that means 65% of them aren't. So who do they teach to? >> Right? So if your entire class is around remediation and teaching to the bottom, you're holding our best students back. We're now able to give information by standard,

098by student with clear and concise language to say, I know how to target the students that need intervention. >> Yeah. >> But also know how to make sure that every student gets access to grade level instruction every day. And the kids that need to be accelerated, we can't hold them back. And I and I tell them all the time, we can love our students to mediocrity, but that's not our goal. We have to push them to excellence. And that is what we're going to continue to do with this data. And in this school year, and what I what I love about Access is it focuses on acceleration. Our school grade accountability system is going to look at the percentage of students grow graduating with merit and distinction. That's a big deal because we're we have

099a system that's going to recognize excellence in pushing and accelerating students. Our students can do this. I don't ever want to hear that a zip code is going to define somebody's outcome or that I don't understand the family lives and what these students have to go through challenge. Students will meet the expectations that we set and we need to set high expectations. >> Yeah. So, it's not really a paradigm shift as much as a paradigm expansion. And oft times three and four were overlooked or just uh taken for granted and now they're a focal point that will really improve the whole system. So, I really thank you for that. >> I really love this approach. U you know, it's it's hard not to think about higher education and not think about Commissioner War and his

100access program. That team should be jumping for joy right now because this program does a lot of that heavy lifting for them. >> So you have a classroom now with a mixture of levels in it. >> Okay. That that so that teacher is responsible for handling or trying to get the lower levels up. Is is there ever going to be a separation of or concentration of you put the lower levels in a in a group so they can receive consistent instruction or so I think that's going to look different depending on the school and the students and and the type of needs that they have and and that's why I go back to a one-sizefits-all approach doesn't work and meet the needs of all students but I think you you would see in higher grades

101um standard courses like chemistry and chemistry honors may be different because honors may have extra standards and more more rigor. So students that are going to be maybe on advanced aptitude track or accelerate track may be taking some honors. But at the end of the day, every kid deserves access to grade level instruction, right? So what what we have to do as a state is define what is high quality tier one instruction look like for all students in that grade level and then what does tier two tier three intervention and support look for those students that need it and what is accelerated opportunities look for those students that need it. So I think a lot of times and Miss Wilcox you could probably speak to this better. That's why you see like in elementary if

102that's where you're honing in a lot of teachers team teach, right? And so that they may um come together to do that tier one instruction, but then one teacher may pull and do little targeted interventions while another teacher may do more advanced or more enrichment and and you start seeing that classroom not just be under one teacher, but you see it kind of under a team of teachers that are taking a team approach. Is that Do you want to expand to that, Miss Wilcox, or >> I don't want to put you on the spot. So, we have done that approach in the past. Um, each year it kind of varies with um I guess the district's policies and things, but I have seen it to where different kids go to different teachers for different levels

103of intervention and support. And um you know, usually we rely on those teachers where their expertise falls, you know, in the best area that suits the different levels of the kids. And and this is why I hone in on every child gets access to grade level instruction in every subject each and every single day. And there's been some national studies done. They could be replicated here. And and what they will tell you is that 80% of students will get A's and B's on the assignments we give them, right? Like I can walk into any school and walk in any teacher's gradebook and find that 80% of students are going to get A's and B's, but like 20% of the time the assignment's on grade level. So if we can talk about what are we asking

104kids to do, can we give them grade level assignments? That's how you start meeting those expectations and we start when you're able to do that, you see that bottom accelerate at a rapid pace. >> You did great. Any other questions? >> Okay, then I do think we have public comment. Um, I will remind all of our commentators we have three minutes and I like rules. So, I might be a little more um strict on the threeminut timeline than my predecessors and I just wanted to be clear because that's kind. So, our first step would be Mr. Julius Wright. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I was just going down the list. So, Dr. Anderson. >> Good morning everybody. Good morning to the Arkansas State School Board and to everybody that's present. My name is Dr. Andrean

