The Ector County ISD Board of Trustees approved high-impact tutoring for students.
Recommended suppliers were Air Tutors, LLC, Focus Care, Inc., FEV Tutor Inc., HeyTutor Inc., and Zovia, Inc., TutorMe, LLC for a total cost of $5,647,094.
The purpose of high-impact tutoring is to provide students the opportunity to close the COVID-19 learning gap through individual or small group tutoring.
How much the companies are paid will depend on student growth.
Supplemental agenda material for Tuesday’s meeting said this accelerated learning initiative supports districts with the House Bill 4545 requirement which states all students who were not successful on STAAR be provided accelerated learning as required by the law.
Superintendent Scott Muri said high-impact tutoring has been discussed on multiple occasions. The district received some $60 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
Muri said the target for those dollars was helping students recover academically from the pandemic and social-emotional learning.
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Lilia Nanez said 6,098 students are engaging in virtual tutoring and their progress will be monitored. For example, Nanez said the district gets daily attendance reports on which students didn’t log in.
Other students will receive different forms of support, including face to face or small group.
Nanez said the students were strategically selected and campus principals are in contact with the tutors and tutoring partners.
If a student regresses, the students’ schedule could be adjusted or another option for accelerated learning could be used.
StrongMind of Chandler, Ariz., was selected for the district’s virtual academy.
Senate Bill 15 relates to virtual and off-campus electronic instruction at a public school. SB 15 allows school districts with a district rating of C or higher to operate a local remote learning program to offer virtual courses outside the state virtual school network under Chapter 30A to eligible students.
Agenda material said StrongMind provides a virtual learning solution which:
- Engages students with rigorous TEKS aligned digital courses for grades K-12.
- Provides a robust learning management system (LMS to deliver lessons and track learning).
- Provides Texas-certified subject area teachers who will communicate with families, teach synchronous lessons, hold virtual office hours, and schedule individual coaching sessions based on learners’ needs.
- Provides high-quality student support services including special education, bilingual/dual language (kindergarten through fifth), English as a second language sixth through eighth grade, gifted and talented (intellectual focus), fine arts, physical education, and career and technical education, the material said.
The cost is $3,850 per student for a full year of instruction; estimating 100 students for a total cost of $385,000.
The funding source is federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, or ESSER III.
The board also approved a three-year research practice partnership with Texas Tech University to develop research questions, program evaluation design, data collections, and a final program evaluation report for the Opportunity Culture program.
The estimated cost is a total of $270,000 over a three-year contract. Opportunity Culture is designed to serve economically disadvantaged students by providing marginalized student populations with quality teachers, the supplemental material said.
A fourth item, professional learning and support from TNTP for teachers in ECISD’s alternative certification program (Odessa Pathway to Teaching) comes from the general fund, the board recap said.
On a separate item, Muri talked about an invitation the board received to be part of a program, sponsored by Raise Your Hand Texas, that helps train school boards on how to work with legislators through advocacy and policy development. All trustees were invited to participate and all expressed an interest in doing so.
Chief Financial Officer Deborah Ottmers conducted a hearing on the district’s Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas. The district received an A rating based on 2019-20 data.
In other business:
- Trustees voted 7-0 to approve the consent agenda. This month’s included minutes of previous meetings; bills for payments; acceptance of donations over $10,000; approvals of out-of-state travel for the Odessa High School choir to Orlando, Florida; the Permian High School Band to Seattle, Washington; and the PHS Orchestra to Branson, Missouri; additional T-TESS appraisers for 2021-2022; and an updated investment broker/dealer list.
- Voted 7-0 to approve the Certified Tax Roll from the Ector County Appraisal District.
- Special presentations included the introduction of National Merit Semi-finalist Akshathh Mukkera from Odessa High School and 19 other students recognized by the College Board, as well as the presentation of two awards from the United Way of Odessa to ECISD — the UWO 2020 Most Improved Campaign Award and the 2020 Dick & Amelia Saulsbury Sustained Excellence Award.
