DRAFT PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT ECLS K 2011 DRAFT.pdf

DRAFT PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Contract for the Design of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth

Grade Child Assessments and the Design and

Collection of the Third and Fourth Grade Waves of the

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of

2010-2011 (ECLS-K:2011)

Performance Work Statement Attachment A

National Center for Education Statistics

2/13/2012

The PWS is written in four sections. The first section provides an overview of the data collection and general goals of the work to be done under this contract. The second section describes the core tasks associated with this work and delineates the specifications of the tasks and associated deliverables. The third section describes a set of options and study supplements to enhance the design of ECLS-K:2011. The fourth section delineates the specifications of the tasks and associated deliverables.

I. Introduction and Overview

I.A.1 Purpose of Study

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), United States Department of Education (“the Department”) requires the design the child assessments that will be used in the third, fourth, and fifth grade data collections, and to design and conduct data collections for the third and fourth grade years, of the Early Childhood

Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). The purpose of the ECLS-

K:2011 is to provide important information on children’s early learning and development, transition into kindergarten, and progress through the elementary grades, building upon knowledge acquired from the previous Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort

(ECLS-B) and Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K studies. Data from the ECLS-K:2011 cohort will yield policy-relevant information by (1) providing current data on the cohort of students who were in kindergarten in 2010-11 and their progress through the elementary grades, (2) providing data relevant to emerging policy-related domains not measured fully in the prior studies, and (3) allowing cross-cohort comparisons of the educational experiences of children attending school before and after the advent of new federal laws and policies. Appendix A discusses some of the specific issues in education policy that the proposed design of the ECLS-K:2011 will address.

The ECLS-K:2011 collects data about the child and the child’s school, classroom, teacher(s), regular before- and after-school care and family. These data shall be collected directly from the child, the child’s parents/guardians, teachers, and school administrators. The ECLS-K:2011 will directly assess children in reading, mathematics, science, and executive functioning, as well as measure height and weight. The methods of data collection will include computer assisted two-stage adaptive testing of children to allow comparability with ECLS-K, physical measurements

(i.e., children’s height and weight), paper and pencil questionnaires, and computer assisted telephone and in-person interviews (CAI).

Study convention is to refer to the waves of data collection by the grade level of the majority of the study’s students at the time of data collection (e.g., the third-grade wave is the spring 2014 collection; the fourth-grade wave is the spring 2015 collection). However, the study will follow all children who participated in the kindergarten year regardless of their grade level in later rounds of data collection. Therefore, the study will include students who have been retained at some point prior to the wave of interest, students who are on grade level, and students who have been advanced to a higher grade.

Throughout this document, reference is made to the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of

1998-99. For ease of presentation, it is referred to as the ECLS-K. The main study discussed in this performance work statement is referred to as the ECLS-K:2011.

The ECLS-K:2011 began following a cohort of kindergartners (and kindergarten-aged children in ungraded schools or classrooms) in the fall of the 2010-2011 school year. Data were collected in both the fall and spring of the children’s kindergarten year. The children’s parents, teachers, regular before- and after-school care providers, and schools/school administrators participated in the study in the kindergarten year. Follow-up collections for the full sample will be conducted annually in the spring, beginning with spring 2012. In the fall of 2011, when most sample children were in first grade, data were collected for children attending schools in a 30 percent subsample of the original 90 primary sampling units. The same subsample will be included in a fall 2012 collection, when most students will be in second grade.

Because of the complexity of the ECLS-K:2011, the Department is executing the study through a series of overlapping contracts. The first contract focused on the kindergarten year collection

(study design, data collection, and the production of study data files and documentation) and included field test activities to facilitate timely fielding of the first- and second-grade collections

(i.e., development of reading, math, and science assessments that could be used in the kindergarten, first-, and second-grade collections).

The second of the ECLS-K:2011 contracts focuses on the national data collections for the fall and spring of the first- and second-grade years. Apart from fielding the first- and second-grade collections, this contract also covers the release of the resulting data. In addition, it includes work to field test parent, teacher, and school administrator questionnaires for the first- and second-grade collections, and a field test of a computerized executive function assessment. It also includes work to track children from kindergarten into first grade and from first grade into second grade.

The work being solicited through this performance work statement (PWS) includes two field tests and two national data collections. Specifically, the current contract will be for a field test of the direct cognitive assessments to be administered to the study children in the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade data collection rounds. NCES anticipates fielding a child questionnaire similar to the questionnaire used in the ECLS-K beginning in third grade. Items to be used in the ECLS-

K:2011 third- and fourth-grade child questionnaires shall be field tested at the same time as the cognitive assessments. In addition, this contract includes a second field test for the non-assessment instruments (i.e., parent interview, teacher questionnaires, school administrator questionnaires, and potentially a before- and after-school care provider questionnaire or interview) for the fourth-grade round. The contract also covers the full-scale national data collections and production of data and study documentation for the third- and fourth-grade rounds. Included in the national data collection work are tracking activities to locate children for the third- and fourth- grade collections.

