ALC-Review

Are members there by one statute seats cheered as the accordance want to think everybody for being here this afternoon I see a full house we look like we are going to be smiths the money or talk about education possibly both. Alright so members we do have a if you look into packets would you have a set of middle agenda and so you know with that and what category brief explanation were you the motion okay so she don't see a motion second thank mister petty all in favor say yes opposed all right much carries glad the submit agenda that is going to be in the outer state contracts and with that cat he starts off thank you mister chairman we're going to start out with a one in your package are on page one. In at the review meeting in march a contract for the board of corrections for legal services was presented at the time board chairman magness requested the contract be pull from the agenda for the department to investigate it further that variety of the alc meeting the contract was referred to JPR for an investigation the review subcommittee has been presented with the JPR letter which you have in your packet and the sub committee is now in receipt of the letter and will maintain it on our fall. The. The. The. At buck you are getting okay. The next item on our gender are going to be for the director of the office of state procurement jessica patterson is here to present a rule this is a rural far osp and then after she completes her presentation of the rule of the committee will review the review review the rule if they feared and then it would go to rules later in the week so just a compare and send the director of office of state procurement she's the new director took mr armstrong's place and what a great month to be taken over jessica welcome to the review committee and if it goes your name and your position for the record you be recognized for your comments. Hello i'm just compatison director of the office of state procurement i'm here today to present a rule the office of separate procurement is promotating this role pursuing to act five fifty six of twenty twenty three the governor's office approved the rule on december eighth twenty twenty three the role was published from january twenty eighth to january thirtieth of twenty twenty four the public comment period expired on february twenty seventh of this year no comments were received and no changes were made we request your approval of this rule as proposed by the department. Alright members are any questions of the committee. All right so you know questions to other motion review. Motion second or in favor of say I opposed which has been doubted ago for review letter this week or rules that are this week thank you jessica. Mr chairman the next item on your agenda is going to be a vehicle lease this is a review item for us a three it's from the university of arkansas this is a division of bag they have a received a federal grand award from the federal transit administration they are wanting to lease at fifteen passenger van will be used in the delta rides initiative and they note in the documents that they sent over that it was going to be for ten months at fifteen hundred dollars per month later on they acknowledged that the funding was late in being received so now it will only be for seven months so they were reading a fifteen passenger van for seven months a total of ten thousand five hundred dollars again that's a one thousand five hundred per month they note that this project is to help address the needs of community members who face transportation barriers and attempt to provide access to destinations that they might not have available to them they provided a lot of detail about the project and about the additional calls in addition to the leasing of the van again seven month lease. And again this used to be a approval item for this committee but it's now a review item. All right and any questions for members of the committee all right see no questions without objection this animal has reviewed mr chairman the next items on urgent or methods of finance we on the first page of the packet b is the letter from dfa of the methods of finance that they've sent over for review on the next page is the chart the first one is I issue jones borrow for collegiate park each back system three hundred fifty one thousand eight sixty nine they have university reserves arkansas tech has several the first one of four full h back project one point two million then they have the nut hall elevator replacement tucker collect policy one point two million and the corally building one point four million they note that they have bonds proceeds for all of those on the next page still a couple more of number six for arkansas tech is the eighty u power plant four point four million dollars and then number seven for arkansas tech is commons apartment interior renovations five hundred fifty thousand dollars for this particular project they note that they have funds reserved for facilities repairs and renovations number eight was sent over by dfa and then was pulled it was not needed to be sent over for a review number nine is south arkansas college this is for facilities building. It is five million one hundred and fifteen thousand five hundred they have agency bank phones to cover that project southern arkansas university educational improvements three hundred and fifteen thousand again agency bank funds for their sau tech for the five training academy of various projects these we've seen before we've got two that will see that are for the SAU tech and they were both funded for by arpa funds and they are actually adjusting the methods of finance back down to the exact amount of arbor funding that they're receiving so both of my being reduced this one is being reduced a hundred and sixty two thousand dollars and then on the next page say you take for the fire training ems building four million two hundred and sixty one thousand what it initially was they're dropping that down to four point two million and again both of these are are profunded projects number thirteen ua community college moralton for the nursing and science center sixteen million three hundred forty two thousand five hundred they have several types of funding for this that bond proceeds and see bank friends as well as some federal grant phones. Uamas number fourteen this is the seventh floor. Five hundred and thirty seven thousand nine forty nine they have reserves that will cover that and number fifteen to relocate our viable animals or plants are kept under conditions similar to a natural environment to add this ones being revised six hundred and eighty seven thousand four seventy four and they have reserves for that project is well number sixteen ua plastic tech various deferred maintenance repairs a little over three point three point two million dollars they are plant funds as well as some arpa funds to cover that and i'm page on the next page number seventeen UI plasky tech for the weather damage repairs to the culinary arts hospitality management institute four hundred sixty seven thousand one hundred dollars they'll be using college reserves and insurance proceeds to cover that the the claim with the insurance has not been finalized yet so they were unable to give me the the exact amount of that but they do anticipate in an insurance proceeds for part of that you pulaski tech center for humanities and arts building four hundred seventy five thousand two hundred they have college reserves for that you a arkansas school for math sciences in the arts for the administration building this is right bars to five million seven hundred and seventy five thousand dollars and they have reserves in general revenue reimbursement for that project and then finally number twenty also for the school for math sciences in the arts for the academic and admin building three hundred fifty thousand and they have reserves to cover that those with the methods of finance on today's agenda all right members you heard an explanation earning questions for members of the committee alright see no questions with our objections these items will stand as reviewed mr chairman the next item is in your packet is see this is an alternative delivery construction project this is a project over five million dollars this is for the UA month seller it's for the arkansas. Forest health research center the soviety designed and equipped for state of the research education they'll have research labs and teaching labs they have selected clark contractors twenty six months for the project fifteen million two hundred seventy three thousand and they note that they have our performance that are covering that project that's the only alternative delivery that we have on the agenda today all right there was a very explanation are any questions from the committee right say no questions of objection this and sent as reviewed. The next items on our agenda are grants the first batch come from the health department d y the first one is an amendment to a grant they have for reducing cancer burden of with the arkansas cancer plan the second one improving breast and service graining practices the third one is a new grant that they're awarding to reduce the number of deaths from prostate cancer number four is that a member to a grant for breast cancer screenings number five is an amendment to a grant that they have for the arkansas home business network number six is an amendment to a grant for support and strengthening the capacity of arkansas asian coalition those are all for hay off the next batch of grants are going to be from DHS the first when there is for an amendment to a grant for improving life for adults with disabilities the next one is that a member to a grant for programs and services for improving quality of life for our cansons with disabilities number three is a date only extension a assisting harmless individuals will serious mill mental illness number four strategic plan carried out by cares consulting group number five is an original grant for employment training services for snap recipients number six is a grant for homeless to help prevent homelessness it's an amendment to that grant number seven is an amendment to the care whoever's care of givers respect care pilot program goodness number eight is for the year round programming for individuals with special needs those are all the grants for DHS the next badge of grants on the next page are from arkansas court appointment special advocates the cost of grants this is for local costs and programs that re. Crew train and supervise volunteers to advocate for neglected children they provide for the local program salaries and volunteer calls and on the next two pages you have the one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in grants that they plan to distribute for this year and then I also want to bring your attention to page eight of this packet this is a letter from administrative office of the courts this has to do with their modifying the current year costs a grants and what they note is they had one program that fell out of compliance and so their fourth quarter they did not desperate the of their allied matter them so they had phones left over twenty two thousand two hundred fifty dollars and so they are proposing that the remaining funds be allocated equally among the twenty twenty two costs of programs so there you have a list of all of the programs that will receive one thousand eleven dollars from this year's current funding for that cost of grants so those are all the grants on today's agenda thank you gathy all right center hammer you're recognized for a question thank you for. Well staff if she can okay you know which program fell out. Yes so. Yes are in the letter they note that it is the twentieth judicial district conway counting. The. Serving farther band your insurance on like i'm sorry I was reading real quick and I didn't see thanks. All right thank you center all right members seen over the questions with objections these are understand as reviewed. Mr chairman the next items on our gender are contracts and beginning in the epac packet the first thing we have is the letter from office of state procurement jessica patterson noting that none of the contracts being presented today appear to have been procured in violation of arkansas procurement law and she also notes that we have one r if that has been requested and it has been approved so going to the second page e one i'll go ahead and go over the rf that's been reviewed and approved bar officers take procurement this is for all and gas commission arkansas energy and environment this is for well plugging and they know that they've used the rf since I believe two thousand and eleven they like to identify qualified plugging contractors and then they're able to select the one that meets the needs that they have again osp has approved this and if they choose to in the future they can use an rf to procure a contract. The first group of contracts that will go over our construction related contracts and they start on page four so the first one there is for the department of energy and environment in environmental quality and this is for environmental consulting design services number two south arkansas community college for architectural design services number three u of a on call environmental services and number four is architect architectural fees for the silicon carbad fact fabrication lab number five UA month sell up architectural engineering that's for the arguments of forest health research center number six architect services for a roof and each bank repairs number seven you a month for architect and services for a roof and each bag repairs number eight is uams for architectural engineering services number nine is commissioning services number ten is at all called architectural and engineering services excuse me number eleven still with uams on call architectural engineering and number twelve the member two existing contract they have for architectural and engineering those are all of the outer state contracts on today's agenda all right members see any questions without seeing any questions these areas will stand as reviewed. Mr chairman the next group of contracts are the intergovernmental contracts the first one arm page eight is the department corrections division of corrections with UAMS for a risk assetsments for a juvenile sex offenders number two this is department of education uams for the coordinated school health program number three departments health with little rock ambulance authority to facilitate prompt communication and coordination of resources for pre hospital patients and inner facility transfers number forward apartment of health for implementing the women infants and children's parenting program number five department of health with us this one is for a real time access to imaging far arkansas trauma patience number six department of health UAMS for increasing breast cancer screening being the other mobile services number seven department of health of money page eleven is to continue efforts to improve the health of our cabinet are kansas through evidence based health policy research number a department of health for uams assistant professor to work as a deputy science officer number nine is for a valuation this is a department of health tobacco settlement with uca and this is the evaluation services for the seven programs that refunded bad to back of settlement phones number t is department of human services with uams for shelter for domestic violence victims number eleven DHS with ua ms this is for the emergency medical and surgical services for patience of the state hospital number twelve on page thirteen is from DHS with ualr for parenting education number thirteen is for continuing education and training of dcf staff faster parents and students noperiod fourteen is a valuation of family first services and prevention. And act services number fifteen is to administer the autism wave and waiver program number sixteen for DHS with UAMS is far continuing services for individuals at the human development center on the next page DHS with UA ms for providing assessment of children with special health care needs number eighteen on page fifteen is DHS with department health for implementing the patient center medical home model number nineteen with the arkansas insurance department is for the all payer claims database operations related to medicaid continuing on DHS number twenty with you a ms for financial reporting of for medicaid programs waivers and grants and number twenty one with jefferson county for a programming and coordination with the jefferson county jim justice center number twenty two is the department of public safety will stay police with you a fail for crash data and number twenty three state chrome liab with for medical residency training program agreement with you a ms for their forensic pathology fellowship program those are the intergovernmental contracts on today's agenda all right are there any questions for members of the committee alright seeing no questions and without objection these are understand as reviewed as chairman the next group of contracts are going to be our outer state contracts beginning on page eighteen. The first one is the