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Board approves $153,877.50 Benchmark Education materials for elementary ELL after pilot data; one member votes no
Summary
The board authorized a $153,877.50 purchase of Benchmark Education supplemental ELL literacy materials for 2024-25 (funded from Title 3) after staff presented pilot results from Irving and Liberty schools showing preliminary gains; Director Miller voted no, citing concerns about sample size.
The Sioux City Community School District board voted Aug. 26 to purchase Benchmark Education supplemental elementary ELL literacy materials for $153,877.50 for the 2024-25 school year. District staff said Title 3 funds will support the purchase.
Dr. Bradford, the presenter, described a pilot of the supplemental Benchmark materials in Irving and Liberty elementary schools and reported preliminary results that the district characterized as modest gains among ELL students: a 3% increase in reading proficiency on the ISASP, a 5% increase in growth on the ELPA21 reading domain, and a 3% increase on iReady reading proficiency.
"In some of the data that I looked at, we in a pilot school that we had 3% increase in proficiency in reading, 5% increase in growth in the reading domain on the ELPA 21 assessment, and a 3% increase in reading proficiency on the iReady assessment," Dr. Bradford said.
Board members questioned the scale and representativeness of the pilot. Director Miller asked about the number of students included and whether the sample was large enough to justify the $153,877.50 expenditure. "How many students are included in this pilot that you did? And how many students were included in? So is your n a large number or a small number because a... $153 is a large expenditure for something that we don't know what the true results are gonna be yet?" Miller said.
Dr. Bradford said the pilot covered the ELL populations in the two buildings (about 707 ELL students across Irving and Liberty), and that the curriculum would support ELL and newcomer students across elementary schools; staff said materials could be in place within a few weeks.
A board member framed the cost-per-student calculation to put the purchase in context: dividing $153,877 by the district's roughly 3,000 elementary students yields about $40'$50 per child as a district-wide per-student figure, the board member said.
The motion to approve the Benchmark materials passed on a voice vote; the transcript records Director Miller voting no.
The board also noted ongoing work to evaluate middle- and high-school ELL curricula and to continue task-force efforts for newcomer student support. The action authorizes purchase and deployment in elementary classrooms; staff will implement the rollout and report results from the broader implementation.
