Contracts for outcome-based, high-impact tutoring are on the agenda for consideration when the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the first-floor board room of the administration building, 802 N. Sam Houston Ave.
Recommended suppliers are Air Tutors, LLC, Focus Care, Inc. dba FEV Tutor Inc., HeyTutor Inc., and Zovia, Inc. dba TutorMe, LLC. The total cost is $5,647,094, supplemental agenda material said.
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, the material said.
“We are engaged in outcomes-based contracting with each company to compensate for each successful student, or penalize for students who regress during the tutoring sessions,” the material 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, the material said.
The Texas Education Agency announced the launch of the Vetted Texas Tutor Corps, an initiative aimed at accelerating student learning through high impact tutoring, with the goal of reaching over one million students. ECISD met with six of the TEA vetted tutor companies and provided principals with an option to select the best possible provider that will meet the needs of each individual campus.
Virtual Learning Services is another purchase item.
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.
Supplemental agenda material said ECISD will partner with StrongMind. 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 will be federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, or ESSER III.
>> The recommended supplier/service provider is StrongMind, Inc. in Chandler, Ariz.
The district also is seeking board approval for 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 public hearing of the District’s FIRST rating for 2019-2020 data along with a management record that includes all of the required information as established by the Commissioner of Education is attached also is on the agenda. The public is invited to comment on the report.
FIRST stands for Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas.