arkansas public defender commission this is to provide indigent parent council representation I will note there's only one in out of staple we'll see thirty some odd over in the in state contracts for this same program number two arkansas state this is to provide legal immigration a legal services on immigration matters number three arkansas teacher retirement this is for actuarial services number four department agra this is for their harvesting and lifting services. Number five this is department of commerce work for services for you I call center management this particular contract was done as a special precurement for six months and they've had an additional six months awarded number six is department comma state insurance department for workers compensation telephone tree on the next page number seven is department of corrections for the pre auditing services number eight is the department of education this is an amendment to an existing contract for child nutrition excuse me reviews number nine is department of education this is a contract for with solution tree for professional development training number ten department education for electronic transcript system number eleven is for fully functional term key secure mobile driver's license solution number twelve language interpretation transcription services number thirteen is for work force computer programs number fourteen of our dhs is for legal case management solution and implementation on page twenty three number fifteen there are actually two actions being considered today one is for adding funding for linen rental and laundry services the other one is the member that changes the name of air mark uniform to vesters number sixteen is DHS for nursing staff at the arkansas state hospital number seventeen is for skilled nursing and other medical professionals at the arkansas health center number eighteen is lab diagnostic testing services at the arkansas state hospital number nineteen for DHS is forced. Skilled nursing and medical personnel at arkansas health center number twenty is for quality improvement reviews number twenty one on page twenty five is for s d m assessment system number twenty two is for pre admission screenings and resident review assessments contract number twenty three d h is for one side pick up shredding removal and disposal services number twenty four through twenty seven on page twenty seven these are all going to be for providing nursing medical staffing services for the arkansas human development center number twenty eight on the next pages for psychiatric services and that's at the architect human development center number twenty nine is for day treatment transportation for medicaid beneficiaries number thirty is for dms program physical consultant contract number thirty one on page thirty is for the arkansas medicaid enterprise medicaid management information system this is for the pharmacy system number thirty two is still with dhs up or are architecture I mean actually real services number thirty three is DHS with optum this is for independent assessment and support programs. The next page d has division of medical services with optum this one is for one month and this was done as a special procurement it's on your blue pages page one and two it's independent assessment and support program and they know that they are currently in contract negotiations with the responsible better but they needed just a little bit more time to get everything worked out so again this is just a one month contract to help with that number thirty five is dhs this is for certified nurse number thirty six this is the DHS contract with ride of passage and this is for the residential facilities at the various locations that are allowed located there number thirty seven department of public safety division arkansas state police to install one wet sprinkler system located at the state police paint sharp number thirty eight is free employment and fit for duty physicals for the state police number thirty nine emergency management for temporary position to work with a win number forty and forty one or both to increase pricing there's no change in the dollar amount but the prices are changing on their sexual salt kit processing number forty two transformation insured services up false in county assessor office x parcel database number forty three department of veterans affairs for health auditing services for the north rock fate will veterans home for medicaid reporting number forty four that the this is for nursing and medical staffing services number forty five university of arkansas or continuation of energy in utility management information system project number forty. Six consulting services for data strategy. Number forty seven year value for campus space used study project. Number forty eight ulr for temporary staffing number forty nine UAMS computer aid for a providing web development database administration earned reporting number fifty uams for comprehensive insurance discovery scanning reporting solution and number fifty one university of central arkansas generatorial services and then also we have our supplemental agenda item which. Is in a separate packet this is the department of education with side car and on the second page of the packet you'll see a letter from an apartment vegetation noting that. This is the education freedom account and literacy to total in grants with side car and there were. This this was on the april agenda for peer review and we were in session and it had to be pulled can at the last minute because there were two protests and so department ad is going into detail about the two protests that osp have found no finding on either protest so they were not sustained and the reason it. Is on a supplemental agenda item there were some confusion about getting it back on the agenda even though it had been pulled and said it would be back on this month so are the details of the contractor on the last page on page five again it's department of education with side car these are the education freedom accounts and literacy tutoring grants this is a four year contract eight million eight hundred and forty thousand it's too many and five hundred ten thousand annual amount and those are the outer state contracts on today's agenda thank you county all right I think about seat number fifty six that you send her murdoch earth center chesterfield yes thank you mr chair may i. I have procurement come to the table sure thank you. Looking to re our proposal okay and i'm looking at the mg carnegie bailey and solution to all bidding for this same contract and i'm noticing that mgs cost was eighteen million nine hundred carnegie was twenty two million eight hundred and ninety bailey twenty five million nine hundred seventy thousand and solution three was one hundred twelve hundred twelve million. Four hundred and eighty eight thousand five hundred ten dollars. If there if there is usually that greater difference in cost what is the usual procedure for procurement. Well cost and and there's a because this was done as a request for a proposal there was a consideration of both cast in the technical proposal provided by each of the vendors solution tree received a perfect score on their technical proposal of seven hundred points and that was seventy percent of their score thirty percent worse related to costs and so in combination of the technical score and then the cost they ended up with the highest the highest total points and that's why they rewarded the contract under procurement is there not something that deals with that differential in cost. Other than a combination of the technical score in the cost no okay so it was not an it is not unusual for us to grant a contract that is over hundred million more just about the successor. I don't know if it's unusual or not unusual but that this is the typical trust this is your first month so you I guess you would know historically I don't have all of that information but I will say that this is the standard process in an rfp of evaluating the cost the cost and add is thirty percent and then the technical proposal which again social injury received a perfect score a perfect score already who did the scoring there were five evaluators. And were any of them associated with solution to I actually the office of supercrement denies select the evaluators that were selected by the the school board associate mean the administrators association. They were selected by the reselected by eighty th eighty eight not transfer that to the school borders I mean the administrators association. By the up to the office of state procurement. No i'm sorry what your first month why i'm at why am I bothering you with this okay because I am concerned because it seems that the administrator's association were given this test in lou of eighty e or by ade and i'm just wondering miss cheer me I called them to to the standard out i'll be through you only tell me I could have two questions of already over one there you are nothing of not self aware center chest i'll give you a breath eighth question but this is it all right you will feel from disabled you you want to bring yeah you're making me ask this yes bring eighty eight up and out okay so i've made the reverse yeah that they'll they'll take care of their here comes greek no glary no to bounce this during the telstra judge but two questions we prepare for ten nah just one thank you greg rogers former education great could you tell me how many schools there are solution tree schools that have moved from escales to see schools. I'd have to get that on over now with I can get that to you I would appreciate it mister chair yeah that gets to tap and they can get that to members of committee thank you so very very much cash have been able to use so all right senator hammer. Like gregor gun for your mind yes I got greg sorry buddy they can share on this subject maybe that I question DHS. What what were the scores you've said seven hundred for the technical what did the other company score. The. For the technical scores mgt scored four hundred and forty eight carnegie learning scored scored four hundred and sixty nine and bailey education group scored four hundred and twenty. The. Is there unusual for somebody to score a perfect score on the technical side or without your historical knowledge would you know in my experience now. It is not unusual okay. And the other score the relate the related call scores what with those please. Umm the costs scores were a solution to rescored fifty point four one mgt scored three hundred carnegie learning scored two hundred and forty eight and bailey education group scored two hundred and eighteen point thirty three and had the totals if you would like this as well okay and I i'm taking a position at fifty is not the end of the scale you want to be on you and be more toward the three hundred is that correct that's correct ok so can you speak to what was it that made them a solution to more positioned to have a perfect score seven hundred and the other ones were all in the four hundred cause what i'd be concerned about is. If. They're they're all within a reasonable range of each other in the four hundred but solution trees that much higher did you note anything that was really glaring as far as why the difference not that I am aware because those scores were scored by the evaluators and I was not in valuator. And greg and john picked you valuated. Yes we add start off we paid nine they waited they were former teachers a year administrators and people within this court history and then because of scheduling conflict the non cannot went down to seven in the seven went down to five who were able to get together had the meetings go through the different evaluations for the reviewing of the applications and the interviews and self or so we start off with narm but far for able to find the allocate the time to be able to go through this process and did you say they were all administrators now there were teachers administrators they were different people within the school district there was nobody from adding on this evaluation to and of those at far that were paid what gave them the qualification to be able to score on the technical aspect of the contract or with what what made and proficient to be a look with ones on the story that due to their experience in the school districts the ones that were out there some of them had gone through the process as i'm having we were looking for a regional look to everybody that had working in school district that is part of the school during part of the different school districts that may be going to this process in the future and then last thing is what about the audit they just suppose to be float around out there do you know about it and i'm sorry i'm not up to speed other than i've heard that there's audit there were reading to get the results on you know anything about their can you speak no so I don't I don't know anything I know there was one that there was a request made to the the the audit committee that was done I know that mean they got it has been going to the process i'm not aware of where they are close they are alright thank you said her hammer. Err representative grant hodges you're recognized for a question. Thank you mister share can we have the department come up I don't know craig wants to answer all the questions or if you will have anyone else coming. I'll keep i'll keep going to our start around and okay okay so we've spent about seven years and at least a hundred and forty three million dollars of taxpayer phones towards this plc program with solution to there have been two detailed studies of this program one from the bureau of legislative research which today study in twenty twenty two and one from the UA office of education policy which just came out last week was covered in the democrat. Both of those studies reached the same conclusion this program has not produced results why does the department believe we should double down for another seven years and one hundred million dollars of taxpayer money. So here a major no part of the process is that in in our recommendation and adequacy recommendations there is a process where sixteen half being dollars is set aside for professional own communities and instead of going through the process where we went to the special human as we did the first seven years we did do this rmp this time and going to the ip for the professional learning committee he's going to that process solution tree did go out is the winner of that process and that's how we kind of got here on there we have added additional steps measures in in this contract for performance looking at some of those things where are they moved the needle with student performance those are been added I think that those are in your package as well with the contract if not I can get your copy that but that's how we got here is an adequate community regulation and sixteen half million dollars and we did do an rfp and I must be troubled so i'll shut up now. Good afternoon I believe it secretary department of education just want to if add to some of greg's comments if I can immediately address some of the concerns about how the committee was selected first and foremost we knew that we were going to do a competitive process when I first came here about a year and a half ago I got a lost a lot by a lot of legislators not a dish officials people from other estate how do we feel about professionality communities is that going to help improve learning across the state one of the thing that I definitely heard first and foremost is that if we're going to procure a vendor to support the work of our agency it needs to go through a competitive process one of the things that I heard that there is a lot of concerns among state agencies in the legislative body is that the previous contract that you are referring to was so sourced for seven years to deliver on the implementation of professional area communities through several different cohorts over the years so what we did as an agency says if we're going to continue in this work which is outlined in adequacy that we're going to air marker certain amount of dollars in the procurement process that we went to came in under that amount of dollars that has been dedicated by the legislature to perform this work we are going to do in a clear and transparent matter when we put together a committee of individuals to be the content experts we were a very delivered to make sure that nobody from our agency was on that they may sweet some of the input on what that evaluation process would look like in that we were deliberately selecting people that have been recognized in their field by being outstanding practitioners for either leading professional element for being leaders in the classroom for being leaders in the school district and or a score so we took the list of principles over year teacher the year curriculum associated the year went down the list and submitted every single one of their names and said this is who the state has recognized independently of our organization as experts in practitioners even got input from different legislators and said this is who we're going to try to work with. So when we develop that list of folks that