2025-10-20 School Board Meeting

001meeting of the town board of trustees is called to order. The presence of a forum has been established. The meeting has been duly called and the notice of the meeting posted and signed. We are now at the time in our agenda for public comment. We have continuous improvement student outcomes. Sorry, can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Uh, up first for the board, per your monitoring calendar is a bilingual um ESL, English as a second language annual evaluation to provide that evaluation and answer any questions you may have. We have Dr. Cassandra Chapa, executive director of state and federal programs. Dr. Choa, >> good evening. Oh, that's a picture. Uh, well, thank you for having me, President Atkins board. I'm excited to do our yearly uh TAC chapter 89 compliance with letting y'all know how our

002bilingual ESL program supported our emergent bilingual students uh this previous school year. So, before we get started, I do want to review some terminology. uh what previously we may have called limited English proficient or even English learners, we now refer to them as emergent bilingual. So you will see uh the acronym EB more often. And then our system in how we look at language acquisition growth is through TELPASS, which is our language proficiency assessment system. And the standards that we use to develop that assessment and to be provided in our daily instruction will refer to asps, which is our English language proficiency standards. So you'll see those acronyms throughout the slides. Um, and we also will talk about programs. And so we offer several different programs and methods for language acquisition. So you'll hear transitional

003bilingual which is interchangeable with our early exit model and we'll talk about dual language programs which could be one way or two-way. And then we will also talk about English as second language which we provide in various ways. Some is called contentbased. So that means all of your foundational teachers um provide sheltered instruction to students and they receive those services through their foundational courses. So math, science, social studies, uh language arts or they might receive a special elective class which will be that pull out model. So throughout last school year, we ended with about 4,500 EBS. So this could be anywhere from a newcomer to a long-term learner. And here you see the list of our campuses. So most of our elementary campuses provide early exit bilingual model with Bell, Bonner, and Dixie providing a

004one-way model. That means throughout a student's journey from kindergarten to fifth grade, approximately 50% of their time at that campus is done in both English and Spanish. And then we have a two-way model at Birdwell, which is an immersion style where they have access to both languages um interchangeably throughout the day. All of our campuses actually offer ESL services. So if there is a student whose parents choose to only receive ESL services, all of our campuses um have that ability through either that pull out or contentbased uh program. Here we are looking at our Telpaths growth. Um so in that top left corner you see the longitudinal span of our growth that is a composite score over four domains. So students take a listening speaking test and then they also take a reading writing test.

005Um, the students who participate in this test could be a parent denial, a student who is receiving ESL services, or a student who is participating in a bilingual program. Over on the right hand side, you will see our reclassification standing. So, if students are performing well on their TELP pass assessment and having academic uh success, uh whether it be on STAR or if they're in second grade, they're being competitive with their uh non- Spanish speaking or non-English-speaking peers, uh they can reclassify. Students can reclassify as early as first grade all the way up until 12th grade. And then at the bottom you will see um our bands of K2 and 312 that are comparison to the state where you can see we are matching where about where the state is if not improving. Uh the

006purpose of those bands is how the tests are designed. So a TPASS assessment for a kinder first student is relatively similar. a second grade student um has a specific test and then third through fifth have a test, six, seven have a test, eight and above have their own cohort test. So that's why they're grouped in that way. And then here we have our star performance um of our emergent bilingual students. Again, we see no matter the program, they are performing at or above the state level. Uh this is very similar to what you saw um last month in our accountability review. Another part of our program that is part compliance is our bilingual summer school. So we generally only see districts support students uh through extended school year or summer school through grade one. What

007Tyler has done in the past is really extended that. So we are able to support 27373 students between preK and third grade. And last year we actually extended that to students who were considered newcomers. So whether they're in their first or second year in US schools and we were able to serve 26 additional students um through that program. So again, we're really only need for compliance purposes needing to support preK through first grade, but we extend these services up to third and then fifth grade for our newcomers. So um here we'll get into teacher certifications. So I wanted to bring some clarity to what actually is the expectation for TAA TEA in terms of certification. If we have 20 or more students in a grade level, a district must offer bilingual education. And that goes

008for grades K through five. We can offer bilingual for sixth grade, such in as B you might see at Birdwell, but really that's only required for campuses that are K through six as an elementary or primary school. If you have just one student that has a home language survey that is not English, you have to have an ESL program. So, we are for sure offering that at all of our campuses. But really, it states that if you are serving an EB student that that teacher should have that ESL certification. Um, if you are unable to have that ESL certification, then you must provide an alternative method. That alternative method is where we submit a waiver and then we make sure that our teachers are trained in sheltered instruction um, strategies or what they call contentbased

009language instruction strategies. Here in Tyler ISD, we serve over 29 uh, native languages. So we see that all dispersed throughout our district and that's why we try to ensure that every single one of our teachers is getting that support for English language proficiency standards and their sheltered instruction support. So for the past two years we have not had to um submit a bilingual exception waiver. That means all of our bilingual classrooms do have a qualified teacher with their certification there. Part of the reason we're able to do that is because we do have our visiting international teacher program which uh does allow them to have those certifications. We do have to submit ESL waivers. Again, this is really only for teachers who have EBS rostered to them. So, we do not have to put a

010waiver for a teacher who is not certified that may not have an EB on their roster. Our projection for this year is slightly higher. Um this kind of correlates with the amount of district of innovation teachers that we have and the fact that they are not able to take that certification test because they have to get their standard certification first. Um over the past year we submit our professional development plan. One of the ways that we've traditionally done that is by labeling what our teachers need. So all of our teachers have access to those sheltered instruction strategies or what we refer to as seven steps. Um they receive their Telpass compliance and their ELPS compliance. Um and then we do offer opportunities to help those that can take their ESL supplemental test. uh we offer

011courses and then we also offer reimbursement for when they take and pass um their that exam. So we've been talking about next is now. So what's next? Uh we've had pretty great results that come from our bilingual and ESL program. We are very competitive with our non uh English speaking or excuse me our primary English speakaking peers. Uh we have lots of teachers who earn that teacher incentive aotment, but like what's next to ensure that we're continuously growing and providing all of our students those opportunities. We're going to be doing some tiered campus support. So telepaths can play a very important part in a campus's accountability. Uh so when we're talking about the difference between a B and an A or uh even a D and a C, how we grow on that telepass assessment

012can make an impact. So for those campuses that may struggle in that area, we're making sure to target them and provide them some great opportunities with some practice assessments as well as some specified support of sheltered instruction strategies through some consultants. Um some great examples from just last week. We had some walks happening at Bell and Owens uh to support them in their uh telepath growth. We are also able to contract out some region 7 support where they offer some Telpath boot camps andor uh coming out and training our teachers in ELPS um which are the strate or the standards they can put in their classroom. We are leveraging our focus campus coaching to make sure that those uh instructional coaches are able to utilize really great strategies with those teachers and then doing some

013professional learning community road shows. Um again being strategic about the implementation. One of the things we can work with on principles in general is educating them on the needs of their teachers and how we can help them uh bring that to the classroom. We've also opened up some asynchronous opportunities which we're very grateful to this board for allowing us to purchase that through Elevation. Um, Elevation is able to provide implementation and professional development credit. So, there's not the struggle of teachers having to come in on Saturday to do that. They can do that in the moment with their lesson planning and with their instructional teams. Um, also Summit K12 was another uh great purchase that y'all have allowed for us in which we're already starting to see students practiced on their individualized pathways uh to

014support language acquisition. And then we also have some targeted newcomer support. We have been able to have a full team this year. Uh we struggled to find some facilitators and some interventionist. So, we now have two bilingual interventionists that are targeting five priority elementary campuses that have high levels of newcomers in their grades three through five. Um, and then as always, we'll offer our standard compliance which includes our language uh proficiency assessment committees and u making sure that we have some increased parent engagement through um a parent engagement facilitator. So, she is starting her campus road shows um and being able to host some parent nights to educate them on these assessments, why they're important, and what they can do at home. Another piece from Summit K12, um it actually offers families four other um

015accounts. So, our families can actually be learning alongside their children if they're wanting to acquire English themselves. And it's not just for Spanish dominant families. It includes all languages that you can think of. So we made sure that all 29 of our native languages that we offer, they can have some access and some support through Summit K12. All right. So that that's our annual update as well as giving y'all a glimpse of what to expect for this next year. Um but do we have any questions? >> Any questions or comments? question early. What does that mean? >> So we are the state of Texas had it used to that you could only exit students beginning in third grade. >> Okay. >> So there used to be the term of early exit and late exit. Late

016exit meant that you were exiting fifth grade. so that you were going into sixth grade ready to not be in a bilingual program. They've changed it to now you can reclassify as early as first grade. And so all of our traditional our transitional bilingual campuses are early exit and you can start as early as first grade. >> Okay, >> Mr. Lass. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, so Luke, 24 25% of our kiddos are in some way involved in either dual language, bilingual, or the ESL program. I guess that's the way I break them out in my head. Is that >> kind of what it is? >> That's accurate. >> Talk to me a little bit about the um the teacher program. How many teachers and from where are they coming? >> The international teacher.