The following summarizes the primary activities covered by this performance work statement

(PWS): 1) recruit students, families, and schools in order to continue following the progress of the cohort as it moves from second grade into third and fourth grades; 2) develop the third- and fourth-grade waves parent interviews, child questionnaires, teacher questionnaires, and school administrator questionnaires; 3) field test the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade direct cognitive assessments in the domains of reading, mathematics, and science; 4) field test the child questionnaire items; 5) field test the fourth-grade nonassessment instruments; 6) plan and conduct the third and fourth grade (spring 2014 and spring 2015) data collections; 7) create restricted data files and documentation separately for the third- and fourth- grade data; 8) create a public-use data file containing all data collected from kindergarten through fourth grade, along with associated documentation; and 9) update child locating information (e.g., home address and telephone number, last school attended) annually to allow students to be traced over time.

The contractor shall use procedures, instruments, and questionnaire items similar to those used in the ECLS-K, the ECLS-B, and the kindergarten through second-grade collections of the ECLS-

K:2011, with updates and improvements made as necessary. Information about these studies can be found on the NCES web site at http://nces.ed.gov/ecls. All activities under this contract shall be completed and delivered within 60 months of the award date.

The work will be monitored by NCES within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S.

Department of Education.

I.A.2. Legislation

The Longitudinal Studies program at NCES is authorized by law under Title 20, USC, Section

9543a, 2006:

The Statistics Center shall collect, report, analyze, and disseminate statistical data related to education in the United States and in other nations, including --

(7) conducting longitudinal and special data collections necessary to report on the condition and progress of education;

I.A.3. Program Overview

The ECLS-K:2011 is the third cohort longitudinal study of young children supported by NCES.

Information about the two prior studies (ECLS-K and ECLS-B) can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/ecls. Materials on the site provide examples of the work needed for this contract except the direct assessments. Examples of the direct assessments and associated materials will be provided to offerors separately upon request.

I.A.4. ECLS-K:2011 Core Survey Components

The ECLS-K:2011 collects data about the child and the child’s school, classroom, teacher(s), before- and after-school care providers, and family. These data are collected from the child, the child’s parents/guardians, teachers, and school administrators. Data have also been collected from children’s before- and after-school care and education providers.

Children: During the springs of 2014 and 2015, when most of the children will be in third and fourth grades, respectively, children will participate in individually administered cognitive assessments and have their height and weight measured. Measures of children’s cognitive knowledge and skills (i.e., English language, reading, math, science, and executive function) shall be collected through an approximately 45-60 minute 2-stage adaptive computer assisted assessment pending field test evaluations, which are part of this current contract. In addition, a field test of the computerized executive function assessment is currently being conducted through a different contract; the field test will be completed prior to the award of this contract and the results will be made available to the contractor to inform the development of the third-and fourth-grade executive function assessments. In addition, the third- and fourth-grade waves shall include a child questionnaire (to be field tested under this current contract) that shall take approximately 10 minutes and include questions similar to those that were asked in the ECLS-K about children’s academic self-perceptions and educational interests (for examples of ECLS-K child self-administered questionnaires, please see http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kinderinstruments.asp).

The measures of height and weight are expected to add 5 minutes to the child assessments.

Parents/guardians: The child’s parent/guardian shall be interviewed using computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI); for parents/guardians without a telephone, an in-person computer assisted interview (CAPI) shall be conducted. Regardless of mode of data collection, the parent interviews shall be limited to 45 minutes, on average. Interviews shall be conducted during the springs of 2014 and 2015. The parent/guardian to be interviewed shall be the individual who is most knowledgeable about the sampled child’s care and education, with preference given to the parental figure interviewed in previous waves of the study. Interviews shall include items adapted from earlier waves of the study and from prior ECLS collections (please see interviews and questionnaires in the attached OMB packages and at the following website for examples -http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kinderinstruments.asp).

Teachers: Teachers shall be asked to complete a 30-45 minute self-administered questionnaire about their own professional background, curriculum and instructional practices, and their views on teaching and the school environment. In addition, teachers will be asked to complete a 12-15 minute self-administered evaluation of each sampled child on a number of critical cognitive and non-cognitive domains including (but not limited to) the child’s academic and social skills and development, physical activity, program placements, and attendance. Teacher questionnaires shall be administered in the spring of 2014 and spring of 2015.