were going to be independent experts on developing content we relied on those experts that are in classrooms and in schools and and district work in each and every single day. When it came up to how can we sustain this work i've been asked that question there says it there may be a near mark inadequacy that says that you're going to allocate a certain amount of dollars for the work towards the professional learning communities do we need to competitively be bit to bed that in my answer at that point is yes right right now our agency doesn't have the capacity to implement a large scale process so we want out indeed and open peer current define a partner to help us do in engage in this work so that we do not lose momentum that has happened from the first initial investment by the state and make sure that the next investment continues to move working forward towards improving learning and all of our schools. Thank you can I follow me and move on numbers thirty representative of you and get back in it back yeah. Sir gilmore recognition question thank you mister chair thank you sir for being here so do you have a list of who all the evaluators are that we could get for the committee yet because yes we'll be happy to share that okay and it's a and do you know off top of your head if any of these people had any interaction with solution to reprior to being evaluators that they don't work with solution tree I mean do you have any idea what we made sure that nobody that I was on that list where's part of this solution to reteam it meaning that if they were paid to be a representative for a sluce interview they weren't going to be on their list now whether or not they were in AAA recipe in a professional element they may have been yes it may have participated in the professional learning but they weren't part of the solution to retain so they could have been involved in with solution tree as far as pd goes or maybe even working with presentations related solution trees which are telling me yes sir okay all right thank you mister thank you surgery war all right senator clark thank you mr schools use solution to. They are the current vendor right correct not every school is using solution to so that's as as we're moving forward. With the next seven years of implementing professional and communities with we need to not have aspiration on goals but if a teamable goals of making sure that every district and every score in education and co op every everybody that's working on improving learning has been through the training process that that is something that we have identified and we've been working with solution tree on as we go through the next phase because what's what was not part of the first round of implementing professional area communities as a sustainability plan as a state we shouldn't have to rely on a vendor to keep delivering work that we need to eventually own so at the end of this contract would be a train to train the model that would be implemented we have identified credential people that can lead this work independent of an outside contractor having to do it because we should be able to do this and sustain this moment and moving forward in house with arkansas experts they do the majority of schools are you solicitoring I don't have the actual list ray in front of me but I can help provide that listen and what I would say disappointingly right now probably now when when I look at the number of districts that have been identified as certified professional learning community experts they have a designation that list is pretty loud does that mean that every district are every school didn't participate in some sort of learning through professional learning we have to remember that the solution tree process is more than just a couple schools participating in a cohort they worked with education and co operatives they worked with their education or resource sounds they've impacted teachers in schools and districts at scale in many different capacities but I would would not feel comfortable saying that they've hit every single school district let me declare a lot people sees they work very well in business there's no reason why they can't work in education and some i've got one superintendent who. Particularly locked plcs and and solution to. But as somebody who beared and takes bids i've never been in a situation where the best bidder. If a hard the other three. They would be together cumitably less. Then the winning better that that's a point where I just pull out and say this just doesn't feel right and again and i'm sorry in our process that's how that's where we end up that's not yours fault but do you understand what i'm saying that uh just doesn't have a good feel that that the other together or less than the then what we'd be paying here yeah II don't think you're alone in in that ceiling cause that's a question that we we've gotten after is that there is a significant amount of investment being asked between this bidding process between the number one beard the second third and fourth what what I can tell you is our agency has been tasked with implementing learns. This legislative delegation has been a support of that we've read that it might you mental educational reform on a bold initiative level from the governor all the way down and we're making sure that everything we do is to implement learns with fidelity and that includes supporting early learning that includes third graders reading an above gray level includes choice options for families includes different query pathways we've been meeting with the folks that solution tree that says you're asking for a significant investment from our state. This work has to align with learns in fact III when we talk with our team at the department II like to call it the finding the email method right so when when I remember watching finding the email they had a saying they said all dreams lead to the ocean rate so I was we're implementing the nimal level of learns all of our work leave the information learns and if the professional learning community model was solution to isn't there to support the priorities outlined in learns then we got a problem so we've met we've looked at what's been put to us in this proposal in feel that working with the experts and solution tree we're going to be able to deliver in use this umbrella as a vehicle to fully implement learns it it to hit scale by the end of the seven years we can stay every district every co op every school has been trained and we're implementing learns with fidelity but one more comment mr I want to repeat that i'm very much in favor of plcs. And the end of also very much in favor of measuring it's hard to measure anything during covered in say whether it was a success or not because we failed and here and nationally in education during covered but. I will repeat again I have a hard time swallowing the huge price different between the bidders and thank you for your help with those answers thanks are clark all right representative do you recognize your question thank you mr chair thank you all for being here I have so many questions but I know i'm limited in what I can ask I guess the road for my first initial question is my understanding with solution and is a large part of what they do lies is data student data to see where the students are get together as their places and to see how to move those students and had a best meet their needs whatever those are and I think that's a correct interesting ending of the data being important piece of this so my question is is if what solution trade one of their cores and i'm very familiar with a solution to read the after seven serving seven years on a school boarding so lots of latter thoughts so if after seven years are being were solution to and we have data over those seven years and before some after covered and that's seven years of kids lives seven years of learning that they have had an estate and the doubter that we that I have seen on them from it looks like three different studies at this point don't doesn't show any majorable. Improvement change difference between the ones that were using solution to and the ones were not using solution why on earth are we going back to a company that for seven years didn't significantly move the needle with data when they're all about data. Rate and the more expensive and we are going to take piece of kids. This is their learning every year we fail every year we don't with the mark. We are a failing kits and so i'm having a hard time understanding why we are going back and taken another buy that the apple with a company that had seven years of our students and the data shows they didn't make that big difference so can you explain that. So I i'm not gonna sit here and endorse a vendor or not endorse the vendor when i'm going to tell you that our priority is as an agency is implementing learns we did not have their seven years ago there's some key components that will be embedded in the professional learning community process around collective data disk starting this school year and twenty four in the fall will be the first time that this state has had a unified corner of progress minoring data system so that we can monitor student performance in use that date and professional learning communities to support the teachers with instructional purpose that they need to see we want to focus on the language in here being job embedded professional development where we're pushing into schools and classrooms and appalling people out of schools and classrooms so if we're going to continue with the professional learning community model that is dictated to us and adequacy that we got to do we were very delivered in the approach to say how we went about this is going to look a little bit different because it's going to be about supporting the priorities of learns in making sure that the deliberate conversations and and better practice are happening in schools around the right set of collective data to implement tier wine effective instructions making sure that all students have access to high quality affective great level instruction each and every single day so it's gonna look a little bit different and it's going to make a big shift from distraining one little school at a time to really making sure that we're building out a capacity network of individuals that could continue this work and scale this work across the state so that we can own it at the end of the cycle and in an independently. Thank you secretary alright etc. Bright thank you mister chair I think a big concern I have is is this is under audit slucentry for some of the irregulatory irregularities the concerns that some members of a brought about this loose injury I know we spent i'm here is eighty million over the last seven years we're looking at other seven years but during that time period the co ops and other schools have been another sixty three million with solution what is the department's plan to scale that back and actually make solution tree more acrable for the state sorry I think it goes back to some of the comments about the scope of the work in it when when we've met where the the experience so the people that are helping is build out kind of with the next fees of solution to reward is. Is one of things that we have to have is a goal like what is the purpose of going to this training does that lead to a credential or certification or a bad in how you qualify to leave this work so as we get folks that go through this training and become credentialed we would not be having to have additional contracts with the vendor to lead this work we'd be able to own it and lead it in house so so seven years ago I believe that's what was sold to this body and after seven years we've got nothing if we are did not do solutionary or any people sees what i'm understanding is we really wouldn't have anything measurable to sustain us to take us forward why do we think that another seven years is going to produce that. That's one of the performance requirements of this contract so we have to do that so it wasn't is my understanding that it was part of the original contract seven years ago and we in our eaten do we have any any data to suggest that they produce that i'd have to look at what the original contract was I was okay right thank you thank you. All right representative cozart. Russia up we were discussing i'll be having to pass your overmap will II disagree with the data there is data out there. For this I have a school and high spring which is high screen school system which uses this and most every one of their levels and they have raised a bar quite a bit they went from a seventy eight percent graduation right to an eighty five point four and a looking toward a ninety percent graduate rate in the next year and a half and I think that's raising the bar and they're they're they're reading levels have just expanded so much II could i've got three pages here i'm not going to read these tell you but i'm thinking side notes out of that too but it's it's really changed and lives in my area all seven schools have done some part of this lake hamilton is another school in my area that have had has great results from it I have one of the guys it is now he is a arkansas regional network practitioner that he's been doing that for last years I mean he goes to other schools and helps present this so this this is not going by the way sir gaz and girls this is working it might not work in every area may not work perfectly for every school we don't start this years ago they can it was just going to jump out there and go but this is working I have proof in most schools i'll give you a letter some of these people harry have this letter but it is working we've had report after report there's a room full people after the would tell you that this works and it's not going by the way side of spoke my piece of other than this is not a national million dollar contract for one year this is a fifteen million seven hundred closing with wouldn't you agree mr secretary I would I would try to put a question or something thank you that was a question but yes I think they would agree with me thank you all right members we saw quite a few here and there's gonna be some folks in the audience you know some educators are gonna be here to to speak for about some signed up to speak you know against citizens i'm i'm i'm really allowing some latitude here but just so it's not lost on everybody in the committee the perview the review company is to discuss the ins and outs of how the contract was procured and did it align with our state procurement loss. Your personal feelings about date or somewhat irrelevant so i'm assuming that the majority of the people in the queue are not asking questions about how this contract was procured we are going to have this conversation on friday in front of full ALC was not believe or this point today so be concise for the questions I don't want to hear that you know multiple people making the same point if you don't have something newer original get out of the queue with that center go more you're recognized for a question now i'm scared ask questions but I just chair so apparently that was the point is per my colleague sender clark of here just stated sector you stayed at a second ago you weren't here to endorse. You know this contract. But yet your comments lead me to think that you think it's worth moving forward with is that a fair statement what I would answer to that to speak to the process that it and I said i'm not here to endorse the contract or not we follow the process I feel like we can use this vehicle the implement learns that is what we are attached to do and that is what we are held accountable to do this professional learning community model as a system for schools and districts that are struggling to have a system and if their system is filled with rich content there's based on the science of reading that's using prague smiring data that's pulling professionals together to talk about how they can implement high yield strategies and improve learning then that is what we're going to do so thank you for that i've talked to because of this over the weekend the very long weekend and honoring you know our fallen heroes I got to talk a lot about solution tree that was in a great enjoyable weekend something I got that thanks for the chuckles so i've talked to so in my superintendence one even this morning on the way up here and just asked their thoughts and frankly was a mixed bag I heard and I talked to several and so I heard pretty much the same thing in the sense of it has a lot of good stuff large stuff we don't use lost if we don't need. So my question then years are we paying for a lot of stuff that we're not using I think I think that's a great question and i've the timing of that's pretty interesting because we we had a very detailed meeting with the leadership from solution tree and asked for a breakdown of the budget because when we don't want to do is implement a one size fits i'll approach to everything or district because the reality is their data is not saying they need that we expect teachers the differentiate instructions for students we should do the same thing when it comes to professional development so when we look at how we're