017>> We we really don't have as many as you think. Uh we run right now our roster is about 20. Um of course I am including those that are being recruited primarily for our Spanish dominant classrooms. You know we have the other group that support our other hard to recruit areas such as the Philippines. Um but we have about 25 >> about 25 >> and that does not include the Philippines. >> Correct. >> And those 25 they're coming from where? Uh, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela. Well, not Spanish dominant. >> Yeah. >> The um um the ones that you guys recruit from out of the country, >> are they recruited to be like in ESL classes or are they in our dual language program over at Bolter or both? >> They will either be at our

018Birdwell dual language or they are in our bilingual program. >> Okay. not in the ESL program. Is that a different certification ESL as opposed to bilingual? >> You can receive your BLT um or you can receive a bilingual supplemental. That is one those are two different tests. And then there is the ESL supplemental >> on our teachers that we're recruiting from abroad. Do they get longer contracts or is it your standard uh 21 section 21 contract soup or do they get a longer contract because those are one-year deals, right? So, they get the same one-year deal even though they're moving from another country >> per our DOI plan. Uh you get you have to have two years of probation no matter what. Even if you qualify for the the the term contract, once you come

019to Tyler ISD, you still get a two-year engagement before we get married. >> Same thing happens with uh any any of the uh uh visiting international teachers that we get. The same same contract. Um I'm not sure what their agreements are with the company that we go through, but I think it's just a one-year deal. >> I mean, they're evaluated. Yeah. annually. >> Yeah. >> They have to meet the requirements of their program as well as the professional requirements that we have here. >> Yeah. >> Talk to me a little bit about sheltered instruction. I'm not up to date on that. What is that? >> So, sheltered instruction is based off the research of language acquisition. So it includes part of what you'll see in the science of teaching reading with Scarboro's rope um in

020the pieces of the natural progression of oratory to actually output um we call that like literacy and oracy skills but what it does is provide strategies that are meant to lower the effective filter. So you are taking comprehensible input. I'm understanding what you're putting in front of me and then I'm able to provide that output whether that be with speaking or writing. >> So these these strategies are meant to are designed to ensure that teacher is providing input in a way that is easy to understand in a safe environment like safe to fail. And then the student is provided multiple opportunities to practice either speaking or writing >> and that training is done with the teacher. >> Thank you, Madam President. >> That's the best depth we've ever had about uh teaching kids from of

021a of a >> native language other than English. >> Yeah. >> English. I appreciate you doing that. I I would say like I'm I'm have the ability now to like do this road show with Elevation and one of the things that Elevation is able to provide because it takes our data is the appropriate scaffolds for each level of learner and that is transferable I hate to sound cliche but those scaffolds are really transferable to other students who are not EBS because they're learning language new language new academic language every day as well. Um, so really being able to provide sheltered instruction is meant for all students who are acquiring that new academic language >> or may not have the, you know, the the stuff at home that that a lot of kids of means have

022when walking into school. I mean, >> sometimes our East Texas gets in the way of our own speaking, including the superintendent. And so good good instruction is good instruction on on uh early language acquisition especially phmic awareness etc. >> Uh just a question out of the 29 languages other than Spanish we know is predominant here what's a rising language out of that 29 you'd say on the horizon could be our next challenge? >> Um Mandarin, Vietnamese. Um, we at a time like when I first got to Tyler, a rising one was Wahi. Um, which is an Indian dialect. Um, so those are the primary. Okay. >> We see Vietnamese, we'll see Mandarin. Um, and then occasionally we have Ukrainian. >> Okay. But we haven't met the 20 student threshold for any of those yet. >>

023Not for those. But that is part of like, you know, the what's next. Um, some of the demographics report. I think we have a lot of parents who do utilize parent denial. Um we have about 169 families that are parent denying right now. Whether that's because they want to go to a magnet like Caldwell Magnet or they might be dualcoded such as special education and they need to those services you know primarily. Um so we do need to take a deep dive on whether or not our programs are matching our our campus >> a high school senior today. uh a nice 20-minute conversation with him and his parents denied the the bilingual track because he wanted to go to Caldwell and for a lot of different reasons whether it be the the participation in in

024what was uh important to them, the art school, but at the at the other thing was is that they just they wanted the the very best for their kid and they thought that that was the the environment to challenge them >> in the language. So, uh nice young man today. I really enjoyed that. >> M madame president, quick question. Do you um how does the deal work on a kiddo? Let's say a kiddo because you code them ESL or bilingual or whatever. It used to be in the past and maybe this has changed if you were coded ESL or whatever it was, then you couldn't participate in some of the IB stuff or some of the preap stuff. Has that changed or is that still available to them now? Um I traditionally something that might

025hinder a student from having access to particular electives really happen in more in the secondary piece. Whereas if they were a beginner or intermediate student, they might feel like they needed another class to support their language which would hinder them from participating in a different elective of their choice. >> Right? We don't >> if I'm a sorry to interrupt you. Let's say I'm a ninth grader, tth grader, and I'm very limited >> in my English. I'm coded ESL or whatever, but I'm getting it done and I want to take preip math algebra. >> Is that allowed? Is that does that >> that's not our practice to hinder a student from that as long as their academics are demonstrating that they speak to that real quick? >> No, there's no hindrance there for a young person

026that wants to challenge. >> Yeah. So there's no policy guideline that says you're coded this, you're not allowed to take a pre-AP math or a preap whatever? >> No. >> Thank you. >> You know, if they get in there after the first grading period or so and it's showing they're not be successful. Sure. Sure. There may be some but but saying no, you can't do it because you're this, this, or this. >> We don't practice that here. And I think old school wise I'm familiar with what you're what you're asking. I think a long time ago that was that was an issue especially when the elite AP and IB uh programs were were were uh prevalent throughout not just in Tyler but I had the same stuff happen at Hillrest High School and we'd get

027a rockstar uh student from another country that might have moved in and there might have been some difficulties there would give them a shot. Yeah, we have our our language proficiency assessment committee is really helps determine whether or not the student's on the right track or not. But their role is not to say a student can't do something, but it's to offer supports of how they can accomplish that. >> Thank you so very much for your thorough report. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Next, class size update. Yeah, this is a uh something we do every semester and this is also part of your board monitoring calendar. Um, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, this used to require a state waiver. However, uh due to our DOI uh identification from

028a school system, this is handled locally. This was something that got off of the commissioner's uh to-do list. I'm sure he was very or he or she at the time was very um amanable for that to happen. So we handle this in-house now. We do an annual report to the board of trustees to provide that report. Deputy superintendent administration who supervises K8 uh programming inside of his division. Dr. Lance Gropel, deputy superintendent. >> What a great intro there, Dr. Crawford. I appreciate it. Uh, President Atkins, board of trustees, you have the numbers there in front of you uh of where we are uh pursuing these exceptions uh of going over the 22:1 ratio uh in the K uh pre or kindergarten through fourth grade classrooms uh around the district. Numbers are are a little bit

029of an uptick from what we saw last year, but nothing uh significant. Um, as of as of this afternoon, enrollment district-wide is still up uh almost 100 students compared to this time last year. So, um, matching trend with the with a little bit of an uptick on on these class class size exemptions um in in mirroring what we're seeing uh enrollment prek12 across the district. So, um, any questions about any of numbers or any anything of that nature? No questions regarding the numbers per se, just disturbed by some of the numbers. I I'm I'm I'm having difficulty uh with I understand the process that if we have over 22 students in the classroom, we provide an aid. >> Yes, sir. Um I'm are we looking at different avenues of facilitating the classroom teacher with assistance

030because you know we looked at past couple of years uh adding an aid in there basically all day and it didn't make any academic difference in the classroom and the outcomes. But yet again we still do this old process of providing an aid if we're over 22. So, I'm I'm wondering about the benefit of providing that aid uh in that classroom and if there are other options you're going to be looking at uh to make academic outcomes better. >> Yeah. I mean, I think we're open to any kind of uh suggestion to better support our teachers. Obviously, the most important person in that classroom is the teacher at the front. Um, so doing what we need to do to uh prepare them uh adequately train them uh to to take items off of their plate

031so that they can be the best version of themselves in front of in front of their kids. Um, the design or the intent behind having uh a pair professional in there to support uh is to try to take some of those things off the teacher's plate. um and and how the teacher teacher utilizes uh that pair professional um can help them be more efficient, more effective in in some of their their practices, but it isn't always the case. Like you said, uh the the data doesn't always support uh the the you're going to see academic gains with a with a pair professional in that classroom. Um but it goes back to the teacher at the at the front of the room that's going to help those kids be successful. >> So, a couple of things

032you asked. Anything different? I think that there's some opportunities in the future, near future, at some campuses, not every campus, and not a wide a wide swath of campuses to where you're going to have some innovative programming to where you could potentially have additional staffing at a campus that does not require teacher aids or substitute teachers. We've seen that at some some some visits to some school districts. You've been a part of it. Mr. lay has been a part of it along with some other trustees to where you can have some models that you could see that um targeted at some campuses again not every campus because when every teacher I think every teacher is going to hear this think oh my gosh it's going to come to Tyler ISD and we're going to have

033this incredible we don't have that kind of budget y'all know that uh plus there's not enough qualified quality people out there to to have some of this innovative programming but I do think there's some opportunityities he's there to describe what you talked about. The second thing I'll say is not on this list is the protection that our administration does that when a campus misses on enrollment under enrollment and we have overstaffed if they're a struggling campus. We do everything we can to keep those teachers there. So, let's just say that let's let's say you're at a campus that has struggled to be a C or better. Um, and we have we we we overbudgeted over staffed their second grade classroom and they have CLA, let's say they have four classrooms at 15 a piece for

034lack of >> we try to we try to we try to protect those. Um, now you've got some other campuses on here that are A-rated campuses or close to A-rated campuses that have these higher numbers. you offer them an aid in their classroom and those principles tell you we don't want them. >> We're going to have to, you know, we're going to have to we're going to have to retrain them or or or do or do whatever or even even they try to balance out their their classrooms after the first of school. They may keep them as is because you go to a parent that's just met their kindergarten or first grade teacher for the first time and say, "I've got to move your your child into a different classroom." that parents there may be

035an all-out fight going on and so some of our principles make the decisions to do so we coach them and hold their hand to make sure that they're making the right decision for academic outcomes. So, I think there's some new everything's kind of nuanced on this uh especially on the on the staffing part of it to where there's parts of our district, the east side of our school system that may not be experiencing the growth as the west side of the school system and we try to protect some of that east side uh over over staffing whenever it does come up. I'm not I'm not aware of any of those this year. I know there was maybe one that we did uh but we were we we were pretty confident it wasn't going to impact

036the the academic rating of the campus. >> Yeah, we we try to avoid moving teachers around the district if we if we can, but if we see a increase in enrollment, we're going to and we have a a lower uh enrollment at another campus. We have done that in the past, but try to avoid that especially at some of our struggling campuses. >> This data on here, Dr. Gropel. Yes, sir. Just to refresh the board's memory about this, and we've got one new trustee on here. Um, this let's let's take uh Douglas second grade on here. >> That might be one over in each classroom in second grade. Correct. >> Yeah, it's three total students there, right? Um, so yeah, >> that affects two classes. >> Just affects two classes. Yes, sir. >> Okay. >>

037Quick question. Thank you, Madam President. Um, when do you get your final uh snapshot report on our enrollment? It's this month, right? Or have we already gotten it? >> The snapshot is uh is the 31st of this month. The last Friday in October every year. >> And that's when we'll know what we're going to turn in as far as enrollment for this year. >> Yes. Yeah. >> And then um on these over ones like the soup was explaining over you're aggregating them. It could be just one kid or another kid in different classrooms. It's not you're putting 24 in one classroom and the other one's got 21. >> Yeah. Number number of students over on the far right and then everything inside of that is the actual number of classrooms that are impacted. >> Correct.