School administrators (directors, principals, and headmasters): School administrators shall be asked to complete a 50-minute self-administered questionnaire about the school’s physical and organizational characteristics, school policies, and other school-level characteristics that are associated with children’s educational experiences and learning. The questionnaire will also include questions about the administrator’s background. School administrator questionnaires shall be administered in the spring of 2014 and spring of 2015.

I.A.5 Optional Studies and Supplements

The ECLS-K:2011 may be expanded in scope or enhanced with optional studies and supplements. Some of these optional studies and supplements may be supported by NCES depending on the availability of funds, while other offices in the U.S. Department of Education and other Federal agencies may sponsor others.

http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kinderinstruments.asp

The optional studies and supplements that NCES is considering for the ECLS-K:2011 during the collections covered by this contract are described briefly below. The final decision on whether or not to incorporate one or all of these optional studies and their final design specifications will be at the discretion of the government and is contingent on funds available to NCES. Unless otherwise stated, the contractor shall assume each of these options will be conducted in both the third- and fourth-grade data collections and shall budget for them separately.

Option 1. Sample Protections

Due to the high costs associated with following sample children who change schools between data collection rounds, the ECLS-K followed a subsample of movers, rather than all movers. A similar subsampling procedure is being used for the ECLS-K:2011. To ensure that the desired

NCES precision standards are met for follow-up ECLS-K:2011 data collections, language minority children (identified according to the parent report as having a primary home language other than English) who move from their base-year schools shall be followed at higher subsampling rates than other movers. Also, to provide a more complete picture of the factors related to the variation in the receipt of services by and educational outcomes of children with disabilities, children who ever had an Individual Education Program (IEP) or Individual Family

Services Plan (IFSP) who move from their base-year schools also shall be followed at higher subsampling rates than other movers.

Option 2. Increased Sampling Rate

At this time it is unclear whether the current subsampling rate (about 50 percent) of children who move from their base-year schools (referred to as “movers”) will be high enough for the third-and fourth-grade collections so as to ensure that the desired NCES precision standards are met for follow-up ECLS-K:2011 data collections. The purpose of this option will be to increase the subsampling rate for movers (typically 50 percent in past ECLS-K and ECLS-K:2011 data collection rounds) in order to meet NCES precision standards. If the option is not exercised, the subsampling rate for movers will be 50 percent, which is the rate used to follow children between kindergarten and first grade in the ECLS-K:2011.

Option 3. Special Education Teacher/Service Provider

The purpose of the Special Education teacher questionnaire is to collect information on the prevalence of specific disabilities and receipt of special education and related services for sampled children with an IEP. Similar to the structure of the general classroom teacher questionnaires, sample children’s special education teachers/service providers shall be asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire about their own professional background, as well as a self-administered questionnaire that collects information associated with the identification of disabling conditions and receipt of various types of special education and related services for each sample child he or she teaches. The ECLS-K survey instruments designed for and used specifically for special education teachers/service providers (see special education teacher questionnaires at http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kinderinstruments.asp for examples) were adapted for use in the ECLS-K:2011 spring kindergarten, spring first-grade, and spring second-grade

Moving refers to a move out of the child’s base-year (i.e., kindergarten) school, regardless of any change in the child’s home residence.

http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kinderinstruments.asp collections. Similarly adapted instruments shall be used in the third- and fourth-grade collections.

Option 4. Screening for Auditory Impairments

Auditory impairments interfere with development, communication, and learning even at the earliest ages. The purpose of this option is to measure hearing sensitivity and middle ear functioning once during the third- or fourth-grade year for the approximately 30 percent subsample of children who were selected to participate in the ECLS-K:2011 fall first-grade subsample. The grade in which the hearing screening is conducted has yet to be determined.

This option includes: 1) update of respondent materials pertaining to the hearing screenings (e.g., informational materials to districts, schools, and parents for delivery prior to the screenings;

letters to convey the child’s hearing screening results to the parents) that were used in the fall second-grade data collection; 2) production/acquisition of all instruments and materials needed for the screenings including coordination with GPO for all printing exceeding the printing threshold as outlined in the FAR; 3) development of training materials and the hiring and training of the screening staff; 4) data collection; and 5) delivery of the data and associated documentation as separate restricted-use data products (i.e., these data will not be part of the main data files produced for the study). The contractor will be provided with approximately 35 sets of hearing screening equipment purchased for the study for use in the second-grade data collection. To date, each set of hearing screening equipment is expected to include one of each of the following: Welch Allyn 3.5 V diagnostic otoscope model 25020 and rechargeable handle model 71000-C, Quest Electronics BA-202-27 bio-acoustic simulator, Grason-Stadler GSI-39 audiometer equipped with Sennheiser HDA-200 circum-aural headphones, and an external USB audio interface (e.g., the E-MU 0204 USB). In addition, to run the hearing screening, one laptop per set of hearing screening is required and this laptop shall be provided by the contractor (e.g., Dell M5500 laptop PC). (The laptop may be able to be used for other data collection activities as the contractor deems appropriate.) The contractor shall anticipate needing to purchase 5 additional sets to replace broken or malfunctioning equipment.

