Request_For_Proposals_Early_Grade_Reading_doc.pdf

SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD

1. THIS CONTRACT IS A RATED

ORDER UNDER DPAS (15 CFR 700)

RATING PAGE OF PAGES

3 159

2. CONTRACT NUMBER 3. SOLICITATION NUMBER

SOL-294-17-000004

4. TYPE OF SOLICITATION

SEALED BID (IFB)

X NEGOTIATED (RFP)

5. DATE ISSUED

03/03/2017

6. REQUISITION/PURCHASE NUMBER

REQ-294-17-000003

7. ISSUED BY CODE USAID/West Bank and 8. ADDRESS OFFER TO (If other than Item 7)

USAID/West Bank and Gaza American Embassy Tel Aviv Place Washington DC 20521-9700

NOTE: In sealed bid solicitations "offer" and "offeror" mean "bid" and "bidder".

Proposals are due electronically and hard copy as instructed in Section L

SOLICITATION

9. Sealed offers in original and copies for furnishing the supplies or services in the Schedule will be received at the place specified in Item 8, or if hand carried, in the depository located in until 8:00 AM local time

(Hour)

04/07/2017 (Date)

CAUTION: LATE Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals: See Section L, Provision No. 52.214-7 or 52.215-1. All offers are subject to all terms and conditions contained in this solicitation.

10. FOR

INFORMATION

CALL:

A. NAME

Shirine Tourk Agbarieh

B. TELEPHONE (NO COLLECT CALLS) C. E-MAIL ADDRESS

sagbarieh@usaid.gov, jgilpin@usaid.gov

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

11. TABLE OF CONTENTS

(X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S) (X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S)

PART I - THE SCHEDULE PART II - CONTRACT CLAUSES

X A SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM 3 X I CONTRACT CLAUSES 106-115

X B SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS 4-7 PART III - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACH.

X C DESCRIPTION/SPECS./WORK STATEMENT 8-46 X J LIST OF ATTACHMENTS 116

X D PACKAGING AND MARKING 47-49 PART IV - REPRESENTATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS

X E INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE 50 X

K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND

OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS 117-133

X F DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE 51-76

X G CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA 77-81 X L INSTRS., CONDS., AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS 134-152 X H SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS 82-105 X M EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD 153-159

OFFER (Must be fully completed by offeror)

NOTE: Item 12 does not apply if the solicitation includes the provisions at 52.214-16, Minimum Bid Acceptance Period.

12. In compliance with the above, the undersigned agrees, if this offer is accepted within calendar days (60 calendar days unless a different period is inserted by the offeror) from the date for receipt of offers specified above, to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item, delivered at the designated point(s), within the time specified in the schedule.

AWARD (To be completed by government)

19. ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS NUMBERED 20. AMOUNT 21. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION

22. AUTHORITY FOR USING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

10 U.S.C. 2304 (c) ( ) 41 U.S.C. 253 (c) ( )

23. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN

(4 copies unless otherwise specified)

ITEM

24. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 7) CODE 25. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY CODE

26. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

Dale Lewis

27. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

28. AWARD DATE

IMPORTANT - Award will be made on this Form, or on Standard Form 26, or by other authorized official written notice.

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

Previous edition is unusable

STANDARD FORM 33 (Rev. 9-97)

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.214(c)

13. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See Section I, Clause No. 52.232.8)

10 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 20 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 30 CALENDAR DAYS (%) CALENDAR DAYS (%)

14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AMENDMENTS

(The offeror acknowledges receipt of amendments to the SOLICITATION for offerors and related documents numbered and dated):

AMENDMENT NO. DATE AMENDMENT NO. DATE

15A. NAME

AND

ADDRESS

OF

OFFEROR

CODE

FACILITY 16. NAME AND TITLE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN OFFER

(Type or print)

15B. TELEPHONE NUMBER 15C. CHECK IF REMITTANCE ADDRESS

IS DIFFERENT FROM ABOVE - ENTER

SUCH ADDRESS IN SCHEDULE.