going to build out the cohort in the training and the support for districts or one size fits all approaches are going to meet the needs of all the districts and we're gonna have to make sure we're working with the districts to differentiate the professional balance in the support best based on data on how the professional and communities are going to look and work for them. Well I appreciate that so and follow what mister chair promise i'll be brief well he's not in pain attention you tried not then worse that is so. Again I appreciate you say in that because one of the things that I heard was so my district my area looks a lot different from say center hesters area and one of the things that I heard in the corse of talking to my superintendence was there was people that were sit in with solution troop not criticized a solution I just want to make sure we're getting what we pay for right so they sin in folks who were from very different looking areas who may not understood you know some of the different different demographic challenges that we deal with some of the poverty challenges that we deal with and things of that nature so II guess I just want to make sure that if this gets approved and implemented that there is the flexibility in that to make sure again that we're actually maximizing every dollar we're spending here that's been my concern because quite frankly this is not something that i'm in the weeds on wasn't even really familiar with tell us getting phone calls and so I think but it does. The amount of money were spending does bear that does bring about a level of scrutiny that's needed and so that's why i'm interested and I want to make sure that we're getting everything we can so what assurances I heard what she said and and and that's hopeful but what assurances do we have that if we do this then we're going to it's going to look the way you just describe it and again i'm not trying to put you on spare months I appreciate the dialog and and i'm i'm glad there's a lot of interest that's happening around improving learning and our schools were all collectively want the same thing we want it's best for our students and when the states making a significant of an investment says fan requested then we should assess them hard hitting questions. To answer that is is there's performance objectives that are written into the grant that i'll be reviewed annually. We're building those performance objectives based on students learning we're going to shift the focus on the adults feel good about doing something or is there evidence of students learning and if we're not seeing evidence the student learning then we're going to have to renegotiate this contract thank you. Alright said for hammer the sheer based on your comment you just made seven years ago where their performance objectives written into contract that was initially made with solution tree. And have you reviewed to know that those that were written into it originally have been met was that part of the evaluation criteria my my understanding is yes and I may have greg back me up but a lot of the focus on the performance objectives were on a customer service or a customer satisfaction surveys where they had to have a certain average metric which sounds great it makes people feel good this one's going to be iron our students learning yes or no. Okay and then. The those that were on the evaluation committee the five greg. Did any of those have previous. Ties to solution tree or current ties to solution tree or any other vendor that bid on the contract. There did you screen them to know to know that. No I mean I earlier have the sector you said there may have been some of that were in a school that had been implementing the process or had been as exposed to the process but known to a knowledge at any anything to do with solution to other than that I think there would have been a conflict of interest that you had people evaluating the contract that had either a previous or ongoing relationship with solution tree cause but I want to clarify they didn't have a relationship with solution to read unless they were part of their professional development in anti to say that there's a conflict of interest I think it goes a little bit both ways because the hope is after seven years everybody has been exposed part of solution trees so if we're going to find true experts and professional learning. Everybody should have gone through at least some sort of training delivered by professional or by solution tree whether they had a positive experience and that or they didn't I that's up to each individual but we use practitioners that work in schools that work in districts each and every single day could then the last question is this did did I understand your command a while ago that if this is approved. In seven years when the totally of the contract is satisfied which is ninety nine million four hundred thousand from a breed right where we're going to be derived done with solution tree is what I that's why interpreted your comment while girl that at the end of this contract solution tree should be out of state and we should have we should have the basis in place to continue it without needing their services. So the end tants assurance yes that there has to be a sustainability plan with whatever process we go through when it comes to implementing professional own communities and fresh development now there is the way the professional development categorical is written in adequacy there's a little bit of requirement that a set aside is put in that country to put into the state budget for implementing professional earning communities now i'm not saying that as we're sustainable we may not need as heavy of a reliance so I think i'm professional or any communities whether it's an outside vendors but there may be vendors still working in this space but we should not rely on a company to do this work we have experts in practitioners that have dedicated their lives to improving learning they should be trained to leave this work we should not be bringing in people from other states that don't know it's best for our students when they're already here. And you're saying we don't have that in place now that we would need solution tree you're saying we don't have that inflation we don't have the capacity to leave this work as a state agency or through the education accounts or through each and every single district now at the end of this we will. Do we have the personal that we could use those at the less right than what repaint solution tree. I think that's a fair question and I think if depending on the direction as legislative centers if if we were attached to come up with a new strategy new plan that we would do that as a state agency III go back to our number and commitment it you know it went when you asked schools whister number one priority the first answer station says to keep students safe and we take a lot of pride in doing that we make a lot of dedication in and making sure that students are safe and their schools each and every single day their number one objective is improving learning we have an outline in a platform to do that as a state it's called orkinsaw learns it's a bold comprehensive educational reform initiative in fact when I was in front of this delegation a few weeks ago and talked about last year's educational rankings in the state of arkansas where we looked at early learning k twelve and higher ed wearing forty third according to us news and world's report those rankings just came out about two three weeks ago we've moved up to thirty eight how we arrived now are we seen the impact of learns yes as we are committed implementing learns the professional learning community model is going to be a part of that if the legislature wants to change that appropriation if they go back to the drawing board then that's something our ages is going to do but at the bare balance foundation of our work is the implement learns. Thank you. Alright thank you senator hammer alright representative. Brooks thank you mister chair and I appreciate the animal reference early on secretary of I don't know if anybody else got that and i'll i'll try to keep my question on procurements I don't face wrath of a good senator flipper relative to what you mentioned earlier on about the potential to renegotiate what would be metrics that we would look at so we're we're looking at a one your contract and have a lot of other questions that probably not procurement related but we're looking at a one year contract with an option for additional years you said that that we would have to look at date the data to make sure that it is working the way that we would want it to so what are the metrics where by it would cause us to question and cause us to renegotiate that I guess maybe that the metrics of of solutionary failing perhaps what what would those be they would cause the department to step in and say we need to renegotiate this so this score is kind of exciting so we're ending the twenty four school year we have a brand new assessment everybody knows that we historically for the previous seven years years he's an assessment called the acts fire which is a college incurred and sussessment we we have finished II believe the windows closed may close a couple weeks ago in here about ninety eight percent of our students tested with a new assessment called the atlas arkansas teaching and learning assessment system that measures student performance and science is student foreign to math instant performance in reading language arts and well smn of course exams will biology charmatry and alter we're going to have those results start getting tabulated we go through as call the standard setting process that takes a lot of time because we're setting a new bay fine where we're basically defining what is a level why the level two level three level for based on new criteria and new assessment says we go through and set that baseline we would hope to see and this year's assessment baseline won and as we go through the assessment and spring a twenty five. We see substantial growth in overall percentage students reading at above gray level doing math at our above gray level doing science at above gray level in the interam will have a unified according to progress miring system that will take a snapshot of all of our students in the state in the fall winner in the spring we want to see growth throughout the year in the snapshots so ultimately we'll have summit of data that will look at in the in in the summer of twenty five as we get through this baseline here we're going to be able to get test results a lot quicker and back to schools because it it the process is being auto automised in through the computerdashbased assessments. And we're going to be able to say we made rapid growth and improvement yes or no and if the schools are doing what they're supposed to be doing when improving learning with fidelity wish to see growth and if they're not implementing effective instructions and supporting teachers supporting leaders with federally and we're not seeing growth and we need a question whether or not this is the vehicle to help us get there. Ahh central record asked for a question so on this procurement we've got about about a hundred schools are going to be implementing this or or is it all thousand schools we're going implement this with his contract so it right now is designing cohorts and it's looking at supporting district level support so in when when the first few years. Of the work around professional requires it was started on a smaller scale purposefully to bring it to the state looking at different schools different demographics differences the state the past couple coherts are really focused on building district lower capacity that includes their content folks there are coaches there superintendents assistant birth at the end of this we would have every district train and make sure that their district officers are fully training credentials and implementing professional error community work as well as every single educational cooperative because their all should be supporting approving learning in the schools as well so that will be accomplished by by the end of the cycle. Ok and then just a follow up you know if you look on their website they offer a different lessons and different things on pushing gender to ideologically to to students and I want to make sure have you made them very aware that that's not going to happen in arkansas because I understand it's important to them as a company as part of who they are what they want to push but you're making sure that i'm not going to be pushing that I mean i've got some lessons here where they're you know telling teachers how to how to you know past thinking that there was only mail and females that there's many others now that they may not get some of their lesson plans here you're making sure that they're not going to be doing that in arkansas yeah so we we've got some strong laws in place already around indoctrination and pushing specific beliefs in ideologies and if any of their training is pushing students to think a certain way or behave a certain way and is telling them what to think and how to act and then that's something that we would address and at the end of the day we're here to improve learning on our court continent we have very good english singles our standards very strong science standards very strong mathematic standards the work and professional learning communities should be around pushing that in that certain personal beliefs friday allergies thank you thank you center alright represent what what suit are you okay. You're recognized for a question thank you sir I want to go back to something that represent co's art said a second ago. The ninety nine million is not for a one year so it is fifteen million and something is close to what everybody else is the as as far as per year in my right. Or are the fifteen million four seven years. The. So the overall contract for solution tree is the ninety nine point four okay the other ones that were had it were I believe that was eighteen one I don't have in finally they. For how many years mr grape so the would have been would have been over the seventy year period too they would have also been over a seven year period yes thank you sorry I just want to make sure and then I have one other procurement question. A sector you said yes we could use a different company for the plc prototap. Because it was a lower amount of money as senator hammers was talking about a second ago but did they the others score as well in their technique and how they do things as solution treaty because I want to think that she said they got a perfect score on that so in reality. You pray would not be able to use what you've been using to the highest of its ability because they also don't come to that higher bunability amount correct I think if if i'm catching your your question right we did a competitive bid process this was the company that rose out in wine the bed how they got there their technical scorer was far higher than some of the other companies that bed and that's why they came out number one and is that due to some evidence based that they had prior to come into arkansas is it it's a response to the request for a proposals that went out to all the vendors they had to provide evidence of impact and answer the same questions and the scores reviewed each and all every single one is independently thank you so much so. They're any representative all right just speak there so if you are a non member and you've already asked a question get your question to a member i'm gonna be recognizing no members that have not yet asked the question we still also public comment for it against theirs we know which where the winds blow when another strong fillings for it against this but we're not going to believe this meeting here and everybody's personal you know feeling so if you've already asked a question or ten questions you're not member please find a member to ask that I would be recognizing non members that have not yet been in the key. Would that represent a ray what cedar u n thirty five my man you were up for question thank you mister chairman secretary leaving you had mentioned the importance of the contract in terms of implementing learns my question is if a different vendor had been awarded the contract do you do you believe that you're agency could implement learns effectively regardless of the vendor chosen in this instance I feel very strongly that our work is going to be grounded in implementing learns in whatever platform I use we are here to implement learns because that is. The legislative delegated approved school improvement reform on all that we're all working towards okay I appreciate that and so I don't know if this question is for you or for the representative from procurement but it sent solution to you received a perfect score as it was described a perfect score on the technical side of the equation. Then. Did. What what does the cost even matter at that point would they have would they have still been awarded the contract if the cost were a hundred and twenty million. Or a hundred and forty million or hundred and sixty million. So it at some point cost matters of