Option 5. Student Records Abstract (SRA)

The purpose of this option is to collect student attendance information (e.g.,, absences, tardiness), student academic information and, if applicable, details about the child’s Individual

Educational Program (IEP) and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) from school records, or from school and school system student record systems.

Option 6. Family Nutrition and School Meal Programs

The purpose of this option is to collect information on the usual foods consumed by children and the availability of different kinds of foods at school, as well as schools’ and children’s participation in the federal school meals program. Information would be collected from parents/guardians about food consumption at home (see ECLS-B Kindergarten 2006 Parent questionnaire at http://nces.ed.gov/ecls for examples) and children’s receipt of free and reduced-price meals. School staff would provide information on the federally subsidized meal programs available at the school (i.e., breakfast and lunch, prices students pay for these meals) and school policies related to food and nutrition such as the sale of various kinds of food (e.g., candy, sodas, http://nces.ed.gov/ecls fruits) at school (see the 8 th grade ECLS-K school questionnaire -http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/pdf/eighthgrade/administrator.pdf for examples).

Option 7. Third- and Fourth-Grade Before- and After-School Care Provider

Questionnaires

The purpose of this optional study is to obtain information on the characteristics of sampled children’s nonparental before- and after-school care providers and settings in the third- and fourth-grade years (spring 2014 and spring 2015). Information shall be collected using self-administered questionnaires similar to those used in the ECLS-K:2011 kindergarten year; the kindergarten school administrator questionnaire is included in the ECLS-K:2011 kindergarten data collections OMB clearance package that is attached for review.

Option 8. Response to Intervention (RtI) Practices in Elementary Schools

The purpose of this option is to obtain information on Response to Intervention (RtI) practices used in the elementary schools selected for the ECLS-K:2011. The focus of the data collection would be on RtI practices in terms of: (a) universal screening of children in academics

(including reading/language arts and mathematics) and behavior; (b) the selection, range, and intensity of interventions for children needing assistance beyond that provided in the regular education classroom; and (c) schools’ and teachers’ use of RtI data to inform decisions about children’s referral for special education. Items on these topics were developed and tested under a previous contract and included in the first- and second-grade teacher and school administrator questionnaires, which are included in the OMB clearance packages that are attached for review.

Similar items shall be used in the third- and fourth-grade questionnaires, with updates and improvements made as necessary (for example, to make the questions applicable to the data collection grade).

Option 9. Production of Analytic Base Weights, Replicate Weights, and Taylor Series adjustment Strata and Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) Variables

The purpose of this option is to develop weights that would be analytically useful but that have not been identified for creation as part of the core contract, either for the third- and fourth-grade data collection contract or for prior contracts. Thus, the weights may be developed for analysis of third-grade data, fourth-grade data, or data from prior rounds (or any combination of third-grade, fourth-grade, and prior round data). The contractor shall develop up to 10 additional sets of weights (a base weight and associated jackknife weights and PSU and strata variables to be used in standard error adjustments) that can be used to study the cohort over different time periods and using data from different sets of instruments.

I.B. Quality Control

NCES is firmly committed to assuring that each project meets the project goals and that the data collected are of high quality. Project quality control shall be integrated into every phase of the project. For instance, potential problems for data collection shall be identified early so that possible solutions are tested as part of field testing. Item reliability and validity tests for questionnaires, interviews, and child assessments shall be built into the data collection efforts, http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/pdf/eighthgrade/administrator.pdf and results from these tests shall inform data collection and processing. Nonresponse analyses shall be conducted as part of the weighting process, and information about the survey methodology and sample design effects shall be made available to data users. As part of quality control, the offeror shall institute procedures relevant to confidentiality and protection of data

(including the secure transmittal of confidential data) (see appendices B and C).

In addition, deliverables shall be submitted on time and be of sufficient quality (in terms of accuracy, coherence, clarity, and comprehensiveness) to meet NCES statistical standards, professional standards, and NCES and IES style guidelines. NCES expects that only minor changes to drafts will be needed for products to become final deliverables. Deliverables except data sets and CAI programs shall be delivered in electronic format to the contracting officer’s representative (COR) in WORD or WORD compatible format, unless prior approval for a different format is received from the COR. Certain deliverables shall be submitted in hard-copy format as specified under the specific tasks outlined in Part II of this PWS.

