Education- Senate and House

knows all my comments program to committee but anyway. I don't see. Ladies you're welcome to go all right thank you representative because art and you will help with the bureau and if you remember yesterday we talked about of the learned a lot about learning programs and expectations for M. public state school students at large today will be looking at some of the programs and expectations that are in place for our special needs populations said today's discussion will follow this organization we're gonna first review and at task for a recommendation for task force that was put forth by all Gamblit pain that can associates and twenty twenty when they presented the recommendations to you then we will follow that with the discussion of the alternative learning environments program English language learners enhance student achievement and those associated with groups of students as well as with specific categorical funding and then we'll wind up with special education which is funded through the matrix generally. So first we wanted to present the recommendations and if you want to read the recommendation in full we have the full APA executive report with recommendations behind to have six of your binders and this was recommendations three which starts on page nineteen or little excise tax. In general a I'll summarize while you're reading through that but the recommendation is was to develop a legislative task force to investigate and address the out of school factors that inhibit performance for high needs students within the state and That part of the context that APA provided said that much of the feedback that the study team heard suggested that economically disadvantaged students coming to school with a variety of physical and emotional needs that must be addressed before their educational needs can be addressed so the proposal that their recommendation is to convene a legislative task force charged with developing legislative solutions to any issues that are identified which might include these listed access of low income students to be for an after school enrichment activities availability of mental health services to students in high needs schools or those in remote locations access to internet and technology in low income communities and availability of services offered to students families for example referrals for adult education and healthcare services. And APA goes on to write that these areas represent opportunities for the legislature to support the whole child and address the myriad factors that invariably impact student academic achievement that they recommend that the task force would be led by members of the ducation Committee but also include other participants in this could include other legislators on relevant committees teacher administrative and noncertified representatives AT E. staff and stakeholders from organizations involved in providing wrap around services for students and families. And what we're really unable to answer questions because this came out of their report and their research but will be glad to pause if there's any discussion the committee wants to have. We. Question yeah really and this question this question is for the shares not not for them okay make it better for you A. I.. Well this is something that is is. That I had requested that we and particular talk about or figure out a way to respond to this one a I know we can't everyone and so I will just say the same thing I was thinking about yeah I have not worked on trying to get poured on this so that's right so we need to move for all right that's that's all I was going to ask about a minute because I am I have formally requested that we do and I just want to be sure that we do so that's that's my question will we do it that I tell you what we need to do provisional assessment before two chairs to centers of meat on this and let's just come up with a plan to have a great okay I will will try to set that up before the next meeting all right of a pre for regular meeting to try to come up with something okay all right very good thank thank you. Okay we'll move on to discuss alternative learning environments. Okay. So as part of this series of education were. I'm sorry jasmine raver legislators legislative research. So now we will get started with a daily so as part of the M. this series of education reforms a response to the lake you case and the General Assembly passed legislation to provide funding for alternative learning environments and according to state statute alternative learning environment means an alternate class or program within a public school or school district that affords all students an environment to six eliminate barriers to learning and for any student whose academic and social progress is negatively affected by the student's personal characteristics or situation and it further states that these environments are to be or not to be punitive in nature conducive to learning. Thank you statute excuse me further identifies methods districts may be used to provide an ali'i so school districts can offer their own Alie program they can establish and operate in a Lee as a stand alone or they can cooperate with other school districts to to provide these services they can also M. operate one in conjunction with at a co op and they can also partner with it institution of higher education. So says you're also defines what an Ailey is required to do and it says that they're required to assess a student either before or upon injury and provide intervention services designed to address the students specific educational needs an intervention services are defined as activities within or outside of school eliminate traditional barriers to learning. They're also supposed to address the behavioral needs of the student if the student is assigned to the ali'i for behavioral reasons and again there to to provide non punitive intervention services designed for the long term improvement of that student's behavior. So Arkansas law also directs does it develop rules and and you here is some of the responsibilities that they have so there's a custom fully to more fully defined rather the personal characteristics and situations applicable for placement in a only a criteria for distribution of the Ailey categorical funding criteria for teacher training and then they're supposed to establish measures of effectiveness for a day to measure the program's effect on students and performance need for intervention and school attendance and dropout rates. Further and does he is supposed evaluate Ellie programs to ensure compliance with laws and if and effective under the measure and to ensure that their effective under the measurements established by daisy through the rules and they also provide an annual report to the education committees that includes information on race gender and the effectiveness of the aliens across the state. So now we will get into Alie funding and so this we went over back in February but just as a reminder Arkansas supplements foundation funding for students that do not learn well in traditional classroom through the alien categorical funding in the twenty twenty amount was forty seven hundred dollars per identified a lease student and these funds are distributed based on rules created by desi. Per the does the rules I'm districts receive funding for full time equivalent students and while some students may attend a leave for a full day for the full year there some of them only at ten for a partial day and part of the year and this is accounted for in as he calculations that you see here so there's this formula is applied to be able to calculate the entities that are used to determine the amount of funding the schools our state. Rules further state that current you're finding is based on the previous year's count of full time equivalent a day students And so here this chart provides the prior your A. L. E. F. T. E.'s for the finding your sound so for the twenty twenty one and finding year there were six thousand five hundred and sixty nine ACT Alie F. T. E.'s in the prior year. Does he also provides guidance around placement percentages recommending that districts identify no more than two to three percent of its students for alternative learning environments however these caps are not stipulated rules or in law. So here you see that the majority of districts to receive Alie funding while most open enrollment public school charters and have sought as waivers I'm from the state so they do not so a lot of them do not provide a lease services and therefore do not receive any Alie finding. So now we'll get into some of the details about a day programs. According to state rules and the alternative education unit within does he approves and oversees public school A. Ellie programs across the state and every three years a day programs and submit a program description to you and the E. U. the documents the program's compliance with the ale with Eilidh statutes and applicable rules program approval is contingent on satisfactory review aye aye program description and the data that they're required to report annually and then insurance statement submission. An inmate twenty twenty one and eighty U. develops an alternative education process guide to supplement rules and this guide is this users with various aspects of alternative education of the eight he's be the alternate education process and it provides sample forms with directions that can be used to help them ensure that they are in compliance and provides examples of best practices and and lots of other suggestions it further and provide provides and clarifying note regarding the terms of alternative education and all in the alternative learning environments and according to the guy alternative education denied special education excuse me special specialize educational program programming law alternative learning environment places more emphasis on the location of the instruction being provided. So as to how a day programs are structured in the services that they provide does the rules do provide some parameters by which programs mess and here there to provide intervention services to address students specific educational and behavioral needs and this includes access to counselors and nurses and other support services that are substantially equivalent to those that are provided to students in the traditional learning environment. It also states that they're supposed to provide guidance counsel and guidance counseling academic support necessary to make progress towards educational goals and appropriate to each individual's specific situation characteristics abilities and aspirations the programs are also supposed to report and or they are required to provide a curriculum that includes the basic subject areas and Ailey's can't corporate computer based instruction for up to forty nine percent of total instruction in any one course and students who are sixteen years of age or older may pursue a curriculum that is aligned with the high school equivalency test as if they lacked insufficient credits to graduate by the age of eighteen also contingent of on their parent or guardian and giving permission for that. So here you see the number of districts and charters that Hey it had a lease students over the past three school years and the numbers and in the blue bar indicate how many out of that total were part of the consortium and a consortium is where there is one program that serves multiple districts that is either offered by an at one another district or offered by echo Law. And here you see the teacher to student ratios of the traditional classroom compared to the A. league classroom and the minimum ratio for kindergarten through sixth grade meets the current recommendation by the national alternative education association however the ratio for seventh through twelfth grade fall short of their recommendation of one for every twelve students one teacher for every twelve students. I really programs also often utilize pair professionals to assist with and their class loads in here you can see the number of A. Ellie hair professionals and that have been the review lies over the last three school years and this is as reported in that annual reports to the education committee's. So in addition to ensuring that each day operates in compliance with state laws and does the rules the eighty U. monitors and for the items that are listed here and this is done through a desk audits for on site observations. Now what we all those to you and I'll give you a second to with them over. So as mentioned there is This annual report that is produced by does a on a a leave by September fifteenth each year for the education committees and as part of that there is information that is submitted by the school districts on race and gender and other information that stipulated in rules and it is it is addressed excuse me it is reported in that legislative reports. Also said earlier that you the lawsuit states that there should there there is to be established measures of effectiveness in role and these are intended against a measure a day programs effects on the students school performance need for intervention and school attendance and dropout rates and what does the rules are not explicitly state measures of effectiveness rules you call for the compilation of data for each day program using information is submitted by school districts through the Arkansas Public School Computer Network in this table shows that some but not all the data compiled per rule are included in the A. Ellie legislative report submitted annually to the education committees and so you'll see where and in that way that far call and it identifies for each of the data that is collected by daisy by the schools whether or not included in legislative report or not or if there's any and caddy ought to the information it's provided. So now we'll talk about a day students. So does the rules specify that are twelve behaviors or situations they can that for which a student can be identified for a day placements and you can see those here. And placement in alternative the reason why that first when it has an asterisk next year is because placement in a day cannot be based solely on academic on academic problems I am a student medicine can be recommended if they meet two or more of the criteria it's listed there and what does he does not track the criteria used for student placement documentation form they don't formally track it it is required to be documented in an files at the ali'i and whenever documentation has shown that the most frequent sided placement reason has been for disruptive behavior and and then seconds Lee has been for on going persistent lack of attaining proficiency levels and literacy in mass. The students here who do you means you're more criteria for placement in a day they it's based on a recommendation from a placement team and that placement team has to include at all everybody