17. SIGNATURE 18. OFFER DATE

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

RFP No. SOL-294-17-000004 Early Grade Reading (EGR)

PART I - THE SCHEDULE

SECTION B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICE/COSTS

B.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this Contract is to provide technical services to implement the United States Agency for International Development West Bank and Gaza Mission’s “Early Grade Reading (EGR)” activity in the West Bank. The objective of the EGR is to expand USAID/West Bank and Gaza’s efforts to support the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to enhance learning outcomes for Palestinian children at the primary level by improving Arabic reading and writing instruction, policies and practices at the government, community and school levels.

B.2 CONTRACT TYPE

This is a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) Completion Type Contract. For the consideration set forth in the contract, the Contractor mus t provide the deliverables and results described in Section C and Section F (to be incorporated at contract award). The Contractor must also comply with all other contract requirements.

B.3 ESTIMATED COST, FIXED FEE, AND OBLIGATED AMOUNT

The total cost plus fixed fee of this contract will be $XXXX.

(a) The estimated cost for the performance of the work required hereunder, exclusive of fixed fee, if any, is TBD. The fixed fee, if any, is TBD. The estimated cost plus fixed fee, if any, is TBD.

(b) Within the estimated cost plus fixed fee (if any) specified in paragraph (a) above, the amount currently obligated and available for reimbursement of allowable costs incurred by the Contractor (and payment of fee, if any) for performance hereunder is TBD. The Contractor shall not exceed the aforesaid obligated amount.

(c) Funds obligated hereunder are anticipated to be sufficient through TBD.

B.4 PRICE SCHEDULE

Cost Element Year 1 (in

USD)

Year 2 (in

USD)

Year 3

USD)

Year 4

USD)

Year 5 (in

USD)

Total in USD (Years 1 through Year 5)

Salaries and Wages Fringe Benefits Consultants Subcontracts Travel, Transportation, and Per Diem

Equipment and Supplies

Allowances Other Direct Costs Procurement Total Direct Costs Indirect Costs Fixed Fee Total Task Order Ceiling Price Plus Fixed Fee

(a) The inclusion of any costs in the above budget does not obviate the requirement for prior approval by the Contracting Officer of cost items designated as requiring prior approval by any of the terms and conditions of this contract, including the applicable cost principles (see FAR C l a u s e 52.216-07, “Allowable Cost and Payment”); nor does it constitute a determination of allowability by the Contracting Officer of any item of cost, unless specifically stated elsewhere in this contract. Also, these amounts may not be adjusted without a written modification signed by the Contracting Officer. The Contractor will not bill any amounts against this contract in excess of the amounts specified for each line item.

(b) The C ontractor agrees to furnish data that the Contracting Officer may request on costs expended or accrued under this contract in support of the budget information provided herein.

(c) The Contractor shall not exceed the total ceiling of the Task Order set forth in the budget table above and/or the obligated amount specified in B.3 above without the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

(d) The Contractor is not allowed to exceed each cost element total, nor is authorized to shift funding between the cost elements set forth above, without the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

B.5 INDIRECT COSTS

(a) The contract clause entitled “Allowable Cost and Payment (MAR 2000)”, FAR 52.216-7, specifies that the indirect cost rates shall be established for each of the Contractor’s accounting periods that apply to this contract.

(b) Pending establishment of revised provisional or final indirect cost rates, allowable indirect costs shall be reimbursed on the basis of the following negotiated provisional or predetermined rates and the appropriate bases pursuant to the contractor’s current executed Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement:

Description Rate Base Type Period

% 1/ 1/ 1/

1/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

(c) The Contractor will make no change in its established method of classifying or allocating indirect costs without the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

B.6 ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING ON CEILING INDIRECT COST RATES AND FINAL

REIMBURSEMENT FOR INDIRECT COSTS

(a) Reimbursement for indirect costs will be at the lower of the negotiated final (or predetermined) rates or the following ceiling rates:

Description Rate Base Type Period Indirect Cost X % 1/ 1/ 1/ Indirect Cost Y % 1/ 1/ 1/ Indirect Cost Z % 1/ 1/ 1/

1/Base of Application:

2/Base of Application:

3/Base of Application:

(b) The Government will not be obligated to pay any additional amount should the final indirect cost rates exceed the negotiated ceiling rates. If the final indirect cost rates are less than the negotiated ceiling rates, the negotiated rates will be reduced to conform to the lower rates.