I.C. NCES Statistical Standards

NCES has developed and implemented a set of statistical standards that set guidelines to ensure the quality of NCES' work (see NCES Statistical Standards, NCES 2003-601). These standards

(as amended) are to be followed by NCES staff and their contractors in performing the day-to-day work of NCES. A copy of the standards and proposed revisions are available at the website:

http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/ . In addition, contractors shall follow content and format guidelines described in the IES style guide, found at:

http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/styleguide/pdf/styleguide.pdf

I.D. Background Documents and Materials

A number of documents and materials (user’s manuals, data file documentation, and methodology reports) from prior NCES early childhood longitudinal surveys are available on the

NCES website as noted above. ECLS-K materials are the most readily accessible as the ECLS-B materials are primarily restricted-use materials that are accessible only through licensing agreements with NCES. Information about the ECLS-K:2011 can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten2010.asp. Materials for the ECLS-K can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten.asp. Copies of assessment easels used in the ECLS-K and kindergarten and first-grade rounds of the ECLS-K:2011 may be viewed at NCES offices on

1990 K St. NW, Washington, DC upon request. The OMB materials contain copies of the

ECLS-K:2011 kindergarten and first-grade rounds’ study instruments.

I.E. Confidentiality

Appendix B provides a guide to issues of confidentiality.

http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/ http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/styleguide/pdf/styleguide.pdf http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten2010.asp http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten.asp

II. Work Statement

Independently and not as an agent of the United States Government, the Contractor shall provide all personnel, materials, services, and facilities necessary for the project and perform the tasks as described below.

The period of performance for this contract and optional data collections and supplements is sixty (60) months. The contract includes

1) recruiting students, families, and schools in order to continue following the progress of the cohort during the spring of 2014 and spring of 2015, when most cohort members will be in grades 3 and 4, respectively; 2) designing and field testing the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade wave child cognitive assessments in the domains of reading, mathematics, and science; 3) designing the third- and fourth-grade non-assessment instruments, including items to be asked of the students themselves; 4) field testing the child questionnaire and all fourth-grade nonassessment instruments; 5) planning and conducting the third- and fourth-grade (spring 2014 and spring 2015) data collections; 6) producing public- and restricted-use release files, data documentation, and methodology reports; and 7) updating child locating information.

Data Collection Schedule

Data collected through a different contract in the fall and spring of the children’s kindergarten year (the 2010-11 school year) serve as the baseline data for the study. Fall and spring first- and second-grade national data collections (i.e., fall 2011, spring 2012, fall 2012, spring 2013) for the

ECLS-K:2011 are being conducted under a second contract. The third- and fourth-grade collections shall occur in the spring of 2014 and the spring of 2015. One final annual follow-up, not currently part of this procurement, is planned for spring 2016 (when most of the children will be fifth graders). Children who are off track of the standard grade progression schedule shall be included in both collections (e.g., children in the cohort who are still in third grade in spring

2014). A field test of the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade rounds’ cognitive assessments in the domains of reading, math, and science, as well the child questionnaire to be used in third and fourth grade, shall be completed sufficiently far in advance of the spring third-grade data collection to allow for development of valid and reliable cognitive assessments and a child questionnaire to be used in the third-grade data collection. The Government prefers that this field test occur in the spring of 2013; however, the contractor may recommend a different field test schedule if the goal of producing a valid and reliable assessment in time for data collection is met (including allowing sufficient time for OMB clearance of the final child questionnaire). A field test of the fourth-grade parent interview, teacher questionnaires, and school administrator questionnaire shall be completed in the late winter/early spring of 2014. This timing will allow adequate time for review of field test data and revision of instrumentation before submission of the request for OMB clearance for the fourth-grade data collection in the summer of 2014.

Tasks

Core tasks listed below describe the tasks necessary for designing and field testing the child assessments for the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade collections; for designing and field testing the child questionnaire; for designing and field testing the non-assessment instruments for the fourth-grade collection; for conducting the third- and fourth-grade national data collections; for the release of the third- and fourth-grade data; and for panel maintenance.

The specifications for all deliverables to be generated by the tasks are described below. Unless otherwise specified, deliverables shall not be physically delivered to the NCES COR. Instead, the CO, CS, and NCES COR shall be notified of the deliverable's placement within the

Integrated Management System (IMS) or, if requested, delivered electronically to the COR through e-mail. An important function of the IMS from the NCES COR's viewpoint is the capability to retrieve deliverables from the IMS. All documents shall be delivered as WORD or

WORD compatible files unless otherwise specified. In situations where materials are not readily available in WORD or WORD compatible format, the contractor shall verify with the COR that

NCES has appropriate software to read or access the materials well before delivery (e.g., PDF formats of graphically complex materials, access to CAI programs needed to test CAI instruments, database formats for data files, etc.).