that you see here so counselor principal or assistant principal if if the student is a special education student there to have a special education or five oh four represented and then that the student may be part of that placement team depending on whether or not the district's uses to involve them. According to the rules before or upon entry Ailey is required to assess each day student with effective research based assessment tools to determine current academic capability. And then within one week of the students being placed in a the alien varmint receiving intervention they are to be assessed for current functioning abilities as well as rival relevant social emotional academic career and behavioral information and all of this assessments and data is supposed to drop the development of a student action plan. And those plans outline intervention services to be provided to address the students specific needs it also includes goals and objectives for the students to meet in order to return to the traditional learning environment and all of this becomes a signed agreement between the ali'i the parent or guardian and and the day itself and in order to return to the and traditional environment there is to be a tract transitional positive behavioral plan to support and their success their success whenever they do return to the traditional environment. So this chart compares alias in F. T. E.'s to the total number of alien students over the last three school years and again funding is based on prior you're at T. E. which is why those figures are included here so while the total number of Ailey students has declined over the last three years F. T. E.'s have not declined in proportion to that enrollment decline the F. T. E. total increased by six percent and twenty twenty while enrollment only declined by and point thirty six percent and and what this indicates is the alien students are spending more time in a day either more hours a day or more days a year or both. And this chart shows that most an alien students are in the upper grades and and the number of daily students in grades first through eighth grade for what first there eighties And declined or remained about the same between twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one ninety great increase a little over one percent and twenty twenty but then declined by two percent and twenty twenty one and Grades eleven twelve so the highest percentage increase between twenty twenty one at two point six percent and two point four percent respectively. Here you see an alien student demographics over the last three school years. And you're the president of alien students who are classified as special education while the overall number of special education day students has declined slightly the proportion of total Ailey's student population has increased over the last few years. So again going back to those and measures of effectiveness as part of the reports and to the to the education committee's wall does your rules again do not explicitly reflect those measures all of that data that is compiled and as part of that reporting requirements stipulated in their rules for school districts a lot of it is included into that annual reports to the education committees and here is a table that summarizes those data elements that provides the number of Ailey students that exited the ali'i in the prior school year and then returned in the alley in the reporting year then the number that return to the traditional environments and the same school year. And the number that exited a only in return in the same school year and those that receive a GED and then those that graduated after day intervention in any year so and that the the calculated percentages for the graduate graduation is all graduates. And so you can see that the return the number of students in the. Whatever we were showing earlier that they're spending more time in that day classroom you can say that the number of students who are being returned to the traditional learning environment within the same year has declined and so that kind of goes hand in hand with them staying longer in an alien environment. So judicial indicators and the bureau of legislative research analyze regarding Alie program effectiveness our comparison of test scores in a dropout rates and here you can see for the last three school years this is comparing alien not Alie students those that were that were more ready or exceeding on the ACT aspire test and you can see that traditionally or me rather historically alias students and have been far like far like far less likely rather to school as well on standardized tests as non Alie students. And here using those BLR categories and you can see that for the most part and those that scored ready this is for E. LA score ready or bad decrease with free and reduced lunch rule schools performed slightly better. And I'm proficiency was the highest for schools within that school population three hundred and fifty one to five hundred. And the bill are defined cohort and schools and perform actually perform lower than others. And here you see the same information for mass using the math test for the ACT aspire again for the most part proficiency decrease with free and reduced lunch road course schools perform better. And here there is no difference between those BLR code the BLR cohort of schools and others. And the reason why they should zero percent of their for charter just to just to be provide some clarification is because there is only one charter and that that had a only students in this analysis. So this are provides drop out rates and this is for ninth through twelfth grade and the number of Ailey students that drop but dropped out and for the last three school years. And what is not possible to know how many more students may have dropped out without alias Services the dropout rate for a lease to rent is higher than it is for those students who are not enrolled in a late and but of course the not a day population is much higher than the alien population. So now for a day expenditures. This chart and shows a day categorical funding compared to expenditures and districts made for all Ailey programs and services and these figures include expenditures made using money transferred to a leave from other categorical fines and because they can do that the chart also shows the amount of additional funding beyond the day category. Categorical funding that was spent on a day programs and. So you can see the differences there. As shown in this table the majority of Ailey program expenditures for twenty twenty and twenty twenty one were made on salaries and benefits of a lease staff so you can see that but with between the certified salaries in the classified salaries that was the majority of Ailey program expenditures. For certain here is a breakdown this is a further break down as what all that includes so that for certified salaries that include your teachers grades one through twelve your principal assistant principal counselor X. are all those and then there to the subtitle out for you to see and in your appendix that we provided these tables for both twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. For certified salaries teachers greater one two one three twelve accounted for ninety two percent of those certified salary expenditures while instructional aides accounted for eighty nine percent of classified salary expenditures. And the analysis of expenditure data show less than one percent was spent on counselors and student support. And then here at four AM for the total instructional and non instructional support materials ninety seven percent wise for instruction was actually for instructional materials and then for the last category category of expenditures sixty eight percent was for operations and maintenance. So there were recently several rule changes proposed M. by daisy regarding a only and these are pending legislative review so they're southern are not official yet and I won't go into all of those now but they can be found on page seventeen of your reports and most were about the use of hi Bridget learning in the alternative learning program environment. Number that I can take questions. We do have one we have to okay of Rosen speaks thank you Mr chair. What kind of percentages is between our salaries and with the superintendents and the classroom teachers and also the principles in the classroom teachers. I want to make sure I understand your question are you asking for the salary differences between those two groups percentages the percentages I don't have that I don't bridge on an average I don't have that on hand right now but I would be glad to get that for you and sent you an email I would like to have a great day thank you. Searches for thank you Mr chair in the morning I think the most disturbing part of the report is that only one percent. Was used for like counseling services and that sort of thing. Did is that what I heard you say that yes ma'am you have when we create it the alternative learning environment program it was supposed to have intense counseling intense services for mental health because we felt that the students needed to have that intensive response in order to allow them to go back into the regular classroom. How many in your in your research have actually transition from a LED back to the regular school classroom I have you look at that. I don't have the the raw number of how many but back on side and yes this side right here for the last this site provides the last three school years how many the president is the return to the traditional environment in the same school year so you can see an eighteen nineteen twenty two percent had returned and it has it has declined the percentage of the students that have returned. But I if you need raw numbers no okay Senator speak for themselves it's just that we if we are to continue to have a LED there ought to be in my view and I'm just saying aye Mr maybe we can look into it with Dessa desi because of I knows check your keys concerns will. Always putting good money into a program that is supposed to have enhanced services for students with greater needs and so I I just like to know from the Department at some point. If they have assessed the program. And rather that than just continuing a program because we've always had it. Is it being effective for the keys that it's supposed to serve. Thank you that's it. So the question we have. What is that set up a enters myself Adrian back with the bureau and know where to move into English language learners. So to get started I want to do a pre kind of background that will go into the history is that's in your history report but I know a couple of things here so services for English language learner students also referred to as ELL students and they are primarily the services provided for them are primarily guided by federal law and rules specifically title six of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four in the US Supreme Court case somebody seventy four well verses Nichols so title six require school districts to providing equal educational opportunity to language minority students in the US Supreme Court determined that equal educational opportunity for the students does not mean simply providing the same instructional materials that other students are receiving instead districts must take steps to help yellow students overcome language barriers and to ensure they can participate meaningfully in the district's educational programs. So with that today's presentation will start off with some data regarding ELL students in Arkansas they will do a brief overview of how the program works we'll do a quick recap of funding and spending for ELL students in war view student achievement results for this population and then wrap it up with some literature review about how other states are providing L. L. services. So start office and data here. So this shows data for the twenty twenty one school year we see this total student population the E. L. student population you can see about eight percent statewide of all students are ELL students and approximately eighteen percent of these are also in special education. Then historically the shows data for the past five years at the state level and then also the district and the charter level you can see both at the state and district level there's been overall decreases in the state population of students as well as the ELL student population which has a bigger decrease and as well no little bit later some of the changes to exit and criteria and to try to carry a maybe playing a part in those numbers you'll see the charter level and increases in both ELL and the total student population. So the top five districts with the most yellow student so these are Springdale Rogers Fort Smith little rock indie queen and then I'll add that ninety percent of all ELL students in the state or in that spring Dale school district. And the top languages spoken are Spanish Marshallese in Vietnamese and there's total of a hundred and ten different languages that were spoken by ELL students and twenty twenty one. So getting into the program so kind of kind of a high level overview so. Federal law requires districts identify and assess students who may be limited English proficient Tridentine fi these students so districts first administer a home language usage survey that includes these questions that you see here to determine at what languages the students are speaking predominantly. And in some cases an additional survey may be sent out to clarify in case some answers reflect that they are speaking different languages but are not necessarily limited English proficient but once the surveys have been completed those are reviewed by the district's Yeller ELL or ESL English as a second language coordinator and they're used to help make a determination whether they need it have yellow services. So from there the students are identified as limited English proficient bill take a proficiency screener this is done through the elbow twenty one which is the English language proficiency assessment for the twenty first century. And this measures listening speaking reading and writing proficiency of these ELL students. And then placement whether they're going to be placed in that yellow program in that district that's made at the district level by a a language proficiency assessment committee that includes at least three different educators within that school or district. And they're going to use results from that from the surveys from the screener segment from a professional judgment rubric that does he provides and other factors such as whether they were an ELL student in a previous district. So once they make that determination parents and guardians must be notified within either thirty days of in Rome at the beginning of the school year within two weeks of that coming in at a different time in the school year and has to be provided