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District staff recommends renewals of several instructional contracts; board asks for outcome data
Summary
Instruction recommended renewing contracts for benchmark and intervention vendors (Instructure/case Benchmark, Imagine Learning, 95% Group, ParentSquare, Ready Reading). Board members asked for student-growth and effectiveness data to support renewals.
Instruction staff presented a package of instructional contract renewals the district plans to renew for the coming fiscal year, telling the board these are renewals of previously bid contracts rather than new procurements.
Contracts discussed included Instructure (benchmark and item-banking services), Imagine Learning (credit recovery and intervention), the 95% Group (elementary supplemental reading), ParentSquare (district communications platform) and Ready Reading (supplemental reading/phonics). Staff described three primary benefits of the Instructure benchmark product: a bank of item questions for teacher use, a full‑length benchmark assessment administered each February to mirror TCAP/EOC rigor, and a data package that supports spring testing preparation.
Board members asked several questions about program effectiveness, data ownership and review cadence. Instruction staff said the district retains data for multi‑year trend analysis and tries to re‑evaluate vendors after a multi‑year renewal window; staff said many contracts were bid with renewal options for continuity and that historical data housed in each vendor’s system is valuable for year‑to‑year growth analysis. District leaders said they keep pre‑ and post‑test results and produce district performance reports (including proficiency and growth measures) and that they would provide specific outcome data to board members who requested it.
Board members also asked operational questions about ParentSquare, the district’s new communications platform: staff said ParentSquare records and archives communications (texts, calls, emails) and masks phone numbers, offers an app and can notify parents by group (school, grade, bus list) in 8–12 minutes for urgent messages. Staff said ParentSquare replaced earlier systems (Remind, Blackboard) and that the district is in its first full year of ParentSquare use.
Why it matters: Renewing these contracts preserves continuity of assessments, interventions and communications that district staff said are integrated with current instruction and data systems. Board members asked for measurable evidence of effectiveness and for a formal review timeline so the board can judge whether to continue, expand or discontinue each product.
Looking ahead: Staff agreed to provide historical outcome and growth data for the board’s review during upcoming budget discussions and to document vendor renewal timelines and evaluation processes.