038>> Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> That's why they were not totaling up at the end, I guess. >> Correct. It's taken me 12 years to understand this. >> I've dealt with it. >> Yep. Thank you. A question regarding uh looking at that and looking at kinder and first grade uh monolingual uh we have those classes are across the district totaling 10 over uh at those grade levels and from my perspective you know those are the formative years those are years that I really have concerns about regarding them getting the foundational things. Uh so that that is a major concern in regards to the number of kids that you have in kindergarten and first grade that are apparently struggling because they are academically behind >> uh when they get to those higher levels. So

039that that becomes a concern from my perspective in regards to those level of kids >> u being over that 22 >> number and in those classrooms. I I'm hoping that we're monitoring that to make sure that there is no difference in the class size. Uh the classes that maybe have 18 versus the classes that have 22 as far as the academic outcomes because that that's a major concern because they got to get those foundational things in the kinder and first grade so that they can be successful in the second and third grade especially third grade by the time they take the test. Uh so that that becomes a concern from my perspective. Uh so hopefully we're monitoring that close so that we can see if there is a difference somehow. >> Noted and I I

040I'll direct your attention to the if you look at the campuses that are impacted, right? >> Um most of those that are are over I mean there's some of them there's a couple of that are not A or B campuses, right? >> But a majority of those are A and B campuses, >> right? And so and and every kid deserves a great foundation. You're correct on that. But we really do try to protect those campuses that have traditionally struggled accountabilitywise. >> I appreciate the >> foundation. So So we're keeping an eye on that. Um >> Mr. Bergfield's not here yet, but Mr. Martinez can speak to this. I early on a decade ago, >> the numbers that we had on the right side of this were fairly pretty inflated on this. I think we were

041upwards of 40 to 75 as far as the number of students over u. It was it was a chore. I I I know a dozen years ago when I first got here when we were still reporting back to the state. >> Yeah. >> The other concern is Cwell. I know Cogwell's a-rated school academically success, you know, beyond uh being a blue ribbon school in the state of Texas, the only one significant, but still concerned in regards to, you know, pushing pushing the limit on that and uh they maybe can handle it, but I think I just get concerned about pushing those limits and they've been successful the way they were. I don't know if they've gone over every year that that amount and I think it's the principal's decision to to whether they do that

042or not. Uh you know those those cocky principles that we have some of those choice programs >> that's my concern >> think they can just go do it. But that yeah that's that's correct. There's a lot of discretion on that. Obviously, as the as the as the central office of the school system, we can tell them no. Um, if it looks like it's going to severely impact their academic outcomes, and it doesn't look like Caldwell with them being able to do this. I'm not sure if they've had this many before, the former principles in the back of the room, but certainly we we do monitor that. There's a give and take on that. Just because the principal wants it doesn't mean they always get it. >> There's always a wait list to get into some

043of our choice programming as well. And sometimes uh if the principal feels like that they can can can manage that additional stress of taking on one or two that maybe didn't qualify to get in there was maybe on the border. That might be where you see some overages uh in some of these like at Cwell or Birdwell. Uh Birdwell is not even on here. Yep. >> So it looks like there >> and they may not have correct me if I'm wrong have the space to add a whole another teacher >> right in in section have another class especially like at Caldwell sticks out >> possibly >> that true Dr. Markle or am I is my thinking right or >> well principles can always find classrooms there's no doubt about that but as far as uh

044a teacher having a classroom for themselves 100% of the day that might be an issue at some of those older buildings that we've transformed >> but our newer we've got I think 25 to 3,000 student headrooms inside of our facilities >> uh some way shape or form I'm sure they could find it there as well but you're right >> sometimes space is an issue >> just one other comment regarding teacher aid. Uh, do we make any recommendations as to how the teachers an effective way the teachers should be using the teachers aid? Because I I heard you say it's kind of left up to the teachers discretion and some of them may need some guidance on that. uh especially when we're looking at academic performance of the kids and that >> I think I think

045it's more of a principal's deployment of those resources as opposed to the teacher deciding that >> that does the principal get any guidance in that regard because you know something something's missing you know if we can with the teachers aids if we are not getting good outcomes with the addition of an additional person in the classroom I I just I can't see it not being beneficial, but yet again, I'm hearing that it's not. So, I I get the feeling that somewhere along the line, somebody is not being effective, you know, in in utilization of that position uh to benefit the students to the best. I can see teachers using them for running copies, etc., so they have more time in the classroom to to address those kids. But maybe there's a more effic more more

046efficient or more effective way of utilizing those teachers aids that we can >> I think we're going to talk about the teacher using them and we're going to talk about the principal is the effectiveness of the aid. >> Yeah. >> The quality of the aid, the the the educational level of the aid actually proctoring in that classroom has to be considered on this as well. Right. >> So, >> you know, I mean, there's one thing to be the degreed professional inside of a classroom. there's another thing to to to have chosen being an aid uh as as your as your as as your profession. I think you're going to wind up there's going to be a pretty large spectrum there on the quality of just like there is on certified teachers etc. >> So I

047I think it's going to be a discretion individualized basis in a classroom certainly we can always advise the principles we better be advising the principles on how to deploy their aids. A lot of times because of the candidate pool they choose to not actually accept wanting the aid. They have the spot allocated to them, but they choose not to do it because it is more work for the teacher, more work for the principal to actually deploy that aid >> as far as personnel management goes. >> Yes, sir. >> And I'm I'm saying that as kindly as I possibly can understand from the DAS in a very professional sense. Well, u maybe I'm not saying it the right way, but uh the the the quality of the aid are the principles aware of the quality of

048the aids that's provided on their campus. You're saying academic support? Do they know the abilities of those aids so they can strategically place them in the right classrooms? >> They interview them. >> They they hire them. >> We don't hire them. They interview they they are allocated the spot from human resources and finance and partnership >> they actually interview the individuals and they always interview >> the individuals with a team. I mean I never do I never hear of a principal just being the only person. >> Okay. >> Why don't you check on that for me and see how uh they they interview these teacher aids. >> We'll do. >> Okay. >> I see it. >> I kind of see artist logic on this. It's interesting. It seems to be that then what we're saying

049is that you get a teacher's aid in there because of the numbers denote that we do that. But getting that extra body in there doesn't necessarily correlate with results with academic achievement and and I got you on what you're saying the quality of the of the person in there and then what we're expecting them to do and the whole hiring process. I wonder if there's data that shows us what we ought to have that person doing. Very similar to like what we've seen in our visits to these other districts. And obviously, like Sou said, now going to do that in broad form, but you know, we looked at what they're doing and some of those people, they're not dealing with with uh teaching, they're dealing with discipline. they're they're dealing with coaching the teacher in

050the moment that I wonder if somebody else has that data already or a model that we could look at and say, "Hey, look, when you have to be bumped up to get that teacher's aid, here's what you want them doing. Here's what you need them to be doing, not this other stuff." And that will move the needle in the classroom as far as academic achievement. I don't know if it's out there, but maybe you guys have some ideas on that. >> Noted. Yeah, there there's some research out there that we can dig into and share that share that information with principles. >> So, do we have districtwide training for aids or it's up to the campus? >> To we do we do a mixture of both. Majority of it is done on the campus, but

051we do provide uh training at districtwide for pair professionals. Some >> No, you weren't expecting all that for >> Do they I'm sorry to come back. Do they talk to each other? Like let's say you've got principal A at this campus and principal A's got a really good system and she's got teachers aids and academically they're moving the needle. Is principal A allowed or or does does principal A talk to principal B C and D and say hey look this is what I'm doing with my aids. This is helping us. Do they is there a place and time for them to do that? There is always a place in time but I don't know the depth of the conversation about utilization of aids is about moving the needle of a campus accountability and academics is

052the most is the highest priority >> when they when they talk about that. I I'm just these aids are resources that are additional resources that are deployed to the campus. So yeah there there could be some creativity there but you also got to look at the tenure of these aids and the cycling of these aids. Very rarely do we have these individuals for very long. uh for a variety of factors. It could be their own personal exit from the district or we have to exit them from the district. So, um again, it it it's a support that we provide when we're over as far as some of these classrooms go. There are special education aids that that that have very specific job responsibilities when they do go into special education classroom. But your general instructional

053aids, um I'm not familiar with any principles talking about how they've deployed aids uh to successfully make them an A or B campus. >> I don't think that's in Hattie's study anywhere. Is it on >> what >> the effectiveness of aids versus homework versus >> thousand things that had studied over time? >> He would tell you that it's not the most effective practice. there are greater yields uh but classroom instruction's the number one in that but >> now I do think uh some of these models that we are currently investigating you have three tiers of educators uh impacting a classroom those you have apprentice teachers you have um I want to say >> you have apprentice you have apprenice teachers and you have um maybe a beginning teacher. How about that? Apprentice teacher, a beginning

054teacher, and then you have an expert teacher, which we would consider a TIA certified teacher. And you can have some of those systems in place at certain campuses identified uh in the near future to assist some of this. Um, again, this is not going to be to where 27 campuses are going to get this modeling here. But then you're starting to talk about an apprentice teacher could be a student teacher. It's actually a paid internship uh to do so along with the beginning teacher and then a master teacher all attached. We saw some really good models in Houston and we've seen some models in Shreveport as well. and um could be could be some opportunities for us in that way we're not >> focusing so much on the class sizes >> in regard to >>

055right >> uh trying to uh to to to patch it >> okay I think that's what when you start talking about >> an age structure it's it's a patch and so you're going to have them >> uh certainly uh we can look at and see what and and provide some principles some time on effective utilization >> coach them towards And as a teacher, that's just another thing on your plate. You know, I got the class and then you want me to train an aid. >> I'm not doing it. Thank you. We appreciate you. >> Appreciate that. Appreciate you looking into a more effective way of using the funds. >> Sure. >> Come on down. Next, we have District of Innovation Teacher Certifications Granted. >> Another boilerplate uh on your monitoring calendar that we provide uh

056twice a year, I believe. District of Innovation Teacher Certifications Granted. It's on page seven of your packet. We've got Executive Director of Human Resource Resources, Sher Taylor. Miss Taylor, >> good evening, President Atkins, Dr. Crawford, and Board of Trustees. Thank you for having me here this evening. I am going to do the update for district uh in innovation certifications, and this is our fall update. So, according to the numbers, we actually went up by 14 from spring of 2025 to fall of 2025. I do want to go over some a few points on this spreadsheet. I'm sorry on this slide. One, we have 40 individuals that are certified in another area teaching outside of their certification. So that means that they have to be under a DOI because they're teaching outside their certification. We also