(c) This understanding will not change any monetary ceiling, obligation, or specific cost allowance or disallowance. Any changes in classifying or allocating indirect costs require the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

B.7 COST REIMBURSABLE

The U.S. dollar costs allowable shall be limited to reasonable, allocable, and allowable costs determined in accordance with FAR 31 (Contract Cost Principles), A-21 (Cost Principles for Educational Institutions), A-122 (Cost Principles for Non-Profit Organization), FAR 52.216-7 (Allowable Cost and Payment), FAR 52.216-8 (Fixed Fee), if applicable, and AIDAR 752.7003 (Documentation for Payment).

In addition, the requirement and conditions concerning estimated cost and funding apply as detailed in FAR 52.232-22 “Limitations of Funds (Apr 1984).

B.8 PAYMENT AND CEILING OF FIXED FEE

USAID will pay a proportion of the contractor’s fixed fee each month pursuant to FAR § 52.216-8, “Fixed Fee,” upon the receipt of an invoice deemed proper by the USAID/West Bank and Gaza Office of Financial Management.

If the Contracting Officer determines that this method results in paying a disproportionately higher ratio of fixed fee than the percentage of work that the Contractor has completed, then the CO may suspend further payment of any fixed fee until the Contractor has made sufficient progress to justify further payment, up to the agreed percentage.

The Contractor must also ensure that fixed fee on invoices specify the percentage.

B.9 CANCELLATION CEILING

This contract is considered non-severable, and is therefore a multi-year contract as defined in FAR 17.103. Therefore, this contract is subject to the requirements of FAR 17.106.

Cancellation Dates:

(To be inserted at time of award)

This is a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) completion type contract where the Contractor is authorized to be reimbursed for all costs which are allowable in accordance with FAR 52.261-7, “Allowable Costs and Payment.” The Contractor will not incur any costs which would have been amortized over the life of the contract should the contract be cancelled in accordance with FAR

17.103 and 52.217-2. Therefore, the cancellation ceiling for each cancellation date is $0.00.

[END OF SECTION B]

SECTION C - DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 PROJECT PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW

The purpose of the Early Grade Reading (EGR) is to provide technical assistance to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to improve students’ reading and writing outcomes in MOEHE-supported schools in grades KG through grade 2. Reading is the foundational skill for all other academic activities, and mastering reading in the early grades will enable Palestinian students to learn increasing amounts of content over the course of their school careers. Writing is a skill that must be developed in synergy with the development of reading, so that students can use the printed word to express their knowledge, questions, and opinions.

The goal of this five (5) year activity is that public primary school students in grades KG through grade 2 in the West Bank will have significantly improved reading and writing skills, as demonstrated by their performance on early grade reading and writing assessments appropriate for their respective grade levels.

To achieve this goal, the Contractor will support the MOEHE in developing evidence-based, sustainable, and scalable reading and writing instructional interventions, and will implement these interventions that are aligned with the following three outcomes:

Outcome 1: Policy framework for the instruction of reading and writing in grades KG-2 in the West Bank developed;

Outcome 2: Classroom instruction in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in grades KG, 1, and 2 in all 2,830 MOEHE-supported schools in the West Bank improved;1

Outcome 3: Reading Enrichment Activities and Awareness Activities Expanded

EGR is the first USAID-supported initiative in the West Bank to focus specifically on improving students’ MSA reading and writing skills. Implementing the activity will require intensive collaboration with the MOEHE, as well as a data-driven approach to continuously improving the activity’s delivery and outcomes.

C.2 BACKGROUND

Since 2003, in a continuous effort to enhance the quality and efficiency of the Palestinian school system, the MOEHE has regularly developed “Education Development Strategic Plans,” (or EDSPs). These plans have increasingly focused on the need to measure student outcomes and to adjust policies and instruction as a function of the results. Sector plans relevant to EGR’s work include:

● EDSP 1 (2003-2008) emphasized the utilization of standard performance indicators for monitoring learning and called for the implementation of national standardized tests in grade levels preceding the final year of high school (at the end of which students sit for the Tawjihi);2

1 Note that political and security conditions in Gaza prevent the implementation of a large-scale reading instruction initiative at this time.

