Pre-Solicitation Notice_NAEA_Evaluation_Alignment_95476722R0900.pdf

Evaluation & Alignment of Museum Educational Resources Presolicitation Notice for USHMM RFP 95476722R0900

About the Museum - A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (hereafter referred to as “USHMM” or “Museum”) inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. As an independent establishment of the U.S.

Government with gift acceptance authority, federal support guarantees the Museum’s permanence, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by donors, members, educators, universities, leaders in governments and the public, just to name a few.

Notice to Businesses Please read this entire notice carefully as it constitutes the only notice that will be issued regarding the Museum's forthcoming request for proposals to develop and undertake a formal evaluation of the efficacy of the Museum’s educational outreach.

This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). This is a pre-solicitation notice for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Museum. The Museum will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this pre-solicitation notice as it is not our intent to enter into a contract based on this notice or otherwise pay for information so solicited.

Why a Pre-Solicitation Notice? We are trying to determine the likely existence of available sources capable of satisfying the Museum’s requirement in as open a manner as possible. We seek to cultivate meaningful competition while minimizing proposal writing and evaluation burdens on offerors and Museum staff.

Our Solicitation Plan - We estimate it will take us about 10 business days to finalize and issue the solicitation proper; we will send it to all who e-mail Bruce Falk their intent-to-bid notice. USHMM reserves right to award initial contracts based on one or more criteria (e.g., past performance, capability/experience of proposed team, corporate capability, viability/desirability of proposed technical, testing, and or pricing of approach) and reserves the right to do a down-select on one or more factors as desirable to facilitate pre-award presentations with finalist candidate(s).

Be advised that FAR Sec. 4.1102 requires SAM registration for bid eligibility. SAM registration is a prerequisite for any award, because it is an integral part of validating and establishing the payment process. So… for suppliers not yet in SAM who are considering submitting a bid… please do look into registration and let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the process. We do not want this bit of red tape to be the thing that precludes anyone from submitting (or us from considering) a bid.

Anticipated Project Timeline (all times EST)

On or about June 24, 2022 solicitation issued

On or about July 25, 2022, 5 PM proposals due

By mid-September, 2022 contract awarded http://sam.gov/

Draft Statement of Work: USHMM Evaluation and Alignment of Museum Lessons and Resources

Period of Performance: September 2022 - October 2023

1 Background & Goals

1.1 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has created and made available to secondary teachers across the country a number of lessons and resources intended to help teachers and students understand how and why the Holocaust happened.

1.2 Teachers report students better understand how and why the Holocaust happened after engaging with some lessons and experience little difficulty integrating them into their classrooms, while several existing lessons are not meeting the Museum’s learning goals. In addition, the Museum strives to create new resources that both encourage students to think beyond a simplistic narrative of the Holocaust as well as utilize inquiry frameworks, which are cited as best practice and are finding wide adoption in classrooms. This presents an opportunity to align our resources with best practices in the field.

1.3 This project will attend to the aspects outlined above by (1) evaluating a set of current Museum resources and lessons plans, assessing the extent to which they align with contemporary best practice frameworks and engage students in critical thinking and (2) evaluating a set of newly revised or created lessons which integrate the themes of individual choice and employ existing best practice models.

2 Scope of Work

2.1 The Evaluation Study shall center around a set of existing Museum lessons, designed for secondary school students, roughly grades 6-12. This evaluation will focus on the following central questions:

1. In what manner do the lessons reflect best practices in SS and/or ELA education?

2. To what extent and in what manner do the lessons engage the students in critical thinking

(evaluation, analysis, synthesis, etc.)?

3. In what manner do the lessons provide opportunities to extend student thinking beyond the linear, simplistic prevailing narrative of the Holocaust?

2.2 The Contractor shall evaluate six (6) existing, Museum-produced lessons that teachers have identified as successful and engaging to understand if pedagogical structures reflect best practices, advance critical thinking, and disrupt simplistic narratives. The Contractor shall engage classroom teachers and students, potentially utilizing Museum networks, to teach the lessons in the classroom and provide feedback on classroom implementation and perceived and assessed learning outcomes. The Contractor should propose the most effective and efficient data collection method for these classrooms, and establish a minimum number of classrooms to study in order to have a meaningful sample. From this evaluation, the Contractor shall provide written recommendations to apply to other educational resources.