057have individuals that are DOI in more than one subject. For example, they might be teaching health in a business class and they have to be DOI in both of those. So you have some with multiple DOI certifications and some of our standard teachers are under a DOI certification. I want to bring your attention to House Bill 2 and the new requirements for DOI. This year they said we can maintain our DOI plan. However, in the spring of last year, they did tell us that all preK teachers had to be certified. So we made sure that that happened for this year. By the end of this year, all of our K5 reading and math teachers have to be certified. If you look on this slide, you'll see that that's 47 individuals that are DOI right now

058that teach reading and math in kindergarten through fifth grade, they're going to have to be certified by the end of this year. And then by the end of next school year, all K12 foundational courses, and that's your English, your math, science, and social studies, they have to be certified by the end of next year. that represents 90 of our DOI certifications right now. So, we are working with that and I will as I go on I'll let you know kind of what we have in planned to help those get certified. The state has also been creative and they said, you know what, we're going to do an incentive for teachers. So, their incentive is that the teacher could earn a $1,000 stop in from the state. However, we have some requirements with that and that

059is that they had to be hired as an uncertified teacher in the years 2022 2023 in the school year 2023 and 2024 and they had to still be uncertified by January 1, and they have to receive their standard certification by 2026 and 2027. So, they're giving them ultimately four years to get certified and then they can get the $1,000. That's crazy. >> I'm just kidding. Don't Don't repeat all that. >> It's crazy. But for a few of our teachers, they might be eligible for $1,000 stop from the state. All right. So, I do want you to notice I know you asked Mr. Laya that what are our numbers for of DOI teachers that were here for multiple years. And our first year teachers, 63 63 of them are currently DOI right now. And we have

060for our five plus years, we have only nine. And that could be a lot of them have taken the test multiple times and have not passed it. And they don't have any other options to take the test now. And so we have to get creative with them once all of our teachers have to be certified. What are we going to do with them if they cannot take the test anymore? I want to bring your attention to this slide because I want you to see if you look at the blue bars, our certification routes, our individuals participating that have dropped from 2021 to 2024 by 5,688 individuals. If you look at the university route, they dropped by right under 2,000. And the alt route even dropped by almost 22. I'm sorry, 21 almost 2,000 and by

061almost 2,200 by the alsert route. ALTERT is still producing more certified teachers than university routes doing right now. In the last 5 years, we've had about 590 DOI certified teachers. 296 have left the district, but in that we've had 43 that have that are still with us that earned their certification as a DOI teacher. Currently, we have 26 pair professionals that are now teachers in the district under DOI. 20 of our current DOI teachers are top designated teachers. They've all earned a designation. What we're doing to help our individuals to earn those certifications because you know now we have the deadlines is we have we're going to be in partnership with 240 test prep academy and right now we're focusing on EC through6 core subjects because K through5 reading and math teachers have to be

062certified by the end of this PPR and STR. As of this morning, 43 individuals have signed up to attend these study sessions that 240 Prep Academy will be putting on for the We have three sess excuse me um three weekends, three Saturdays. They begin November 1st and they're eight hours a day. This is at no cost to our employees. But not only that, we're paying them $25 an hour to attend. Some of our secondary teachers are coming because they want to go ahead and start working on passing the PPR. And then we'll see where we're at for next year, how effective it was, and if we want to continue this for next year for our other teachers in the foundational courses that need to get certified. So, any questions? As y'all are thinking of your

063questions, >> with all these debt, the state has given us a pretty hard cap deadline to get folks certified, >> right? >> They have made it awfully difficult for more individuals to get certified. So, there's really not a path to uh to really be compliant with this. I'm just going to give everybody a warning to be compliant with this. Even though we're going to give our very best effort, every district in the state's going to give their very best effort to meet this deadline to get these folks certified on time and then on time here in two years. I guess Mr. Jones, Miss Taylor, >> correct? >> Uh there is still a lack of interest in the teaching profession uh as far as the tools and resources go from these legislators that have made these

064laws. Um it's been very altruistic in regards to their task force dreaming >> that they've put together. Uh there has not been any incentivization as far as salary goes even though we know that they can get in jump in and over time become a very effective teacher and become TIE um awarded. So before just want to put that out there before you ask your questions that we are working on it and we will continue to work on this along with some other innovative programming in partnership with higher education institutions that really want to do the work. Dr. Markle back there in the back along with some grow your own programming. So there's your time to think about what you want to ask Miss Taylor. >> Questions comment. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Ma'am. Uh, I have

065a question regarding the individuals that become certified while they're here and the number of people you say that leave the district after certification. What? Let's hear that. >> The ones that left, those were just DOI teachers that left. So, we've had 296 DOI teachers that left the district. Does it mean that they were certified? It just means that they left. >> They were under that classification and they left. >> Correct. They were under DOI when they left. Yes, sir. that that didn't mean that I know I I I just want to get that clarified. >> Yes, sir. >> Um, thank you, Madam President. So, you had 296 that left in the last 5 years that were under the DOI. You said you had how many? 500 total in the DOI program in those last 5

066years. >> Within the last 5 years. Yes, sir. So 65% of them are leaving that are in that DOI. Sure hope we're not putting too much time and effort into them if they're leaving at that rate. I mean >> well remember the ones that have stayed on for longer than that are either in a specialized content area. They're already certified but they're teaching out of their certifications. They went to teacher education school, but we've determined that they're pretty good at what they do. And then the third group are the ones that are >> performing pretty well. >> And yeah, excuse me, did not perform well. Correct. >> And that were asked to leave in the best interest of the district. So, we're not always just pitching this to you and saying, "Oh my gosh, you

067want to teach. We're so thankful that you want to do that. Therefore, we are constrained to only having you around for the rest of your time. No, we we're very serious about your outcomes. And whether or not you can get it done or not is is something we've always said from up here. And whether you are a DOI, a probationary teacher, or even a term teacher at times, we want those outcomes to to match with with our expectations. And so that's that's some of those 296ers. >> That's correct. >> And they may it may not have just been their academic performance. It might have been they were a poor employee. >> Right. >> Correct. >> So >> we want the best in front of our students. >> Yeah. >> Do you do the same analysis

068on the certified teacher side? Say we've got How many teachers you got total? >> Just call it 1500. Say you got 1500 teachers and let's say >> 1300 are certified. Do you do the same analysis on that side and see what percentage of those are leaving us? seems to be a real high percentage and I get what the soup is saying. We we're casting a wide net. We're being thorough. We're picking through them. We're help we're helping them come up. We're helping them get certification. We're putting carrots out there. But I would be interested to see on the certified side, whether it's all certified or traditional or whatever, as long as it's certified, not the DOI stuff, what percentage it's there. because 60% of the people that we bring in or that come to us

069to do the DOI by your own numbers are leaving for one reason or another. Maybe a bad employee, maybe a bad program, maybe a bad fit, whatever that seems to be >> 60% of our certified people. >> I know, I know, I know, but I would like to know what that number is. I don't know. 20% is is the going rate right now. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. and and I know you've got a limited amount of of uh time and people to go after. If we were if we had a stable of certified teachers, heck, you'd be bringing them all in here. So, I I'll follow you on that. But from a prospecting, if I'm a if I'm out there prospecting, looking for teachers, I'm going to be looking for the ones that are

070going to leave me at a very low rate as opposed to the other ones. But that that's it's another argument. Mr. Jones, >> he knows where your mic on. Don't get them. >> We do look at our overall retention for staff. >> So that's something that we do. So we can get those uh those numbers for you. >> Thank you. >> And considering that you said two years they had to be certified in reading and math the major. So would we ever consider um retire retireing? >> Okay. >> That have that. >> Good. Let me put this out there for everybody watching. we will hire you if re you're retire rehire. >> The state has flipped it back on negotiating what the exit uh or what the fee is and who who's to pay that

071to pay it. Correct. >> That was an asinine thing to do anyways and it was all about paying TR. It was all about bolstering TRS the retirement system >> whereas the district would have to pay that >> 18% whatever it was call it 20% might as well. Well, they've flipped it back now to where it's negotiable and I think that is something that opens the door. But as Mr. Jones says when we're talking about retire, rehire, Mr. Jones, >> we find that most people that retire do not want to come back on a daily basis. They want to come when they want to come. So, they will sub force >> and they certainly don't want to jump through all of the hoops that are now required. And let me let me say one other thing

072that you risk on the retire rehire is the your neck on the line. You've retired. You already have some type of income coming in. It may or may not be what you thought it would be, but when you go commit and you jump in, they could deuce out on us >> at any time. >> Well, now certified teachers can deuce out on you anytime because they don't get penalties. though they can, but those certified teachers are usually of not retirement age >> to depend upon fall backing into that retirement. >> So, you're right. There is no penalty there, but at the same time, I could certainly not have a I it'd be easier for me to say no when I did have that parachute that was that was safely allowing me to go there. So,

073we've had some instances to where we have some retire rehires. Correct. Correct. That is correct. >> We are not a retireh free district. We do have some retirees that are working for us and working admirably. >> That is correct, sir. >> But they are not beating down our doors, Miss Atkins. >> I understand. >> We'd love to talk to some. >> I'm not beating down your door. >> We would love to talk to some. And I know there's some in the community that want to use that against us, but there are always there's always legislation that makes things more difficult that some of that barrier has been removed. Now, now we would love to talk to you if you want to come back and and and maybe fulfill your need to >> work in this

074environment. >> Anybody else want to come back? Uh, anybody else have a conversation? >> No, I'm I'm good. >> Okay, we appreciate you. Thank you so much. >> Now, it's time for executive session. We'll be back after that. >> No. Uh let's go. Meeting of the Tyler IC board of trustees has been called to order already. The presence of the forum has been established and we're coming back in from executive session and we have an item to address from executive session. >> Oh, sorry. Pledge. always have to pray. We definitely need prayer >> and pledge. So would you all join us? >> Let us pray. Gracious Father, we come to you tonight to give you thanks for this city, this state, this country, and this school district. Thank you for the teachers and the staff

075that show up every day for work, showing patience and love for all of our students. We pray for their continued passion and love for their job. And Lord, let us as a board do all that we can to support them in these challenging times. Let us be the calm voice of reason in a nation caught up in identity politics. And lastly, I pray for wisdom and understanding by this board. Please let your son be seen through our actions. Please forgive us where we fall short. I pray this in my savior's name, Jesus Christ. Amen. >> Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to

076thee Texas. One state under God. One and indivisible. Now you should feel better after we prayed up. >> Thank you, Mr. Burfield. >> So the action um we have a motion coming out of the executive session. >> President Atkins, I move to terminate the probationary contract of Patricia Thomas. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Anybody opposed? The motion carries. And now we have special recognition. Our favorite part. >> Good evening board members and Dr. Crawford. We want to begin the special recognition part of the meeting by announcing our October district students of the month. And our elementary student of the month is Paul Curall, a second grade student at Dixie Elementary School. And the secondary student of the month is Ally Allen, a senior at Early College High School. At this time, please

077join us in watching a brief video about these two outstanding students. The heart of our hometown beats strong in Tyler ISD, where students are reaching goals, breaking barriers, and shaping the future. Their journeys may look different, but together they are showing us that next is now. Let's celebrate their achievements as we continue leading the way in Texas education. [Music] Fall is finally here and it's time to meet our elementary student of the month for October. My name is Paul Carroll and I'm from Dixie Elementary and I'm student of the month of the whole October. Paul is an outstanding example of respect, responsibility, and positivity. Always polite and kind, he treats everyone with genuine care and consistently leads by example. His joyful personality shines through each day, whether he's sharing a laugh with friends or focusing

078on his studies with maturity and purpose. as a Christian. Um, in the Bible, uh, God God says, "Treat people as as yourself." >> A talented pianist, Paul showcased his musical abilities during the school talent show and continues to inspire through his involvement at church, where he participates in children's activities and Bible competitions. At home, he balances academics, family, and service with responsibility and heart. Paul truly embodies the spirit of excellence and is a deserving recipient of student of the month. >> You never know the impact you leave on your students and to have him in kinder coming in fresh, you know, never been in school. And then to see him now in second grade and just flourishing and he remembers everything we I taught him in kinder. He's like, "You remember when we did this?"