2 The Tawjihi is the standardized exam, administered in both the Palestinian Territories and Jordan to high school seniors, and holding international equivalency with exams such as the International Baccalaureate, IGCEs, SATs, and British O-Levels. The Tawjihi was first administered simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza in 1995, one year after the creation of the MOEHE.

● National Standardized Tests: The national tests represent the second level of indicators of educational achievement. The Ministry has been implementing these tests once every two year since 2008 used to inform the education strategy. The national tests samples include students in Grade 4 and 10 in Arabic language, mathematics and science. The results revealed that the average score of fourth grade students was 56 (out of a scale of 100) in 2008 in Arabic language, 50 in 2010, 60 in 2012, and 59 in 20143.

● EDSP II (2008–2012/134) aimed to increase access to all education levels, to improve the quality of teaching and learning, to develop the MOEHE’s planning, budgeting, and management capacities;

● EDSP III (2014-2019)5, known as “Palestine 2020: A Learning Nation,” which calls for reform in 3 “High Priority Reform Tracks.” 6 These are: Ministry management, curriculum and instruction (including the use of learner-centered strategies, a focus on the teaching and learning of Arabic as a foundational learning skill, and the improvement of achievement levels, especially for essential skills and knowledge), and school restructuring, according to which the number of grades that schools offer will be standardized as follows:

○ Grades 1-12 where possible;

○ Grades 1-4 for all elementary schools;

○ Grades 5-10 for all ‘middle’ schools, and;

○ Grades 11-12 for ‘upper schools’

Goal 2 of EDSP III’s strategy, “Developing a student-based teaching and learning pedagogy and environment,” further emphasizes educational quality, stating that:

o All students will be given the opportunity to acquire the essential skills at early stage of education;

o All measures needed to create learner-centered education and respect of differences and diversity will be adopted in the process of curriculum development;

o Teacher qualifications and provision of appropriate teaching and learning resources will be prioritized, and;

o The education system’s outputs will be aligned with individual learners’ needs, to allow them to pursue further education, to positively engage in the community development process, and to compete at the regional and global levels.

o A thorough and comprehensive reform of the general education curricula and assessment and evaluation system will be undertaken to equip students with 21st Century skills.

EDSP III, updated (2016-2022), drafted in late 2016 to align the MOEHE sector plans with the timeline of the National Palestinian Agenda (2017-2022). The new plan emphasizes the importance of developing early childhood education programming, expansion and improvement of pre-school education, improving basic and secondary education, and improving the transition from education to employment7.

3 MOEHE, Assessment and Monitoring Department, Initial Results for the National Standardized Tests in Arabic, Math and Science for Grade 4, in 2014.

4 The plan was extended by one year to align with the national 5-year planning cycles used in most other ministries.

5 During this period, the MOEHE benefitted from the establishment of “Joint Financing Arrangements,” or “JFAs,” which greatly enhance the implementation capacity of its systems, districts, and schools (MOEHE, 2014). The joint financing partners include:

Belgium, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, and the World Bank.

6 http://www.moehe.gov.ps/en/Plans-Strategies/Education-Dev-Strategic-Plan-EDSP/2014 7 National Policy Agenda (Final Draft) 2017 - 2022; pp. 24

In 2015, the MOEHE recorded a Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) for the basic cycle (grades 1-9) of 95.9%, but a GER for secondary grades (10-12) of just 69.2%. This discrepancy indicated that over ¼ of ‘basic cycle’ students were academically unprepared to transition to the secondary grades. Findings such as these from the middle and high school levels have led the MOEHE to become increasingly interested in measuring and improving students’ reading abilities in the earliest grades, to ensure that they are competent readers before they confront the standardized exams they will sit for later in their academic careers.

Therefore, in March 2014, the MOEHE and USAID collaborated to conduct an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) for grade 2 in a representative sample of 150 MOEHE primary schools, stratified by school gender and selected randomly from sixteen districts in the West Bank8. The 2,953 tested students were randomly selected from enrollment lists prior to each school visit. The results are representative of MOEHE grade 2 students and primary schools in the West Bank.