The products that the contractor shall prepare and submit to NCES/the Department are indicated in the descriptions of the core tasks and the optional study tasks. While there may be other possible schedules for completing the tasks associated with the ECLS-K:2011, several activities must take place at the specific times indicated during the conduct of the project. RIMS/OMB clearance package dates must be met in order for the spring data collections and field tests to start on time. The field test of the third- through fifth-grade assessments and child questionnaire items shall start by March 2013, the spring third-grade collection shall start by March 2014, the spring fourth-grade field test shall start by February 2014, and the spring fourth-grade collection shall start by March 2015. All study instruments and materials necessary for field work and national collections shall be delivered to NCES with sufficient time for revision and approval, sufficiently in advance of RIMS/OMB clearance requests to inform those requests.

In addition to the importance of the overall quality of the data collected, deliverables such as documents and manuscripts shall be submitted on time and as complete products that meet or exceed standards in the NCES statistical standards, professional standards, and NCES and IES style guidelines. NCES expects that only minor changes to drafts will be needed for the drafts to become final deliverables. The times to complete and submit in this work statement are shown in business days from the preceding event whereby business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and

Federal holidays. There are references to calendar days in some situations where that reference period is more suitable for the task. Unless so noted, days mean business days in the schedule.

Unless otherwise stated, the contractor shall assume 10 business days for each round of NCES review of all submitted deliverables.

Several deliverables associated with staff Affidavits of Nondisclosure and E-QIP related security forms are not specified in the schedule below but are detailed in appendix B and appendix C.

Task 1. Management (Firm Fixed Price)

The contractor shall manage the collection of ECLS-K:2011 data in an efficient manner that fosters communications with contractor staff, subcontractors, the NCES Contract Officer’s

Representative (COR), the Department’s Contract Officer (CO), the Department’s Contract

Specialist (CS), and NCES ECLS-K:2011 project staff.

Subtask 1.1 Post Award Conference

Within 2 weeks of the contract award, as approved by the COR, the contractor’s project director and four other key staff members who would be able to answer questions about sampling issues, data collection processes, costs, etc., from the contractor project team shall hold a meeting in

Washington, D.C. at facilities made available by the Department. The meeting will include the

COR, the CO, key NCES project staff, and the CS. The contractor shall focus the meeting to review the overall contract tasks, identify information needed from the previous ECLS-K:2011 contracts, identify potential problems and possible solutions in the project and contract, and discuss areas of concern related to the proposed project staffing plan and other management requirements. The primary purpose of this meeting is to refine the management, staffing, and scheduling plans. These refinements shall provide management information for use by both the contractor and the government in monitoring the work to be performed. This meeting will also provide the opportunity for Department staff to share project experience and materials with the contractor.

Deliverables: 1.1 Post award meeting materials

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: The contractor shall submit an agenda and proposed schedule 5 days before the meeting and the minutes and final schedule 5 days after the meeting.

Subtask 1.2 Monthly Reports and Schedules

The contractor shall report monthly on the progress made in accomplishing the project tasks including delivery dates for contract deliverables, the hours worked by project staff by task, the consumption of funds by task, cost of work conducted by subcontractors, problems encountered and any NCES-approved solutions, issues related to confidentiality, and plans for the next month. The financial status of the project, including detailed monthly charges by named staff, costs incurred by subcontractors (or projected costs if subcontractors’ billing lags such that current month spending is not billed until later months) shall be described in an attachment submitted with the monthly report. The contractor shall immediately notify the COR of problems encountered and proposed solutions. The reports shall be delivered with the monthly invoices. If there are delays in invoicing, monthly reports shall still be delivered unless otherwise agreed to in advance with the NCES COR. Due to the uncertainties of large data collection projects, the contractor shall develop and maintain a detailed schedule for all activities of the project. The schedule shall be updated monthly and submitted with the monthly report. For all activities within the project, the schedule shall detail the key staff assigned, and the projected start and end dates. For each monthly schedule, actual completion dates shall be entered for products completed that month.

Deliverables: 1.2 Monthly reports with schedules and invoices

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: The contractor shall submit the monthly progress report and updated schedule on the 10th business day of each month.

Subtask 1.3 Integrated Monitoring System

The contractor shall implement and maintain an Integrated Monitoring System (IMS) to foster communications with staff and the CO, CS, and COR. The IMS is an archive of all the documents and data files generated during the life of the contract. The archive shall include dated drafts, E-mail communications, meeting notes, final products, etc. The archive shall identify file name, date saved, author(s), format, and key words corresponding to each document. The contractor shall design the IMS to routinely produce information about the project and enable the

CO, CS, and COR access to this information remotely in a secure environment. At the end of the contract, the contractor shall submit electronic files of all archived products in a portable media format (e.g., DVDs, portable hard drive) that meets the Department’s security guidelines for data storage and transmittal, and agreed to by the NCES COR.