2.3 Contractor shall evaluate, through classroom observations, an additional two (2) overview lessons and up to two (2) new lessons created by the Museum utilizing best practice, inquiry-based frameworks against the central questions defined in 2.1. Contractor shall engage teachers and students in the evaluation process and incorporate their findings into the final report. The Contractor should propose the most effective and efficient data collection method for these classrooms, and establish a minimum number of classrooms to study in order to have a meaningful sample

2.4 Contractor shall coordinate, organize, and manage any Institutional Review Board (IRB) filing(s).

2.5 Contractor shall provide the Museum with detailed monthly progress reports and use both narrative and visual (graphs and/or charts) formats in its final report submissions.

2.6 Project Milestones and Deliverables

Contractor shall complete all other material project milestones according to the following proposed time frame or otherwise as mutually agreed upon.

September 2022 - Project Kickoff September 2022 - USHMM handoff of existing lessons (under 2.2) to Contractor February 2023 - USHMM handoff of revised and new lessons (under 2.3) to Contractor October 2023 - Final report, recommendations, and presentation materials, integrating teacher and student perspectives and learning outcomes

Key Deliverables

● Implementation, Observation, and Evaluation of Existing Lessons

○ Statement of problem and identification of individuals who will act as classroom observers and evaluators

○ Full description of methodological approach for lesson evaluation, drafts of instruments, and protocols to test analysis

○ Accepted IRB; confirmation of teachers and classrooms to participate in the evaluation

○ Classroom data collection; teachers implement existing lessons and submit feedback along with student artifacts

○ Delivery of data materials (may include raw data and interview transcriptions)

○ Written report summarizing analysis and findings

● Classroom Observation and Evaluation of Newly Created Lessons

○ Accepted IRB for classroom observations (unless covered under initial IRB);

confirmation of teachers and classrooms to participate in the evaluation

○ Classroom data collection; teachers implement lessons and submit feedback along with student artifacts

○ Delivery of data materials (may include raw data and interview transcriptions)

○ Written report summarizing analysis and findings

● Final Report

○ Consolidating information from both phases, recommendations, and presentation materials, integrating teacher and student perspectives and learning outcomes

2.7 The Museum will retain the option(s) to extend the scope of the contract to include evaluation of additional resources and lessons, all to be priced separately and delivered in conjunction with a mutually agreed upon schedule.

Proposal Requirements and Evaluation Criteria Offerors must register in SAM

Subject to clarification and modification by the solicitation itself when it is issued, we currently expect to seek the following information in proposals:

● Technical Proposal, including, but not limited to:

○ General project timeline, approach, research philosophy, and methodologies to be employed

○ Key personnel experience and qualifications, including demonstrated experience in the field of education research, assessment, and evaluation; evaluating resources in the classroom; knowledge of multiple research and evaluation methodologies; and familiarity with the current theories, methods, concerns, and models of best practice in education.

○ Past performance and research portfolio showcasing examples of previous work that is the same or similar in nature and scope to the research effort

● Business proposal, including pricing for services, including stipends, compensation, or incentives for study participants and applicable travel and consent to standard federal commercial services contract terms

● 3 References

Appendix

1. Best Practice Examples

a. Sample Inquiry Design Model lesson

b. IDM Template

c. Supporting Question Template

d. Stanford History Education Group Reading Like a Historian sample lessons

2. Existing lessons to be evaluated as part of 2.2

a. Challenges of Escape, 1938–1941

b. History Unfolded: Black Press Newspaper Coverage of the Holocaust

c. Holocaust Narrative through Historical Photos

d. Nazi Racism

e. Survivor Testimony Lesson

f. Exploring Holocaust Era Diaries

3. Lessons to be revised, and evaluated as part of 2.3

a. Overview of the Holocaust (Two- and Four-Day Lessons)

b. Some Were Neighbors (to be created lessons)

c. Some Were Neighbors (to be created lessons)

4. Museum definition of critical thinking

a. “...the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and / or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reason, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”

https://c3teachers.org/inquiries/treaty-of-versailles/ https://c3teachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Inquiry-Design-Model-Template.docx https://c3teachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Formatted-Inquiry-template-4SQ.docx https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/challenges-of-escape-1938-1941 https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/black-press-newspaper-coverage-of-the-holocaust-history-unfolded https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/holocaust-narrative-through-historical-photos https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/nazi-racism https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/teaching-with-holocaust-survivor-testimony https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/exploring-holocaust-era-diaries https://www.ushmm.org/teach/holocaust-lesson-plans/overview-of-the-holocaust