The grade 2 EGRA results, as summarized in the table below, were mixed. While, fortunately, a low percentage of students obtained zero scores in the first five sub-tests of the exam (letter sound identification, familiar word reading, non-word reading, reading with diacritics, and reading without diacritics), more than half of the students tested failed to perform at or above the ministry’s proposed provisional benchmarks on all reading sub-skills. Of particular concern to the joint (MOEHE and USAID) testing teams were the relatively low results in listening comprehension, where the average score was 3.3 correct items out of a possible 6, suggesting that many students did not understand close to ½ of what was said to them in Modern Standard Arabic. The testing teams also noted the students’ fairly low oral reading fluency results, (emphasizing that just over 20% of students could not read one word of connected text), as well as their very low reading comprehension results (both in texts with and without diacritics). The assessment teams found that, to begin reading with comprehension, students needed to achieve an oral reading fluency of at least 30 Correct Words Per Minute (CWPM), and that those students who were reading with comprehension levels at or above ministry benchmarks had an oral reading fluency of 45 CWPM or more. Out of the sample of 2,953 students, just 165 were found to be able to read at 30 or more CWPM. The remaining 2,788 pupils, who could not read at this fluency rate or higher, were unable to answer almost any reading comprehension questions. The fact that both the listening and the reading comprehension tasks on the test were untimed strongly suggests that many students lacked the requisite MSA vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, and decoding skills to succeed in reading for meaning, and that their difficulty in answering comprehension questions was not simply due to time constraints.

8 EGRA Report attached.

Table One: Summary of EGRA Average Scores for Grade 2

Subtask

Percentage of Grade 2 students with zero scores

Grade 2 average score

Proposed provisional benchmark for Grade 2

Percentage of students performing at or above benchmark

Letter sound identification (clspm) 6.8% 36.0 45 41%

Familiar Word reading (cwpm) 10.0% 17.5 na9 na

Nonword reading (cnonwpm) 8.7% 13.9 20 29%

Oral reading fluency (ORF) – with full diacritics (cwpm)

22.1% 16.7 30 16%

Oral reading fluency (ORF) – without diacritics (cwpm)

10.9% 24.9 35 27%

Reading comprehension – ORF with diacritics (max. 6)

35.7% 1.6 3.0 (50% correct) 26%

Reading comprehension – ORF without diacritics (max. 6)

25.9% 2.2 Na na

Listening comprehension (max. 6) 7.1% 3.3 3.0 (50% correct) 68%

Note: clspm = correct letter sounds per minute; cnonwpm = correct nonwords per minute; cwpm = correct words per minute.

The percentage zero scores for the two Reading Comprehension subtasks include “early stop” students on the respective Oral Reading Fluency exercises (22.1% and 10.9% respectively) who were subsequently not asked any comprehension question on the passage that they “early stopped”.

Not only did the MOEHE testing experts find students’ overall performance to be less satisfactory than desired, they also noted consistent performance gaps between girls’ and boys’ performance on all EGRA subtests. To begin with, there was a significantly lower percentage of grade 2 girls who are nonreaders (3.1%). Nonreaders were students who scored zero on all three of the letter-sound identification, non-word reading, and oral reading fluency (with diacritics) subtasks. These students could not read correctly a single word nor correctly identify a single letter sound on the first line of each test. The scores for grade 2 boys are even higher, double the percentage of girls at 6.5% (nonreaders). Girls outperformed boys in letter sound knowledge, non-word decoding, familiar word reading, and reading connected text. They also, but by a smaller margin, outperformed their male peers in listening and reading comprehension. The figure below illustrates these results.

9 See footnote 1.

Figure One: Reading Proficiency of Grade 2 Boys and Girls

Note: Separate scales were used for the two parts of Figure 1. The graph on the left shows student performance on the timed tasks and uses items per minute as the unit of measurement. The graph on the right shows student performance on the 3 untimed comprehension subtasks.

These findings on gender seemed to be confirmed by the team’s analysis of the differences in student performance in all girls’ schools, co-ed schools, and boys’-only schools. Grade 2 students in girls’ schools outperformed their peers in both boys’ and mixed primary schools on all subtasks. Mixed schools, however, did slightly better than boys’ schools on most subtasks, but it is not clear that these differences were statistically significant. It is possible, however, that the higher scores of girls in those mixed schools raised the school's’ average performance above that of schools catering only for boys.

