ParaEd-PWS-v2.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

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DoDEA Paraeducator Professional Learning

1.0 Introduction, Background, Scope

1.1 Agency: The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) serves the educational needs of the dependents of military and civilian employees by providing preschool-grade 12 instruction to about 71,000 students in 163 brick-and-mortar schools. Student enrollment varies based primarily on deployment of military troops worldwide. DoDEA’s curriculum, resources, and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems. In North America DoDEA operates 51 schools located in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoDEA operates 65 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Bahrain. In the Pacific, DoDEA operates 47 schools located in Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. DoDEA also operates a fully accredited Virtual High School with hubs in the US, Europe, and Pacific.

1.2 Background: DoDEA paraeducators currently receive professional learning from the district or regional levels, which is not standardized systemwide. There is an ongoing need for sustainable systemic paraeducator professional learning. DoDEA currently employs about 1,300 educators worldwide—US, 560; Europe, 420; and Pacific, 320, of whom about 200 are novices.

1.3 Scope: DoDEA requires an asynchronous self-paced learning for web-based professional learning to meet the needs of our novice and experienced paraeducators who provide behavioral and instructional support to students with disabilities worldwide.

Novice professional learning is needed to provide targeted support in the areas of behavioral skills development, social-emotional learning, academic and instructional interventions, and accommodations for and understanding of the needs of students with disabilities.

Paraeducators are required to complete a basic course equivalent to two undergraduate semester credits (30 seat-hours) and to complete additional coursework equivalent to one undergraduate semester credits (15 seat-hours) every other year of employment.

DoDEA expects that 900-1,000 paraeducators will sign up for coursework each year and to award one contract for a 12-month base year and four 12-month option years.

2.0 REQUIREMENTS

2.1 Professional Learning Content—The Contractor shall:

2.1.1 Provide vendor-hosted, self-paced, asynchronous, individually-paced web-based courses for paraeducators (each not to exceed 90 minutes in length).

2.1.2 Provide web-based courses that are organized into units that address the needs of novice and experience paraeducators. Brief course description shall be included so paraeducators and their supervisors can better select what courses would benefit them the most. The level of the course should be include descriptions and provide a comprehensive listing of available courses to include whether it is novice level, experienced level or both levels.

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2.1.2.1 Novice educators require a minimum of 30 seat-hours of coursework that shall include such topics as the following:

1) Introduction to autism

2) Introduction to inclusion/collaborative instruction

3) Overview of behavior strategies intervention plans

4) Paraeducator roles and responsibilities

5) Overview of special education programs

6) Dealing with emergencies in the classroom

7) Overview of accommodations and modifications

8) Overview of early childhood disabilities

9) Overview of educational disabilities

10) Overview of legal issues such as PRIVACY ACT and IDEA

11) Common parental concerns regarding their children with disabilities

12) Personal & physical support for students with specialized needs

2.1.2.2 Experienced paraeducators require a minimum of 15 seat-hours of coursework every other year. Courses shall either cover the same topics in greater depth than the novice level courses and additional topics such as the following:

1) Bullying Prevention

2) Brain-based learning

3) Understanding and supporting ADHD/Autism, etc.

4) Supporting and monitoring student progress

5) Overview of behavioral strategies and intervention plans

6) Overview of social-emotional disorders

7) Professionalism for paraeducators

8) Communication skills with parents and teachers

9) Classroom instructional accommodations/interventions

10) Understanding anxiety in early childhood and adolescence

11) Understanding instructional support for core academics

12) Supporting students with low incident disabilities such as, traumatic brain injuries, visual impairment, etc.

2.1.3 Provide registration and performance reporting to include course listings, description and/or screen shoots of the registration process and performance reporting that are user-friendly.

2.1.4 Provide a tracking system where a school administrator will have easy access to monitor each paraeducator’s progress and archived data. Provide above-school-level administrators at the district, region, and HQ levels with read-only access to individual and aggregated performance data.