105Anderson Gra. I am a Pine Bluff stakeholder. Uh and I'd like to read a letter to you. This is from the city of Pine Bluff, the office of the mayor, Vivian L. Flowers. Dear Secretary Jacob Olivia, as Mayor of the City of Palm Bluff and as a staunch advocate for public education, I write to express my full and unwavering support for the election of all seven members of the Palm Bluff School District Board in accordance with House Bill 1724 and consistent with the framework set forth in act 633 of 2017. In 2017, while serving in the Arkansas House of Representatives, I joined Senator Clark Tucker as sponsor of Act 633 to define a framework toward ensuring that school districts released from state control will elect school board members to reflect the will, voice, and best

106interests of the voters in their communities. The Palm Bluff School District was subsequently released from state control. Yet only one of seven members currently serving on the Pine Bluff School District board has been elected by the people to date. This lack of representative governance continues to deny our community a democratically elected school board versus one appointed by the state. While a board um they may have elected last year could have been the very one currently shaping the policies, priorities, and future of our public schools. It is not. It is essential that all members of the board be selected through a democratic process that reflects the will of the voters instead of the government appointees and employees from a previous administration. Further, Act 633 of 2017 laid the groundwork by requiring that within two years of

107the state assuming control of the school district. The Arkansas State Board of Education must define the conditions for returning the district to local governance. HB1 1724 builds on that by providing the clear and necessary mechanism to fully restore democratic control through the election of all seven school board members. This moment is not just about compliance with legislation. It's about restoring public trust, empowering our citizens, and reaffirming that the future of Pond Bluff uh school district should be shaped by Palm Bluff. A fully elected school board is a critical step in strengthening transparency, accountability, and local investment in the success of our students and educators. I urge the Arkansas Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and all relevant decision makers to take swift action in alignment with both Act 633 and HB1 1724 and

108allow for the full election of all seven members of the Palm Bluff School District Board without delay, our children, our schools, and our department. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Wright. Thank you. >> Good morning to all the board members. I would like to read a letter and it says, "Dear Secretary Olivia, I am Jean McKisik, a 1969 graduate of Pinebuff High School, a long life resident of Pine Bluff. I am aware that Pineball School District has satisfied its requirements of the annexation governance of an appointed limited board during state control. I fully support the Pine Bluff School District exercising this right of an election of all seven board of directors according to act 633 and recent legislation house bill 1724 consistent with Helena West Helena

109Plesi County Special and Little Rock District in March the 3, 2026. Please accept my apology for not appearing in person, but attending a previous schedule event necessitated my absence. I would appreciate your permitting my letter in support of the election of all board members to be read and considered. Thank you. >> Thank you. Please extend our thanks as well, Miss Wright. Good morning. I Well, you all know that I'm Charlene Wright, the faithful concerned stakeholder of the Pine School District. I first would like to thank Dr. Cedric Rice and the appointed limited board that was appointed during the annexation. But we as concerned stakeholders are petitioning again to hold an emergency meeting prior to the August 13th date to begin circulating petitions for the March 3rd, election. We have also circulated petitions within the district

110in support of an election of all seven board members. Due to the current legislation at which substantiate act 633, it says it requires an entire school district board of directors to be elected during the first board meeting after a school district returns from state to local control. This was said before, but there was confusion. some could not comprehend like they say with the kids with the Atlas test comprehension. But in this law, it states it. It requires not optional, not for continuity, that a democratically elected board should be elected. We're not asking for anything special, no 504 plan. We're just asking for our right of a democratically elected board. We did the requirements to be released and all we're saying after the release, the law says that we should have a democratic elected board. There's

111been 2023 it could have been done. 2024 it could have been done. please does not allow another miscarriage of justice in March of 2026 that we be denied a democratic elected board. It was very I'm going say this in closing. It was very disheartening to hear at a July board meeting. It was asked by board member Henderson, was Pine Bluff turned over, taken over because of academics? He said it twice and I really was like, why is he saying this twice? And finally, at both times, Secretary Stacy Smith, Deputy Secretary, said no. And then she said because the superintendent asked that we be taken over. I don't think that we please don't deny us our election. We're not asking for anything special. give us our opportunity to elect board of directors that we want on

112our board. And if the others want to run, they can rerun again. >> Dr. Cedric Rice can run again. >> Mary, do we have anybody else set up for public comment? Do you have anything new to say or or is it more of the three of the from the three people we've heard perhaps is the question. >> Oh, okay then. All right. What' you say? >> Go ahead. >> Rice. >> Cedric. >> Can you go ahead and say your name in the microphone? uh Cedric Rice, citizen of Pine Bluff, also chair of the Pine Bluff School District Board of Directors. I want to thank you, Secretary Lever, and the board for this opportunity. What I want to say is I appreciate the sentiments of my uh fellow city members. But we have to look at

