OET26006625 MPA-581 Solicitation Specifications.pdf

2018-1 Page 1 of 10 Revised 08/17/2018

OET - AGENCY SOLICITATION SPECIFICATIONS

TITLE: HIGH-QUALITY CURRICULUM BASED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

SECTION A. BACKGROUND

The purpose of this request is to identify vendors capable of providing high-quality, curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) to support Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) in implementing high-quality curriculum materials (HQCMs). These professional learning opportunities are critical to ensuring LEAs can successfully adopt and implement the use of HQCMs at both the school and district levels.

By 2023, all Rhode Island LEAs were required to adopt HQCMs for Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) from an approved list provided by the state. This list is informed in part by evaluations from EdReports, a non-profit organization that trains educators to review curricula for alignment with academic standards and usability. Beginning in 2025, Rhode Island LEAs will also be required to adopt HQCMs for Science.

As part of a national movement to expand access to HQCM, Rhode Island passed legislation (RIGL § 16.22.30-33) in 2019, which mandates the following actions by the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education and RIDE:

• Develop statewide academic standards and Curriculum Frameworks.

• Identify at least five examples of HQCM for each core subject (ELA, Mathematics, and

Science).

• Support LEAs in selecting and implementing these curriculum materials.

The legislation also requires all LEAs in Rhode Island to adopt K-12 curriculum materials that meet the following criteria:

• Aligned with academic standards.

• Aligned with the Curriculum Frameworks.

• Aligned with statewide standardized assessments (e.g., RICAS, PSAT/SAT), where applicable.

Although Social Studies is not explicitly mentioned in this section of the legislation, RIDE has developed criteria for high-quality Social Studies materials within the Social Studies Curriculum Framework. Additionally, RIDE has conducted state-supported reviews of core curricular materials using these criteria, with the resulting reports available on our website. As we transition to the new Social Studies Standards and adopt instructional practices outlined in the Social Studies Curriculum Framework and Civic Learning Guidebook, there is an ongoing need for CBPL in social studies.

https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Instruction-and-Assessment-World-Class-Standards/Curriculum/RIGL_22_30_33.pdf?ver=2019-12-20-092153-520 https://ride.ri.gov/instruction-assessment/curriculum/curriculum-frameworks https://ride.ri.gov/instruction-assessment/curriculum/curriculum-frameworks https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2023-12/Social%20Studies%20Framework%20-%20Final.pdf https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2023-12/Social%20Studies%20Framework%20-%20Final.pdf

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To provide transparency and facilitate access, the Curriculum Visualization Tool offers an interactive way for users to explore the curricula adopted across Rhode Island. By selecting a local community, specific school, or curriculum, users can view the information reported by LEAs.

What are High-Quality Curriculum Materials and why are they important?

High-quality curriculum is essential to ensure that materials meet rigorous standards, are grounded in research-based practices, and include materials that are designed to meet the needs of diverse learners (Darling-Hammond, 2017). When materials are identified as high-quality, schools are relieved of the task of creating resources from scratch—resources that often lack rigorous vetting to ensure they align with standards, are evidence-based, and support diverse learners. RIDE uses a few factors to determine if materials are high-quality, primarily using information from EdReports, a non-profit, independent organization that uses teams of trained educators to conduct reviews of K–12 English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science curricula. Informed by EdReports as a baseline, RIDE’s list of HQCM includes only curricula that are:

• aligned with academic standards;

• aligned with the curriculum frameworks;

• and aligned with the statewide standardized test(s) (i.e. RICAS, PSAT/SAT), where applicable.

Research emphasizes the importance of using HQCM. Studies show that teachers with access to these materials engage students in higher-level practices, significantly improving instructional quality and student learning. This access is crucial for ensuring that all students are college and career-ready and possess the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in school and beyond (Why Materials Matter, 2024).

What is Curriculum-Based Professional Learning and why is it important?

CBPL, as mentioned here, refers to a type of professional learning focused on enhancing educators' knowledge, skills, and practices in the design, implementation, and assessment of

HQCM.

CBPL should be informed by RIDE’s Curriculum Frameworks and any HQCM that have been adopted. CBPL typically includes collaborative learning experiences aimed at empowering and supporting educators to effectively internalize and implement curriculum resources, enhance instructional effectiveness, differentiate instruction, and promote equitable student outcomes and student engagement.

Providing educators access to HQCM is a foundational step to improving equitable student outcomes (Steiner, Magee & Jensen, 2018); however, access alone is only the first step.