in a language in the inner that's understandable for the parent or guardian in the notification includes process of how they can waiver services if they so choose so parents or guardians can choose to waive services at any time they can also request to continue services at any time as well. And I'll also add that those two students who for home services or wave they still have to take these L. but twenty one summative assessments this is different and the screener or discuss that here shortly but this other tech that's someone assessment until they meet the exact criteria for the room other students that will go over here as well shortly as well. But in twenty seventeen or a roughly six thousand students are entering the program and just over just under fifty three hundred and twenty twenty one in those who waive services two hundred eighty one did in twenty seventeen and then four hundred sixty seven dead and twenty twenty one. So an. We'll talk about so some of the how programs work in the in the within the districts so either state or federal law require or this specify any particular English as a second language program or curriculum that must be used but better law does require districts to follow three different principles when designing this program so they have to be based on sound educational theory have adequate staffing and resources and have periodical evaluations and revisions as necessary. So in Arkansas district is a combination of instructional methods to serve their ELL populations at varying levels of English proficiency and there are two groups of these programs so first their English language development programs so this is how and students receiving their language instruction so we'll go over some of these here shortly and then core content access program so how they're accessing or academic content and we'll discuss that here as well and as cupping upcoming slides. So in terms of the English language development programs these are the most common is the ones that are using to see that the embedded method is the most common at forty nine percent in in this type of instruction ELL students really see for language development instruction during a mainstream content class with teachers and bedding subject matter instruction into their language development instruction in the second most common twenty four percent was a pullout method and in this students are pulled out of the regular classroom for a portion of the day to receive that separate language development construction. In terms of core content classes content access the most common is integrated support eight eighty six percent and this method regular classroom teachers are providing appropriate linguistic accommodations and supports the annual students may access that court contents. When it comes to ELL teachers does the rules do not require specialized licensure for teachers who are teaching English as a second language however does he does offer ESL endorsement that can be added to the standard teaching license and it requires twelve hours of course work and passage of the ESL praxis. So in twenty twenty one just under five thousand individuals had an ESL endorsement and then I have that about thirty six hundred actually teaching that but that's not clear whether or not they're actually teaching with the endorsement or not just indicated that they had the endorsement and we're also teaching. So when it comes to exiting the program so in that committee that I referenced earlier so there annually reviewing progress of each ELL students in their progress towards acquiring English so to exit a student from English language learner status the committee must verify three different pieces of evidence to support that decision so they have to have a proficient level on that delta twenty one summative assessment. And so they have to have the restricted in that content proficiency with at least two different pieces of evidence and some examples of that but not limited to include a ready or exceeding on individual components of the ACT aspire nineteen or higher on the ACT college placement exam or consistent high ratings in a writing portfolio. And I'll add here that exit criteria train changed in twenty nineteen due to a new requirement under the federal every student succeeds act or essa so that user has a more standardized approach to how students are exited from the program. It is the the top early that may be impacting some of the overall numbers and the ELL student population. So once an hour out here than twenty seventeen nine percent of students are exiting the L. a program and then eight percent were in twenty twenty one. So once students exit that yellow program they must continue to be monitored and receive appropriate academic supports as needed for four years and this is an increase from previous requirements that only required a period of two years and that's due to some a federal requirement. And it's not that committee there continue to review progress of the students as well on an annual basis and they can make the determination if needed to return a child back to that yellow program if evidence supports that. And. But in twenty seventeen about fifty three hundred students for being monitored and in sixteen almost sixteen thousand were in twenty twenty one that's due to the increase in the monitoring period and I'll add that the funding that is provided as we'll go over sure shortly is provided to you ELL students it is not provided on to number students who are being monitored. So that brings us to the funding and spending kind of recap that we talked about back in February so districts and charters received three hundred and fifty two dollars per ELL student and twenty twenty one. Of that funding they spent four hundred dollars per il a student so well categorical funds are restricted they can be transferred amongst each other so we're saying that and then it here is our calling and other categorical to help cover those costs. And then looking at all expenditures from all funding sources for the ELL students that pursued amount increases the five hundred and seventy dollars and that is primarily coming from foundation fines and federal funds not federals primarily the title three funding that's designated for English language learner students. And there are some spending restrictions as you can see here so that salaries trainings program development instructional materials and services and assessment and evaluation activities. So nearly ninety seven percent of these categorical funds went toward salaries and benefits of that percentage seventy seven went towards certified salaries which is primarily teachers grades one through twelve. In the remaining twenty three percent of those went towards classified salaries that was primarily instructional aides. So in terms of measuring student achievement will use three different measures well that progress towards English language proficiency as demonstrated the alpha twenty one summative assessment. Well that student achievement on academic content this is used to the ACT aspire and the national assessment for educational progress or NAEP results and then we'll that graduation rates of ELL students. So starting with results from the help of twenty one so schools are required to SS Sorvillo students to determine whether they have progressed to English language proficiency or if they need continued services and this is done again to alpha summative twenty one summative assessment this again this is different from that screen that use initially determined limited English proficiency. So on the left hand side you'll see performance in this is emerging progressing in profession and those are more defined in your report you can see here that seventy five percent were considered for progressing other fifteen percent as proficient. And this also measures listening speaking reading and writing so it assigned to assign each student a proficiency level based on his or hers proficiency scores in each of those four domains so while it The Oprah does not access prior academic knowledge it does assess their proficiency in great appropriate language of each academic subject. The second part of that is the over twenty one student growth measure so AT calculates an individual gross for for each ELL students using their prior performance on that exam. The actual scores compared with past performance. With the computer refresh that so it's impaired against their expected score to determine whether that student met exceeded or fail to meet or and his or her expected performance so score higher than eighty what indicates that risk for higher than expected lower than eighty as lower than expected and eighty is right on track you can see the average statewide rose four is eighty three point three eight so they are performing higher than expected. So next we'll move on to academic content starting with the ACT aspire and use of the math results so so the percentage of students in all grades tested who scored ready or exceeding and concede the read this is the non ELL student population in blue is your ELL student population is on for the past five years and is duly noted yesterday students right tested in twenty twenty to covert nineteen so that's why you don't see any numbers in that year. If you can stand twenty twenty one thirteen percent of ELL students scored ready or exceeding in math compared to thirty eight percent and for the non ELL student population. And I'll add here that said ACT aspire this is testing content knowledge acquisition only so it's not a test of English language proficiency in Arkansas the assessment ACT aspire is provided only in English but you allow students are provided con accommodations as needed. And then English language arts scores so again you can see in twenty twenty one eight percent of yellow students scored ready or exceeding in twenty twenty one compared to thirty nine percent and not have out here a couple of things so that you allow E. L. A. readiness benchmark changed in twenty eighteen so that may impact some of the scores here and as we know the code they play their part in some of these overall score decreases as well. So the same ACT aspire scores we show these for our district categories are categorizing groups excuse me so you can see that performance was higher in districts as compared to charter schools. And otherwise there were no real trends and regards to urban rural free reduced price lunch concentration or minority student concentrations for actual action raise that that you can see a decreased and minority students there. It's the LA that they hello and repairing it is here but with district size you can see the performance it buried a little bit but I did overall decrease as district got smaller. And performance in those B. Alarko force force was twice as high in math this is for the percentage of ELL students scoring ready or exceeding. So when E. LA we see performance was higher in urban schools and otherwise no real trends hearing Garth's minority or free and reduced price lunch student concentrations. In regards to district size so similarly there's a little bit of variance in the middle but overall they do decrease with district science that performance and then it would to performance of yellow students was twice as high in B. Alarko fort schools for twenty twenty one. So in terms of regions so we see the southwest region have the highest percentage of ELL students scoring ready or exceeding in both math and Elaine with the north central region having the lowest in both subjects. So moving on to the nape assessments. Scores and as a reminder so these are given this assessment is given to a sample of students in every state so allows us to compare students in every state across one common assessment and this is for senate twenty nineteen school year the which is the most recently available. This shows fourth grade reading and math you can see in paint this is Arkansas than blue is a national average. So you can see of that less than ten percent of yellow students scored ready or exceeding and or using at or above proficient in fourth grade reading and math compared to less than sixteen percent at the national. And then in eighth grade reading and math so we see a little bit different trance of Arkansas outperforms in eighth grade reading four percent compared to three percent and then at the same level as the night national average in eighth grade math both at five percent in. And then graduation rate so a more expensive table is included in your reports at but you can see a parks department eight states the top S. three B. the southern regional education board in the contiguous states you can see the ranges about fifty four to about seventy eight percent those name pop nape and top S. three B. states in the ranges from forty one eighty three percent and contiguous states with Arkansas at the high is in that group eighty three percent and they're actually second highest in the country after West Virginia and they also had as a senior report and that group being the lowest gap between the allow students and non yellow student's graduation rates. So then finally I just kind of a literature review talking to how other states are providing ELL services. So as again US department of education doesn't recommend any particular program for English language instruction but these are the three primary forms that we see across the country. So this is a polling question methods we talked about the pull out method earlier suppression is similar in that an ELO specialises coming into a regular classroom provide separate language instruction for that student we have sheltered English instruction services of pride and a standalone classroom performance. For the typically those with lower English proficiency and more of a focus on language instruction I'm as well as academic content. And then bilingual instruction so this is providing ongoing ongoing language and subject matter instruction in both the native language and in English. So there is a more expensive version of this in your report want to see more details about each of these states in our programs using the same methodology that we use to identify the top performing Nate states we use that's what invited top performing in regard to ELL students so this is a top five to the Arkansas is on that list and these are kind of an overview of how they're providing yellow instruction so you can see any Mrs of reflective of the top ten list as well as either bilingual or lease allowing some version of bilingual or they're governed primarily through federal rules for laws. And I'll add here M. that Arkansas schools and twenty twenty one in prior years did include bilingual inch Wardlaw immersion programs that will change it ACT six six three of twenty twenty one which will not allow that going forward. But with that I will take any questions. All right representative but. Thank you Mr and you can maybe