Deliverables: 1.3 (IMS) Document Archive

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: The archive shall be updated as needed throughout the life of the contract. The contractor shall deliver the complete archive to

NCES/the Department at the end of the contract.

Subtask 1.4 Security and Security Plan

The contractor shall develop and maintain a security plan that details the security and confidentiality measures that shall guide the operation of this contract. The plan should include the components addressed in Appendix B. Once accepted by the Department, the contractor shall execute the provisions of the plan.

The contractor shall submit confidentiality reports that have three parts. Part 1 shall be a list of all project staff that will have access to restricted ECLS-K:2011 data. Part 2 shall be a completed

(signed and notarized) set of NCES Affidavits of Nondisclosure for all project staff listed (in part

1). The contractor shall refer to appendix B for other confidentiality requirements. Part 3 shall be a summary of staff who are in the E-QIP clearance process. See appendix C for more information about the E-QIP process.

Each NCES Affidavit of Nondisclosure shall be completed BEFORE ALLOWING ACCESS to restricted ECLS-K:2011 data. The contractor shall hold original copies, submitted upon request from NCES, and shall provide NCES pdf versions of the affidavits on a monthly flow basis. If staff do not have a clearance for access to restricted data issued through the E-QIP system, staff shall apply for clearance before they access restricted ECLS-K:2011 data. Please note that part of the data security requirements include provisions that staff with access to personally identifiable information have clearances in place upon assignment to the contract or very soon thereafter. Contractors will not be paid for work carried out by staff who are required to have clearances but who have not met requirements to obtain them by the time invoices are submitted.

Deliverables: 1.4.1 Confidentiality reports, contractor staff security (NACI) forms related to E-

QIP (see appendix C), and Affidavits of Nondisclosure;

1.4.2 Data security plan

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: The contractor shall deliver the first confidentiality report within 1 week of contract award. Part 1 shall be included within the IMS.

Copies of the completed NCES Affidavits of Nondisclosure shall be sent to the NCES COR in monthly batches at the same time as the monthly report. Forms for E-QIP clearances shall be delivered as necessary on a flow basis. Part 1 shall be updated on a flow basis.

The contractor shall deliver the data security plan 20 days after contract award. The contractor shall revise the plan in accordance with NCES/Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) comments within 10 days of receiving comments from the COR.

Subtask 1.5 Weekly Project Meetings

The contractor shall meet with Department staff and other personnel brought to the meetings by the Department’s staff on a weekly basis. The meetings shall be by conference call (unless the

Department determines that there are extraordinary challenges or problems that indicate the need for in person meetings) and shall focus on issues associated with current work, and on organizing and discussing issues foreseen for upcoming work. The meetings shall be used to maintain open communications between the contractor and the Department.

Deliverables: 1.5 Weekly management meeting, weekly meeting agenda, and weekly meeting minutes

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: Meetings shall be held on a weekly basis unless the NCES COR indicates a meeting will not occur. An agenda for the weekly meeting shall be delivered to the NCES COR no later than 1 business day before the meeting in order to permit

NCES revisions and additions. Meeting minutes outlining the content of the weekly meeting shall be submitted to the NCES COR 2 business days after the meetings for approval and/or revisions.

Task 2. Technical and Content Review Panels (Firm Fixed Price)

The contractor shall attend and summarize a Technical Review Panel (TRP) and two Content

Review Panel (CRP) meetings organized under another contract for the purpose of obtaining peer review of project plans and products and fostering communications with potential users of the data. The TRP will consist of national experts in the substantive and methodological matters associated with the study of the education and development of children in the elementary grades.

The CRPs will consist of subject matter experts in two main areas: socioemotional development and teacher classroom practices. The contractor shall summarize and evaluate the opinions and recommendations expressed by the panels and provide recommendations to NCES.

The contractor shall attend one 2-day TRP and one 1-day CRP meeting per CRP panel (i.e., a total of two, 1-day CRP meetings). The TRP meeting will be an in-person meeting held in

Washington, DC. The CRP meetings will be virtual meetings. Meetings will be held sufficiently far in advance of RIMS/OMB clearance requests to allow input to affect field test and national data collection designs as described in the clearance requests. It is expected that the socioemotional CRP meeting will need to be held no later than December 2012 to inform the development of the child questionnaire items for field testing. It is expected that the TRP and teacher classroom practices CRP meetings will be held in no later than December 2013 to inform the development of the fourth-grade instruments for field testing. The contractor shall take detailed notes during each meeting and shall summarize the meetings for NCES. The contractor shall use the input from the experts to make recommendations for the design of the non-assessment instruments.