079And I'm like, "No." He goes, "I learned it from you in kinder." And I'm like, "That was so long ago." But he still remembers everything. Now, let's recognize our district secondary student of the month. >> Hello, my name is Ally Allen and I attend Early College High School and I am the district student of the month for October. >> Ally is an exceptional student who leads with excellence and determination. Ranked first in her class in serving as president of student government. She demonstrates both academic strength and a genuine care for her peers. Alli's leadership extends beyond the classroom through her involvement in the National Honor Society and the Texas Bank and Trust Student Advisory Board. As a senior at Early College High School, I've really tried to put myself out there and to get involved

080in organizations such as Student Council, Sources of Strength, East Texas Bank and Trust. Really to have an impact on my community. This past summer, Ally attended the Air Force Academy summer camp, pursuing her passion for aviation and her dream of becoming an astronaut. She continues to inspire others with her drive, spearheading the creation of an aviation club on campus. Ally Allen truly embodies the spirit of achievement and leadership, making her a deserving student of the month. >> What makes Ally an excellent student is her character uh and the fact that she is a character. And I know it's often said that just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character. But Ally is a character and she has character. Uh great student, an asset to Early College and a crowning jewel in

081the crown of Tyler Independent School District. Let's honor these remarkable students as we celebrate the outstanding achievements happening across our district. Their success stories remind us of the strength, dedication, and spirit that define Tyler ISD. This recognition is proudly brought to you by Christa's Trinity Mother Frances Health System, partners in supporting the bright future of our students and community. And we'll invite the board to come down right now. Okay, Paul, now's your time to shine. Come on down. Woo! [Applause] Good job. That's a good word. Let's give him one more round of applause. [Music] And now we would like to welcome Ally to the front as our secondary student of the month. [Applause] So it got to actually fly >> airplane and we have some more successful students to share with you. Next, we would

082like to recognize two students from Tyler Legacy High School for being named commended students in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Up first, Malcolm Jones. [Applause] Oh, wait. [Applause] And we would also like to congratulate Jackson L. Come on down. Tonight we have several students here who are representing the fine arts. We would like to recognize the following students for their artwork that was featured in the statewide Texas Art Education Association 2025 Texas Edcon exhibition. Eliia Dillu from Tyler High School. Come on down. >> Congratulations And I'm not sure if he was able to make it tonight, but Jerome Ingro from Three Lakes Middle School was featured as well in the center. And then we're rounding this out with Zelda Rodriguez from Tyler Legacy High School. As her should give And finally, we would like

083to congratulate Vivana Lamos with Tyler Legacy High School for being a finalist in the 2025 I am Texas writing an art contest. [Applause] [Music] >> Great job. [Applause] Next, we would like to recognize our Elementary District Teacher of the Month, Carrie Johnson from Rice Elementary School. And here are a few comments from her principal and co-workers. Miss Johnson is a definition of a team player in a special education setting. No two days are the same, but she handles every challenge with grace and dedication. Her colleagues describe her as patient, compassionate, and always putting others first. One pair of professional shared, "Carri's dedication has helped our students show incredible growth. She's always finding new ways to help them learn and feel cared for." Another said, "She makes our path classroom a welcoming place where every student

084can succeed." Her teaching partner added, "Carrie goes above and beyond helping others, taking on extra tasks, and pushing students to reach their full potential. We are truly blessed to have her on our team." and Carrie, come on down. [Applause] Thank you. [Laughter] [Music] And our secondary district teacher of the month is Mel Silva from Early College High School. Here are a few comments from his principal. Mr. Silva is a highly dedicated and organized educator who wears many hats on campus. as the science silt AP coordinator and yearbook coordinator. He plays a vital role in both academics and student life. He also leads afterchool programs and sponsors STEM club and student government which hosts major events like the fall festival, artsfest, winter formal, and prom. In addition to teaching dual credit courses, Mr. Silva is admired

085by his students and respected by his peers. His commitment and excellence have earned him multiple distinguished educator recognitions at the night of shining stars, making him a true asset to our campus. Come on down, Mr. Silva. >> Congratulations. And this concludes our recognitions for this evening. Okay, we did. >> Yeah, we did. >> Thank you. >> Cool. No, only this and then we approve approved >> except we >> I know that one but >> just on that one thing [Music] >> on the airplane >> as you're leaving quietly. >> Thank you for coming. do this. >> Oh, did a rose thing. >> Was a miracle. >> Maybe that's why. >> Where do you have them? Five. >> Oh, man. >> Okay. What do we have? Oh. Mentoring alliance. >> Oh, he's here. >> Okay. Family,

086you can do that now. >> Did I say that loud? >> Okay. As we are moving on, we have continuous improvement student outcomes. We'll hear from mentoring alliance update. Come on down. Matt Edwards uh with Mentoring Alliance will actually come to the table or actually he's going to go to the podium and provide a presentation our annual update with mentoring alliance our preferred and premier afterchool summer camp and mentor connect uh partner Mr. Edwards >> good evening friends uh board members Dr. Crawford. Uh it is a privilege to be here tonight just to share um be a part of this fun partnership together with our Tyler ISD um school partners. Um as you probably know, our mission mentoring alliance exists to mobilize godly people into the lives of kids and families, provide tangible help and

087eternal hope. And I consider all of you all a big part of that. uh those godly people that are doing what we do to make this community a better place. Our um philosophy of ministry is that uh we are Christc centered. We're biblically grounded. We're grace-based, excellenced, and uh multithnic. We uh definitely pursue oneness with diversity in our programs. The uh programs that we operate in the public schools here in Tyler are our afterchool program 37 weeks out of the year um from 3 to 6 Monday through Friday. Summer camps from um 7:30 in the morning till 5:30 at night. And I like to say if the kids aren't sleeping within about three minutes when mom picks them up, we didn't do a good job. And that's all summer long. and then our mentor connect

088program which I'll tell you about the changes we're we've made which are pretty exciting. Our priority outcomes are vibrant faith, academic success and emotional resilience. Our um afterchool program is um is really high quality afterchool care for prek through sixth grade. Uh we're currently serving 33 schools in the Tyler ISD in 24 locations right now. Currently, uh, we've had as many as 1,46 kids during the 24-25 school year that have come through the program, and we're on track now to serve roughly 1,500 this year, which we're excited about each and every one of those families and those kids. We've had um we do measure everything, excellence in giving insights out of Colorado Springs. Um just to see some of the um the demonstrable ROI here with the homework help with the improvements there. Kids not

089giving up quickly, significant improvement, um reads well independently and then trying new activities. Uh even if they might not be good at them. So we see a lot of these fun intangibles in the kids in our programs. Uh these two especially. I wish I would had this when I was back in school. Um for sure. uh summer camps uh Rose City summer camps, right, Dr. Crawford? That's >> right. Um it is uh you know it's it's summer camps but it really is it's a high quality daycare and child care that uh we we hope parents find to be very safe in our partnerships with our schools. The the the quality of the teaching and and really um something that I I'm getting to see now after being a volunteer for 14 years and now being

090on the payroll for six. The amount of kids coming out of Tyler ISD that are working their way through our program. They go to TJC. They go to UT Tyler, they come back um finish the scholarship program and they run our programs. I mean, the leadership, it's uh pretty pretty encouraging to see. Um now 10 years into this pipeline, um this last summer we did three locations in greater Tyler. We were um really excited about our JPro efforts up in North Tyler where we saw over 400 kids come through and most of them for seven or more weeks. and our academic outcomes um in those schools are are pretty fun to report on. Uh something that I'm just really um glad to be learning about, you know, with the kids in our world today with

091youth mental health, with trauma, anxiety, depression, and suicide, and just the mess that our kids are are working through. Um I was put on a quest by some people in town. they they think we could be the solution for certain pieces of this. But what everybody I talked to from the chief of police, from um the counselors and the Tyler ISD, Chris Le, everybody that has um skin in the game, they said the number one most impactful thing you can do to help a child with youth mental health is one caring adult, loving, caring adult in their life. And and one of the things we measure is that and you can see pretty significantly these kids feel loved and cared for in a safe way in our programs. And and I think it's it's upstream

092in this battle that we're all seeing and I think it's making a big difference in helping our kids be healthier. Uh just a couple of the data points. We could go on for hours on this, but our our math gains, as you can see here, a um the summer learning loss is um 5.2% 2% less with the kids in our program here. And the reading uh was a literally almost er it erased it. It's it's when those kids go back in the fall, they are at grade level, which is a huge blessing to the teachers in the classroom and the kids. Um some of the math gains here at Jones Elementary. Um seven point advantage with the kids in our program. And then the reading uh literally of racing the the learning regression the reading

093like at Pete Elementary where I'll be tomorrow to meet uh with my new mentee tomorrow morning at during our lunchtime program. So we're seeing these kind of results in all of our programs uh throughout Tyler. Um of the thousand kids we're serving here in Tyler now in Texas it's up over 2,000 kids just because of what's happened with this partnership here in Tyler. Our mentor connect program changed this last year. Uh the 700 of us that have been launched into the community over the last 10 years. It's a pretty heavy lift. And so now the program has been changed to work in the school. It was the only program we had that wasn't in the schools. And so we we go into seven Tyler ISD schools and it's um nine months. It's timed so it's