point me in the menu where the more definitions on for my question of. It was curious because you were saying that the the LPA score was evaluated it and I was learning is is or any process there we norm that against the general population and how they performed in that so another words if if you're in an area where they're not performing well as on on reading this issue fourth grade reading or whatever that would be Correct. Is there some of that we norm that so that we don't actually get a student as an English language learner that's just really just performed of forming poorly our our our performing normal with his peer with their peers at the school does that make sense I mean is there some kind of it. I understand the question so in terms of the health of twenty one that is measuring strictly English language proficiency right their way to compare those results against the rest of the student population is that how right like the with the with with the rest of the population how they perform against that you know we're we're the English language learning is not an issue there I've I and maybe I'm maybe I misunderstood what you said but I was thinking that you're saying was it was had to do with reading and writing I think I wrote yeah what reading writing down and so I'll put some addresses maybe I misspoke earlier so that reading writing speaking listening that is strictly and how they're doing on the English language it's not regard is not testing academic content it is only testing their proficiency in how they're mastering the English language okay so that there's there's no I'll. Tests that would I guess I guess for the general population of students that would not that I'm aware of that those are two different populations of state but ACT aspire test both but that's strictly on academic content only okay thank you. Ballinger. Thank you Mr chair it does nape give us test and other languages or is it strictly all in English as well. I'm not positive I can get back on that to make sure that I had get that correctly I'm not sure that it provides other languages but I would want to don't have to get back to you on that to give you a more accurate answer all right I thank you thank you Mr. Robson brown. Using thank you Mr chair of a question of that arose over here on page eight. A regarding student achievement. when a child achieves proficiency. Do they come out of the English language learner. Group but classification. On the elbow or the. ACT aspire. So ACT aspire as is the chart I'm looking at it says student achievement on academic content and it was showing that ELL students. I don't remember what this thirteen point three percent represents but I was just wondering if you want to student achieved proficiency are they still considered an English language learner so the testing profession on the ACT aspire is one of the measures that will get them out but it's not the only measures there's three different pieces of evidence that they have to me to get out of that the accident added that yellow program and that's one of those measures to the also that proficiency on the help of twenty one for English language proficiency exam and then they have to have two pieces of evidence to support academic content so the ACT aspire can be one of those measures but is not the only one that would get them not to exceed them out of the program. That makes sense okay so but at some point. They would no longer be classified with English language learners they would be classified but the rest of this the students at their age grouper. Klecko great goal of the program is to get students out of elect program so they can master the English language so at some point you know that. That could happen I mean I think if the goal is for them to be able to not be in a law student population. Thank you. Senator Chesterfield yes would you remind me again of the percentage of ELL students who do test out of the program. let me I think that's on slide eight a. Ailey's is only about twenty something percent so I'm trying to figure out do we have a little bit better so at a record with the other team. So in twenty twenty one eight percent of the population exited out of the program and that school year. I can give you the wrong numbers and the raw numbers are shown in the report I'm just over width if they've been in the proper is there any way we can measure whether they've been a program a year two years three years I believe I believe we have that data so I can look into that and get that would help me absolutely better about that eight percent because of the child came in and his or her first year I would anticipate that they would have tried it out but we're talking about is taking four years for a kid to exit out of programs then I am concerned about what we can do better. Yeah I will I'll be glad to get that thank you very much for you. All right. The question shall may proceed. Next we will move and to talking about students who are and the recipients were enhance student achievement this was originally called national school lunch funding as a categorical and it's the third categorical that we're talking about today and in twenty nineteen this was changed to enhance student achievement as originally called and it's all because these students are identified because they do qualify for free and reduced lunch under the national school lunch program. One thing you'll notice that is different in this set of students and in the use of the spending her jasmine talk about the program for A. Ellie and Adrian talked about the program for A. L. L. there's not so much a program for ESA fending as there is a collection of allowed expenditures. So today we'll talk about we'll look at who those free and reduced lunch students are well look at alternative methods for identifying poverty students this was a charge that was given to all Gamblit pay like an associates in twenty twenty and so I will update what they found and added a little of our own findings and then we'll do a review of those how expended with the allowable uses our move into achievement and wind up with some of the current best practices that have been identified in research. So in Arkansas and twenty twenty one sixty five or just over sixty five percent of our students qualified for free and reduced price lunches and when you look at that at the school level eighty percent of our schools had at least forty six percent of their students who qualified for free and reduced lunches. And that ranged from very low to very high percentages of free and reduced lunch students. To qualify for free or reduced lunch it's based on the federal poverty level so to to be able to get a free lunch as student is it from a family that that the existing at a hundred thirty percent or lower at the fall poverty level and then at a reduced price lunch qualification is between that and a hundred eighty five percent. Seven twenty twenty one a family of four at the poverty level by this federal definition was earning twenty six thousand five hundred dollars so you can see that to qualify five for free lunch as student had to be from a family of four where the income was thirty four four fifty or up to forty nine thousand and twenty five dollars for reduced lunch. When they committees hired are gonna lead paid like an associate's or APA in twenty twenty as I said one of the charges was to look at alternative methods for identifying property students and right now the way Arkansas identifies property students is three direct certification and this is where as school is able actually to get on a of I think website or application where they can see if a student's family has qualified for the supplemental nutritional assistance program or snap and students whose families are already qualify for snap automatically qualify for the free and reduced lunch status so you can see in twenty twenty one they're about a hundred twenty nine thousand students who identified that way. The other way is for families to fill out applications and these are filled out at the schools that US department of and. Agriculture requires certification of these income so schools to certify the income that information goes to desi and it does he submits all that information to the federal government. And there were again about a hundred forty six thousand students identified by filling out these applications there are two programs that have been introduced provision to spin around for twenty years or more and the community eligibility provision program's been around more and the last and decade and the goals of these programs are similar in that it allows a school with high concentrations of free and reduced lunch students to feed all of the children in the school free lunches without requiring any of the paperwork so this cuts down on paperwork for schools while and allowing all children to have access to healthy meals so the provision to the threshold for a school to apply is forty percent in C. E. P. the threshold is eighty percent free and reduced lunch students once they have applied and been approved the percentage of free and reduced lunch students they have a set as the base year and this is important for funding purposes for states like are Arkansas he do provide money on a per if or else student basis because otherwise it would look like the whole student body was free and reduced lunch so that initial percentages cap for the next four years and this also has an impact on achievement reporting because as you know we track and nationally students are tracked by their status of poverty in in the case of Arkansas that's identified through the national school lunch program participation. So because of these two programs that in recent years have caused some It's called noise in the data talking statistically that committees last year as a PA to look are there other ways that states are already defined students in poverty. And what APA reported back to your that their four main ways either through that direct certification which Arkansas does with the snap and states use the snap program they may look at other forms of public federal public assistance programs some states use their senses poverty counts others look at other student risk factors such as being homeless or in foster care or some states use a combination of the above. Senate they're it conclusion was that Arkansas could adopt one of these other methods of funding but that there would be winners and losers among school districts and that some school districts would gain more money through AS a pending well some of the ways inside I did not include anything regarding this and their recommendations. We took a look at states and their pending mechanisms these are the contiguous states are other comparisons states ring your report and as you can see here there's that same mix that APA reported back there and several that use free and reduced qualified status as their cell method for identifying students in poverty Mississippi only looks at the students who qualify for free lunch is not reduced and then M. three other states use a combination of methods. So now will do just a quick reminder of our funding in twenty twenty one through ESA categorical funding districts and charters receipt two hundred thirty six point five million dollars and then on top of that was the five point three million dollars for the matching ESA grant program. There were some recommendations from a PA so wanted to bring does appear that specifically had to do with offending where Arkansas has provides funding on a per each current F. R. L. student basis it's based on the percentage of poverty that exist within a school district or charter school system and you can see it's a three tiered APA recommended that instead of having those three figures that are not directly tied to the foundation amount. They wrecked the commended having a weight of that foundation amounts that would be and distributed based on the number of students and their recommendation did not include a specific weight however they did say that the amount should be the same regardless of the concentration of of students within a school district. To look at the amounts we provided in twenty twenty one and as a weight of foundation funding you see that the lowest level five hundred twenty six which is provided to school districts and charters that had seventy percent or fewer of their students qualifying for free and reduced lunch that was a seven percent weight that moved up to fifteen percent and twenty two percent wait that bout ninety percent of our districts and charter systems received the five hundred twenty six dollars per student. In terms of spending this chart we showed you in February as well so out of that money that is distributed through categorical funding not all of that money went to these purposes for ESA but about the same amount did once you combine the and other sources of funding. This chart and there's a full charting the appendixes of your report that show these expenditures by purposes and there are and the financial code book there's a set of program code specifically for ESA and these largely reflect either the spending that is allowed either three law or three rule and you can see the largest amount is spending was for coda one four which is other activities approved by the A. D. E. and this is sort of a catch all for and. Purposes that eighty allows that are not reflected in these other coding. And that follow behind that you see that literacy math and science specialist and certified counselors and license and social workers and nurses so and your academic and support staff. Act three AM let me go back ACT ten eighty two of twenty nineteen you may remember sent to all of those allowable uses that are in law in code and to be sense that at the end of the school year and so in twenty twenty one the legislature passed active three twenty two and this re now replaces that long list of allowable uses with the six broad categories of allowable uses and in addition what the statute does is says that school districts and charters will be required to create a plan for their ESA spending so this may result and school districts being. Or targeted with their spending than they have been in the past. In eighty one monitor these plans to ensure that that schools are following them according to the rules they are capable of of purposes for spending money and the Former law legislation often referred to closing the achievement gap and although there wasn't I don't think from listening to earlier versions of this report at a very specific sense of what the go of ESA spending should be but the rules now contains some former language that does talk about closing the gap between and between the achievement of free and reduced lunch students and the rest population and then at the language goes on to say that eligible expenditures must include strategies to increase student achievement reduce gaps in achievement