OET_FR_Case_Studies_SOW_8-15-16.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

FUTURE READY CASE STUDIES

STATEMENT OF WORK

AUGUST 15, 2016

OVERVIEW

The Office of Educational Technology (OET) requires evaluation expertise to conduct case studies to examine district leaders’ use, application, and perceptions of the Future Ready (FR, http://futureready.org/) professional learning resources. FR provides digital learning opportunities to help school districts move quickly toward preparing students for success in college, a career, and citizenship. With more than 2,200 districts already signing the Future Ready District Pledge, the U.S. Department of Education and the Alliance for Excellent Education are leading this effort alongside a vast coalition of organizations.

FRS resources include: (1) Future Ready District Pledge that district leaders sign to commit to develop the human and technological capacity needed to personalize learning using digital tools (http://dashboard.futurereadyschools.org/pledge/); (2) Future Ready Interactive Planning Dashboard, an interactive planning dashboard and aligned resources (http://futureready.org/about-the-effort/dashboard/); and (3) Future Ready Summits , regional summits designed to assist district teams in their planning efforts and to help them develop a vision for student learning under direct guidance from Future Ready facilitators (http://futureready.org/summits/).

The FRS evaluation will serve three purposes:

1. Document district leaders’ perceptions of changes in their practices as leaders that they associate with their use of the Future Ready resources.

2. Document district leaders’ assessments of the utility of the Future Ready approach for delivering professional learning in general, and of the FR resources in particular.

3. Provide case studies as exemplars for districts across the country to use as they begin transforming teaching and learning through the use of technology.

The evaluation will address the following questions:

1. What changes in their practices, if any, did district leaders attribute to their use of the FRS resources?

2. What documents, if any, do district leaders say have been generated or revised as a result of their use of the FRS resources?

3. To what extent and in what respects do district leaders find useful the FRS resources?

In consultation with OET, the contractor shall identify a sample of leaders in districts to serve as sites for the case studies; these participants will be selected from the pool of more than 2,200 district leaders who have signed the pledge to become a future-ready district. The contractor, in consultation with the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), shall select the leaders for study inclusion to represent a range of district sizes, locales, and geographic regions. To ensure that a range of district contexts are included in the interview sample, these districts will be categorized on the following characteristics: locale, student demographics (free/reduced price lunch, English language learners [ELLs], and race/ethnicity), and per-pupil spending. Although the sample is not intended to be representative of any one group, the goal is to capture experiences across a range of district contexts.

The contractor shall conduct phone interviews with district leaders. The interview protocol will include a request to ask district leaders to provide the artifacts they say have been generated or revised as a result of their use of the FRS resources. Artifact type and title (if no title, a brief description) will be recorded for each artifact provided, and the artifacts will be conveyed to the COR.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

SCOPE OF WORK

The contractor shall be responsible for carrying out all phases of work associated with the major activities under this contract. The contractor shall work in coordination with the COR, especially during the development phases of all tasks. The COR will be responsible for the review of all deliverables.

TASKS

The contractor shall provide the services as described in the following tasks:

TASK 1 – COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT

Throughout the duration of the contract, the contractor shall maintain effective communication to keep the COR informed by phone, email, and virtual meetings. At all meetings, the contractor shall brief the Department staff and discuss plans, progress, difficulties and solutions.

Kickoff Meeting. The contractor shall meet virtually with the Department via Google Hangout within one week of the effective date of this contract. At the meeting, the contractor and the Department shall discuss expectations for the tasks comprising the contract and discuss the schedule of deliverables. The contractor shall submit to the COR draft minutes of the meeting. Allowing one week for the COR to comment on the draft minutes, the contractor shall submit to the COR revised minutes that incorporate the COR’s comments.

Monthly Meetings with the Department. The contractor shall meet monthly with the Department via a video chat platform. If requested by the COR, these monthly meetings shall include subcontractor staff. One week before each meeting, the contractor shall prepare and submit to the COR a draft agenda and any supporting materials for the meeting. Within one week after each meeting, the contractor shall prepare and submit to the COR a draft summary covering the main points discussed during the meeting, any changes in plans, any further actions to be taken, and a list of participants. If requested by the COR within one week of receiving comments on the meeting summary, the contractor shall submit a revised summary within two days after receiving the COR’s comments.