094a lot easier sell for our partners that come from all the churches and businesses where people want to mentor. We partner with the seven schools in the Tyler area. There's two that are in different districts that are I won't mention them, but um but it it's it's um I'm excited. Tomorrow I'll be up at Pete with with my little guy and about six other people. And um we're hoping to have 120 kids. We've got 50 right now matched up. We've got another 40 mentors ready to go. And the principles and the um counselors are starting to identify the kids in in Waco. They have about a thousand kids. So, we're going to push hard to get it to 120 135 and um see if we can't get a thousand kids in our program at some

095point uh here in the near future. And um that's the new mentor connect program. Again, it's driven uh from 1 Thessalonians 2:8 because we loved you so much. We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well. And so I can I can definitely say that folks in our program like me, we change more than the kids do just because of uh the privilege of being in these relationships. Um and I just want to say thank you. Um we just have a great partnership with the Tyler ISD. Um at the end of the year we we love doing a hamburger and hot dog cookout for all of our custodial staff and we just have a blast um saying thank you and going out and doing it like

096a camp. And if uh anybody had any questions, I' I'd love to answer them. >> Questions got me. >> Uh I just like to say thank you so much for what y'all are doing. Uh I did get to attend the the lunchon y'all had. Um yes, >> kind of coincided. So if y'all haven't been to that, it was really really a great event and uh just appreciate what y'all are doing here in Abalene, Waco, and and wherever else y'all are at. So thank you. >> Thank you. I I do think next year for our lunchon uh the break the script moment. I'm going to try to convince the Tyler High cheerleaders to come in. I saw them at the Cleburn game and I have never seen such an awesome group of young ladies and and

097that whole team just fire up a group of people. So hopefully I can get them to one of our lunchons. >> Um when did y'all start the mentor and connect? This year. >> Yeah, this um just um the beginning of this school year. and we're matching it to the um to the school calendar so people know that it's not a lifetime commitment from day one. It turns into that. My mentee, I've had him in my life now for 14 years. He's in California. We talk every month. But um this way it gives people a shallow end of the pool in to you know check it out and um fall in love with it. And so we're we're excited about the early results of it so far. >> That's amazing. Miss Harrison, their mentoring program has

098been in effect since the creation of mentoring alliance. Is that >> Oh, I know. I just meant here. >> The new format actually began this year. >> Yeah, the new format's this year. >> Yeah. I think y'all are just capitalizing on the school day instead of outside the school day is where it predominantly was focused. Is that that's the change? >> I meant like the in school time. When did that >> Okay. That's >> we roll that in this year at lunchtime in these seven Tyler schools. >> I did for months tonight. It's amazing. >> Yeah, I like that. I went through the other program. I never really got off the ground with it, but uh yeah, it's a heavy lift. >> I like the the format, the new >> How many mentors do you

099have total right now, Mr. Edwards? >> Right now, there's 50 that are matched. We have another 40 um people that are background checked and ready to go and we're just working with the schools to match out the kids. >> Okay. And so our goal, we will have 120 kids in it in the next several months and then we'll we'll learn from it and and keep growing it because I the kids need a mentor. >> Yeah, it's awesome you talking about spreading this to other communities, but let's let's not forget we're kind of like the University of Texas. What starts here changes the world. >> Perfect for my time. >> Um I think we're better than that. Uh because Rose City summers camps started here. >> That's right. And I want to make sure that we

100emphasize that it's not just summer camp, MA summer camp. It is Rose City Summer Camps when it's in Tyler. I don't know what Waco's nickname is. Is it Waco Town Summer Camps or something? I don't know what they call it. >> Yeah, it's just mentoring alliance summer camps, but >> Evelyn Big Key City, that's what it is. Okay. >> I But I I totally agree with you. I about two and a half years ago, it took me about a month to convince Kevin to let me change my role. I was in a different role completely and I said I would love to to just shepherd this program in this community because >> I mean it doesn't get any better than this and it's the heart of what we do. The reason we're growing in all

101these other cities is because of what's happened here in Tyler and we're going to just work to make sure >> the academic outcomes are are uh always the benefit of this. That was the one thing that when Kevin and I had dinner early on was things that y'all asked could we accomplish these in Tyler that was from my point of view is getting more getting kids more time with the curricula that we have especially those that needed it the most and y'all are certainly we're not perfect. We're making a lot of progress moving the ball down the field on that. That's great. And but other than that operationally speaking to have this one partner that we can rely on and count on. Um, and I I'll say this publicly. I know y'all have had some

102hiccups here lately and that happens to every organization and uh y'all do the right things for the for for you know the 99 things that that that are well done every day. There's there's always one hiccup and and uh certainly we're here to support you on that and understand that there's always some operational challenges and and we've had them even in our own school system. So, it's not another school system issue. maybe not similar, but there's certainly challenges that we work with y'all to get through and y'all have always been a reliable partner on that. So, kudos to y'all. >> Well, we appreciate that. And I I'll just end to say what I said earlier. The students coming out of Tyler ISD that are leading in our programs now, I mean, y'all should be very

103pleased with the work that this organization does. They are some of the greatest. I mean, Maya Terry, do you know Maya Terry from early college high school? She's going to the Air Force Academy. I I mean there are just some absolute amazing young leaders coming out of this school district and um I'm I'm grateful to be a part of it with y'all. >> Anybody else? >> Thank you all very much. >> Another early college story and >> advanced placement dual credit and CTE certifications update. >> Here comes Dr. Walls, executive director of college and career. We've really enjoyed Dr. Walls taking the baton from uh the legendary iconic Gary Brown. She's done a fabulous job for us. She's got some stuff to report or some some information stuff. Listen to me talking East Texas. She

104has some information to report to y'all tonight uh in regarding AP dual credit and CTE certifications. I think you'll be pleased with what you see. Dr. Walls. >> Thank you, Dr. Crawford, President Atkins, and the board of trustees. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to present this evening. I hope to bring you good news and cheer. So, we're gonna start off. So, goal three is pretty much in the area that um I spend most of my time in and working with principles, um directors, and and of course teachers. So, the goal for goal three is progress measure one um is looking at our AP and our dual credit. So, for AP, you have to um earn a three or better overall to consider for accountability scores. And then for a CCMR, it's either three hours

105in math or English or a nine in anything. So that includes like technical dual credit. Um it could be a fine arts. So all those things combined. So as we look at the from the past few years, we're steadily increasing um class of 2025 that is a projected score because we don't know it's always leg by one full year. So, but from um all of our data, it looks like that we're going to be 39% with dual credit and AP. But just kind of note um last year for the class of 2025, 56.1 were college ready. And so that also includes like ACT, SAT, TSI scores, and then their college prep courses. One of those components is dual credit enrollment and we have seen an increase over the past several years as well. So if

106you like at 2425 I'm sorry 2425 we had a total number of students enrolled was 2420 and this year we started off really strong at 1495. we generally have at least the same amount, so double that. And that's getting close to 3,000. So, um, we're looking at that. We kind of know who's going to be enrolled already, so it's looking at the number, um, for this year probably will be around 3,000. So, increasing that. How do we do that? We've been actually looking at all of our courses and really working with and within that seeing how can we get our students um, ready? Are they going into like communications and business? Are they going to need more public speaking? So, adding different courses that are going to transfer to either two or fouryear or also

107looking at um dual credit in some of our areas of CTE that's going to go directly into an associates degree. So, our AP exam scores this year, uh we increased the performance. Not only did we increase the number of exams taken, um the number of students with three or higher, and then the overall percentage. So, when you're looking at that, the state of Texas at 61.7 for 2025, and we're at 71% um for all tests overall. So definitely um kudos to the teachers and all the hard work they put in because those are not easy um taking those particular classes. Wanted to show you a few of some of the top scores. Um we had Tyler ISD of course from 87% Spanish language and culture chemistry pre-cal US history and US government. Then you can

108see the state of Texas and their scores and then the difference that we have um overall. So a couple years ago when I presented we were looking at US history and US government um but we have really really shined um over the last couple years in increasing that. So overall we take um we're looking at you know with the state of Texas and things. So, 23 out of 27 exams on the AP exams, um, we score higher than the state of Texas overall, which includes everyone who's taking those exams. >> So, like, does that only include K12 school systems that only have 80% economically disadvantaged kids? >> No. >> That we're compared to >> charter, private, all the schools within Texas. So >> that all take AP exams. >> Correct. Anybody who's taking AP exams,

109that's that goes into that state of Texas. >> So you you could say Tyler ISD is competitive in the college preparatory marketplace. >> Very competitive. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Correct. >> All right. So then we're moving over to CTE. So progress measure two. We have um increased steadily. I look for 22 23 on to um 24 to 25. You can see our A through F certifications. And so A throughF means for accountability scores. And so we've been steadily increasing um starting in 2023 744 and then last year 1476. >> And that's all done with a change in what's allowable. Correct. >> Correct. Okay. >> So the A throughF is the allowed. >> Yeah. However, we don't let that stop us because, you know, we did something most recently and you've probably seen it in

110the news like our jailer academy and our telecommunicator academy. So, we push forward and getting certifications with that. But then, um, now they're on the IBC list. So, some of the things that we're doing is helping seeing like this actually works and so doing that. So, when you look at the total certifications, if you're wondering why is there so many more because things like CPR, we have to have food handlers, um, like the Jaylor Academy, things like that, that all rolls into that, even though they're not on the IBC list, it's just what our community needs. So, we'll have a pretty high amount with that. Um, if you're looking at our CTE completers, because that is what Dr. Crawford alluded to. First, it was just getting a certification. So, that was in 2023. Then it's

111going into you have to have one aligned class and then it's a concentrator um which was making sure you had two classes plus an industry based certification and then now this year it's completers. So that's three let's see three or more classes for four or more credits plus an IBC on the list. But if you look at our completers and we've been working towards that so several years we had 42 50 and 60%. So just doing some double-digit increases pretty much in most the areas of CCMR. So just really proud of all the work that our teachers, our administrators, and everybody has done. And overall, um just kind of so if you're thinking CCMR, where were we at? Um last year we were at 89% and I know Dr. Crawford's mentioned this a few times.

