001started. Welcome everyone to the ADSY planning and execution program grant webinar. We're excited to have you with us today as we explore opportunities to extend learning time through ads summer and ads fully year. My name is Rasharmama Bellazer and I am the manager of additional day school year at TEA. My team sits within the division of expanded learning models at TEA, led by Brian Dorne, the director of expanded learning models. Joining me today will be Erica Stewart, the ADSI summer learning project manager. Erica will be supporting this webinar by answering your questions as you have them via the Q&A function in Zoom. And you'll get to hear from Erica Stewart later this afternoon as she closes us out by walking us through the ATSI summer model, the ATI PEP grant requirements, as well as closing
002us out with some critical lasso for reminders as well. Let's go through some housekeeping items. First, during this webinar, we'll start off with an overview of the lasso cycle 4 portfolio and share broadly what this opportunity looks like for every school system across the state. We'll then go into a deeper why for this specific grant opportunity and dive deeper into what you can expect from the AdSie planning and execution program grant. Finally, we'll highlight a couple of universal next steps for the application process and timely reminders for all school systems. We will not be able to take questions live. So, please use the Zoom Q&A function to submit your questions and our team is going to work diligently to answer questions in the Q&A box during this webinar. All questions will be recorded and added
003to a future Lasso FAQ document which will be published on the Lasso website on November 3rd, 2025. All webinar slides and recordings will be posted on the Lasso Cycle 4 website after all webinars are completed. For any follow-up questions about the Lasso application process after this webinar, please email the Lasso team at lasso tea.ex.gov. We'll start with an overview of lasso cycle 4. Lasso cycle 4 is a single consolidated application that combines grants, aotments, and inind supports bundled around a few key strategies to accelerate academic gains. There are $500 million worth of estimated services and supports across 15 initiatives to support learning acceleration and innovation via lasso. You'll find that the 15 opportunities offered via lasso cycle 4 are anchored and four learning acceleration strategies. curriculum and instruction, education and training, more time, and innovative
004school models. The lasso cycle 4 portfolio has several initiatives that span multiple years. This table on the screen displays the funding view for all 15 opportunities with the total allocation across all years beginning with the lasso cycle for lasso cycle for timeline and including continuation grants where applicable. For example, you'll see here that adep is a grant program spanning two to three years depending on the grade level band you're applying for and we'll dive deeper into that in the coming slides. We're going to go ahead and get started then with the adsy planning and execution overview uh by starting with a background information on what got this initiative started and the foundation essentially for this for the planning supports. This slide may be familiar to many, but it is particularly relevant when discussing ADI because
005it represents the foundational research underpinning our approach. Research has shown that student achievement levels tend to drop during the summer months, a phenomenon that is commonly referred to as summer slide. This decline in achievement can widen the gap between lowincome and high-income students by up to three grade levels by the time that they reach fifth grade. Before we dive into the adsy planning and execution program grant, we want to take a moment to walk through ads itself, which serves as the foundation for the ads pep grant. Adsy is an initiative that is designed to combat summer learning loss. So the summer slide that we were just talking through earlier by providing formula funding to school systems that add up to 30 additional days to their school year beyond the minimum requirement. Adsy formula funding is
006a statewide opportunity that any eligible school systems can tap into provided that they meet the base calendar eligibility requirements. They host adsy days for eligible students and submit those days via the team's extended year submission following the school year in which the adsy days were hosted. This slide outlines the base date requirements for general adsy participation for all school systems. So recent legislative updates have expanded ads eligibility to include grades 6 through 8, lowered the base calendar requirement from 180 days to 175 days, and increase funding opportunities for campuses that add more instructional days through the 3/4 day formula funding pathway. To qualify, campuses must now serve at least one grade level within grades preK through 8. The base academic calendar will include the minimum of 175 instructional days with at least 75,600 operational minutes
007excluding any minutes covered by staff development waiverss. And so now we have more detail on how school systems should set up their base calendar and their adsy days which is dependent on which of the two formula funding pathways that the school system will be pursuing for the eligible campus. So to generate half-day formula funding. So halfday ads formula funding that's the purple column on the left that campus that's serving the grade levels uh prek through 8 must add between 1 and 30 additional half days of instruction beyond the 175 uh day base calendar. So what this means for for this formula funding pathway is that a campus could add as little as one ads a day beyond the minimum 175day threshold and have that one day generate formula funding once submitted in PS for the