Comprehensive and sustained professional learning efforts are necessary to support educators in effectively utilizing HQCM to enhance student outcomes. A study by Supovitz, Sirinides, and May (2010) examined the impact of CBPL on educators' instructional practices. They found that while many professional learning experiences provided initial exposure to HQCM, the depth and sustained support needed for full implementation was often lacking. Educators reported needing more ongoing support, coaching, and opportunities for collaboration to effectively integrate HQCM into their teaching practices.

https://tableau.ride.ri.gov/t/Public/views/CurriculumVisualizationsK-122018-2023/CurriculumVisualizationTool?%3Adisplay_count=n&%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&%3Aorigin=viz_share_link&%3AshowAppBanner=false&%3AshowVizHome=n https://www.edreports.org/impact/why-materials-matter#s00 https://ride.ri.gov/instruction-assessment/curriculum/curriculum-frameworks

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While RAND researchers (2023) found that the use of HQCM in ELA and math among Rhode Island educators has doubled from 2019 to 2023, they also found that many teachers report using these HQCMs for only about 50% of their instructional time, and a significant number of teachers find the materials too challenging for their students. The perception that students find the materials demanding suggests that educators need more ongoing, job-embedded professional learning in scaffolding for students without compromising the rigor of the grade-level content.

Additionally, while 30-40% of educators engage in collaborative learning and workshops frequently, only 12% receive coaching, indicating a gap in sustained professional learning.

Research highlights that one-time workshops are less effective than ongoing, job-embedded professional learning for successfully implementing HQCM. Therefore, it is critical to implement comprehensive and ongoing CBPL to support educators in effectively using HQCM.

As part of our ongoing efforts to support HQCM implementation, RIDE is committed to deepening our understanding of the effectiveness of professional learning on curriculum implementation in the field. To achieve this, RIDE will gather and analyze relevant data. As such, vendors selected for our MPA will be required to provide aggregate data back to RIDE. This data will be critical for assessing the impact of professional learning activities, measuring progress toward instructional goals, and ensuring that resources are aligned with the needs of educators and students.

SECTION B: SCOPE OF WORK AND REQUIREMENTS

The Rhode Island Department of Education is inviting proposals from multiple vendors specializing in CBPL for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. This initiative aims to support the effective implementation of high-quality curricula across educational settings. Vendors are encouraged to submit proposals that demonstrate their expertise, experience, and ability to provide targeted CBPL that enhances instructional practices and improves equitable student outcomes.

RIDE believes that the successful implementation of HQCM is most effective when paired with CBPL. The Rhode Island Department of Education’s High-Quality Professional Learning Guidebook outlines the characteristics that research identifies as essential for effective CBPL, supported by extensive studies (Darling-Hammond, 2017; Fairman et al., 2023) and aligned with the Rhode Island Professional Learning Standards (RIPLS).

For a vendor's CBPL to be considered high-quality, it must include the following key characteristics:

• Be student-focused: Effective professional learning strategically focuses on and is designed to strengthen the capacity of educators to help students achieve desired learning outcomes. It emphasizes Tier 1 instruction, ensuring that all students receive high-quality teaching that meets their diverse needs.

• Aligned to a school or district's curriculum, LEA strategic plans for improvement, and needs: Professional learning is optimally effective when it is coherently aligned to a school or district’s existing plans for ongoing improvement.

https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2025-09/HQPL-Guidebook.pdf https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2024-10/HQPL-Guidebook.pdf https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/RIPLS_Final_Oct_2018.pdf

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• Provide rigorous, relevant content: Effective professional learning focuses on the content educators teach in their classrooms daily. Professional learning should be rigorous to help educators enhance and shift their professional practice and differentiated to meet their specific needs and the content they teach.

• Incorporate active learning: Effective professional learning includes active learning opportunities that give educators a chance to meaningfully engage with new concepts and teaching strategies by engaging in the work directly. Effective professional learning also takes into consideration how educators learn best, which includes adult learning theory.

• Support collaboration in job-embedded contexts: Much like with students, effective professional learning leverages the power of working one-on-one with a coach or in groups, so educators have opportunities to learn with and provide support and feedback to each other. In addition, effective professional learning strives to embed new learning into what educators are already doing so as to not add more to existing workloads.

• Use models and modeling of effective, evidence-based practice: Teaching is a complex and challenging endeavor. Therefore, effective professional learning strives to provide educators with effective examples and models of what research and evidence-based practice look like with students in real contexts.

• Provide coaching and expert support: A common approach to professional learning is the ‘one and done’ approach, which is when educators receive stand-alone workshops without support for the implementation and application of new learning. More effective professional learning builds opportunities for educators to receive coaching and support from experts as they practice applying new learning.

• Offer routine opportunities for formative feedback and reflection: An important component of professional learning is providing routine opportunities for educators to reflect and receive feedback on their professional practice.

Effective professional learning will create multiple pathways for educators to receive formative feedback on their learning.