112Um that actually equates to an A for CCMR. So really good job for most of >> the is the new 89 is the new >> Yeah, 89 is the new It's actually 88. So we surpassed that. So um any questions that you might have? >> Go ahead, Mr. >> Thank you, Madam President, and thank you for your presentation. Just a couple kind of general questions and then I don't know if this other one belongs to you. Do you guys track like kids that um get a certain amount of AP classes or dual credit? Do you track what their outcome is like the jo because the junior college I used to didn't care if the kid graduated or not because they couldn't track eventually. But do we track if those kids if they're getting those dual

113classes from us? Do they actually get a college degree down the road? Are we tracking that? >> What I can see is if they go to college. So that's you know after where did they metriculate to. So they have the national clearing house and then on our taper reports you can see like how many have graduated and it's usually several years of data but as for specific studentto student it's it's >> right not individual students but like it generally aggregated data you see that they enroll in college and then you see that they graduate from college. >> Correct. And depending on the college, they may like you said AP. So it just depends on um what score that that college will accept to transfer it over to credit. So some will be three, a lot

114of them are. Then there's some that are four and then of course your more IV league or um other types of things they may have a four or five. >> So then that leads to my other question. Do does your department this may be another department. Does your department track the amount of remedial uh remediation that the that the student has to go to? Because one of the things I hear is, you know, whether a kid's ready for college or not, how many have to take remedial courses, whether it's a TJC or wherever they're going. Do you guys track that? >> So, when they I can explain how we know if they're probably going to Oh, let me explain. So the TSI test, the TSI is also known as the ACUPPACER, but in Texas is

115TSI A2. So the goal would be to have every student take that test. And when they're taking the test, um, they have a qualifying score. So that qualifying score, then they don't not have to take a course that's remedial. But if they don't take the test, if they choose not to take the test, then they may have to enroll in readial courses. if they, you know, go to college and they don't have that um the qualifying score. >> So, ACT, SAT, ACUPPLACER, if you score a certain on the ACT or SAT, then you don't have to take remediation at whatever that college is. The ACUPPLACER does essentially the same thing. But if a kiddo >> doesn't do well enough on all three of those, they've got to take remediation. depending on the level. It could

116be 0301 English or 0303 depending on where they land on the >> where they land on the score. >> But we actually don't track that. I guess this the the college's job to track. I got 100 kids and out of those five are taking remedial classes. So really the goal for many of our students would be to take the TSI so they have it both math and really it equates to um you know your basic geometry algebra and then reading and writing. So >> on your uh dual enrollment slide that you had for fall 1495 is this including all early college high school kiddos that are doing uh the associates degree program or is this independent of that? The you said dual credit. >> Yeah, the dual credit is including them as well. >> Credits

117inclusive of every dual credit student that we have >> all the all the students. >> This is not just the AP and all of that. This is also dumps in the early college high school in there. >> Well, not on dual >> dual credit is different than AP. So dual credit includes all of early college and every student in, you know, in the high school that's taking it. AP early college high school also takes AP classes as well if they choose to. >> So this is an overall comprehensive report including the early college high school. >> Correct. >> Do you have one that strips that out >> that takes all of those? I mean I can I I didn't put it here. I'm just reporting for the district. >> I don't need the number now.

118I'm just wondering because that's obviously heavily dual. I mean there is dual credit. That's what the whole school is designed around. >> That is correct. Um however you know our two campuses um with the numbers that we do have because they do have small numbers of students. So we do have quite a robust number of students from Tyler Legacy Tyler High and um when they take it at the CTC the majority of our upper level um teachers at the CTC are all dual credit instructors. >> Do you think you have more dual credit independent of the early college high school or more in the early college high school? I'd have to check those numbers. I think because they take it junior and senior year all day is, you know, the numbers are pretty high >>

119because I know that they're designed for different kids. I mean, the programs are different. We >> they could get heavy, but whereas in the past you might, not just Tyler, but anywhere you might have had it was APheavy with a smaller dual credit, smaller smaller amount of dual credit, that has flipped. >> So, you don't have as many AP students, >> correct? >> Or as an emphasis actually dual credits allowed more students to take more rigorous courses over time as opposed to just being exclusive exclusive towards an AP student. And so you're going to wind up having more dual credit kids at both of our high schools more than likely than AP students. Is that is that a fair assumption? Yes, there's more that are taking the dual credit and we do have a lot

120of students who metriculate here locally which is at TJC and then UT Tyler and most of our students end up going to a public college. So that's where those transfer credits go to. Those who are looking to go out of state or into like said the Ivy Leagues and things like that, um dual credit doesn't necessarily transfer or even private schools. So, it kind of depends individually on the student and what they're looking for. >> The reasons for my questions and I'll wrap this up. Had a recent conversation with an un unnamed I will be unnamed superintendent who closed an early college high school and I wanted to know the the logic reasoning and and reasons for that happening. And it looks like our data is good. What happened in theirs is they just didn't

121have the mass of students that was going to be able to take the early college high school without stripping out everything from their AP program. And so I know we're not in that situation here. That's great. Um but I think your data supports that is we've got enough going on in AP that it's not those same kiddos that are that are taking the bulk up of the early college high schools. >> Correct. >> Thank you very much. >> Sure. >> Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, um what about the military side of things? I know those numbers are always a year late, but can you give an guesstimate and and what is and just a side note, I did see our junior ROC from >> this morning and they did a great job. >> Oh

122my gosh, they're so good. >> Um there it's different because it has to do with the Department of Defense form 4. So, we don't necessarily get that directly, but the good thing is TA did change it because we were trying to get those and we have to ask the military for those and then upload it and so now it's going to go directly to TEA and so they're all of our students will be counting. So, we'll have our numbers should be much higher. But I can only just say, you know, from military breakfast for students and during graduation, you know, overall it's arbitrary. >> Obviously, we don't have a number tonight, >> right? >> We could probably pass that along to you, but two things. one talking about getting those numbers confirmed once they've graduated

123and they've actually gone to basic and done all the things it takes to get into to whatever branch that they that they chose to get into the flow back on that data has not always been pure to us. And so being able to to uh to turn that in and have those kids count. So there's not a whole and I'm just going to tell you this, there's not a whole lot of kids in Tyler ISD that are choosing to go to military. And you can say whatever factors there are in that, but it's it's the MR being attached to the CC in CCMR. I think we were thinking that this explosion was going to happen of all this recruitment because we just magically attached the MR to CC. We we we don't score a lot

124there, I guess, is what I'm trying to to say ultimately is that if you're >> that's not our the area that >> it's hard to focus on that because we just don't have a whole lot of kids that are choosing to do that. That's an a very a very adult decision to be made by a kid that's going to get into ROC their freshman year of high school and then go all the way through if he can. So, um >> a lot of them make late decisions as well. Like my nephew, he just finished basic and he took a little time outside of graduating and then really thought about it and and he's successful. He's, you know, doing what he needs to do. >> We wouldn't get credit for that kid. Same thing with my

125nephew. He was just wrapping up his service. Uh graduated from Keller High School. Dr. Reed was superintendent there at that time. He did not choose to go into the military, I think, until year one or two after high school. So that you wouldn't score there. >> We wouldn't get any credit for that. Um, it's interesting how ROC is funded is is an issue. The the one at Tyler High is funded >> through CTE. The one at Legacy is local or is it local? Yeah, it's it's kind of a local thing because we wanted to have the offering at both places. U, it's Army up up top. So, it's an officially a JOTC, >> correct? >> Program. The one at Legacy is through Navy, but it's the >> NNDC >> DCC. Correct. >> National Navy defense

126cadet corps. >> Yeah. So, >> it's it's a leadership program that is like ROC, but >> the the big thing um with the Navy is they only expand when they want to expand. And the same thing, you know, when we're looking at it and that was one way that we um can find a way to win. I think the largest high school in East Texas, they would really want to fund that one. >> Yeah, >> be honest with you. >> You would think so? >> Yeah. >> Sure. >> Anybody else? >> Thank you so very much. We appreciate >> Thank you so much. You take care. >> Okay. I know we're going to pull C. Is there any other through A through K that you guys would like to pull and talk about? >> Oh,

127I'm sorry. I didn't do M class and I ready. I'm sorry. Come on down. There's >> some good stuff right here. Gina, >> we've been waiting for you. executive director of schools. Uh she she covers ma mainly what is the east side K through eight schools. And then Dr. James Kuritan, executive director of assessment and data and analysis. What is it? Sounds good to me. What is all of the above? >> We just call him smart data guy. Uh sharp data guy some nights and other names. Uh we're going to let them present to y'all this beginning of the year update. Let me remind the board this is this has not been influenced by instruction, but this is basically a starting point of where we started the year. Um, and maybe an indication of kind

128of where the summer slide may or may not have hit us. All right, Dr. Kur and Miss Dyman. >> Okay. >> All right. Good evening, uh, board president and Dr. Crawford, the rest of board. Um, we're excited to present this data to you. We've got a lot of exciting, um, trends to show you in terms of what we're seeing, like Dr. Crawford said for the uh beginning of the year with our our pre-K8 students, we'll start with our Amplify assessment, which is our assessment for reading fluency um for our kindergarten through 2 grade students. We use this assessment three times per year. Um it's assessed by the teacher with the students one-on-one and it is simply used for reading fluency or reading skill fluency. Um we don't use it in any way to project project

129star. You can see in that table where we stood this year compared to last year. Um, obviously all three years were higher, but you can see in particular with the cohorts, um, our students are coming in higher this year than they were last year at the same time. So that's great because it means even with with where with a summer slide with the progress they made last year, um, they are starting to get higher and hopefully continue that trend this year to finish finish higher again. If we break down the data by grade level and by different student groups, you can see that for the most part, um, we improved over last year in almost every student group in every grade level. If we split that up and dig a little bit deeper, looking at

130four of the main skills that are assessed in Amplify, um you can see again almost across the board we see improvement in uh in most areas, in most groups. So those numbers are simply the percent of students that are on track at that point in time according to the assessment we're looking at. Okay, so we shift gears a little bit to I Ready. Um, I Ready is our three times a year diagnostic that we give to all of our uh kindergarten through 8th grade students in math and reading. It is on a computer and it's really the point of this assessment is to be an intervention tool for our teachers to work individually with students based on their their specific needs. So I'll give you the table on the left which just shows where we

131stand this year compared to last year. So that's that 2425 versus 2526 in Tyler ISD. If it's a got a plus sign, we're higher than last year in terms of that grade level. If it's got a negative sign, we're a little bit lower than last year. And you can see in reading in most grade levels, we're actually performing a little bit higher um than last year. The two columns to the right of that are the state data. So, us comparing ourselves to the state and then us comparing ourselves to the comparison some comparison districts across the state of Texas. Um, and you can see again across the board with the exception of kindergarten and third grade u we are we are higher than our comparison groups from that lens. Just to point out, I know