008half-day formula funding pathway. A teacher meeting the school uh systems certification requirements must deliver at least 2 hours of instruction for each added day for the three/arters day formula funding pathway. So this is this deep blue column on the right. It's available to campuses that have a total of at least 200 full instructional days in the calendar. So this total can include the adsy days but the campus must operate that base academic calendar for all campus instructional tracks with 175 full instructional days and that meeting that minimum 75,600 operational minutes. The campuses that are pursuing the threequarters day formula funding must then add between 25 and 30 additional full days beyond the base calendar to meet the 200day threshold. The adsy days must include at least 4 hours of instruction delivered by a teacher meeting
009the school system certification requirements. And finally, for both pathways, adsy days must be scheduled separately from the regular calendar days. So they can't be hosted as part of a regular school day. For example, they can't occur at the second half of a standard instructional day. So what the adsy planning and execution program does is provide grantup supported opportunity for school systems to access ads formula funding and add days in a way that's aligned to research. And we'll talk through what that looks like for ADSY full year as well as what it looks like for ADSY summer. So there are three TE identified models for calendar design. This grant supports ADSI summer um so this is a summer learning summer enrichment program as well as the adsy fullear redesign and so school systems are going to
010be able to apply for grant support for either adsy summer or ads fullyear redesign via the adsy planning and execution program grant. So, we've talked through the problem that ADI aims to solve through more time, which is summer learning loss, which compounds overtime for students from lowincome backgrounds. We've talked through the opportunity to combat summer learning loss via ads, which provides a statewide opportunity for eligible campuses to generate either half day or 34 day formula funding. Now, we'll talk through the adsy planning and execution program. So this is this box that's highlighted in green which is designed to support school systems with not only tapping into the threearter state formula funding but also to do so in a high quality research aligned way that has been shown to deliver results for students. Adip students tend
011to outperform their peers and star performance trends. And so we'll talk through what uh what that data also tells us about students who participate in a grant supported ADSI program. All right, we've talked through this background. So we're going to dive deeper into the ADSI planning and execution program. So, ADSPEP is a grant program that supports interested school systems with implementing research-based extended learning programs through either ADS fullyear or ADSI summer uh learning while generating ads formula funding to utilize long-term. This grant is designed to help strengthen ADSI formula funding implementation and school systems can access ads funding if they meet ADSI requirements with or without participation in the ADS pep grant. But the grant does help support with aligning uh to a research aligned or researchbased program. School systems that are participating in the
012ADSP grant are going to engage in a year-long strategic planning process. They're going to receive technical assistance and professional development from extended learning experts as they prepare their ADZY programs. So again, highquality evidence-based ADZY programs help prevent summer learning loss. And since its inception four years ago, Adipep has demonstrated clear evidence which shows that students who do participate in grantup supported ADSI programs outperform their peers that do not. We'll share more about the gains we're seeing for students participating in grantup supported ADSI programs in the next slide. And so campuses that are serving students in grade prek through 8 are eligible for grant funding and we'll design a research align adiy program um while generating adsy formula funding. As we look at the outcomes by adsy model the data tells us a powerful story about
013the impact of both ads pep summer and adsy fullyear redesign programs. First let's orient ourselves to the graph. The orange bar represents non-ADI students statewide. The blue bar shows ads pep summer participants. The purple bar indicates at the fullear redesign participants while the green bar indicates adsy students who participated but without grant support. What's important to note is that ADSI students typically start from a lower baseline in star performance, meaning a smaller percentage of students initially meet grade level expectations in math and reading. Yet despite this, students participating in ADSPE summer and ADSI full-year redesign grantup supported programs achieved significantly larger gains in the 2000 in 2023 compared to their peers which is what you're seeing here um in this graph in front of you. So in math statewide students saw a modest percentage increase