2.2 General—Contractor shall:

2.2.1 Content/Bias: Provide resources that are free of racial, color, national origin, age, disabling conditions, sexual, religious, and ethnic bias, and shall present a balanced coverage of multi-cultural contributions and representation, where appropriate.

2.2.2 Section 508 Compliance—Contractor resources, wherever applicable, shall meet the following requirements:

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IT Requirement: All electronic hardware and software procured under this contract/purchase order must comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. 794d) and Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic Information Technology Accessibility Standards (36 CFR part 1194). Further information is available at the following URL: http://www.section508.gov.

Section 508 Deliverable Requirements: The activity to be performed relates to or requires the use of Electronic and Information Technology (EIT). Section 508 must be considered as a requirement for the outputs/deliverables including functional performance, information, documentation, and support requirements under this acquisition to ensure that it considers specific Section 508 accessibility requirements. Further, the outputs/deliverables should not adversely affect accessibility features of existing EIT technologies. Standards from 36 CFR part 1194 Subpart B, C, and D have been determined to apply to this acquisition.

Solicitation respondents must describe how their background and experience will enable them to at least meet those technical provisions identified as applicable in the Government Product/ Service Accessibility Template (GPAT), per (Attachment 1).

2.2.3 OCR Requirement: Provide, upon request, two digital Optical Character Resolution (OCR) copies of all print materials. A digital copy of these materials shall be provided in one or more of the following formats:

Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY)/ National Instructional Materials.

Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) with cascading style sheet.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

Portable Document Format (PDF), (unlocked, embedded fonts, single page).

Rich Text Format (RTF)/Word document

2.2.4 Privacy

Wherever applicable, the Contractor shall require individual accounts with unique usernames and passwords which do not require personally identifiable information (PII)—first and last name and any other unique personal information—to access online content.

Complete DoD's Privacy Impact Assessment (DD2930a), a requirement of the Privacy Office for any cloud resource that will store information. The form focuses primarily on the kind of required information in the system and the protections in place for data, especially privacy data. This form shall not be signed by the Contractor. Note: Prior to award, it will be completed and signed by DoDEA officials.

2.2.5 Technical Support: Provide industry-standard technical support for its digital resources via telephone or at a minimum by email within one business day or less from the initial contact throughout the life of the contract to include but not limited to providing assistance with service problems, product setup, upgrades, and troubleshooting.

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2.2.6 Post-Award Conference: Participate in a post-award tele- or videoconference with DoDEA. Provide a digital copy of the meeting’s minutes to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

3.0 Technical Requirements (information Technology)

None

4.0 Constraints

None

5.0 Government-Furnished Resources

None

6.0 Deliverables

The Contractor shall furnish all services to be performed and all items to be delivered in accordance with the following delivery schedule:

Deliverable Frequency # of Copies Medium / Format

Submit To

Post-Award Conference

PWS 2.2.6

Three business days after award.

Minutes sent to COR

1 copy

PDF - MS

Word

COR

Professional Learning Courses, PWS 2.1.1- 2.1.2

Ongoing beginning three business days after receipt of delivery order

N/A Digital

COR

Review

Registration Process & Performance Reporting, PWS 2.1.3

Tracking System, PWS 2.1.4

Technical Support, PWS 2.2.5

7.0 Performance Requirements Summary (PRS)

Objective Standard Acceptable Quality Level Inspection

Task 1 Digital

Materials

As defined in the

PWS

After receipt of delivery order, Assessment Coordinator Manual will be sent to COR electronically

COR

Task 2 Testing

Materials

After receipt of delivery order, US schools will receive testing materials within 30 calendar days and overseas schools will receive them within 45 calendar days

100% COR

monitoring

Task 3 Scoring & Reporting

Scoring and reporting will begin when testing forms are received and be completed 15 business days after receiving forms from the last school to submit them.

Weekly COR monitoring

Task 4 Program

Management

COR and Contractor’s liaison to DoDEA will meet regularly (weekly) to discuss progress and issues.

These meetings are aimed to keep both stakeholders on track to meet the schedule of deliverables (4.0, above).

Regular meetings