among student subgroups or create conditions that support learning student learning with a direct tie to improve student outcomes and these are in the same set of rules that Adrian mentioned they have made it through the state board approval and yet and are waiting pending legislative review. But these uses reflect what our principles told us in our survey honestly we ask this question because when we were in the field and twenty eighteen anecdotally what we were hearing from principles is a lot of use of this money to meet basic needs of students so we wanted to quantify to see if that was in the the case and you can see that five percent did tell us that there is a moneys primarily were used to meet those basic needs of three food programs or and other services along that line but over half said that they spent the committee that the purpose of raising the achievement of all students and then just over a third and mentions the closing the chief or selected chest it's closing the achievement gap. So now we'll look at achievement levels of these students compared to other students most are by using those night scores a national assessment of educational progress which a during Taiji this is our test that is given to sample of students in every state so allows state comparisons and you're gonna see very similar patterns between Arkansas and the nation where the free and reduced lunch students are less likely to score at proficient levels and however if you'll notice that Arkansas's remedies lunch students do sometimes outscore their national counterparts so this is fourth grade reading. And then fourth grade math and again Arkansas where the pain columns. Then eighth grade reading here again we're slightly about the national and percentile for percentage for at the national students. And then here you see a grade math. Historically these are with the scores looks like for each of those tests this is yes the free and reduced lunch eligible students only. Sees there's some variation in scores there. And then Will move into looking at state level scores of these are comparing students just in Arkansas using the ACT is fire accident results and a similar to what Adrian showed G. U. E. L. I. scores tended to drop in twenty eighteen and that was mostly due to or perhaps all due to a change in cat scores but you can see that the drop that and has was experienced by that and then also that loss of learning data coded and was greater for free and reduced lunch students than it was for the population as a whole. And here's the trend in math there wasn't the changing cut scores CDC some increase in scores and so we had covid. In terms of our categories of schools you can see there is not a lot of variation among the categories into you get to the highest percentiles as schools so having the most free and reduced lunch students or the most and minority and actually there's some overlap in those schools. When you look at it in terms of size again there's not a lot of variation and so you get to schools that are in the smallest districts and smallest charter school systems and then the BLR cohort of students M. score higher than other students that was a LA. Regionally looking at those the LA scores you see that north central had the highest percentage scoring ready or above on the L. Eads them wild south and I'm sorry the lower delta had the lowest percentage. So math this patterns are very similar and there's a little bit more of a gap between an the schools and districts versus of schools and charters then you saw with the LA scores that the see the same and decreases when you get to the higher quintiles were premade excellent to minority schools. and again the same pattern with size that is really only those in the smallest districts and charters where there's a drop off and then the BLR cohort against out and performed at higher levels than in other schools and then regionally we see the same pattern where the student ESL student I'm not ESL. Yes I students remedies lunch students in north central M. remorse likely to score ready or above while in the lower delta they were the least likely. So we'll just end up with looking at some best practices in research the patterns that use just on those to scores have been present for years and years and years so obviously there's no silver bullet but some of the recent research really emphasizes the use of preschool so that students can enter school kindergarten ready Aden in picus specifically talks about more time on task in keeping standards high for all students while allowing multiple opportunities to master material for an students and who qualify for free or reduced lunch or otherwise identified as poverty students some other recent research that has looked across multiple state studies of before and after spending after educational reforms so we're states of at large influxes of money have found that schools that spent about twenty percent more on for the students over all twelve years of schooling they were able to achieve levels of achievement that were pretty equal between the two groups and that was specifically so when the money was invested and hiring high quality teachers and then investing in them so that they remains longer and then also providing the students lower class sizes and the recommendation is fifteen Max per class. And with that I'll be glad to take any questions. The starship okay back home page for in the other bills I believe of slide seven you were talking about the four year plan for free or reduced lunch they could actually feed all the kids for the first year by signing up for the next three didn't have to do anything is that correct right every four years I need to re certify settlement fill all the paperwork out again is that right I think that I think it you know I'm not I'm not sure if every family has to re apply or they have to do that or if it's just the school has to document that they still have the same levels so for your program it's that percentages are locked in place for about four years or four years is over can I just do it again. They they can choose to participate in the program again or run or not not just limited to four years of my question right now disease rules put those four years in place so we Hey can provide spending more accurately based on the Council students. Right. Earn your one. Okay represent makes thank you Sir my other questions give me more for the department at the whatever the proper time is for that. We're gonna remember that's okay yeah that that's perfect we'll bring them up a little get all the questions and if we have enough time I may even open up to some non member questions so are Senator just feel. Yes Sir thank you Mister would you explain on page four you say Arkansas free reduced lunch qualified under rex certification maybe I missed what that means that. What I can tell from from reading the materials is there's actually a site that schools are able to get to and see if they're students or have already the families a qualified first now for the supplemental nutritional assistance and if that's the case then they're considered direct certified and they don't have to go through the applications. Senate back. Thank you that was quick. A. I noticed on your list and if they might not have been an order that you listed the pre K. preschool and and be ready for kindergarten as well the more effective things that people did but also notice that. When when you're showing to dollar figures up there that I was surprised because I I've heard the same thing from superintendents that your early on early intervention with some the students really helps a lot and I was surprised earlier when I saw the list and in terms of dollars and cents that was way down the list and as as the amount of money being spent in the program I'm curious as to how to how we write that at the that's the least amount of money is going to something that apparently shows that have the most results. I don't know I that's that that would be something that's beyond what I could I could say. One thank. Hang in there with the department of water. All right that's all of our questions you may proceed. So we'll move on to special education she gets that pulled up. Okay great so. Before I get started into the data I want to provide a little bit of background on special education without going into too deep in the history so this is an area largely guided by federal law specifically the individuals with disabilities act idea also as well also Arkansas statute as well both guarantee a free appropriate public education to each child with a disability in Arkansas public schools. So every identified student with a disability and they'll receive an I. E. P. or individual education individualized education program and this serves as a students plan for specialized instruction in is designed to meet students needs be aligned with grade level standards both academic and functional and outline what a child to demonstrate in a specified period of time it also includes special education programming as related services that are B. two B. that are to be provided to meet their unique needs so that IP yes read develop to by a I E. P. Tina consist of multiple individuals including regular classroom teachers special education teachers other relevant district staff parents and the child whenever appropriate. Ninety again IP serves as kind of the guide to what that child is going to receive the school year terms a special education services. So without our presentation want to start with and data regarding the students it then state the local overcome a brief recap of funding and spending talk about special education teachers review student achievement results for the students and then go over some and best practices identified in national research. So with that in this shows the state again student enrollment compared to the student disability at. Breakdown you see that's what thirteen percent of all students in Arkansas public schools are in special education varies a little bit by districts and charters with districts having fourteen percent compared to eleven percent in charter schools. And then historically so it's a little bit different and we saw that yellow slide so while statewide and district enrollment in all students is with the client there were increases at all levels within the special education population. it is a much bigger growth banks the charter schools there over the last five years. And I'll add that in nearly half of all districts and charters fifteen percent or more of their total student enrollment were made up of students with disabilities. So this is a breakdown coming from the US department of education for the twenty seventeen year in which is the most recent available at the federal level in the shows the racial make up racial and ethnic makeup of students with disabilities in Arkansas as compared to the national average so the Arkansas population is and I'm on the left assets in the right hand is the student's abilities population and blue is the total population so you can see how those compare up. And additionally the federal equity and his name federal equity an idea rule was passed affected in twenty nineteen and it was created to address disparities that and special education regards to racial and ethnic minorities and students so this rule requires state sees a standardized approach to how and districts are monitoring. Approach to how districts are monitored in terms of how other identifying in serving minority students with disabilities so the district is found to have significant disparities in how identifies minority students for special education how they're disciplining them how they're placing them in different classrooms. they'll have to use fifteen percent other federal special education money to address those problems. It prior to that monitoring I was still happening but the law left it up to the states to to make to that and only is at that time prior to that only a fraction of the nation's school districts had been ever identified as having significant disproportionately. So this is at twenty twenty one we don't have a national data comparison here so this shows Arkansas make up terms of genders you can see that male students are a little bit over represented in comparison to the total student population. Sure so in Arkansas and this is the male and female breakdown of since disability so Arkansas's in pink blue is in the state average you can see in pink that male students are a little they're over represented in regard in comparison to the total student population. So in terms of our own and sentence or put into special education so these are the twelve categories of disabilities that are used to determine eligibility Demir the thirteen that are named an idea set but they take combined deafness and hearing impairment into one category so specific learning disabilities these include add things like perceptual disabilities minimal brain dysfunction dyslexia and different brain injuries not adhere that dyslexia can be a qualifier a condition for special education but it doesn't necessarily mean they're eligible for special education services. And then other health impairments this includes other let's chronic or acute health problems that result in limited strength vitality or alertness that adversely affects a child's educational performance examples could include asthma ADD or ADHD diabetes or epilepsy. So a break down in twenty twenty one of those disabilities you can see that the most common was specific learning disabilities with twenty nine percent followed by speech and language impairments. And the biggest five year increases that was autism intellectual disabilities and emotional disturbance. And then when compared to the national average so again this is taken from the twenty seventeen. Data from the US department of education as you can see some similar breakdowns of so specific learning disabilities is the most common nationally. And. And C. I. C. C. this is a more expanded list of this in your report if you want to take a look at that. And then in terms of how students are placed and so under idea students with disabilities are to be educated in the most and the least restrictive environment so according to federal law students with disabilities should be educated with children who are not disabled to the maximum extent appropriate and. An education provided outside the regular educational environment should occur only when the nature and severity of the disability of a child is such that a sex education in the regular class with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. You can say the most common placement is in the regular classroom with some special education supports. And a nationally you can see how that compares here so again this is coming from twenty seventeen you can see the sixty four percent of students with disabilities in the United States we're spending eighty percent