30DOE-S1884 Scope of Work ~4.docx

RFP 30DOE-S1884 Scope of Work

General

The vendor must describe in general terms how the proposed College and Career Readiness Assessment solution will fit the State's requirements and any specific benefits that the State would receive by choosing this approach over any alternatives. Vendors are encouraged to propose alternative methods or modifications to tasks or identify additional tasks that they feel are necessary or would improve the efficiency of the project and/or quality of the materials produced for the project. However, the vendor’s response must address the tasks specified in the RFP in addition to any alternatives proposed.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The vendor must describe in general terms how the proposed College and Career Readiness Assessment solution will fit the State's requirements and any specific benefits that the State would receive by choosing this approach over any alternatives.

PROJECT TIMELINE

Vendors must submit a preliminary project timeline to administer the College and Career Readiness Assessment. This should incorporate the testing window and the necessary services to complete the assessment. See Section 2 – Project Overview in RFP. A Gantt chart is preferred.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The vendor must describe their approach to promoting a working relationship with Department staff, including but not limited to the following factors:

Regular communications with Department Staff through a variety of methods including e-mail, phone, conference calls, video conferencing, and in-person meetings.

An approach that is collaborative, client-oriented, and proactive in terms of services and planning needed to complete a successful assessment.

Availability of Key Personnel minimally Monday through Friday 12 hours per day to answer questions from Department Staff and offer technical expertise and advice on assessment issues.

Assurances that the assessment will comply with adopted procedures for State-administered assessments and ensure students who are enrolled in public schools can participate in an assessment.

Assurance that the assessment meets compliance and peer review requirements of the United States Department of Education.

Assurance that the assessment meets relevant requirements of the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS Chapter 390) and Nevada Administrative Code (NAC Chapter 390).

Attendance at all Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings each contract year when requested by the SEA.

Arrangement of a minimum of at least three planning meetings as requested by SEA staff to be held each contract year. The vendor will pay for meeting room and meals provided for the meeting topics to include all matters and questions related to the administration, scoring, and reporting of the solution.

Attendance at relevant Test Security and Administration trainings.

Routine presentations and presentations as needed and requested by the SEA related to program management at TAC and planning meetings.

Routine presentations and presentations as requested by the SEA related to the assessment administration and the results to the State Board, the Legislature, as well as other policymakers and stakeholders.

Development of an annual report with an executive summary that includes an overview and analysis of the testing administration, an analysis of the results from the testing administration, and implications of these results in a national context. The annual report will be completed during each year of the contract.

The vendor must provide professional development for Nevada educators during each year of the contract on the integration and use of the CCR Assessment as part of a balanced assessment system. The methodology, frequency, and content of the professional development will be determined by the SEA.

FUNCTIONAL AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Test Design, Item Development, and Form Publishing

The vendor must demonstrate how the College and Career Readiness Assessment will align with the Nevada Academic Content Standards in at least English Language Arts and Mathematics.

The vendor must demonstrate the ability to provide all students, including those with a disability and English Learners, access to the assessment, including but not limited to printing vision-impaired assessment booklets based on order amounts from school districts, the ability to create Braille assessment booklets based on order amounts from school districts if the assessment is delivered in a paper/pencil format, and translation services across multiple languages, such as directions, thesaurus, or test items as appropriate.

Test Administration, Logistics, and Data Processing

The vendor must provide a service call center/help desk one month prior to, during, and one month after the assessment window(s).

The vendor must deliver and/or provide access to the assessment Test Coordinator Manual and the Test Administer Manual to schools at least one month before the testing window.

The vendor must provide a student rostering solution that meets the needs of all LEAs including a solution that accepts large data updates, daily if needed, to students who have been identified to take the assessment. The vendor must provide access to all LEAs to make edits as required to any student information in the rostering solution.

The vendor must provide a process for validation of the data by LEAs that is included in the proposed solution.

The vendor must sequence the dates for return and scoring of the assessment to minimize turnaround time for reporting student scores to schools and school scores to the Department in order to meet Department data analysis deadlines and mandated reporting timelines.

The Department will expect electronic reporting of student scores for the college and career readiness assessment to occur within a timeframe to be negotiated but in no instance more than 28 calendar days from return of answer documents.

The vendor must collaborate with Department Staff and develop business decision rules consistent with existing practices for data file layout, data processing, and reporting.

Include a demonstrable proof: how many state-wide testing irregularities did the vendor have in the last 5 years; describe in detail what happened, the impact on the SEA and LEAs; what remediation was completed to ensure it would not happen again.

Scoring, Data Analysis, and Reporting

The vendor must provide comprehensive psychometric support to scoring, data analysis, reporting, and the suggested application of the assessment results for the SEA and LEAs.

The vendor must score all assessments. The vendor must utilize the State identified portal for secure data transfer to and from Department and to and from school districts.

The vendor must provide services on-line. These services must include upcoming assessment schedule, reporting, administration manuals, additional materials order, and assessment materials pickup and return.

The vendor must support to the extent required by the SEA all Peer Review requirements and activities.

The vendor must publish an assessment-specific technical report each contract year. The format and content for this technical report must meet industry standards.

The vendor must publish an interpretation guide to explain student score reporting to teachers and parents in both English and Spanish.

EQUITY

Explain in detail and provide examples of how equity is integrated into the test development process, including but not limited to, the racial composition of the assessment developers, work that occurred around question bias, previous findings and challenges identified concerning equity and how those have been addressed, how is the assessment reviewed for differences in experience based on student groups, and how have parents and families been involved in the development to the assessment.

Explain in detail and provide examples of how equity will be advanced through the product being proposed for use by Nevada.

COST SCHEDULE

Vendors must submit a per-student cost for the College and Career Readiness Assessment for each fiscal year. For aggregate costs associated with an entire class/year of students, the projected student population of 37,000 students should be used and noted in the cost provided.

Any support costs for products or services not included in the per-student cost for the College and Career Readiness Assessment should be listed on a fee schedule with the following information:

Listing of each product or service.

Annual licensing fee, if applicable.

Annual maintenance fee.

30DOE-S1884 Page 2 of 2 College and Career Readiness Assessment