113the big picture. The Pine Bub School District is on the right track. We have a great superintendent. We have a great board. And I think some of this is veiled in attemptive disruption, right? We're moving forward. We're making progress and we have some of our community members that are are just hellbent on disrupting that process. And so I'm here just to support what we're trying to do. It was a good move to appoint us. And I often joke and say you you you're appointed, but we're really anointed because I don't know if people understand what it's like to serve on a board, but it is hard work. So, I'm here to support the district, support our efforts, support our board, and we really want that consistency as we talked about when we regain state control.

114Reelecting all seven board members doesn't give us the consistency we need because at the end of the day, it's about student success. Student success. We understand constitutionality. We understand democracy. But at the end of the day, it's about student success. So, I want to just add that as a counter. And I think if I would say, I think something was misspoken. We had two of our board members that were actually reelected. Not one. One ran unopposed and one won uh straight out. And I think that that board member uh won and beat Miss Wright. So, I just wanted to say I'm excited to be here. excited to continue to serve in this capacity. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> I I have some things I'd like to bring up and I think

115uh it it piggybacks off of the discussion we had earlier with the data uh that um we kind of unpacked a little bit today. I was wondering, everyone on this board has heard me harp on uh efforts that we might can make to make school days in May more meaningful. Um, and I was wondering if maybe at our next board meeting if we could have a presentation from the department regarding the idea of moving the assessment window from April to May beginning with this school year. Um, what what would the pros and cons be of that and uh whatever. But I I would love to have a public discussion about that idea. Um it and and the reason that I think it urgency to go ahead and have that conversation is because I think a

116lot of planning has to go into you know having that assessment and I I think that August is probably better than November, December, January discussing that. >> Yeah, happy to. And we've actually began starting having some of those conversations with our folks. So we we can just add a it may be beneficial just added like maybe a little buler session just over the testing calendar window so we can just go over all of the assessment windows with the progress monitoring. But I think we can achieve what you're looking at. >> Yeah. >> Because now that the system's built, it's it's working a lot more efficiently. I think we can reduce that window and push it back further in May and it won't hurt any of our timelines. So, we'd be happy to do that. >>

117Okay. Well, I'd love to have that discussion. Another thing um related to uh education freedom accounts. I was wondering does the department do any kind of audit of tuition rates at private schools? Uh the tuition rates that were being charged prior to schools receiving education freedom account funds versus what uh private schools may be charging in this upcoming 2526 school year. Is that data that that is collected by the department? >> I mean, I can speak to that and then I think Dr. Smith. So, I've I've talked to Daryl a lot about tuition rates. So, yes, is my understanding we've been collecting them for the last three years and I know that there's a lot more that we can talk about, but we've kind of set a cap on what we consider to be reasonable.

118And it is the job of our board to determine if something is unreasonable if it exceeds that cap. I'm sure Daryl could probably pull more information. Do you want to talk about it or am I doing okay? >> Okay. Well, I wasn't necessarily asking for it today. I don't want to put anybody, you know, on a one minute spot, but I I would love to hear a report about that. what what trends we see any are there any schools that are setting off alarms with regard to how they're >> so I do know especially for this last year um just a couple of schools that I have talked to increasing teacher salary was a big hurdle for them to overcome because they're competing with public schools and so they're to put a cap on how

119much they can increase if they're also trying at the same time to compete on teacher salary was difficult and so I know he's had lots and lots of conversations to say hey in the future Sure. And I'm just making up numbers here. A 15% raise might be okay this year because you're trying to get teacher salaries to that point, but going forward that's probably going to be considered unreasonable or at least we'll have to go before the state board for them to decide that. I mean, I've talked to several schools across there's some people trying to set up um like special needs type programs within their school that might require a higher raise. It's probably something we would consider reasonable. Um, but yes, I do know they are monitoring that because the whole point of