• Be ongoing and sustainable: Given that teaching is a challenging and complex endeavor, there is always room for improvement and growth. Thus, effective professional learning is designed to be continuous and ongoing.

Additionally, RIDE has outlined three key competencies related to the use of HQCM, which should be embedded within the professional learning experiences:

• Competency 1: Educators can explain how HQCM contributes to improved learning outcomes for all students and can distinguish between high-quality and non-high-quality curriculum materials.

• Competency 2: Educators are equipped to effectively plan instruction using

HQCM.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W6YbTqQZpy6mc2sW4l1AAZdGaKfg8eVE7ayJ5Owgv88/edit#bookmark=id.41ozplv3wol3 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DdA7nIlhXvzhtqIeqiTDbpZAnE3RvBmX/edit

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• Competency 3: Educators can deliver instruction effectively with HQCM, ensuring that students benefit from its design and structure.

SECTION C: PROPOSAL

1. Technical Proposal Narrative and format: Vendors must submit a technical proposal which addresses each of the following elements and is limited to twenty (20) pages (this excludes any appendices and as appropriate, resumes of key staff that will provide services covered by this request). All bids must adhere to the required format and include all specified components.

Bids that fail to meet these requirements, are incomplete, or fail to follow the submission instructions will be considered non-responsive and will be disqualified from further review.

Please note that RIDE reserves the right to award contracts by specific content areas based on the quality of professional learning.

Submissions must adhere to the following prescribed format and structure:

1. Staff Qualifications – Provide the resumes/CVs of key staff members who will be involved in facilitating CBPL. Include a description of their qualifications and experience, specifically highlighting their background in CBPL.

2. Capability, Capacity, and Qualifications of the Vendor - Provide a comprehensive overview of the vendor’s experience as a CBPL organization. This should include:

a. Background and Past Projects: Provide a brief summary of the organization’s history, goals, and key achievements as a CBPL provider. This summary should include:

• A description of significant projects undertaken by the organization.

• An analysis of the impact of these projects on teacher learning and student achievement including data for DAS and MLLS, supported by quantitative and/or qualitative data.

• Any external program evaluations of the professional learning initiatives included in this solicitation.

• Examples of professional learning protocols, tools, or artifacts that demonstrate alignment with the characteristics of high-quality professional learning.

b. Client References: List at least three (3) relevant and recent (post-COVID-19) client references, including:

• Client name and address

• Contact person’s name, email, and phone number

• Dates when services were provided

• Type(s) of service(s) delivered

3. Information on Professional Learning Services - Provide a description of the framework within which the requested CBPL services will be conducted. Your description should include the following elements:

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a. Vendor Details Provide information regarding professional learning offerings designed to support the implementation of HQCM. This should include:

• Professional Learning Offerings o Description of Professional Learning Offerings: An overview of the various professional learning options available, along with their objectives and expected outcomes.

o Types of Professional Learning Structures Utilized: Specify the types of professional learning structures your organization employs within its overall professional learning framework and strategy.

For your reference, we have included RIDE’s definitions of each structure to ensure they align with our definitions and expectations.

Please note that for professional learning to be effective, it must extend beyond just offering workshops.

Workshops - Workshops are typically whole-school learning experiences designed to teach educators about specific resources, materials, and strategies to build content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Keep in mind, the more specific a workshop is to participants’ role, grade level, and content area, the more likely it is to be effective in improving those educators’ knowledge and practice.

Research has shown that one-time workshops are generally ineffective in producing lasting changes in professional practices (Guskey, 2009; Desimone, 2009;

Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). As such, professional learning vendors should ensure workshops include all the characteristics of HQPL, are of sustained duration, and are included as one part of a larger professional learning system with multiple different professional learning structures.

Coaching: Coaching involves leaders and professional learning vendors observing educators and providing non-evaluative, actionable feedback that is specific to content, cognitive processes, and curriculum. Ideally, all educators should receive coaching, regardless of their experience or length of tenure. Observations take place during classroom instruction, with feedback delivered promptly after each observation. Coaching can take various forms, including but not limited to side-by-side coaching and in-the-moment coaching.

Learning Walk Support: Learning walks are brief, non-evaluative, data-driven classroom visits that utilize a data-collection tool with clear and explicit look-fors. Ideally, these look-fors should be aligned with a school-wide focus or gap and aligned with a shared vision of what excellent

2018-1 Page 7 of 10 Revised instruction looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Data from the learning walks should be normed, used to guide and develop future professional learning opportunities, and provide informal, non-evaluative feedback. For learning walks to be effective as a form of professional learning, feedback must always be provided to the educator, ideally immediately following the learning walk.