014in 2023 and those meeting the grade level standards at the pep summit participants saw a 10 percentage point increase fullyear redesign saw an 11 percentage point increase and even non-grant adsy students saw a 5 percentage point increase in reading statewide there was a 3 percentage point decline while ads pep summer particip participants outperformed that trend with a 3 percentage point increase and AD as a full year outperformed that trend with a 1 percentage point increase and non-grant adi students saw a slight decline decline of a 1 percentage of 1 percentage point. So, and also although not shown on this slide, it's worth mentioning that in the 232 24 school year, students attending ADZY programming continued to outperform state trends and growth rates for both math and reading star even though the gains were not as
015dramatic as what we're seeing on this slide. So the key takeaway for us here is that ads pep summer and adsy full year are not just about adding days they're delivering results. The data demonstrates that when campuses leverage grantup supported research aligned extended uh learning models. students see real measurable academic growth which is why we're excited to offer these opportunities through lasso 4 and why we encourage eligible campuses to consider applying for ads pep support when applying to adsep there are two models that school systems can select from in lasso for so there's ads fullyear redesign and adsy summer learning as we move into the third tier of this diagram diagram, you'll see the different options for applicants based on the eligible grade levels. So for grades preK through 5, this is for campuses that
016have never drawn down ADSI formula funding under a previous ADS pep grant participation. There is grades 6 through 8, which is for previous ADEP participants that are seeking grant support to expand into grades 6 through 8. So remember that for adsy this eligibility piece for grades 6 through 8 is new under house bill 2 from the 89 legislative session and so these uh previous ads pep participants are going to have the opportunity to expand into grades 6 through 8. So what is true for ads summer is also true for ads full year. So grades prek through 5 um as well as grades uh 6 through 8 for this expansion opportunity. This slide also shows the anticipated number of grantees within each model. We anticipate awarding approximately 30 ADI summer grantees and approximately six ads fullyear
017grantees. Let's now talk through the adsy fullear model and what this is going to look like throughout the grant program for ads pep. The first cohort we want to talk about again is ads foyer. So this is for districts that are interested in going allin on the adsy model with an innovative learning experience for students year round. Campuses are going to have the opportunity to creatively reimagine the typical school day exploring new strategies that can benefit both students and teachers. Adsy full year leverages the 25 plus adsy days by strategically embedding them into the regular school year calendar to create a revamped 200 plus day calendar. This allows the campus to increase daily and weekly teacher planning time maximizing teacher sustainability and avoiding burnout. And simultaneously, it allows for an increased um time allocation for
018student brain breaks and enrichment and enabling a better student day-to-day experience. Here we have an example of how an adsy day may look like for your campus. Notice here that Wednesdays in this example are strategically changed to meet the needs of students and teachers. Adsy days are strategically designed to have more time for brain breaks and 90 minutes for students to engage in project-based learning instead of the 290 minutes of traditional instruction. And ADS day instruction is focused on accelerated learning time and reading and math. The key here is the freedom and flexibility for your campus to address individual needs of students during the school day. Now, we're going to review the three-year grant implementation roadmap for new ADSI fullyear preK through 5 campuses awarded under ADS PEP. So year one here, we'll start on
019the left, focuses on planning and readiness and will feature key activities by the school systems such as completing an ADSI fully year strategic plan, developing the 2027 2028 master schedule that's aligned to the ADSI theory of change for the participating campus. They're going to be focusing on securing schoolboard signoff on the 2728 campus calendar. Um, and this is again to continue to meet the ADZI eligibility requirements. School systems that are able to successfully complete their planning year may apply for year 2 continuation or implementation funding. And then once we reach year two, campuses are going to be able to implement that planned master schedule. And part of this year is going to feature key activities like implementing that master schedule, analyzing student attendance and student growth, engaging in program visits and observation feedback with your
020approved technical assistance provider, and generating and sharing an impact report of what you're seeing on the campus. Again, this is going to also feature securing securing board approval for the 2829 calendar to continue to ensure that the calendar is meeting uh the eligibility requirements so that you can continue to generate formula funding for that campus. And then school systems that successfully complete their implementation year, so that's year two, will be able to apply for year three continuation uh funding. And so year three is going to focus on sustainability and continuous reflection. And so by going through this year three process, school systems are going to in year three continue implementing their refined master schedule that's aligned to the ads a full year theory of change. They're going to continue analyzing student outcomes, conducting satisfaction surveys,