32.2

15.4

12.6 14.3

21.2

39.7

19.7

15.2

19.0

28.6

Letter Sound

Knowledge

Nonword Decoding

Familiar Word Reading

ORF with diacritics

ORF ‐ No diacritics

C o rr ec t it em s p er m in u te boys girls

1.3

1.9

3.1

1.8

2.4

3.4

Reading Comp ‐ 60 secs

Reading Comp ‐ 90 secs

Listening Comp

To ta l C o rr ec t It em s

Figure Two: Comparison of Reading Results by Type of School

Following the EGRA, the World Bank in 2015/2016 conducted a series of workshops engaging Palestinian policy makers, evaluation experts, curriculum developers, and selected practitioners to analyze and integrate policy and implementation lessons from the Early Grade Reading studies. The May 2016 workshop focused on reading and helped develop new ideas on how to teach the Arabic language, especially regarding phonemic awareness and graphemes (i.e. how to put letters and sounds together in order to build a word); according to the World Bank’s report, members from the MOEHE Curriculum Reform Committee for Reading participated in the workshops and found the information extremely useful for the update of the reading curriculum. Also the report stated, “the Math and Reading workshops made an important contribution in terms of strengthening the capacity to both develop (Reading) and implement (Math and Reading) the curriculum.” It also stated that, “the capacity was increased both from a theoretical (new knowledge) and practical (how to use the knowledge in the field) perspective; but more importantly, it allowed the curriculum center to build a new institutional and professional environment of collective intelligence jointly with other departments.”

Following the workshop on reading, the World Bank recommended the MOEHE develop a structured reading instruction activity in the early grades that would cover coaching, systematic phonics instruction, and oral language instruction, as well as grade appropriate classroom assessments10. The World Bank Report can be found in Attachment J.2.

10 World Bank, Improving Reading and Mathematics in the Early Grades in West Bank and Gaza , Completion Summary Report, 2016.

C.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT, DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS, AND RESULTS FRAMEWORK

Research has demonstrated that: a) students who do not learn to read in the first few grades are more likely to repeat grades and eventually drop out11 b) children with low reading proficiency at first grade will need to achieve twice the fluency gains to catch up with their peers the following year (Good et.al, 1998); c) the gap between readers and non-readers increase over time, and d) the better children read at age 15, the greater the probability that they will continue to post-secondary education and hence have greater economic prospects (Knighton and Bussière, 2006).12 Research has also shown that, because of the prevalence of diglossia in the West Bank and Gaza, students who attend preschool and acquire vocabulary in MSA in those preschool classes perform better in reading at later stages of their schooling.

As demonstrated in the 2014 EGRA, many girls and boys in the first two grades of primary school in the West Bank fail to master basic reading sub-skills such as listening comprehension, letter naming, familiar word reading and reading comprehension. Often, boys underperform girls in these critical reading sub-skills. USAID/WBG’s analysis shows that these skill weaknesses are due to: a) a curriculum where time for practicing reading skills is less than one hour a day; b) a lack of a specific curriculum for teaching pre-reading skills in Kindergarten, c) a lack of an institutionalized system of early grade reading assessment at the national level, d) a lack of student and teacher materials explicitly designed for the instruction of reading in the early grades; e) a lack of effective teacher training and coaching in the use of these materials;

f) a lack of formative and summative assessment practices that identify struggling students and schools early; g) a lack of effective engagement of parents and community members in supporting students in learning to read; and f) a lack of well-designed applied research in reading classrooms that could identify precisely which materials or teacher practices can most efficiently resolve inequities in reading achievement between sub-groups (i.e. boys and girls, children of varying socio-economic status, children with diverse and possibly traumatic life experiences, children with sensory or learning disabilities, etc).