Self-Paced Learning: Self-paced (asynchronous) professional learning provides educators with flexibility and autonomy in their professional learning journey. In this format, educators have access to resources, materials, and learning activities that they can engage with at their own pace and on their own schedule. Self-paced programs often include opportunities for reflection and self-assessment, enabling educators to monitor their progress and set goals for their continued growth. Research has found a varied impact of self-paced learning on professional practice (International Journal of Self-Directed Learning, 2009).

Successful self-paced learning requires clear goals, resource access, intrinsic motivation, and self-regulatory skills like goal-setting and progress monitoring. Prioritizing these elements can enhance effectiveness and promote meaningful professional growth when included as one part of a larger professional learning system with multiple different professional learning structures.

Collaborative Planning Support: Collaborative planning sessions are when small groups of educators in the same grade band or content area examine, internalize, discuss, differentiate, and practice units, lessons, and tasks. They analyze relevant qualitative and quantitative data, especially student work, to determine strengths and gaps in student learning and plan for how they will support students in core instruction and intervention time. In Rhode Island, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and Common Planning Time (CPTs) are often used interchangeably to describe the time dedicated to examining, internalizing, discussing, differentiating, and practicing lessons.

Other: Please elaborate.

o Frequency of Professional Learning Sessions: Information on how often these sessions are conducted (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly).

o Tiered Cost Model for Professional Learning Services: An explanation of a tiered pricing structure that reflects different levels of service or customization for the professional learning offerings.

2018-1 Page 8 of 10 Revised o Maximum Number of Participants per Session: The maximum allowable number of participants for each session to ensure effective learning and engagement.

o Examples of Professional Learning Experiences and Materials:

Examples of professional learning sessions, including, but not limited to, materials and protocols used.

o Collaborative Approach to Customized Professional Learning:

A description of the organization's method for working with educational institutions to develop tailored and customized professional learning opportunities that meet their specific needs and challenges.

o Delivery Methods:

Blended In-person Virtual: asynchronous Virtual: synchronous o Grade level(s) the professional learning targets:

Early childhood (birth to 5) Lower elementary school (K-2) Upper elementary school (3-5) Middle school (6-8) High school (9-12) o Content Area(s) the professional learning targets:

ELA/Literacy Math Science Social Studies o Vendor Authorship and Permissions: Indicate the following:

The submitting vendor is the original author of the HQCM for which they offer professional learning;

The submitting vendor has secured (and will submit) permission from the original author/partner; or

The HQCM is an open educational resource (OER) and, therefore, permission is not required.

Indicate any curricula for which you are recognized as a certified professional learning provider (e.g., OpenSciEd).

o HQCM Implementation Stages

Adoption support Initial launch and support Ongoing support and coaching for teachers Systems design, coaching, and support for leadership

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Other: Please elaborate.

o Diverse Students: Describe how professional learning for CBPL supports the integration of effective core Tier 1 instruction strategies that address the learning needs of all students (MLL, DAS, etc.).

o Description of Feedback Methods: Provide an overview of the types of data used to gather feedback from teachers, school leaders, and district administrators, and how the feedback is analyzed and used to strengthen and refine professional learning programs.

o Description of Data Sharing: Provide a brief description of how your organization will share aggregate data with RIDE to help us capture and analyze the effectiveness of professional learning on curriculum implementation.

4. Approach/Methodology – Please define your organization’s methodology for CBPL.

Specifically, you should focus on:

a. How your organization’s methodology for CBPL aligns with the characteristics RIDE has outlined as necessary for professional learning to be high-quality as defined in on page 3 of this document and on page 6 of the High-quality Professional Learning Guidebook.

b. How your approach aligns with the three key competencies related to the use of HQCM in the professional learning experiences outlined on page 4 of this document.

SECTION D: EVALUATION AND SELECTION - SOLICITATION SPECIFIC

Technical proposals must receive a minimum of 80 out of a maximum of 100 points to advance to the qualified vendor list. Technical proposals scoring less than 80 points shall not receive further consideration. All bids must adhere to the required format and include all specified components. Bids that fail to meet these requirements, are incomplete, or fail to follow the submission instructions will be considered non-responsive and will be disqualified from further review.

Proposals shall be reviewed and scored based upon the following criteria:

Criteria Possible Points

Staff Qualifications 20 Points

Capability, Capacity, and Qualifications of the Vendor 10 Points https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2024-10/HQPL-Guidebook.pdf https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2025-09/HQPL-Guidebook.pdf

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NOTE: See the “Requirements” tab of this solicitation for additional information on the evaluation and selection process in the “OE Standard Specifications-Technical Proposal” section.

Vendor Information on Professional Learning Services 50 Points

Approach/Methodology 20 Points

Total Possible Technical Points 100 Points

SECTION D: EVALUATION AND SELECTION - SOLICITATION SPECIFIC