021and creating a sustainability plan, and participating in the Azie PEP exit interview. Throughout all three years, grantees are going to receive ongoing support via monthly professional development um access, one-on-one technical assistance from your approved provider, and strategic plan feedback from ads pep fullear experts. So, this structured timeline ensures that campuses are not only implementing the ads fulyear model with fidelity, but also building the capacity for long-term success. Let's take a look at the funding timeline for campuses serving grades preK through five for adsy full year and how it reflects a tapered down sustainability centered approach uh for supports. So in year 1 so that's 2627 so at your last four award campuses are going to receive an initial award of 250,000. This funding supports the foundational activities such as strategic planning, master scheduling, development, stakeholder
022engagement, laying that groundwork for implementation support. And then school systems that do successfully complete year 1 are going to be able to apply for continuation funding for year two. So that's in the school year. you'll have this $200,000 um dollars awarded and uh to support implementation. And then year three, you'll have 150,000 that is awarded to continue to support that last year of grant supported implementation. This tiered funding model not only supports implementation but also helps reinforce that long-term vision for ADSI which is to empower these campuses to sustain expanded learning opportunities beyond the life of the grant. And so remember, in addition to this grant funding, as you're hosting those ADSY days, you're also submitting them in PES to continue to generate the ADSI formula funding um that serves as that foundation for this
023grant program. With the passage of House Bill 2, we're excited again to offer this opportunity uh for the ADY fullear pilot for grades 6 through 8. So, this expansion allows middle school campuses to engage in a structured two-year planning and implementation process that's designed to build a sustainable ADSI fullear program at campuses that are serving grades 6 through 8. So, note here that the planning year and the implementation supports are going to look the same as those that are in the preK through 5 cohort. The only difference is that the grade six rate expansion pilot does not feature continuation funding or grant supports for the 2829 school year. This slide outlines the funding structure for campuses participating in the ADS fullyear expansion pilot for grades 6 through 8. Again, the sixth grade expansion pilot is
024open only to school systems with prior ADI pep participation that are seeking to expand to grades 6 through 8. Adsy fullear funding for grantees awarded in this expansion pilot totals 250,000 for both years combined. And we anticipate awarding up to four award spots for qualified previous ADSP participants that are applying for both ADSI fully year and ADI summer in this grade six rate expansion pilot. And should a school system be awarded for both models, the funding cap that you see on the screen here will apply. So, we've talked through um the first half of this um and now I'm going to go ahead and pass it over to Erica Stewart to lead us through the rest of the webinar. Thanks, Rama. So, now that we've talked about the ADZI initiative and the ADSI folure redesign
025grant opportunity, we're going to take a look at the ADZI summer learning grant opportunity and then close out with some next steps. So, a study from the RAN Corporation, which was the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, found that summer programs with specific quality parameters effectively eliminate summer slide. And you can see those quality parameters here on the slide. They're running a no-cost program for five to six weeks, keeping class sizes small, ensuring certified teachers provide at least three hours of academics each day, offering high quality enrichment, and providing transportation and meals at no cost. So, the Adep Summer grant program is grounded in this research and these parameters. Over the last 5 years, ADPE summer has served over 30,000 students statewide each summer. 85 school systems have participated in the program and
026we benefited from the support of 11 different state and national partners that have lent their expertise in summer learning to the program. Here we see an overview of the grant participation timeline for the ADI summer preK through 5 cohort. So you'll see that in all three years of grant participation, school systems will ensure the school board signs off on the ADZI calendar for the next year, completes the summer strategic plan, engages in a program summer site visit each summer, uh create and share with TEA and other stakeholders a summer program impact report, and apply for continuation funding for the following year for years one and two of the program. And then year three has three unique deliverables. All the same deliverables but then three unique deliverables which are ensuring annual school board sign off of
027the adsy calendar. This just becomes part of what the school system does every year. Uh creating an Azie sustainability plan to support ADSY implementation and also ongoing summer program implementation that lives beyond the life of the grant. um and then participating in an adipep exit interview. And then supports that grantees receive every year through the grant are monthly professional development, monthly one-on-one technical assistance, and strategic plan feedback from ADPE summer experts. Here we have an overview of grant funding for the ADSEP summer preK through 5 cohort. You can see the grant funding amount for each year beginning with $100,000 in year 1, the 2627 school year, and then scaffolding down to $33,000 in the last grant year with the same approach as full year with the tapered amount approach building towards sustainability beyond the grant.