Deliverables: 2.1 Attend TRP/CRP Meetings;

2.2 Socioemotional CRP meeting minutes, summaries, and recommendations;

2.3 Teacher classroom practices CRP meeting minutes, summaries, and recommendations;

2.4 TRP meeting minutes, summaries, and recommendations

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: For each meeting, the contractor shall attend the entire meeting and then submit draft meeting minutes, a summary, and recommendations 10 days after the meeting for NCES review. The meeting minutes, summary, and recommendations shall be revised per NCES comments, if any are received, and submitted within 10 days of receipt of those comments.

Task 3. Sample Design Specifications (Firm Fixed Price)

The contractor shall develop a sample design for following the third- and fourth-grade national collections of ECLS-K:2011. Children shall be followed from collection to collection regardless of the specific grade in which they are enrolled in a given data collection year. The sample design should give careful consideration to the effects of student mobility (i.e., changes between schools) between years of the study on possible sample attrition. Following students who move outside of their originally sampled kindergarten school can be expensive. However, sufficient sample must be maintained such that the sample has sufficient power by the end of the fifth grade collection to meet the requirements outlined here. The ECLS-K:2011 full-scale sample shall be able to detect both changes of the estimates over time and relatively precise differences between subgroups in any given year. For alpha equal to .05 with a correlation of .60, the study shall be able to detect a 20% change in proportions and a 5% change in means for all waves of the data collection. The study shall also be able to produce level estimates for which the standard error is no bigger than 10% of a proportion and 2.5% of a mean or less in all waves. It shall also be able to support analyses of groups of children by race/ethnicity (i.e., non-Hispanic

Whites, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, non-Hispanic Asians and Pacific Islanders, children of all other races) and school sector (i.e., public, Catholic, other private) over 5 years of follow-up data collections. To yield sample sizes sufficient for analytic purposes at the required levels of precision, Asian and Pacific Islander children were oversampled in the kindergarten year and it may be necessary to protect that sample as these children move into third and fourth grades.

These specifications are intended to allow for both analyses of ECLS-K:2011 data themselves and comparisons between the ECLS-K:2011 and ECLS-K data. To facilitate evaluation of these design criteria in context of the existing ECLS-K:2011 sample, the kindergarten year sampling plan is attached as part of the kindergarten-year data collection OMB clearance package. Details of the subsampling of children who change schools for the first-grade data collection can be found in the attached OMB package for the first grade data collections. Although some students may be excluded from taking certain components of the assessments because of specific disabilities or limited English language proficiency as determined on a case-by-case basis, no group of students will be systematically excluded from the study. Note that freshening of the sample to be representative of all children in a particular grade is not anticipated. The contractor shall not draw samples until NCES approves of the sample designs.

The plan shall include information about, but not be limited to, specific sample sizes for each stage of sampling, the expected level of precision of survey estimates, sample allocation, stratification, sample units sort order, sample selection procedures, methods for adjusting biases, weighting procedures (including weights for follow-up schools), procedures for variance estimation, and a schedule for implementing the plan. The plan shall also detail how expected response rates are to be achieved by the contractor.

The contractor shall evaluate the sample at each wave to determine whether it meets precision requirements and to evaluate overall implementation of the plan. All aspects of the sample design plan shall be submitted to NCES as a Sample Design Report for review and approval.

To assist NCES staff monitoring the implementation of the sampling plan, the contractor shall provide NCES with copies of all documents and specifications (e.g., computer specifications, formula for selection probability, sample size derivation and allocation, etc.) that describe and document how the sampling plan was developed. Note, sample designs for the field tests are incorporated into task 10 separately.

In the kindergarten collections of this study, data were collected from approximately 17,700 students and their parents, approximately 3,500 teachers, and approximately 1,000 school administrators. More detail on the ECLS-K:2011 sample can be found in the attached OMB clearance packages for the kindergarten and first-grade collections of ECLS-K:2011. For information on sample performance over time for ECLS-K, contractors can refer to the methodology reports associated with that study at:

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002135;

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005018; and http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006037.

Deliverables: 3.1 Sample design specifications for third grade;

3.2 Sample design specifications for fourth grade

Deliverable Submission Timing and Specifics: The contractor shall deliver the sample design specifications in the sample design report 40 days after contract award. Fifteen (15) days after receipt of NCES comments, the revised full-scale sampling specifications shall be delivered for

NCES approval. Modification may be required an additional time before OMB clearance is sought depending on NCES and expert…