120learns is to afford more people the option to be able to go. And if all we're doing is having schools raise their prices 30%, then that just takes people out of it. >> Yeah. Right. >> Well, is that data we can hear in a in an upcoming meeting? >> We can definitely pull that. >> And then I wonder, do we gather endofear assessment scores from private schools? >> Yes. And is that uh is is that a presentation we could hear about? How how I don't know that the results of their assessments mirror or match or can be easily compared to the Atlas uh assessment? I don't know. But I would love to hear about that and just see what the what the data shows >> among the private schools. We we have we're required to

121publish an annual report with all that information. Um last year was the first year we aggregated a lot of that data. So we learned a little bit about maybe asking better questions to get better data so that's more reportable. But we when when that process is complete I don't know if that's been fully compiled yet. We can definitely do an update on that to do an analysis. >> Also just to give you some less heartburn that's a requirement to be a part of EFA because they have to return in those. So if they're not then they don't get to be participate in the funds. >> Good work. So, >> anything else? Yeah. >> Well, I had a question about Wallel. I wanted to check in on um that school district. I know at last meeting

122the students were not registered. The teachers didn't have contracts. I was just hoping for an update as we're getting really close to the start of the year. >> So, yes. And um we we were hoping to do a full bl update today, but it probably be a deeper better update if we do it in the August 1 meeting. now. But the short story and Mr. Henderson may give you better information because he's he's been pretty busy up in that region as well is we had a lot of concern and we asked the board to take some official action. Since then, we named Brett Miner, somebody from our school improvement team to be the acting superintendent to start going through and answering all those questions and getting some board policies up to date. Um, we've had

123folks from our school improvement team on site, boots on the ground every single day since our board member in Bllyville. And we've uh learned a lot about teacher contracts, things that were promised to people, but it wasn't approved. People getting paid random numbers and want to know why they're getting a pay cut. At at the end of the day, we've got everything sorted so that everybody's on a contract. classified staff, teaching staff, hiring decisions made, working with families on enrollment, working on building out master schedules. But then we've also in the meantime, we were tasked with putting out an external operator um proposal and we put that out. I think we had about eight people responded internally and determined about four of the candidates qualified. We put together a community forum to come in and

124have these um prospective external operators come in and present what would be their role and vision and what it would look like to um help maintain the day-to-day operations of those schools. What would that timeline be? Um the task force has gone through that and has made a recommendation. we're in kind of negotiations with solidifying a contract with that organization and and ironing out those details which is why I was saying we'll be able to bring a lot of this back to our board but I think a lot of to answer your questions I think a lot of our real urgent things like we got to address this today we've we've got some systems in place um now we we have also inherited a a pipe burst at the middle school that needs extensive reinvent

125renovations We we've inherited some facility things that we weren't planning on through this transition, but um our transportation folks, our facility folks, our school improvement team, our finance team, we we actually um have found they haven't audited their books in some time. So, we've asked the Bureau of Legislative Research, I think that's the agency that does it, to do a formal audit. So, we're bringing in those folks so that we can get a better handle on the state of their finances, the state of their academics, the state of their facilities, and moving forward. Mr. I don't know if you want to add to that. >> No, you you pretty much hit every element. I think uh the one thing that I like to point out, you know, about the committee that was put together very

126very involved with that very very good job. Uh I mean, you had faith-based, you had nonprofit, you had private sector um very very diverse group and uh the committee did a really good job in my opinion of you know just the whole entire program. So I think more to come. >> So if if we would love to do a deep update at the next board meeting if that's okay because I I think we'll have a lot more specific information. >> That's great. My understanding is the interim superintendent was involved prior to our meeting there. So, he's familiar with the district, familiar with the community, and that's um that's wonderful. And I'm glad um I hate that the facilities are um that we're having to respond put out fire in a totally different way, but I'm

127so glad that it is this team that's there to tackle such um an event. Well, if if there is a recurring theme between the work groups, the the folks that are working there, the employees, the students, is they love that community and want what's best for their schools and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. So, there's just when when we were going through this takeover, I remember meeting with a lot of I met with every employee that was still there through the summer and we had them coming in groups and um you can sense it from the employees there too, like there there's something special starting to happen in that community to rally around support for students and um we look forward to doing a great update. >> Great. Thank you. >>

128Okay. Well, if there's nothing else, I need a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to second. >> Second by Mr. Bragg. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Meeting adjourned. Children.