TASK 2: PREPARE DATA COLLECTION PLAN

In consultation with the COR, the contractor shall prepare a data collection plan that describes how the tasks will be conducted to meet the purposes identified by the COR. At a minimum, the data collection plan shall list and/or describe:

· Key evaluation questions

· Methodology for data collection

· Interview protocols

· Proposed strategy for selecting sites

· Proposed notification procedures

· Data collection timeline

· Preliminary data analysis and reporting plans

The contractor shall provide information on conducting a cross-site analysis to compare and contrast findings, in addition to considering each site as a whole and how the contractor will integrate qualitative information from the case studies with secondary data sources (artifacts) provided by district leaders. The contractor shall develop and submit to the COR a first draft data collection plan within 3 weeks after the effective date of this contract. The COR will review and provide comments to the contractor on the draft data collection plan. Within one week, the contractor shall submit a final data collection plan that incorporates all comments received by the COR.

TASK 3: SELECT SITES

Based on the approved data collection plan, the contractor shall submit a proposed list of sites, including alternates to the COR. The contractor shall include as part of the list a brief description of the sites, including demographic information and other information requested in this SOW, and other information that provides useful background information on the sites. The COR will review the list and provide comments. Based on COR comments, the contractor shall notify the sites of their selection and seek their participation. The contractor shall submit to the COR a final list of participating sites.

TASK 4: COLLECT DATA

The contractor shall detail the requirements of the data collection plan under Task 2, but should include but not be limited to the following:

Qualitative Superintendent Interviews. The contractor shall use a qualitative semistructured protocol to interview a sample of district leaders who have used the FRS resources and reported having applied what they learned. The interview questions will cover reports of use and perceptions of usefulness of the resources, as well as the application of the resources in the development or revision of three types of district policies (strategic plans, technology plans, and budget – see Document Collection description below). For each document, the contractor shall ask (a) whether it was developed or modified after the interviewee began using the FRS resources; (b) if so, whether the document reflects learning from the use of the resources; and (c) if so, which of the gears— Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; Personalized Professional Learning; Technology and Infrastructure; Budget and Resources; Community Partnerships; Data and Privacy; Use of Space and Time; Collaborative Leadership —does the document reflect. The contractor shall also ask if there are other examples of application of the resources, as well as for their opinions as to the usefulness of the FRS resources as an approach to professional learning.

Document Collection. The contractor shall also collect and examine three types of documents for each district: the district strategic plan, district technology plan, and district budget. To the extent possible, the research team shall collect documents via district websites prior to the interview for reference during the interview. For documents not available on the district website, the interviewer shall request that the document be sent to the research team. The contractor shall also use the collected documents to confirm interviewees’ assertion about the FRS resources and provide examples of application of the resources.

TASK 5: ANALYZE DATA AND PREPARE REPORT

After conferring with the COR on the most beneficial approach for reporting the data collection findings, the contractor shall prepare a detailed outline for the evaluation report. The goal of the final evaluation report is to serve as a set of case studies targeted to inform the work of other district leaders. This outline shall provide ED with information on the structure, content, and analysis plans for the final report. Following COR comments on the draft outline, the contractor shall prepare and submit a first draft of the evaluation report. The COR will review and provide comments on the first draft report. Within one week, the contractor shall revise the report based on COR comments. The COR and other ED staff will review and provide comments on the second draft, and the contractor shall submit a third draft of the evaluation report within one week that incorporates all comments received by the COR and ED. The COR will review and provide comments on the third draft, and the contractor shall submit a final report within one week that incorporates all comments received by the COR and ED.

OPTIONAL TASK A: BEST PRACTICE GUIDE

If ED exercises the option, the contractor shall create a guide to help districts and states use Future Ready resources to support the application for and implementation of state funds under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) including a needs assessments and continuous improvement process. The expectation will be that the key findings from the case studies created in the base award will be incorporated into the best practice guide.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance of the base contract is 9 months from Date of Award.