028And here we have the ADPE 6 through8 expansion pilot. Uh so for this pilot, deliverables and supports are the same as the preK through 5 cohort. The only difference is that the grade six through eight expansion pilot is a two-year grant commitment versus a three-year grant commitment. And then as a reminder, the grade 6 through 8 expansion pilot like full year is open only to school systems with prior ads participation that are seeking to expand to grades 6 through 8. You can see that ADSI summer grant funding totals 125,000 for both years combined and we anticipate awarding up to four spots to adip participants that apply and are awarded both full year and summer. And should a school system be awarded both models, the funding cap that you see on the screen will be applied.
029So that's summer. We're going to zoom out a little bit, talk about adsep requirements for both adsep summer and um ads pep folar. So what we see on the slide here are um some key asurances for both full year and summer. Um so first your project manager plays a really central role. The project manager will attend all learning community workshops, work closely with your approved provider and lead your district's ads pep steering committee uh to really make sure that everything is staying aligned and on track. The steering committee meets at least monthly, includes a variety of folks, but specifically repres representatives from both the finance and curriculum instruction team. And this team really guides the strategic planning over the course of the year. Throughout the grant, your team will need to attend all required professional
030development sessions and technical assistance meetings uh and maintain open communication with your technical assistance provider. One really critical milestone is securing board approval for an ADSI eligible calendar for the 2627 school year which is essential for grant eligibility and then maintaining that ads eligible calendar for the duration of the grant. Then finally remember that the adsy model requires at least 25 additional days be added to that um at least 175 uh day base instructional calendar. And that commitment also spans the full duration of the grant. Here we see grant requirements that are specific to each model. So we'll look at summer first. So some key requirements for ads pep summer is that school systems agree to place 25 to 30 adsy days in the summer. that those summer days have at least six hours of
031daily programming with at least three hours dedicated to math and reading, one hour of teaks based enrichment, and then the remaining two hours are used for an additional hour of enrichment and then transition lunch and other flexible needs. The school system also agrees to implement a datadriven summer academic strategy, making sure that that strategy is aligned to the regular year academic strategy and aligned to the regular year HQIM. And then if we look at full year, so for full year school systems also agree to place 25 to 30 adsy days. Uh the distinction here is that for full year school systems are ensuring that at least 75% of those days are placed between August and March. So both programs requiring 25 to 30 a days um but a difference in where those days are placed
032depending on the model. School systems also agree to develop and implement a strategic master scheduling plan that includes brain breaks and enrichment for students. Uh and school systems agree to make strategic shifts that result in a measurable increase in teacher planning time during the implementation years of the grant. And then both models require that academic instruction is delivered by teachers that meet the school system certification requirements. And then the full list of eligibility can be found in the program guidelines for both full year and summer. Here we have the adsy time commitment. So most of what you see on the left we covered in the previous slide on asurances but I want to highlight uh the responsibilities and time commitments for a couple of the roles on the right. Um so we we saw the
033project manager and the steering committee on the previous slide. Um but wanting to highlight the role of the superintendent in the school board. So your superintendent ensures district-wide alignment and your school board must approve the adsy calendar each year. And then full details can be found on both the grant one pager and in the program guidelines. Here we have the ads pep scoring criteria. So we look at the top part of this table. It has the base point allocation. So base points will be allocated in tiers based on the calendar that is submitted. the 2526 academic calendar that's submitted in the application. So, for example, if a school system has a 2526 academic calendar of 175 days, they would fall into tier 1 and would receive 30 points for their calendar. And then you can
034see tier 2 and tier three, the academic calendars that align with those and the number of calendar points that would be allocated for those. Um and then in addition to the calendar points, 10 additional points may be earned for implementing an IMRA approved curriculum during the 2526 school year. Then if we look at the bottom part of the table, so the priority points. So in addition to base points, priority priority points are also available for using blue bonnet learning prior strong foundations implementation completion having a resource campus designation for board of manager districts or districts with at least 5 years of unacceptable accountability ratings if a school system has an EP established educator preparation program. And if a school system has a teacher incentive aotment system in place. So applicants must receive a minimum of
