RFI 26-87669 Att E - Hoosier Launch SOW.pdf

RFI 26-87669 Hoosier Launch Advising Tool Platform

Scope of Work Attachment E

1.0 Purpose/Background

Background: Indiana lacks a cohesive infrastructure that integrates career coaching, academic advising, work-based learning, and credential attainment. The absence of enabling technology or other tools to integrate these critical components of the high school experience threatens Indiana’s ability to transform student outcomes. Absent a comprehensive solution, Indiana lacks the interconnected systems needed to bring these elements together, resulting in the following challenges:

● Students, families, schools, employers, and intermediaries lack the infrastructure to help facilitate communication, training and development, data sharing, opportunities for work-based learning/student pathways, and feedback.

● The burden of tracking and reporting of student experiences may limit opportunities as schools and counselors are forced to prioritize efficiency over personalization.

● Workforce and industry partners will be limited in building quality work-based learning opportunities as their efforts to innovate are stifled by administrative requirements.

Purpose: The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is seeking information from vendors regarding opportunities to collaborate with existing college and career readiness (CCR) platforms currently serving Indiana schools. The goal is to explore the development of a more comprehensive school support solution that reduces the administrative burden and uncertainty associated with implementing Indiana’s new high school diploma requirements. This includes tracking post-secondary readiness, documenting and verifying work-based learning experiences, monitoring employability skills and competencies, recording credentials, and other required elements.

At a conceptual level, IDOE is interested in understanding the potential for a partnership model with the existing CCR platforms, such as Naviance, Xello, Indiana Career Explorer, and others. We want to explore how, when granted access to relevant transactional data streams from Local Education Agencies’ (LEAs) student information systems through Data Exchange, CCR platforms could deliver enhanced value to school staff. We want to solicit existing platforms to specifically learn how such platforms might support students as they plan for, monitor, and complete the components of Indiana’s new diploma pathways and help students successfully navigate the post-secondary world in line with the competencies outlined in the Indiana GPS “Portrait of a Graduate.”

Schools may engage in procurements with vendors from the preferred provider list or seek other alternatives per local decision. This RFI is issued to create a preferred provider list for LEA’s to utilize when considering a CCR platform but use is not mandatory. IDOE may or may not issue a subsequent Request for Proposal (RFP).

Submitting a response does not create any obligation or advantage for future procurement opportunities.

Glossary and Role Definitions:

Vendor: An organization proposing and delivering the technology platform and associated services (implementation, training, support, maintenance, reporting).

Service Provider: An organization offering student-facing experiences (e.g., WBL placements, internships, apprenticeships) integrated into the platform marketplace.

Employer: An entity providing work-based learning opportunities posted or verified through the platform and/or LEA partnerships.

Intermediary: A regional workforce or education partner supporting employer engagement and student placement quality.

2.0 Requested Information

● Leveraging technology to support an interactive platform for school professionals, families and students that make tracking and reporting student progress on the new diploma requirements automatic and embedded in the student experience, reducing time spent on administrative tasks. Platforms will need to support feedback from users and utilize information to continuously improve performance.

● Empower counselors and career coaches with personalized recommendations for students based on career interests, academic aspirations, and post-secondary goals.

● Provide seamless access to information that will help students, families, schools, employers, and intermediaries to coordinate efforts and maximize impact.

● Providing student level data elements including, but not limited to, work-based learning hours, scores on student interest and career inventories, and enrollment in work-based learning experiences to IDOE through an application programming interface (API). Data elements of interest include but are not limited to those involving work-based learning and work-based participation metrics. These data would be included in the summary administrative records stored by the IDOE in an effort to capture the complete set of data necessary to determine if a student has fulfilled diploma requirements. The State has robust and comprehensive data transmission standards that operate enterprise wide. The IOT establishes and maintains these standards, which support IOT’s Data Exchange and API-led strategies for the State. The Contractor’s solution must support the State’s standard API and file transfer methods to facilitate secure data transmission. The State’s standardized data transmission technologies are the MuleSoft API Management and GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer (MFT) services. See https://www.in.gov/iot/policies-procedures-and-standards/applications-standards/.

● Successfully complete a badging process defined by the IDOE. This badging process verifies vendor capability to access secure API data and meet minimum security, functional, and data handling criteria. Vendors will be expected to demonstrate adherence to standard security measures as determined by the state and must further demonstrate the ability to access and consume student level data relevant to achieving an Indiana diploma through a state provided API.

Data Flow Chart

The chart below depicts how DOE is anticipating data would flow to platform providers.

https://www.in.gov/iot/policies-procedures-and-standards/applications-standards/ https://www.in.gov/iot/policies-procedures-and-standards/applications-standards/

It also includes the list of expectations of vendors to include in their platform.

3.0 System Qualifications

Market penetration:

• Current number of schools served

• Current number of students served

• Number of years in the market

• Number and type of key industry partnerships

• Current number of employees

• System Capabilities (Maximum users)

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI):

• Current use of AI within current platform

• Sustainability or future plans to utilize AI within the platform

• Any anonymized dataset for AI training requires IDOE written approval, documented de-identification method, and model cards describing purpose, data sources, and evaluation.

Capabilities (reference Appendix A, Platform Capabilities and Features) Core Capabilities desired for the platform:

• Calculate progress towards Indiana diploma and/or readiness seals

• Capability to track Work Based Learning Hours and storage of artifacts

• Dual credit attainment from postsecondary providers

• Accessibility for students and parents; preferably mobile application friendly

• Propose performance metrics and reporting capabilities that align with IDOE’s goals for student engagement, completion rates, credential attainment and system uptime.

• Vendor support and training, including onboarding processes for schools and staff (may include timelines, resources, and ongoing technical assistance).

• Interoperability with other education systems using open standards (e.g., Ed-Fi, SSO systems, etc.).

• Career Exploration capabilities

• Career Interest Inventories and proclivity assessments

• Career nudging and/or leveling up options

• Post High School Account access

• Relevant internship/job opportunities search

• ADA compliance for access; language translation capabilities

• School Level Data Reports are available and roll up.