or more of their day in a regular classroom compared to fifty three percent in Arkansas. And there's a again a more expanded version of this included in your report. So that brings us to funding and spending so we talked a little bit about this in February but times a quick recap so there are two primary ways of the state provides funding for special education this is referred senate foundation funding which a specific two special education teachers and it finds two point nine teachers per five hundred students and as based on the total student population not the special education population. And then the second is a special education high cost occurrences in this process provided for students with higher than normal such occasion cost making a thirteen million in twenty twenty one. In in terms of spending so this shows foundation funding versus expenditures versus total expenditures for teachers and for all that special special education expenditures in the left this is the top based on the total student population which is how Foundation funds are provided and then on the right of added and this is based on the total special education population only you can see the differences there. You can see total expenditures from all funding sources came to one thousand eighty two dollars per student in twenty twenty one. And in terms of special education teachers so this provides an overview over the last four years of special education teachers and we have a little bit about some of these kind of waivers for teachers in our teacher recruitment retention reports I won't go too deep into that and that you can see the variation and number of individuals who are holding a special education license or endorsement in twenty eighteen compared to twenty twenty one of the little bit of an uptick. And then the number of special education alternative licensure plans so again these are into educators who are becoming certified in a particular subject for class but they're not quite but they're still teaching that class while they're working towards that since it is been a decrease and knows that there has been an increase in long term substitute and special education and again these are individuals who are contracted to or taking the place of a contracted teacher for longer than thirty consecutive days they must still hold a bachelor's degree I'll be license to teach in the state. And then you see the full time employees teaching inspect or working special education compared to twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one and then for comparison group the student disabilities population. During that same time frame. And Asselin our survey of educators this point twenty one we asked teachers if they were considering leaving the teaching profession of that we had two hundred and two teachers that responded to that question that they were thirteen percent of those respondents were special education teachers. That takes us to student achievement so we'll look AT ACT aspire results demo that results in an alternate assessment that's used for small percentage as invisibility As and then we'll review those name results for that population as well. So starting with ACT aspire these of the math scores and so spat population is in blue the nonstate population is in red as you can see that in twenty twenty one eight percent of students disabilities scored ready or exceeding in math compared to forty one percent and twenty twenty one. And there wasn't a check going up until twenty nineteen we know again so that played a part some of these decreases. And then for English language arts now we see five percent of serviceability scored ready or exceeding compared to forty two percent of the non students disability population. And again I'll add that the L. A. cuts for the readiness benchmarks changed again that maybe impacting some of those trends there. Seasonal same scores inferred comparison groups so for math is a percentage of students disabilities going ready or exceeding we see that performance was a little bit higher and districts and and and urban areas in urban schools excuse me. And it decreases with higher concentrations of free or reduced price lunch student concentrations. And then regard to district size so we see that overall it decreases districts got smaller and performance was twice as high in those B. Alarko court schools. In regards to E. LA so we see performance was higher in charter schools. as well as urban schools and it decreases with higher concentrations of free and reduced lunch students as well. In regards to districts size system always a little bit of variation but generally it did decrease as districts got smaller and again performance was twice as high in B. Alarko port schools. So moving and then regionally we see the northwest region have the largest percentage of students with disabilities going ready or exceeding in both math and E. LA with the lower delta having the lowest percentages. And then the alternative assessments of this is of the hi I am a concerning maps and this is given to a small percentage of students disabilities. So it within these are with students have more significant cognitive disabilities so roughly twenty five hundred students were tested in twenty twenty one and. There's the there's a mac does a limit on how many students can be tested with this assessment so there's a can't maximum of one percent those states can apply for a waiver in Arkansas has exceeded that apply for the waiver for that reason for the past four years. In just over one percent insurgency that the test use did change in twenty nineteen to that mac makes comparison a little bit trickier over the past five years and according to the waiver extension for that cap of the change from the MSA a the multi state alternate assessment to the dynamic learning maps alternate assessment the reason for that was it allow grades and subjects alternately assess to better align with grades and subjects to test it on the general assessment that ACT aspire. In also included a science component which the previous one did not mince indefinitely that D. O. M. provided more instructional resources and was moving to an instructional embedded as testament instead of a year end assessments against C. and twenty twenty one twelve percent of those students tested scored ready rex at target are advanced in math compared to twenty four percent in the LA. So moving on to the nape results so again this is from twenty nineteen so this is showing fourth grade reading and math. You can see how Arkansas compares against the national average again Arkansas's and paying the national averages in blue. You can see in Arkansas students they score less than nine percent scored ready or exceeding in the subjects compared to less than fourteen percent nationally. And then for eighth grade reading and math we see a similar trend. Our less than four percent of Arkansas disability sport ready or exceeding compared to six percent at the national level. So moving on to best practices and there's a more expanded version of this in your report so I won't go into too much detail but this is taken from national research and what the best practices are in terms of providing special education instruction you can see these listed here again those are in more detail in your report if you wanna. Want that for reference. And again and I know some of these are targeted towards specifically status abilities but some of these are targeted to the larger student population as well. And then in terms of special education teachers so we know that the so M.. Research those that add. The burn out for special education teachers is higher as they often expected to be experts and multiple areas like students direction conference quality content area pedagogy behavioral experts IP compliance you know less goes on there so there's the recommendations that came from preponderance of research showing the best practices in terms of how to address some of these issues with special education teachers and again that's more expanded in your report. But with that I will take any questions. Per resident eleven. You Mr great job Adrian I noticed back comes on our page five and several slides back. you show the number of students with disabilities. Twenty eighteen verses twenty twenty one had increased by. Plus or minus forty seven hundred students for I think that's roughly one percent of one percent gain of all students. In public and public charter school and state Rep order seventy five thousand. is that growth consistent with previous three year comparisons. Are we consistently every three years that number increasing five by one percent and you have any data to support that I have that so I know that our reports have not. The trend period including reports of varied a little bit on we've done a three year four year every single time we've got a mistress oracle trends I don't have that specific three year four year break down I can certainly get that for you. In my experience with the last few reports that I've done on this there is kind of a similar trend that increases upwards at the state level that's similar at this at the national level as well okay so based upon that three year growth is that it is consistent then is it within that consistency is there a subset you listed about a dozen different Diagnoses I guess if you say the qualify for disability are we seeing a consistent trend and growth of any of those subsets or is it because we're adding new subsets to that list that now qualified digital students as a student with a disability so that list to stay consistent so that list that twelve categories disabilities that hasn't increased I have not been well last time that was modified I know the autism has consistently been one of the highest growing pop categories of that and that's at the national level to a. I don't have the numbers with me I know last report talk about dyslexia which is obviously not automatically a trigger for a special occasion that it impacts some of the gross as well at least the last report I don't have that number with me right now but so in the last three years dyslexia is now counted in that growth of forty seven hundred it can't yet yes I'm not sure the two extent obviously the full list of centers abilities with the. The full number of concerns but that's like there are not always in special education so that increase doesn't reflect this is in a comparable but some of the students do end up getting searched publication services thank you thank you Mr. Sentifi. Thank you Mr chair I was looking at the best practices remit reduce administrative duties the main thing I hear from special education teachers as the amount of paperwork that they have to do is being so burdensome that I'm not sure how we can help with that since so much of it is federal do you have any data along that line sure so in the report there is a and the appendix actually there's an expanded version of the literature review that goes into detail about some of some tangible recommendations that have been provided at their national research about how to address some of that so one of this couple methods and. Let me get. Find it here second. Back here actually. There are some and there are some methods that were kind of. Didn't really tied to the amount of paperwork or changing any rules or regulations kind of processes and how to kind of streamline some of those methods kind of and ease the burden on special education teachers. So I can find it here so a couple of those was using a specialized teacher and case management model so that little bit more targets for pluggable to larger schools or districts that had more staff but the idea was to maybe to target different teachers for different tasks that maybe had one or two that focus strictly on the paperwork and sign that targeted you know behavioral parts for the instructional parts that was one methodology that has seen some results positive results in national research as effective way kind of limiting some of those burdens and then different as a method called process mapping where they talk about kind of just a more thoughtful approach to how they approach paperwork and how the different rules and regulations that each is that they may try to be more conscious and streamlined and how they approach that. That happened from more information on that if you would like that. And I'll add that and it does it can speak to this better but I know they've had some efforts in the past to make reductions in the the quantity that paperwork for special education teachers but they may want to elaborate on that more. Additional heard under Michael's not on any other questions represent thank. Okay thank you. It's free for all time anybody that's non member I will give you a chance to answer questions that I will bring the Department of. So I'm just gonna call C. numbers I'm not sure who's their seat twenty six. Good morning thank you Mr chair I have a question on page two of leave you're talking about and I get to write it down about finding about if something doesn't happen the use a certain amount of money to address what again. Okay so the the high cost occurrences of the foundation funding okay what is it used to dress again out I miss that sure so the foundation funding is specifically for teachers special education teachers and then the high cost occurrences this is I claim system so that the ones that have a higher than normal claims and there's a whole form let think we talked about last presentation and that's can that's more expensive and how they can be used but it's typically those with higher than normal costs they have to come in a threshold of expenses per on a student basis okay I have one more question when you talking about emotional disturbances can you list what can you name of some of those diagnoses. I don't have that with me I'm not sure if there's is what the guidelines are and how that's defined but I can certainly get that to you and provide that it is migraines will of migraines be considered is I'm not sure on top of my head but I can certainly look into that and see where that would apply okay thank you. Senator Hammer. Thank you thank you Mr my questions on free and reduced lunches. The you had a chart up there graph up there that indicated that those that were not ready for of entering kindergarten lag behind those that were what I was wondering is do you have anything that shows that maybe they went through a preschool program but they were not prepared during the time that they were in that preschool program do you do you dissect it down to that level. We look at mainly. Meta analyses of other research so the preponderance of research talks about preschool and so statistically there's always going to be and probably studies that document that a pre school may not be effective but the preponderance of research in pretty much lasted decades is said that preschool helps to have students enter ready