course but at some point you're going to you're gonna once a total scores are calculated there would have been a point to where if there if they're cost points were dropped so low as the the cost went up to a to overcome the others technical scores there is a possibility that it would have that somebody else would have been awarded it so for example it just would have had to be higher than four times higher so the second highest person the second high spiner who got their points were seven hundred and forty eight and solution to read their total points worth seven hundred and fifty so it was just a two point essentially differential okay and then the last question I have is that the the I guess the evaluators on this did they have access to the information that representative hodges referenced earlier the bl report and the report from university of arkansas optus of education policy their findings from looking into this. I don't know the answer to that. Does anyone else know the answer. So it wouldn't have been the only thing that they would have received from srosp would have been a copy of rfd to which they would have then looked at each packet at that each applicant turned in to rate that at that proposal on a solution experience risk and technical scores so they would have only been looking at that now if they looked at something else why they were not in the meeting we would know that but as far as what was given to them was just what the vendors turned in to rated on the different aspects of written in our rfquest okay thank you for answering those questions. Alright representative period. The. Representative richardson not perry that so thank you very much my question can I go back to the conversation variety of people have been bringing up are asking the question on evaluation the contract you stated a secretary leave it is that the the stipulation in the contract says that there has to be measurable improvements and given the volatility and that we have going on with laurence right now all of the different things that were implemented many between coaching the the reading coach is and all the other things that we're doing we're going to see significant gains. Through those methods everybody already knows that we're looking forward to seeing all that we're already seen some of that how do we get down to the brass tax that we know for certain that whatever measurements whatever specific stipulations are in the contract. For performance improvements at the student level can be attributed to the work that's being done. By solution tree. How do we have that defined. Well. It's a great question that priors are very complicated answer if if there is a magic bullet or if it was that easy to qualify to find that everybody would do so when you look at the the cognitive process that in the transition of knowledge or so many different strategies that have high yield in every student's different every score is different it's not going to be about just this one contract it's going to be about creating systems that are aligned in their system start with standards they start with curriculum they start with them for many credit fidelity they start with a good principle they start with a good school board this guy with the gold student there's a lot of moving pirates that impact. It stood an outcome choice you know with with families and choice for programs in in getting programs that students that are excited to learn about is going to have an impact so we're going to see improvement at this in this state I feel confident about that is it going to be because we did or didn't approve this contract that may be a factor in it that's not going to be the only factor sure and I guess I guess that follow up just trying to get to the the root of my question. If we're stipulating that we're going to come back in a value which solution every year and and they have to have performance improvements how do we know that all of the other stuff that we're doing. Isn't other unless you say it this way how do we know solution tree isn't going to get credit for all of the other work hard work it's being done elsewhere and. Again see the same kinds of results out of solution tree that we have measured in the past and in not really getting a benefit for the taxpayer dollars and instead they're getting credit for the things that you and your department and all the other places that were getting a while it goes back to deliverable so when when we say we're going to get folks credentialed when we say they're going to get him codes we're going to get them qualified to leave this work right for high quality instructions materials implementing the science to reading we have a common definition of what that looks like in practice. Well measure whether or not they deliver in giving us people that are going to meet that definition it at the end of the day if we get a hundred percent of our third graders reading out of above gray level I don't care who gets credit arkansas wins and that's the goal. I appreciate that and I appreciate the statement you're right we're all headed in the same direction and it doesn't matter who who gets credit and and yet we're spending a hundred billion dollars on a company who may not be providing this any value associated with that so II guess that's that's really the root of the question that I have how do we know that they're actually providing this value thank you for that robert is there a retrospect on apologies called organizes represent a period earlier i'd actually written down the wrong name in there so apologize for that. But representative you'll get no apologies from the chair and with that you're recognized for question make sure it's a good articulate question well I was going to start off then I was ever reminded of your comments earlier about the purpose of this committee but at one won't do that now but thank you mister chairman I guess one of the concerns I have is not so much about the price tag attached to this contract and I think everyone in the room the concern is just what you said early the outcomes for arkansas students. And and seeing that they benefit cause that's the focus of this group. My question is and and my concern he is that you can have the best product in the best service out there but it's also and how you receive that how you utilize the implement there. So my question is how involved in the last seven years has to department of education in in fulfilling and seeing that these can't tracks or how their implemented in the school districts that have have endorsed and gone down this payer and I understand maybe we haven't been tracking metrics for all the students cousin every cookies are different shape and every cookies are different for labor as far as what's coming out of there so how involved have you been in the past is the department in in seeing the results that are coming out I understand there may be no tracking for everything but how involved have you been in the past and then what i've heard you say is you're going to be more directly involved on an annual basis with metrics and everything else going forward could you speak about those two forests so when when you look at the project and the previous seven years how as the agency it's been pretty involved there there there is a special project division that helps guide in leave this work. How schools are districts for selective was on a competitive application process that was reviewed by agency staff to make sure moving for a dayable to to do this with fidelity they they've evaluated tax down projects where districts and schools had to present evidence of impact on student learning. What what we didn't have and I keep kind of reiterating if some of the tools that learns provides us that's going to make. The jargon bedded professional below men and coaching go deeper on arkansas specific standards curriculum and assessment that it is is where there was going to take us to the next level to make this work even stronger. I would just want to go back say appreciate your communities because all we're looking for as the outcome and we're not concerned with who gets credit we just want the outcomes for our students and without a last question and and i'll be quiet is via the approval of this this contractor of this contract being reviewed and in this contract will help and assist with fulfilling the obligations that that we have committed to under the lawn sat. I believe if I heard you correctly and i'm images reiterate investigate is the scope of this work over the implementation professional communities going to support learns implementation the answer to that is yes thank you sir thank you representative senate go more remember we never got into the perfect pressure yes it'll be a lawyer your powder on education i've still saved correction center thank you. Ah appreciate that. To II guess my question going back to just how this came about so what was the what was the price difference between this solution tree in the next highest. So solution tree their proposal was million four hundred and forty eight thousand five hundred and ten dollars and then the next time I was twenty five million nine hundred and seventy thousand. Okay yes but the so during negotiations the the cost of the the contract was negotiated down to ninety nine million four hundred thousand and where the scores again i'm sorry are you looking for the total points yes for for the but yes okay the total point solution trees total points were at seven hundred and fifteen seven fifty point four one. The next highest was mgt their total points were seven hundred and forty eight third was carning you yet seven hundred and seventeen and fourth was bigley education at six hundred and thirty eight point thirty three so in the adequacy matrix do we outline how much we're going to spend on professional development. Greg I think it may be that's a question for you so and in the the recommendations that are done by the joint adexi edge case committee in there it outline it does a a an appropriation for professional development and end of professional development it says that sixteen half million dollars will be used for professional learning communities. So we outlined in that how much were basically going to spend on professional development. For the whole line is professional development and we outlined in that that that set aside amount in that subcategory we say we're going to spend sixteen point forgetting number but over sixteen million correct so we basically say hey here's here's what we're going to spend yes okay thank you. Thank you center representative hodges you're gonna make a lot of I did tell you to get back in the cure the beginning served hazardous guilty of me I will give you one question related to the procurement of this contract you got thirty seconds I will talk about first thank you center flip given you're instructions to the committee I will not ask another one of my questions since it's not specifically pertaining to the procurement process you're i'll see my powder so to speak for friday that you're doing notes your disagreement with this contract as well all right member as well then I can see that we search her date is coming at the end all right that speak to you soon sir to davis you're recognized for a question I did have my button for summer I think crazy word technical difficulties at the desk and although I may have II feel like I heard you mentioned co ops earlier and so I may have missed exactly the explanation but i've talked to her a lot of people at co ops. And they've talked about having plc specialists there and so my question is when you are looking and saying the agency couldn't support the work of places with them the districts did you have conversations co ops to see if they were able to handle that load and what that look like for them yeah I think that's a great question in as we look at this kind of gradual release on relying on solution tree to do this work the co op need to own a lot of this work as well specially in the smaller and rural parts of the state where they're serving and supporting a lot of multiple districts larger school districts their district office staff can handle leading a lot of the professional learning and work in their school districts but our smaller all this which really relied on the co op so we need to make sure that there are bill dollars to scale a capacity to sustain this work I think if you're can I make a spectrum of co ops they could start hit in the ground running tomorrow we we probably have a few we we have a few that with a little bit of support over the next year to could get there and then we probably have a few that is going to take a little bit more time to get them where they need to be. Alright thank you m. I'm here in two that some school districts are missing time some teachers are missing time with students so they're being pulled for this professional development for an hour a week but there are being pulled from the classroom and no one's covering the classroom or maybe the teacher next door is covering for the kids so teachers are then missing time with students. And I know this is across the entire state I mean plenty of districts have serbs or someone covering the class or like in resident we make time we start school and hour late on monday so our teachers can have that hour together. But how will the department work with solution tree and not solution tree but rather school districts to make sure uh teachers aren't being pulled from the classroom and missing instructional time with kids. Yeah I great question and I could agree with you more wait we cannot rely on a model that pulls teachers out of the classroom when students are there but we have to protect instructional time at all costs. In in fact when you talk about job and better professional at me that support should happen in the classroom with with the teacher and when you look at the investment we've made state why were literacy coaches where where we have implemented about a hundred twenty of those literacy coaches that are assigned to all of our dns schools they started day one in the school working with teachers in the classrooms this work needs to operate in the same manner thank you I do have a lot of concerns but will get to those friday and can address these in future procurement legislation center data that's not showing results and that concerns me as far as student growth and achievement and i've got a lot of concerns about that but we can talk about that friday sure thank you center all right members we have some poster going to speak you know you know for against this week provide a little bit allowed to so before I call you all appear you might not have always seen that exhibited but let me sure you listen more generally you're not talking yourself in any additional votes which you very well could be talking yourself out of support on the longer you go through the prepaid your position just some friendly advice from the chair and would that i'm calling up to the time and have stephen quin with a bit in school district and matt right with marketing. So if you're all general would come up here. The. And if it just gives your names and your your districts in the recognized perceiving remarks and there's a little button on there should be read your microphone at all. There you go. Steven queen on the. Mill school principle in better and so thank you for having us and letting you speak there it's been a quite an educational experience for me. My name is met right and i'm the superintendent mortary school district german welcome were happy happy here and you're recognized perceiving remarks right guess i'll take the lead off we've sorted our plc journey and two thousand eighteen in earnest we actually were counted a lot of the work. Probably as a as a team because we were not necessarily on the court but I do want to speak to the value of the court in two thousand and seventeen eighteen we were a school of eight hundred seventeen students we then moved to being a school of thirteen hundred and eighty students currently thank you for moving fifth grade over to us and then our growth at just continued on in two thousand nineteen through two thousand twenty one and it does somebody mention covered and all the things that occurred with that in two thousand twenty twenty one we became a total one school which that means that are free introduced lunch numbers and now we're high enough for us to get federal funds for that one of the things that remain constant during that time was the fact that our growth numbers and that's one thing that I have to ask you to look at we're looking at growth numbers and we're looking at court growth numbers numbers of student two are they growing throughout the school year not last year's fifth grade compared to this year's fifth grade we're looking at growth numbers our growth numbers are as a school where save remain consistent and even the rising from time to time during that time I have hired forty eight teachers thirty eight government court subjects mainly because it growth but some because we're retirement different things like that. And want to say that during at time as well we received multiple oe for you award since that we be report has been