132kindergarten um we're a little bit lower than our comparison group. That's I looked at last year's data. That's pretty we're pretty consistent with that. um our students coming in lower, but usually by the end of the year, we're uh we're in a good spot with with that compared to the state and our comparison districts. We were looking at third grade. We're still digging into third grade. Uh one thing I already did change this year is that they now have a Spanish reading assessment. Um and we don't know with the state in the comparison district data who took that, who didn't. Um we just know what data they provide us. And so we don't know if that's playing a role into that what looks like a dip um or not. But we do know that our

133third graders are actually coming in a little bit higher than our third graders last year. If we look at math data from the same lens, it looks a little bit better. I would say kindergarten and first grade catch my eye just in terms of us being a little bit higher this year performing in terms of uh compared to last year across the rest of grade levels. We're hovering around where we were last year. Uh the right side obviously we're we're doing a good job especially if you look at elementary um really outpacing the state outpacing our comparison districts and uh and holding our own there and so I'd expect that to continue continue throughout this year. >> So in seventh grade you're saying we have a chance. >> We have a chance >> because we

134seventh grade is just seventh grade math has just been fun. >> It's it's been a been a we're hanging in there. I think since we reshuffled we've seen some improvement but it's Sherman's like, "I had any problems seventh grade." >> She probably is. >> There you go. >> And that's all I have for you in case you have any questions. >> Questions? >> I'll start. Any inference between uh kindergarten? I mean, I know some of these answers already, but this just kind of get you all started. Any difference between kindergarten, MCL class, and I Ready? because obviously we're showing that MC class, oh, they're they're coming in ready and it's, you know, and it always it's always the thing on the MC class is teacher driven >> and then when we get to the actual

135scientific way of doing it, the quantitative way of doing it here, we have these this this uh decent showing by our kindergarten. >> Yeah, it's a good question. It's always something to consider. So MCL class remember it is it is teacher assessed. Um it is assessing something slightly different than I ready. So it assesses reading skill fluency whereas I ready the reading assessment it's computer-based and it does assess um more of the content knowledge and the comprehension not so much the reading skill fluency per se. With that being said we do actually look at this as part of top as part of our top program. And we look to see you know do we see a trend between the two meaning if we see high growth in MClass do we tend to see high growth

136in I already and the answer is generally yes it's not perfect but uh generally we do see a correlation between the two there there are situations where you can see one um higher than the other but generally there's a pattern there >> any questions >> just come in I'm very pleased with the consistent growth from last year to this year. That's what I like to see. Meaning we making positive gains. >> We we feel like the progress monitoring that we've implemented at a very consistent level um has is producing some of those results. Um we have a re we have a calendar to monitor the progress monitoring and then respond to the data in a way where we're pulling small groups differently. we can shift kids based on the most recent data and so we

137do feel like that is benefiting all student learning in the data for sure. >> Anyone else? Mr. Lassa. >> Yes. And and can you go back in your slide on this? There was a a screen earlier you had about Keep going. Right. Keep going. I think it's the Keep going. No, no, no. Go back to the this one. From 25 2425 school year under Hispanic first grade, you went from 35% to 51% if I'm reading that right. >> Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. So, >> that's a huge bump. >> It is. >> I mean, just it's double digits. What do you attribute that? Yeah, it's a it's a great observation. So, uh, historically with MClass, we could always include just the English and the reason was their Spanish assessment wasn't, I guess, fully aligned

138with the English version is best way to say it. So, they did transition and build a new Spanish assessment where we feel like the data is comparable in terms of the same skills being assessed. And so, that's what you're seeing is you're seeing the improvement this year compared to last year. So now we can include our our students that are assessed in Amplify as well as our students that are assessed in lectura which is the Spanish version. >> So you're getting more data on the Spanish on the language learner ones because of the the software they're using essentially. >> We were getting data before in English and we get it in Spanish. It just wasn't entirely comparable is the way I would frame it as. >> Okay. So you've got more data now. you think

139that's a big contributing factor to the double-digit increase there from last year to this year? >> It certainly is going to play some role, right? Um but it's not I wouldn't say I would be hesitant to say that's the exclusive reason that our Hispanic students are performing higher this year. >> Yeah, the trend looks like in other ethnicities um either flat or you know four 5% gains you there's probably some of that in there for sure. >> Yeah, that's what I'm saying. >> Recalibration of of MClass who designs the rubric I guess. Is that what you're saying? >> Okay. >> Yeah. Cuz in your other sub populations, you've got some decent gains. You're going from 41 to 47, 58, 61. >> Yeah. Let's not get too excited about the 16% gain right there. >> Yeah.

140>> All right. But let's be excited that it looks like there's going to be some bump in there for sure. >> On the if you'll go to the next slide question on on keep going. I think it's one more. I think it's your next slide. Keep going. It's the one where we went backwards. That 9% in third grade. You said that you attributed that to you're still looking into that data. I didn't quite catch that. >> Yes, sir. So, we're still looking into that to try to understand. We when we look at that group as a second grade cohort. So, in other words, if we go back to last year's presentation and look at them when they were in second grade, we don't see that dip. And so second grade to third grade, we know

141that's the transition to STAR. Um, and we're not saying it is, but I'm just wondering if part of that is due to the the introduction of that new Spanish assessment. So in prior years, I already had a Spanish assessment. It just wasn't basically the equivalent of the English one. It was a little bit different. Um, this is a true test that assesses Spanish in the same exact format as the English assessment. And so if students took that Spanish assessment and not the English assessment in other districts, right, we don't have that data. We don't know who did and didn't take it. Um, you could see that influencing this somewhat. Not saying that's what happened. Just a just a speculation. So in the cohort when they were in the second grade, you didn't see that dip.

142You don't think this is a star related issue because this is not designed really to mirror star. >> Correct. And I would say too, this is beginning of the year. So if we were going to say it was a star issue, I would say like let's look at the end of the year date and if we're then if we're falling further and further behind, we would we would have some concern. But beginning of the year is really just a kind of your checkpoint, right? Your benchmark to measure down the road and see are we making gains. Ideally, we're closing gains by the end of the year on that group. >> Thank you, Madam President. >> One last thing before you close off the di this being a diagnostic at the beginning beginning of the year

143to see where we're at, where we start middle of the year data which we'll present in January >> or February. >> February. February because we got to make sure everything's collected. We could we can't rush it in January. Probably gives a better indication of this and then like you said the end of the year as well. But correct this does allow us to >> be on alert out there for all the school supervisors that are that are out there, the executive directors, the XDS to make sure that we're paying attention to this third grade group that's coming through because that is a tested group that could have heavily impact. I mean, one thing that Dr. Gropel and Mr. Jones knows that I can't stand is whenever they I said, "What happened at Xcampus?" Well, their

144fifth grade group or their fourth grade group or their third grade. Well, dad gum, we need all three grade levels at an elementary school click clicking. And so, if we know now, I don't want to hear I'm looking at them. I don't want to hear that it's third grade anywhere. So I'm just saying that that gives us an early early indication that we not might need to provide some instructional support there and learning supports there. We can get on it now, but it is their first time there. So there's no growth. So it's it's pure let's go. Right. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? Thank you so very much. We appreciate you. And now we going to business legal finance consent agenda. I know we want to pull C. Are there any other items? >> I

145move we approve items A through K minus C. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Second. >> All right. All oppose. >> Any opposing? >> Okay, so it has passed. Let's discuss C. Gifts and donations. We're always excited about gifts and donations. >> Always. We have three for y'all tonight. Caldwell Fine Arts PTA for the Caldwell Arts Academy at their at their disposal. It is musical season. I'm sure they'll probably be deploying some of those dollars towards those awesome musicals that they put on at Caldwell. Um, $5,000, by the way. That's the amount. $5,000 of philanthropic money from Mr. Christopher T. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for uh supporting the Blue Ribbon School, the top rated high school in East Texas, the A-rated high school, early college high school. Tyler ISD Foundation. Uh what an

146incredible thing we've got going on here. I I was able to present to the churches in schools uh last uh last week or two weeks ago about these care closets for our kids. >> Um these sanitary supplies and other items that uh a lot of philanthropic groups around town including our churches and the Tyler ISD Foundation have uh put their efforts behind. That's the amount of $10,000. Miss Atkins. >> All right. Can I get a motion to accept these donations? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Anybody opposed? The motion carries. Let's go to curriculum instruction consent agenda. >> Do we need to pull any of those? >> Madam President, >> I'd like to pull A, please. >> A. >> I move we approve item B, C, and D. >> Can I get a

147second? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Body oppose. Motion carries. Let's discuss a >> uh just the same staffing >> just the same thing as as last month. Um what do we think this staffing might might approximately and and not what do we think approximately we'll be spending on this staffing. >> This contract is for roughly $250,000. The reason it got brought to the board in this way is because we plan on spending um idea B which is our federal funds for special ed and we can spend up to $250,000 under this contract with that request for proposal. >> Okay. So it won't be any need like the other one to come back to us if you approach half a million or >> not making that promise but if we do we will come

148back here on some some sort of ratification. This is actually different services than what we did on the last one. Is that correct or no? It is different but it's all under the same umbrella. These um this vendor can actually serve a broader scope. So they might be serving in the same capacity that the other one was but this one is going to serve more different positions all all under special >> ed things like that. >> Great. >> And this was the video conference deal with the >> uh that was it was speech last month. This is you said this is more they can do OTPT out of this is what I understand. Is that correct? >> occupational therapist, physical therapy, >> things like that. >> Yes, that is correct. >> Okay. Positions where we're

149having a hard time finding folks that want to do that inside of the public education setting. >> Yes, sir. >> That are venturing out towards a private setting. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> And is this idea is that a grant or >> idea B is your federal grant? Yeah. >> Yeah. That's that's a routine federal grant that we usually um are allocated and thankfully that is something that has not been cut by the federal government uh in all of their >> didn't get doed >> today. Cutting and uh government shutdowning and all that good stuff. Okay. >> Nothing else for me. Move to approve out of May. >> Second. >> I move we approve out of May. Oh, did you move? >> I did. You moved it. >> Wake up down there. >> All

150in favor? Anybody opposed? Motion carries. For future business, getting to the Thanksgiving holiday, November 17th, 2025, we'll have our regular board meeting. Then we'll celebrate the things to be grateful for. And I get a motion to adjurnn. >> We adjourn. >> You got several of them. >> I know. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Anybody oppose? Our meeting is adjourned. Thank you for attending. >> Miss, it looks like Mr.