to learn and then that doesn't set them off for a whole career that has to be followed up with efforts at the school level but it helps for them to enter kindergarten on more of an even playing field with other peers if if it's Well that's what the preponderance says and I'm I'm sure there's you know differences based on quality pre preschools and there are other factors that will come into play there but again that's that's just the preponderance of the literature okay Vaught Mr one. Thank you shot one of the things on that chart show that in the delta I think he had a broken down by regions at the percentage was lower in the delta as far as the results I'm just curious do you have any data or did you look at maybe the number of pre schools that are available in the delta or head starch did you get down to that level on that we did not look at that now okay part thank you thank Mr. Representative Springer. Good morning and thank you Mr chair I have a two port crucial questions but may. First part is the goal of these programs to of decrease the number of students who are participating in these programs is that the goal of is that something you all can answer is that of the Department question. The girls very on on the program and and the Department can probably speak much more detail to those that with the allow the go specifically is to have students reach English language proficiency with a L. A. the stated goal is been to work with students so that they're able to return to the traditional class ring the goals and as a kid in the the report for in the enhance student achievement it's a little mark your and there's some of its to close the achievement gap or to raise the level of achievement of all students and what about specially it special education service agency to that. Does anyone unclear but there's not a specific program your goal like there is a the allowed you know to get them out of yellow to kind of move them out of that that's not really a goal that's been special education and just make sure there provided all of their services they need to have you know the same kind of education that serves without disabilities would have but does anyone one further elaborate if there's something I'm missing so then I guess the conclusion is that students who are in this special it to cation programs of their full life then for their. And not necessary not necessarily that may very depending on disability type you know Yeah I'm not sure if there's that's not not not necessarily okay final question Mr following up on the US senator Chesterfield questions about these programs are there any assessments to determine the effectiveness of the ones that that we that we've covered today outside the aoli like them hence. Learning in the in the special education programs are there any assessments have been conducted to determine effectiveness all that I'm aware of for ASA is is the how they perform on those exams but I'm not aware of anything else of again eighty nine the old address that further. Thank you all I for special education there are some federal accountability measures not be included in next month's report we talk about accountability there are some federal level and measures that are used to determine effectiveness thank. I represent speaks if you'll just hold up I'm going to bring the department up and I see you have a question for them also. Thanks I think I do I'm not go ahead if you will start with them then part of it if you want to start bringing whoever you want to come up to answer a couple questions and I have no clue what is going to be but. Room. Bring me a couple. Stacey for sure. All right go ahead Rosa speaks I wanted to ask the question yesterday you talked about the waivers that some of the schools were getting do you have do you think by any chance that these waivers or affecting any of the achievement of some of our students. Again that's a question that's really beyond my scope so other than the data that I presented yesterday I can speak to that okay and one more question on the poverty level I had a little line trouble understanding X.. A how do we rank to the states around us with the public to collect for level. In terms of the number of identified students of the representative identified student yes I will have I don't know that I've Got that I'll I'll I I can look at that and try to see and you know we have different definitions so that I can see what I can find on the authority I'll be glad to thank you thank you. Okay. Ladies thank you I think that's all questions will have for you all and we're gonna put the farming down and if anybody has a question I think of is representing makes I needed in this space okay so we about three and other maybe more the start of that I will tell you I will be leaving in five minutes so much culture will take over I can't stay in longer so Mr G. and your thank you Mr try to answer questions if you want to Johnny key part of education. Stacey. Thank you. Thank. And we have several other members of our team that we may need to come up depending on the content of the questions it different. A subject matter experts that we brought with us today that's why I didn't know who to bring up but anyway prince's speech you're recognized. The question I had asked about the White with thank you Mr chair the question I asked about the waivers I noticed that some of the you know it it looked like some states some schools were getting on his His eight waivers or these affecting our state the achievement of these students to fill in any line. Well. You time out from the report yesterday yes Sir yeah. You know I don't know that there's a causation issue there I think a lot of the the districts that are getting waivers They they. Characteristics of of the district of students in the district there already performing lower than some of those other high performing districts so we have not seen evidence that a waiver whether you have a waiver or not impacts of the achievement the one area that we would be concerned that if there is a waiver that is impacting achievement it's on teacher licensure. And you know what started out with that twelve forty as you're just a a way to. fill a very specific. Teaching positions. Has really become more widespread than I think anybody ever thought that it would it well least everybody except the. Senator Elliot I think she might have portended this a long time ago but it has been something that it because we know the that what the research says about the impact of a high quality teacher in a classroom we know that when we have districts now that You know thirty percent or more of the teachers in those districts are under some type of waiver then the tendency is the expectation is that could impact student achievement. But we don't have data at this point many studies that that truly demonstrate that this is what we perceive could be happening in some of these districts. Don't you think we ought to find out you know and and well I think based on what we we know we have many things in place to strengthen our teacher pipeline of I think the the biggest long term or the most promising long term a move that we have made is the creation of the teacher residency model where we are working to identify a potential future teachers based on their interest in becoming a teacher in high school and putting them on a pathway so that by the end of as early as two years after they graduate from high school they could actually be getting a four year degree having experience in the classroom as a teaching assistant para professional and then you have that degree program completed with their certification. So over the next several years we expect those numbers are up. Will decline as the the number of waiver teachers will decline this is especially problematic in elementary school I mean it's it's one thing to have that in in high school And that you know debatable on on the impact that waiver teachers can have their but I will say that when it comes to teaching reading the impact of a well prepared teacher teaching reading and math and and those core subjects at the elementary level is vital and we have seen a drastic increase in the number of a waiver positions in the elementary school the last several years. And one more question. The poverty level that they have given to us today is very high in to the other states as they work come we compared those are we just do we have more into what we say is saying. I think I sent Senate right hopefully not poverty date it would. It may come back come on a well I think if I remember your question to be all our infy accurately remember it I don't think Arkansas has is. We're not we're not an exception when it comes to poverty levels in our communities I think there are a number of states that are that mirror where we are within a few percentage points one way the other Mississippi obviously but you know even you look at Oklahoma and the tribal nations in in that area you look at areas of Texas Louisiana I mean are all of our border states have us if it's not statewide at least in areas that are very similar and their poverty levels and they face many of the same challenges that we face with respect to meeting the needs of those students. One more question okay let's of. In this disabilities that's the one I was going for you know Arkansas seem to be so much higher with the disabilities are we looking at. Do we have board involved into what we're calling disabilities then what the other states however do you know for. I don't think we have any there are no additional categories that we have that other states do not have a think using a trend that is not uncommon across the nation I think what is different and what we're working on and Matt is here to talk about this but working on one thing we know that if we strengthen core instruction. Which is part of the rise initiative then we will identify we will take care of more the issues in a regular classroom with core instruction that if left unaddressed can manifest with some type of special ed. Placement down the road to receive those special ed services so released the the what the work that shall have done with right to read and high quality instructional materials legislation it is giving us the right foundation to address some of those issues in the future that's not to say the students that don't need services you know we don't deny them services that's not at all what what the issue is it's to really help us focus on the students that do need those services Wincor instruction tier one instruction will meet the needs of most of the students and that will start shifting the identification of special education students In the right direction and I think we will start aligning ourselves more with the national averages rather than being kind of a run in the head of those national averages thank you thank you our representative makes your up next thank you manager I have a two items first one is we've been looking at the the data today and yesterday one of the things that continues to jump out at me is that in math and English arts our students are consistently scoring thirty five forty percent proficient which is. Not a whole lot below the national average and I know I'm finding it difficult to believe that sixty to seventy percent of our students are failing in in math and reading and so can you help us understand from a practical standpoint what that proficiency standard means that for example if students are scoring proficient and math and eighth grade with the assumption be that they're gonna be on track to enter college without remediation and those below would be entering college with remediation is that practically what that means or is there some other practical standard or are we truly failing sixty percent of our students and the subjects. I think that says and this great question so when we look at our ACT aspire testing and the different cut off course for that it was always tracks to the ACT and benchmark ready discourse of our students entering college okay and so it was really at a very high rigorous standard which we wanted for students but you know back in before we had ACT aspire we had we are benchmark what we call proficient at grade level that that change the way people talked about the tested necessarily change so when we look at kids in need of support that lowest quartile level honored attesting those kids are significantly built low grade level okay we look at the close range those get those kids probably have grade level skills that maybe not at a consistent level and if you track close all the way up into college level reading as those kids may be making that nineteen or twenty on the ACT well nineteen you can get in but the other at that lower range when you get to reading S. on the ACT aspire that striking to say that you're at a level when you're entering college that you're a seventy five percent chance or better of making a CD and freshman level college courses or fifty percent chance or better making it be so that that higher score point making a twenty four on math in a seat on the ACT so when folks look at it and say we have sixty or seventy percent of our kids who can't read or can't do math I feel like that's a little now are we where we need to be as a state no do we have a lot of work still to do yes do we have an areas in our state that are more productive than others yes but to say that we have seventy percent of our kids who can't read or seventy percent of our kids who aren't doing grade level math at. Do they have some mastery of content for that grade level yes do we need to do better yes did that help at all yes yes so so in other words though those kids that are close might be making a C. in math class and the kids that are proficient might be making Aizen bees or that well again it's at long range you know trend up or you're going to get up close and and and it depends if you're if you when you're on your range of the close score if you're closer to in need of support and your you don't have as many grade level skills as if you were on the upper end because there's a range there right back in just making it clear just because we're always going thirty five percent perfection doesn't mean sixty five percent of our kids are failing and and that's that's the main main things after that so as my my other question and I know this is something I brought up for and I don't see if you'll have anything new to add since we're talking about the alternative learning I've gotten some concerns from some of the educators in my area about students who have violent tendencies and the safety of the the teachers and how to handle those situations and I think was the the last or before but I've I've carried you know disciplinary legislation for all in the past is that something that you all have looked at any further about how to better protect our teachers or provide them resources on how to handle those students in those