talked about quite a bit here in all the right things that we have been able to do in able to continue the growth which is our students growing more than a year's worth of learning over the year is been do the simple fact that we've had a very systematic and multitured system of support to ensure that that student growth was continuing to occur. One of the things if you want some data on that piece i'll just go to some great data run off the bat when we look at semester grades this year we had a significant reduction we had three years ago we had eighty three students with a semester after this year we had sixteen. That means that ninety nine point two seven percent of our students at all passing grades when we looked at our past rate. That's a number of core classes until my court classes now the english math science and social studies we had a ninety nine point seventy one percent passing rate. In our school we had dropped that number to about thirty something total less for the semester. The better thing about that is at ninety nine point seven eight percent of our students were on track to be promoted. As of when I looked at grades from the end of this semester that has resided ninety nine point eighty six percent out of thirteen hundred and eighty students in our building we had two thousand even a candidate for retention of those two both of them were returned to the issues which i'll address truncy briefly trimit is a major issue in the state of arkansas we appreciate all the help that the court systems who are giving us but since covered it has been a major issue that's why everybody's sq schools have gone down not a fairly significant level of but even with those two we were able to their the reason why they were even a candidate for retention was because they're grades were very very low s during the third nine weeks we really bring them back in and do the fact that we do have a systematic in multitude system to support students when they came back and we were able to remediate an intervene with those students to wear their grades during the forty nine weeks were base and fees so that we had officially we started summer school today we had zero required students to go to summer school now because of that we get to rethank summer school so what we're doing currently as we're bringing students who need remediation and more help and support in reading and math as well as being able to pre teach for what's coming up for them in the next school year so that they have the background to be able to be successful from the beginning so being able to reimagine those things is something that's really helped and helped us deal to transit as well and that's been part of the process that we developed one of the things I also heard was. That some people said there were some things they could use and some things that they didn't need when you go into this process it's work it's work for the teachers work for the administrators work for everybody involved one of the things you need to do is you need to commit to the work and you need to be willing to do the work and it's not a peace mail it's not a silver bullet it's work it is the right work and then we appreciate the fact that you've let us be here to speak to that today in all the things that I need to remind I think i've heard it said here today this is about people and not product when you have the right people in place you give the right support that you get the right results and so with that being said I would like to. Encourage everybody to please help us have the capacity to build the capacity in our teachers thank you very much hopefully under better. Yeah. I'd like to start off by just thanking you for the opportunity to be here today to speak in favor of professional aren't communities as I say my name is matt right on the laugh long resident of mortgage i've lived there for forty five of my forty seven years I graduated from watery hospital and nineteen ninety five it was hard to teach their in two thousand and two I was tricked and become the high school principle at two thousand and nine and I was named the superintendent in twenty seventeen and when I tell you that working for that community has been the honor of my life I mean it um I love the I love those people and I changed those kids I wanted to share some statistics with you about more tree when I graduated in the nineties we had four factories that employed over fifteen hundred people um. Our population was above three thousand four hundred is matter fact it was three thousand four hundred and one times have changed if there is a political speech made about how horror laugh in small town america is they are talking about more tree right now we have one factory it employs less than one hundred people or population is two thousand and one hundred when I graduated we had nine hundred and fifty six kids today we have four hundred and eighty eight. Or demographics sixty percent of our students recall occasions forty percent or after american we have a very small hispanic population but the won common thread that we all have this poverty eighty percent of our students or our school hovers run around eight percent free and reduced lunch. Generational poverty heights the streets of mortary. Over the past twenty years or school his sense of success we've had as I one point we had the four times a in the state of mark my badge of honor while I was the principle was was I was the leader of the kids who came they were labeled because the community they came from but our kids can and they have um over the past over the past fifteen year old ten years excuse me circumstances have become increasingly more difficult and therefore a plethora of reasons some of those were self inflicted one time in the past five years we've lost fifty kids due to mismanagement of funds at a housing authority the teacher shortage. Has ravaged us fifty percent of our court content teachers they are on additional lasted your plans or not traditional last year programs so far this year out of the five course subjects that we are interviewing for we have interviewed too us citizens the rest of them for overseas we can not find teachers last year or high school there's the department had three and a half teachers. Have a teacher she was poor counselor portingly teacher um three of those teachers were not certified to teach literacy however. This team was the most investigating that we had in the district in the professional learning community process their account scores in english. The. Or seventh graders improved fifteen percent or eighth braiders improved ten percent nothraters improved eleven percent in our tenth grade improved five percent in reading or seventh graders improved twelve percent a great improved thirteen percent ninth grade improved two percent in our tenth graders improved twenty three percent. Our scores improve so much that we received on award for the office or from the office of educational policy as they call it for beating the eyes we were doing things that type we don't happen in a school of or make up our teacher attention was better last year at the high school then he has been in twenty plus years we've seen significant improvement this year in reading currently or the interest in the past week or day to show that half of our students in the first trade or reading and a second grade level in seventy five percent of those students are reading on the grade level of the growth that we have seen has been tremendous that team is also heavily invested in the in the plc process. This is our second year in the plc process and the work is horrible in his orders there is no easy there is no silver bullet there's no one strategy that we're going to be able to implement this going to change the outcomes for all kids what we have through professional learning communities or several strategies in several ways that we can improve improve our schools and in that is through structures and systems this is a process that in bad structures and systems within our district this is going to help insure not only the success of students but the success of teachers. We will even each do it each standard every day professional aren't communities have a profound impact on professional learning I want to say that again professional learning communities have a profound impact on professional learning at the end of the day you won't result for kids and in you deserve results for kids or heads deserve those results but I just want to tell you this if there's one thing that I hope that I say that sticks with you it would be us. The level of student worrying will never exceed the level of professional learning if teachers in administrators plateau so do kids because of the work around educational or c because of the work around professional learning communities we have been able to enhance the quality of education for our teachers and forecasts. I know that you are trying to navigate a complex landscape and tried to be fiscally responsible on a level that I have no idea of what you're dealing with and in that burden I can't imagine it I played you and I think you for your work II just I want you to know that from school superintendent and you probably don't hear this very often the work that you've done overschool or in school funding of the past several years it is night going on noticed it and I am very appreciative of that. But I also know that if it wasn't for the money that you have a lot that are small school district never would have been able to go down this road. And the improvements that we are saying we never would have been able to experience and inform that and on behalf of my kids and on the behalf of my community I am grateful in ten years. Things are gonna look substantially different from what tree one way or the other and and I hope because of professional learning communities that that is the vehicle that's going to help turn around our school and help turn around our community thank you. Thank you mr get a couple questions if you were just yet so which is the open yourself up to any come down here okay you're recognized for a question thank you thank gilman being here coach criminal here to your left over here gosh yes go twenty one dress you could your constituent and your representative district I represent is is better about out from underneath could II know there have been teachers had been put into place that you have been taught to plc model and everything but is is better about out from underneath needing the state resources in order to sustain this into the future I would say they are scared schools that are. But I think there will be some ongoing professional development that we would be more stuff like we're we recalibrated like one things we did this year was we we recalibrated everything of course I did that myself but we actually bring in a consultant ourselves but I think uh some of the schools are in some of the schools or not a consultant outside of a solution three year nouser within within. With with an solution to yes or okay and are you all sitting at the table advocating for solution tree or you advocate for PLC. And i'll say that I may advocating for for places and whatever's our best way to get there to where we are implementing them well to where we have a full understand teachers and staff over four understanding of what is involved in it it actually had a used through the data and how to get the results that we're looking for I am for plcs period of solution to the venue or they are the ones that are best qualified for that that it then i'm for that but I think also one of the things it was brought up there was highly important was building the capacity in the state but it's just it's just like in our buildings it doesn't matter how much professional development if i'm not developing the capacity within their teachers because the goal is for teachers to be able to take that and take it to work yet before so II think i'm going to kind of straight all the finance in our apologized for them but I think i'm adicating for both and let me tell you why i'm certainly advocating for the plc process the thing without knowing the internet details of some of the of of the other companies the thing that I will tell you about professional area communities is that I work with someone who has turned to school around the people who come into our school we know that they have turned another school around they're not they're not necessarily they've been contracted by solution tree to come in because of the work that they have done in their districts in an I think that that is the thing that or that is the the one quality of solution tree that I appreciate the most I have no idea if some of the other vendors are offering that but in terms of solution to read the fact that I get to work with the practitioner who exactly earned the resort receipt for gatten results in his turn their school around I think that's the thing that I appreciate the most threat they've sold the problems that were trying to solve thank you all right representative right recognize a question. May I take the date if we'll be in here right sir in march desperate that this. Just new arm which not really knew it's been after seven years but you're working with it this is our second year yesterday seventy. It's working for more free yes sir it is. I wish I could wake up tomorrow and tell you that everything is where it needs to be it's not it it is a process but by the grace of god we're not where we were three years ago and if I come back next year or if I come back in five years I hope I tell you we're not where we are today I hope we continue to improve even when we get an a we're still going to be looking for ways to get better. That limit is good years when that thirty six thousand dollars for the beginning pay change to fifty thousand dollars is that going to help you. Yes there's there's no doubt about it I don't I don't. Just my opinion right now I don't think we see that because people there hasn't been a rush to become a teacher but II would hope that our teacher program numbers in their universities are going up because of that I do believe that I do believe we're going to be in a different position in a matter of years thank you for bestow thank you for resident center clark. Thank you. I'm over here of really enjoy hearing good reports from our schools. At any time that we're doing better and especially I have a great deal market state which in their schools are in bitten so a very much like hearing that in all the good things that bitten are doing and a lot of yours commitment to plcs because that it seemed like a no brainer from the first time I got involved with it so that your username and that you're committed to it doing it successfully but as I look at the suncoming from a different angle. And that is that two better out above the other hand shoulders and one was scored seven fifty total one scored seven forty eight total and I use point systems among. Buy and a lot of times I come back and re evaluate my point systems say if I changed it just this can at this little more in this little less world would have come up. And since one of these is just under a hundred million over seven years and the other one the one that was seven forty eight is just over twenty five million over seven years. What if I get a choice of bind the state of the art school bus or four really good school buses. I know what i'm going to do if I get a choice of I can hard wanting to work in her for I know what i'm gonna do and so. What appreciate your commitment to plcs I don't think there's any doubt about our support for plcs and and what needs to be done there. But does it make sense. For us to with two better is that close. Law calls for us to go with the one at seven fifty but does it make sense when we consider all the things we could spend seventy five me and foreign education over the next seven years. Are including teacher salaries. Does it make sense. To spend that much of a premium. Yeah I mean i'll take that one but you know the question school buses of the transportation director at one time who had number one it would depend on whether a need for school buses are just need one if I just need one and I have the money about the best that I could buy for my kids second were told about building teacher capacity there are supposed to piece of machinery and when you're talking about building capacity in human beings it's it's not easy and you need the best in the business to do it now there has been a committee obviously formed to go through that criteria and they felt that this particular solution to was the team there exceeded everyone in that particular picture so it's going like this as you know in in bent and we had the the joy of building a new football stadium and all of the fun things it went with that I happened to be the athletic director to talk fortunately I was able to work with a lot of the people who did not necessarily want to move to a new stadium and I was able to work with the people who did want to move to the new stadium and I have great relationships with those people somehow I managed to get out of that unscated I don't know how I did that I do not be anything that you guys have to do a but with that