03540 total points. So the base points plus the priority points to be considered for an interview. And interviews will be prioritized by highest base scores first followed by total score. The top 45 scoring applicants based on their model and grade level group will be invited to interview. And you can see the groups, the four groups here on the screen. Um, and each interview will be scored out of 30 points. And then for full details, you can see page 25 of the ADSP program guidelines. Interview discussions will focus on, you can see it on the left side of the screen, commitment to the ADSI instructional calendar, understanding of the ADS pep grant requirements, aligning the grant with the school's strategic priorities, instructional readiness, organizational capacity to engage successfully in the grant, and plans for sustaining the
036program beyond the grant program. A minimum score of 20 out of 30 points is required to be considered for an award. Final rankings will combine the interview score with the base and priority points that we saw two slides ago. Um, and then awards will be made in rank order beginning with tier 1 applicants which were those 175 plus instructional day calendars followed by tier 2 and tier three as additional funding remains. We anticipate awarding approximately 35 school systems with the following approximate breakdowns that you can see here. And note that 20 of the 35 awards are expected to be allocated to summer preK through five with the remaining 15 awards spread across the other cohorts. Approved providers. So grantees will be assigned their technical assistance providers in March of 2026 for ADIPEP summer. The approved
037providers are the regions 1, 11, and 20 education service centers. Grantees statewide will receive supports from one of these three regions for ADI summer. School systems do not need to be physically in the regions to receive an award or to receive support from one of these three ESC's. And then for ADS pep full year, one vendor will be approved for ads full year and a final vendor selection will be determined prior to the official start of the grant. And then the sapple web page is a good resource for additional context and information about approved providers. Okay, so last we'll look at some next steps. So lasso4 applications opened October 3rd. They closed December 3rd. Some major milestones to be aware of in addition to the application window. Scoring and interviewing opens December 4th through January
03822nd. The eGrants window opens February 3rd through March 5th. This is the window for districts to accept or decline any initiative offerings. And then the NOGA, there's a 60-day window for NOGA issuing. Another reminder that LEAs must submit lasso cycle 4 applications by December 3rd at 5 p.m. TEA emailed unique application links to LEA superintendent on October 3rd. If needed, ELEAs can complete a request for application link form to receive a new link. Um, however, and that's the link that the LEA must use is that Qualrix link, the unique application link. Um, even though there's a PDF of the application that's posted on the lasso cycle 4 website. And then applications must be signed by the superintendent to be accepted. If you have any questions coming out of today's session, we encourage you to attend
039um our upcoming office hours. So, the TEA ads team will be hosting office hours on October 28th from 12:00 to 12:30. TA is also offering application support sessions on October 27th and November 3rd. You can register for those sessions using the links in the webinar materials or on the lasso4 web page and then updated FAQs will be posted by November 3rd. Change requests and declines. So LASO has an informal discretionary competitive grant process. Declines and change requests are not advisable. If declines are requested, they will be considered on a case-byase basis, and they could raise the school system's federal grant risk level in the coming year. So, we really encourage you to discuss with your teams the requirements and eligibility for the ADSPE grant to determine if it's a good fit now before deciding whether
040or not to apply to avoid a potential decline or change request as outlined on this slide. For the ADIPEP grant specifically, we encourage you, if you have not already, to specifically consider your school systems academic calendar for the 2627 school year and the likelihood of it being ADZY eligible if not already. The process of securing board approval can sometimes be lengthy and having a board approved ADY eligible 2627 academic calendar is a requirement for grant participation should a school system be awarded. Here is a final overview of key dates and helpful tools to support your planning. All Lasso resources, timelines, webinars, planning tools are available at the lasso page. And thank you. So, this concludes our official presentation. We're going to stop recording now.