situations. Yes this last legislative session you actually passed two different pieces of legislation one was about positive data behavioral supports being set up in schools and another one had to do with restraint and training around that and you actually had some bullying and some other some other pieces that went along with that and so we are trying building a robust professional development around and possible supports in schools and I want to clarify that that that doesn't mean handing out stickers and smiling in on suckers and writes about setting up systems in your school to to prevent discipline problems okay instead of being a reactive system we want to be a proactive system if you can predict it you can prevent it for most cases right so we know it so we're trying to get people to think about it in a different light so this summer we're actually wants launching Arkansas thrive which is a very robust training for we're starting off with the mint with building level administrators and counselors support team I'm trying to build systems within schools for that preventive piece you also have again your different restraint trainings around the state which again that's not that's that's last level would you want folks to be trained properly trained so we do have some of those pieces going on all right thank you thank you manager. Thank you miss miss miss considering That generally speaking speaking a student who is engaged in the curriculum just tends not to be a problem student so it is a part of what we are considering helping our teachers and whatever we can to figure out ways and have the time to think about if Johnny key it has these problems that I know if I can get him engaged he's not going to be a problem but it I'm I'm I'm that might need extra time to really to do that with Johnny key generally is a problem that would probably need a whole nother plan on itself that I need lots of time lots of time with Johnny no you're right good is strong instructional strategies highly effective teachers that that does make a difference and we know that and so when we're looking at what our strategies in the classroom those are it absolute pieces that have to be considered yeah and that's what I'm thinking that's one of those systemic things because it's not to blame teachers or not but it takes a lot of time to do that but it makes all the difference and what happens in the classroom and makes an incredible difference for students who might not end up having to go to a only or anything else or even special at I next revenue back your next thank you madam chair. It has got unless you the similar questions are the same question axes I asked earlier so I and I've heard this from superintendents that they think with some of these ESA students benefit by having their needs met early on and getting ready to come in to the end and to the classrooms. But when I look at the funding that that were provided to the seller that's eighth on the list at thirteen million dollars versus the number one thing on the list which is just described as other things allowed which is a thirty four million dollars number two thing which I think somewhere around thirty. Two million dollars it seems like. So that and then you see on the list and it was listed as one of the things that was most affected so it's like it seems like this is kind of what I could do here little bit write lyrics put money here and but this seems to help so is there some restrictions that we put in place here that don't aren't allowing them to spend money where it looks like it needs to be spent no there are no restrictions that our legislative or regulatory in nature it's it's really just how districts choose to spend those funds at a given example. Little rock school district to the last time I checked you know almost all if not all of their ESA goes to fund a pre K. in the district that's on top of the A. B. C. slots you know what other DHS waiver slots head start that's on top of those things that's probably if you look at that I think you said thirteen million or so there there's a big chunk that's going to be little rock school district this is why back in twenty seventeen session I believe it was you all pass that matching grant because the the matching was for those three elements pre K. being one of those that research had said this is where you get your biggest bang for the Buck it was for two during a pre K. and one other that are station right now but districts can do to do that you know there's a hundred and twelve million I think that set up this spent each year for ABC and so we have slots you know all of the state there and then on top of that you have you do have head start and then you have your number private providers you have ABC programs in private providers you have regular pre K. programs and DHS has really increased the level of quality over the last decade of through their their quality systems so it's difficult to know if it's an access problem as far as the number of slots that are out there or if it's if there's some other Berrier said It barriers that families are facing that. That we just have an identified yeah I know transportation is one of those one of those barriers that have been identified in two up families and communities of said well I don't have a way to get my child there so until the bus runs and it you know you can put my kindergarten on the bus and I don't have a way to get my children to high quality pre K. but again that's you know that's that's kind of there's there's there are layers of funding to that a are are meant to address the. And provide pre K. options for families. Thank you. Thank you UP members we have two more people in the queue and. Do we just got another one yes we did but representative and it is the last one is not right now but we've got you as the last one unless something really float your boat in a big way So was that represents represented Deffenbaugh and that was back and representative Deffenbaugh your next. Thank you madam chair out with the I've been listening for two days on on different aspects and and you know knows what else is on a. ACT aspire and ACT scores what But in your opinion is there D. emphasising colleges. What about the A. C. T. S. compared to grade point and courses they take and who works hard and who definition is there a less emphasis in college. There's a trend that direction that they that colleges are looking more for admissions at portfolio of student work and that would include grade point average but also would include other factors such as community engagement that's why you know in our strategic plan we really focused and even with our ESR R. S. sorry S. a a plan of that to replace no child left behind we've included measures of community engagement and in addition to M. GPA in addition to just the ACT aspire. Assessment so yes and we're trying to match that trend and provide the proper level of waiting so that our schools get to. For their work credit for the work that they do in those areas that are not completely assessment based okay thank you very much you're welcome. Representative Springer. Or is it and it. Senate. Okay all right thank you thank you madam chair I just want to get clarification here it's my understanding that the department has identified the ACT aspire is the measure for achievement is that not right that students that we utilize across the state for to determine the chief students that's that's the current assessment hello the current assessment and then the goal is for all students to this for before it proficient or above on that particular test is that not correct at the at the ready so so so I thought that that that's my understanding so to me seems like to me in order for there not to be any misunderstanding a man maybe I missed is somewhere in the report so maybe there's something in one of the other reports that talks about still the definitions of students who score proficient below proficient and above proficient so that we will have a standard to go back to determine whether or not students of meeting the state standard is that not correct there's some definition somewhere that we know about identifying their profession hello physician or both yeah so the Arkansas at the current four categories were ready and and and exceeds okay so we do want our students to be ready or exceeding okay and that is on that trend line at placing at a high school or to get to get into college so that's what we want all of our students to be okay so so so so what does ready or except for the follow up Madam yes your no this is good good question this because what so because I thought it was I thought it was proficient below proficient and so right now so would you explain to me what that means we have exceeds and yeah the four categories right now in need of support okay close. Ready okay and exceeds okay all right and so prior to that one back in the you know Arkansas benchmark day that's when you had that proficient okay so people kind of taking those four and just place them over top all right when we went to ACT aspire the rigor and the standard for what we expected students today did increase all right and so as people make statements about you know if they're not eating that reading this mark what I thought representative makes this kind of asking before as people make the statement we have students who are not on grade level they can't read they can't do math and it's kind of misleading because close doesn't mean you're not performing grade level work it means you may not be consistent you're credible work but it doesn't mean you can't read. Okay but The reading mark is saying we are wanting our students performing at that higher level so that they can enter into college to be successful all right so we have a report that talks about proficient L. beam above proficient for suspicion so we need a report then the talks about those four categories that you're talking about being closed ready and and and and the other two passing a reason that the night purports to which is that national assessment which goes on a proficiency scale and Nate is just a sampling of Arkansas students. Okay but okay so then what would I see I saw some some other report besides Nate that talks that that I thought I saw in this report that talks about being proficient and above proficient to not see that. I'm looking at it and I'm not sure which one you're looking at representative but the the presentation I'm looking at is on the I think this is on yes say yes say in it if references Nate which is only administered in fourth grade and eighth grade and it's a sampling it's not a statewide and then the ACT aspire and they were reference Ready and exceeding in the percentages of of those stands ready and exceeding someone I think they're aligned the difficulty sometimes is a lot trying to align eight and any status all right that that's not the point to the point that I'm trying to make here is that so can we can make a good comparison by using those two rather than utilize and what the state has approved well I I think limit let me interrupt your just a minute because I think it what will be helpful because we do have all this overlap is when we make a presentation of a clarified at the beginning of which of these standards with what which of these words we are using and if there is a parallel to something that we've been using before to clarify during the conversation because I feel pretty confident we might not be there to remember all of this from this conversation to the next but I I totally understand the point because we changed the language language in there is something that was part of the data set that was used during the the the lake view trial right of the work that did happen in two thousand three and and since and so that's that's kind of a national comparison that really is only is the only true statistically valid national comparison from from state to state and so we have to use a lot their language and we're doing it we remember when we come back to ours you know with the parallel might be written Springer cannot you you ask questions earlier not a senator hi my yes if you about the the goal for these programs and I don't want you to just answer it we're not gonna have a conversation about it right I'm going to yes I understand that the goal is to provide the support that students need to the point that they don't need that support anymore. Whether at special ed whether that's the LL bean we want to get them on a level where they no longer. Thank you yes I thank you representative representative and it I thank you you're already on so you're recognized I have a quick question thank you madam chair when you talk about turn up learning oversight where is that information House on your website because it says here you do it every three years so we have a monitoring team and our ailing that actually monitors districts and so I'm happy with them on their their monitoring information I don't know that they're monitoring information is actually posted on the website. Yeah but it did but they do monitor. Because it will follow up because on this one slide is is A. L. E. students by gray in it looks like every Grady gets more more students are in A. L. E. so my question is is three years is that too long to review this stuff should be done maybe more often to see what might be so they they do have at risks sheets were districts could be increase in my monitored center than three years but as far as an on site visit or and going to your applications it's every three years. I thank you we've got representive Godfrey and and representative of senator Hammer you could ask and so since we have one other person and you've asked the question she has not and you can get your answer I'm I'm going to pass on your question and go to representative Godfrey that closes out. Thank you madam chair thank you so much I just wanted to say and a big thank you senator Stricker who I notice in the audience I worked with her in the past and I you know we heard a lot of data about language learners but I think there were three key things that we saw and even though there's a lot of work to do but three things that really we can celebrate for yells in Arkansas and that we're exceeding growth and expectations on elle the twenty one that we have the highest graduation rate of els and in the country and also that we're and a top five state for Nate scores and also just wanted to thank her for her work and an email teachers all over and coordinators all over the state and we can is offline but I appreciate your good work to I'm getting guidance that for at six sixty three bilingual education so thank you thank you all for your support of English learners. We concur with your positive comments about Tricia nineteen they're fantastic yes I would. All right that's that's the last by questions answer you're excused and members we will see you next time we are adjourned thanks so much.