being said what I will always told him was if we have the money why would we not give our kids the best. All right it says represent catalton representative walkeries in capital seat that you I don't have a cap. I can move if I need to know your ministry chair so from one i've been hearing from teachers that are in my district is that part of the solution tree way of doing the PLC is. Designing a service done to implement interventions and i've not really heard anybody talk about interventions today and with you guys being with the school district I would like you to explain how interventions are helpful and how solution trees came in and helped you design that process. So at front from up from a classroom level teachers teachers give assessment to very frequently to to see where their kids are at uncertain standards based on those standards kids are going to go into tier one intervention which is going to happen inside of that classroom and and they're going to get the the the help that they need and a timely manner not two weeks down the road often times it's going to be the next day because you're your assessments can be a bell ringer can be three to five questions just enough for that teacher to be able to fire where the kids are struggling sometimes that might involve taking three or five kids to the back of the room to to address misconceptions sometimes it might involve a reteach we also have tier two interventions where we start an identifying some bond fund mental skills the kids might have missed along the way we use a store sessment are to do that in once we identify the sponsor middle skills that kids have missed and other areas we have time built in each day where our teachers whatever greater in they are assigned a skill and they may get multiple kids from multiple grades where they go back in their retating those skills we have fifteen sixth graders who receive intervention on adding a subtracting multiple digit um multiple digit problems or numbers excuse me but those kids like it through tier one in tear two interventions they are getting the help they need in a timely matter and we're not just addressing things that happened last week we're getting things that we have missed along the way for a year or three years yeah it all are the things that I think is that is highly important is if if you're gonna talk about a student learning. The broad you need to know what they know number two you need to know what they don't know. And so in order to be able to do that you have to is it administrators what we've had to do as we that number one had to create a time in our schedule for us to provide that intervention because we can't depend on after school to ring because some of our lot of work is not so we've got a design and create that we've also got a design create tampers teachers to be able to collaborate together I think that was all the issues that that some of them had of teachers being pulled out when I was one edge and administrative beats we we have common prep time between over four teachers where they have their prep during the same period of the day so we've created that that's our jobs administration of the job its teachers as he said we need to look very diagnostically at their data you don't want to go the doctor and go oh well you're i'm sure that you get seventy percent of the years you know your test is inconclusive so when you tell student where you made fifty eight on that test what is it tell the student not much you're back and look what we're looking at is we have a set of learning towards we have the state standard we have settled learning targets that were going to so we're going to tell that student you've mastered this learning target you've mastered this learning target you're still working on mastering this learning target what we have actually had a current or schools those phone calls that I used to get from parents saying oh why does I student have that agreed in that class I don't get those phone calls anymore because of teacher could specifically tell the sell that parent and that student this is what you're student exactly knows and this is what your student is still working on mastering and if they haven't mastered that in as is so well to scrap we have a time for them to be pulled and we share that load and see the scrap as well so that what we're doing is we're giving you very specific prescription. For that student's learning as opposed to saying you'll take an aspirin and call me in the morning we're now telling them this is exactly the medication that you need to fix where you're at so forth example on the lawns bill it talks a lot about reading and trying to make sure that we have kids on a third grade level of the foremove and forward so from the way it sounds to me if we've got kids that are struggling on reading and third grade or whatever the solution tree PLC per shells if it occurred their falls for school district where taters are working together throughout the grade level I have cared and whatever I said third grade level that's reading on the first grader second grade level we've got teachers that specialize in second grade reading that can pull the kid out of the clash room try to help get him up to speed without asking them go to summer school or or retaining them holding them back or whatever time we use now for another year in that grade when they may be doing great and all the other gride levels and i'm just curious now if that's the case for you guys. If it will be which is one correction to what you said we're not going to pull out of instructions we're going to get the right intervention in the class they're not going to misinstruction it wouldn't work like that and yeah because the real challenge is that those students have to be learning grade level continent while they still have gaps so even though they may be reading where if they have six seven building gate fits upgrade so while they may be reading in a third grade level they still got to be learning the fifth grade literacy so we have that time built into our day that's why they period so important it's built into our day so we're not pulling them from there were able to remediate the let me jump in here real fast guys we're gonna start speaking this up a little bit so I was written members only and i'm an excuse you to get me thanks for coming up folks we have still got the instant contracts this is one car tracking the outer state contracts okay some of the youngest are leaving we'll get past solution to others are gonna be sitting here throughout the remaining of this process so with that keep recourse questions short concise one question all right normal johnson launder williams come on down. And if you're not on the committee get a member to ask the question. All right ladies if you'll introduce yourselves until here with for the record then the records perceive remarks my name is lander williams and the executive director of school performance for the time the school district good evening. My name is norman jean johnson i'm aboard member of the loraxical district and I really appreciate you guys allow me the time to come in a check with you yes thank you there's a regular seat. Yeah. Good afternoon my name is jean occurring principle of chico elementary part of the rock school district you're a support from his johnson. So this is my first year replc I did a whole year in training and first hours like okay another program and so I just went on through and as I had down through I began to dive in that begin to see that it actually and we really does work so I nominated my cfest a PLC princess because I am committed and I have bought into it so what I have I don't have anything negative I have something positive I have a school that I need to celebrate because they're using a plc method and it is actually working this is an effort school and so this goes is doing great things with the plc the case are actually growing so what i'm going to do i'm just going to share some data with you because i'm really excited about it i'm loving it and so this is miscourier she's gonna answer all the questions for him because she is at another school and she's actually doing the hands on work well why did the eliminator is wonder schools in my zone and so they're data is really out the chart they have actually improved up to the ten percent and reading and literacy and they did this over the year of course so far instant. By me twenty nine to include it for the number of kindergarten through gray two stodas performing at the fifty percent and talling reading will increase from seventeen percent to twenty seven percent so it went up temposet okay grades forward through five by april four of twenty twenty four the total number students in grace fourth and five performing is sixty percent or on the district animal assessment would increase from seventy percent up to twenty eight percent. Yeah. Yeah. Grays three through five math by april fourth twenty twenty four the toll number of students in great three through four five performing is seventy percent of above on the inner math assessment will increase from four students to twenty one students so they were not nine percent so i'm here to support poc's they do work prc's that only help the outcome of the student it also helps the outcome of the teachers as well because we know a lot of teachers are struggling and so with this this helps everybody helps the teachers at the students who have. You gentlemen and ladies it helps the whole world because if you look at the world now look at the work voice. Look at the work voice that we have now and i'm not seeing some bad work for it but he could be a lot better and so if we don't teach if we don't use what we have replaced if we don't use the resources there are available and plc's when I work for everybody and that's okay but I know in my district we have schools to use it and it is working some schools probably don't need it in this okay too but it is working and these are ever schools that I do have a problem with the of school because I cannot understand I have a problem processing how you have a school in the same district but with the policy that would align across the board and the thing that bothers me really allowed in this discount of personally step where people come to add district I don't want them to say you know what I want to go to disclose because the school is not doing that I want to go to the school because the school is not doing it and we are here so we all struggle with them we all go through there I will make it to go to school we don't want the lowest court dish we want to be land across the board if my school cheered comes from don roberts and ghosting okay when they care goes into whatever great lower the we want the key to pick up where they need to be and be a land across the board would have been tied in my school should be talking about still in no kids ever when they move on say you know where you like a great too bad you are point so yes I do support plc's. Again i'm lianger williams from the panel school district i'm the executive director of school performance we started with the professional learning communities process. It's a mixed a combination of years because the dollar was good district with annexed into the palm of school district dollar way started twenty eighteen nineteen poundless started twenty nineteen twenty in my particular case I have been working in this process for the last six years and some of the things that we had in place early on this school year before starting out work in our core hort from the board room to the class room. We had clear expectations from our superintendent we had the pacing of the new standards that have been provided by a state we already had them passed for teachers to have essential standards were chosen the master scheduled had been rebar so it elementary they could have two common plan and times a week that did not pull them away from students and we changed times the sixty minutes of our susporting minutes or forty five. At the secondary level we hate tom built in a master schedule on there on a block schedule where they were not pulled away from instruction to have that time to have the collaborative team meeting but when we started our work on the board room to the classroom it shifted a lot of things that we were doing when we started this process five or six years ago it initially starts with the team from solutionary actually working which are teacher teams in your building but this process are this work shifted it where we start it we're the district level team and what has happened is. Our principles meetings that we have once a month went from being in what I would call sitting yet when they got a worth of information and they may have left over way out to be in principles actually working on the work we have spent a lot of time this year try and our best to equip our principles to be able to expect inspect incorrect then when I say there they know what is expected of teachers because they have clear expectations for my massive rentander they know what they are looking for because they understand the work in the process and they know how to college and correct if they are the challenge and they have those supports they're available for now. Some things that have happened is school year of are celebrations have shifted to have a meaning. We revisited the expectations that are superintendent game at the beginning of the school year because in our work from the board room to the classroom we realize are expectations that are not tight as the research would say we revisit it we took a clear snapshot of where we were and now we have a efficiency scales to measure the efficiency of our word in house we're also doing district comfortable assessments where we're not waiting until we get to the end of the finished to see if students are moving growing we are progressed monitoring across the board commonly in the district. Some are barrer hallice this year have had to be our increase in the action score over all for eleven three. We have had increases that foundational levels are early a gray students k two and in grade levels where we may not have seen the games that we wanted to see the students are actually growing but because of this process which is what we're committed to because we're results driver. We know what we have died we know what we need to do next and we cannot deny what the barrier may be where is in the past when we did not have a process to go back or we did not have a system that we follow we could not denie. Over the years that we've been working with solution tree they have been up a highlight all of our second year schools have been recognized for beaten we actually had a elementary school recognize remain a school on the move for girl and at least five point we have nothing in a lot of a lot of later gratios but the growth this happened in and it is there. Right now for the first time in a lot of years we're in a position that we have not been in and a long time I have been in palm below all my life in my twenty. Year is an education have been the voters either the palm of school district or not away school district and now we're bet we're pombole of so I can think to the panel school and in a lot of years but the very first time. Teachers are going home at an a discount here with product banks built um our very far cycle of instruction is ready we have revisited and rebass our essential standards based on our data from our district comma format of assessments we are getting ready to wholesale are very own plc blue camp for hour building leaders because. The success are failure of this work. If harley. Contingent all the instruction the leadership in the build. And we are getting rid of five beer post leadership academy and find in those people that was teachers and identifying who can carry on this work in our building and that's a snapshot for a pablo school district at thank you for lead last year with you thank you very much all right that's any questions yes again jean occurring i'm sure on behalf of chico elementaries a part of literal district where part of cohort six in the plc process are school is mine that is currently ninety five percent frame reduced lunch the composition of our school is forty five percent african american forty five percent hispanic and the remaining ten person as a combination of of a calculation and other so we have a very diverse I student population in side of that forty two percent percent of our students are english language learners so wow that could be challenging on its space recognizing the correlation between poverty and academic performance part of what this process has done is said those high expectations for all students and it really starts with culture so we heavily focused on culture then we take a look at our systems and structures to support that culture and inside of that when you worked with a policy you know you know that the process is a focus on collaboration of focus on results in a focus on learning and that's where we've spent our time that comes through with our emphasis on the four critical questions where we want to students to know how will they know how will we know if they've learned it what will we do if they don't yet I say and what will we do when they do how we extend it and so that's really that that teaching and learning in cycle and so when we I heard various commenters today talk about the importance of high quality instructional materials in that first best instruction at your line. That's been our focused in these years and so this is our year too and that process is still new to us we were part of regional network for one year we're in your two of the coherent process and we're moving into your three so this year was focused on assessment and aligning those assessments are common formative are common summitive to our standards and our learning targets so we know exactly where our students are so i've got some numbers that i'll share with you just and these are just ones that I pulled here recently and I can tell you that these numbers are even higher so at first grade when we started the year i'm just in one cylible words for our first grade students on closed we went from thirty eight percent to eighty six percent and that's not yet are into the year data when we look at our set one of our second grade smart goals for one of the learning targets in close multi celebrity words that move from twenty five percent to sixty five percent and that was just as of march we progress monitor these learning targets every single month so we can tell where our students are moving and how they're moving so in terms of alignment to learn if there's a heavy focus on am early literacy at kyne two and we're looking at all six of those syllable types and if you've been to our building before which I recognize some bases in here you know that we have those date those data pieces represented and we can tell you where every kid is in terms of bigger data chunks that i'd like to share we've also seen increases on our act aspired data just in that short time in twenty twenty one or esa score was fifty five and twenty two twenty three it's at almost sixty one are waited achievement and twenty twenty one went from thirty point three eight to almost thirty nine and twenty two twenty three and when you look at our rawl data we. So a seven percent increase in english a six percent increase in reading a four percent increase in science and a thirteen percent increase in our mouth scores and that's an a very short period of time our value added score also increased and we're at eighty one point four and we're exceeding the state average on our inneral assessments in ela for this year at fifth grade we sign nine percent increase at fourth grade beside ten percent increase in it thorough grade which is the the grade of focus of four reading in the state where it twenty one point five percent increase so our data supports that this process is working for us our teacher retention improved last year and is continued to improve this year and am really looking forward to seeing the continued work in plcs and I know this particular contract is with solution tree and a hard one of the gentleman and I don't I don't know all of the picture it rules i'm a building level principle but what I can tell you is that relationships matter and that we've had really effective coaches and are building coaches that have worked side by side with us to help us develop those structures and systems of support coaches that have done side by soak side coaching in our classrooms coaches that have helped us facilitate learning liabs were a video in teachers and our teachers are able then to watch those videos back and look at what we can do touch weekend structures so that we're giving our kids the best so while you're making a decision based on a particular vendor please recognize that the behind the vendor are individuals that we and many other schools are currently engaged are with and they have faces and they've been exceptional people to work with and they've supported our teachers and they really truly built that focus of collaboration the last thing I will say. And then we no address any questions is we can't just expect as they german said a silver bullet for any of this this is work and this is hard work it's work that you have to come it to a coach from solution to are any plc coach that comes in they are not the magic answer they come in they provide you tools guidance and support and then you have to roll up your sleeves in between and do that work and make it come to a reality and so that investment at the building level wheat shows to apply for the co work great under this particular vendor and with this model and I truly would like to see that process through so that we can give architects the best areas so thank you thank you ladies and gentles any questions and briefly job in here thank you. All right next to bring them in against sir mackenzie you guys are excused thank you that. Members going to be the last person speaking on this and the cheers and the executive call and we are going to call for a vote. So that I feel ladies will introduce yourself tell see your weather then you'll be recognized procedure to remarks good afternoon i'm serious mackenzie i'm the executive director about the office for education policy you've heard oe p invoked on both sides of this conversation today so I appreciate the opportunity to get to speak with you who's with the hi my name is keep on some of hd candidate and graduate research assistant for the office for education policy and one of the co op the reson plc study that was referenced several times the ladies. So against his sort of a strong word we are agnastic about programs we are very interested in outcomes for students so as we've heard earlier today it a lot of times education programs are evaluated by if the adults in the system like them I former classroom teacher professor I care if kids in our guitar learning more. In plc at work schools then kids in schools that are not pleased to get work schools I want to address the point that was just mean about every plc at work school applied to be part of this program so they were volunteering to get this additional support we would expect that kids in these schools would be growing more but that is not what we found so in our study we looked at all six co words we grip them into five because we didn't have data for the covered year or so we looked at all six years of plc up work schools these schools are representative of schools all over the state and at different grade span so elementary middle and high school we were looking at their average waited achievement their growth overall growth and ela and growth and math and throughout the course of all six years we've unknown statistically significant positive results of the plc at work program on the students and these schools that's both for the overall student population and for students qualifying for free reduce price line switches are proxy for low socio economic status and we felt like this was. A pretty relevant finding because these plc at work schools besides that they do have to apply like doctor mckenzie said they receive a lot of additional resources there is a solution to associate in the school with them for up to fifty days and they also have access to a wide variety of resources online and members of those scores can attend different solution tree events and conferences so with all of that we were seeing really no positive statistically significant results compared to schools that were not participating in the plc at work program and in fact in statistically significant result we found was negative. All right. Sent to hammer organized for a question sure I got distracted could jump over here too far to job tell me again who you are and who you represent and who funds whatever it is you do in the way of research please thank you excellent so i'm ceremony i'm an assistant professor in the department of education reform at the university of arkansas I run the office for education policy which has been for twenty years doing research on education in the state and what's working and what's not working and translating our results into materials that can be helpful for policymakers district leaders stay holders my office also gives those awards that everyone is talking about those are for schools where student demonstrate greater than expected academic growth over the course of a year. The. In my name is keep borns and i'm a graduate research assistant for the office for education policy i'm a phd candidate and the department of education reform at the university. And and no one funded our research I mean with this this a valuation was requested by several different departments including the department of education and we did it at no cost to them. I speak on behalf of the research affiliated with you of a yes I am that I mean at the people at the university may have different opinions. About the effectiveness of different programs of it that I just want to get that distinction thank you center bury thank you mister chair one quick question closing us out closing us out yes sir how granular in the detail do you have in in your findings because I have heard from from my district but also from others today that there appears to be some maybe they can't maybe you can't identify statistically what there has been some improvement so had detailed are you in in there was results in determining whether or not it is or is it related to the plc's or all the other things that are going on. The. So we use a. Very rigorous statistical model to evaluate the overall effect of the program we could evaluate the effect of it in specific schools but we were looking at the effect of the program across all ninety schools and all five years that the program has been being implemented that we've had data on the outcome side so we're happy to work with schools to see a plc's are working at their school or their district in a meaningful way that's more than what's happening at the district down the road that doesn't have plc but this was a valuating the effect of the overall program as a horn add anything yet so just the other thing is there is really a lack of quantitative research on this where one of the first large skill studies to look at the effects of your seat work using just data and we use publicly available data provided us from the arkansas department of education that's available to anybody in this room but one of the only other studies that has looked at arkansas plc process was only looking at the first and second cohort and they found similar results the only passage impact they saw was a very small positive impact in mouth growth the second year of the program and and that's that so it's it's just kind of asking if if that is enough and if the juices work the squeeze on the money there great right they go very much all right see you know for the questions and without objections these are unsustained as reviewed alright moving onto the instant contract. Sarah hester I would like to pool this contract for the norm we just been available sincerely and vote on its separate I would like to divide i'd like to roll call and about about the house. Alright so ready to buy the chamber and just on contract number. Yeah. The. Yeah. Since I withdraw my motion all right members again say you know for the questions with objections these article state as reviewed. Move it on to the instant contracts. Thank you chair will go through the in state contracts that begin on page thirty eight contracts number one through thirty seven or all going to be for the same thing there for the architect public depender commission and these are for indigent parent council representation that pays was over to page fifty five a issue this is their general legal services for the university thirty nine is the agra natural resources or audit services number forty is commercially have services for pet paid work experiences. Number forty one is for janitorial services for work for services forty two is says it's for janitorial services but in talking to its security guard services I made that change number forty three per inning and mailing services for work force. Number forty four is transitional housing for the department of corrections community corrections number forty five division of community corrections for housing. Forty six is for corrections for crop halling forty seven is third party monitoring of patient care. Number forty eight on page sixty is for aerial application services for turkey form that's corrections education as the next one for public school academic resulting and transportation for their tracker master play in tracker to part of education for armed security guard services number fifty fifty one is outreach campaign for early childhood education number fifty two is processed server for child support enforcement as well as fifty three number fifty four is finance administration DFA website number fifty five is education program and treatment providers for racing commission number fifty six is home business network for a department of health and then fifty seven is for the assisting with the trauma section number fifty eight on page sixty four is helped department for providing chemical hazardous place collection and remove all that the department of health lab fifty nine in sixty or both for health nursing and therefore investigations number sixty one and sixty two are the first ones for dhs in these are for skilled nursing and the other medical personnel for the arkansas health center number sixty three is community middle health center contract amendment number sixty four is or speech occupation on physical therapy at the arkansas health center number sixty five is pharmacy consultant services at the arkansas health center number fifty six is supervised independent living contract number sixty seven is development of disability services for dcfs number sixty eight is a supervisor independent living program for youth eighteen to twenty one who elect to stay in foster care number sixty nine. These are all for DHS or private license foster care homes number seven us seventy years legal representation services seventy one there people foster care seventy two castling services the next one specialized private license place services seventy four supervised independent living. Seventy five is for adding some counties to home studies as well as adding funding for home studies seventy six is councilling services for the division of children and family number seventy seven certified medical monitoring services number seventy eight we're on page seventy three is for counseling services or children and family number seventy nine for home studies eighty and eighty one are both going to be for supervised independent living programs eighty two is for their period boston care eighty three supervised independent living eighty four substance of use services eighty five dhs or temporary staffing for clerical positions for county offices number eighty six day treatment transport services number eighty seven medical staffing services for the human development centers number eighty eight these are going to be several for human development centers is medical staffing for a human development centers day treatment transportation eighty nine ninety is dental services that are dealt for your human development center. Ninety one is dental services at burned volume and developed center ninety two cyc services at boomball psychology services that architect you developments it. Center general had unit services in architecture that's number ninety four and a ninety five is conway human development center psychiatric services ninety six is respiratory therapy services that kind way then occupational therapy services ninety seven ninety eight. Armasy services at all of the human development centers. Ninety nine is occupational therapy services. One hundred is far neurology services that can't wait human development center what I want medicaid quality improvement program one oh two three one eleven these are all going to be for community based reentry and folk. Careers sport services use me. That takes this over to page. Ninety one contracts number one twelve three one fifteen or parks and tourism. But. These are all with cram for johnson and I want to tell you therefore website development in housting public relations are creative content development. And media planning and buying number sixteen one sixteen is for sex offender registration one seventeen is window and glass washing services number one eight paying through one twenty one or all going to be for veterans affairs for temporary nursing staffing. And then one twenty two is a pharmacy services for veterans home one twenty three years designed model strategy development project for you back one twenty four and one twenty five or both video and animation services for walter walton college number one twenty six UALR is for solid waste disposal when twenty seven cleaning services and marketing and communication and finally you ca janitorial services that's all of the instant well that's it. All right members were an explanation of the contracts or any questions for the committee all right see no questions and without objections the items will stand as reviewed and then report all right seeing not for the risk become seen over there business for his committee we are adjourned.