The West Bank and Gaza have few natural resources except human capital; it is clear from the EGRA findings that an intensive effort to improve early grade reading and writing is necessary in order for the West Bank to regain its status as the region’s educational success story. USAID/WBG’s development hypothesis for EGR states that students’ mastery of reading and writing skills in grades KG-2 will be improved if:

a. Policies are established dedicating sufficient time to reading and writing during school hours;

b. A national system of standards, benchmarks, and reading assessment is developed for the early grades;

c. Curricula for grades 1 and 2 in MSA are supplemented to enable students to receive a higher-quality education in early grade reading and writing

d. A curriculum for the teaching of pre-reading skills in MSA, including listening comprehension, is developed for the kindergarten level;

e. Evidence-based material for teachers and students that focuses on the instruction of reading is developed for each targeted grade level;

f. Teachers are trained on pedagogy on reading and on use of the specific materials for reading instruction;

g. Formative and summative assessments are established and practiced measuring students’ progress;

h. Parents and community are made aware and actively engage in students’ learning to read, and;

11 Igniting Education for All: A report by the Early Grade Learning Community of Practice, September 8, 2010 12 Same reference in footnote 10.

i. A research agenda specific to questions about improving reading instruction in the West Bank and Gaza is developed and implemented in collaboration with the ministry, with a focus on which materials or teacher practices can most efficiently resolve inequities in reading achievement.

Based on this development hypothesis, the EGR activity will operate according to the results framework presented in Attachment J.3.

At the highest-level, the project will be measured by the following standard indicators referenced in the Agency’s Education Strategy:

▪ Number of policies (to include directives, curricular supplements, and assessment procedures) implemented to support the improvement of reading and writing outcomes in the target schools;

▪ Proportion of KG, first, and second grade students who demonstrate that they can read and understand the meaning of grade level text;

▪ Proportion of KG, first, and second grade students who demonstrate that they can use writing to create and respond to grade-level text;

▪ Proportion of KG, first, and second grade teachers able to implement the EGR reading activity with fidelity and in an evidence-based manner;

Proportion of parents and community members utilizing activity-provided tools and activities to support students’ acquisition of reading and writing skills.

C.4 EGR’s RELATIONSHIPS

C.4.1 Relationships to USAID Goals and Programming

The EGR activity directly supports the accomplishment of USAID’s global goal13 to improve early grade reading skills; (see Goal 1 of the Agency’s Education Strategy at http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACQ946.pdf). 14

In addition, EGR aligns with the following WBG mission-level strategy documents and goals:

● Sub-objective 3.1.5 of the Integrated Country Strategy for 2015-2017, expressed as: “Improved service delivery in the education sector; through increased access to quality education, especially in marginalized areas of the West Bank; a higher quality of teaching, learning and education management practices; and improved quality and relevancy of the education system at all levels, and;”

● The following proposed education goal from the current draft Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS): “To provide a new generation of Palestinians with quality education and competencies that will enable them to thrive in a global economy and empower them to actively participate in a well-governed society.”

The EGR is also designed to build upon past work supported by the USAID West Bank and Gaza Mission (USAID/WBG) that has resulted in improvements in general pedagogy and school management. The

A recent review of USAID’s efforts from 2011-2015 to change reading outcomes worldwide highlights achievements and lessons learned that are relevant the performance of EGR.

14 This strategy has been formally extended until September 30, 2017. It is anticipated that there will continue to be a focus on investing to improve reading skills in the primary grades even after an updated strategy is issued in late 2017.

following programming has yielded lessons learned that are relevant to the implementation of the EGR:

● The Model Schools Network, implemented from 2007-2012;

● The Leadership and Teacher Development Program, launched in 2012, and;

● The School Support Program, launched in 2013.

Further information on these programs is available within the USAID/WBG-funded case study on the mission education portfolio, available in the annexes to this proposal.15

Future Programming

As described in the Agency's Business Forecast and as listed in FBO.gov, USAID's West Bank and Gaza Mission intends to issue a notice of funding opportunity soon to partner with an organization to implement an activity entitled “Pre-Service Teacher Training.” The goal of the Pre-service Teacher Training Activity is to improve teaching practices and competencies to meet national standards for pre-service teacher education. The EGR Contractor will coordinate with the Pre-Service Teacher Activity Recipient and the MOEHE to facilitate elements of the Statement of Work that are conducive to the Pre- Service Teacher Training Program Description, and vice versa.

Also as described in the Agency's Business Forecast, USAID's West Bank and Gaza Mission intends to issue a notice of funding opportunity soon to partner with an organization to implement a program entitled "Smart Schools (Name TBD)” which will focus on basic education reform in select schools in the West Bank, building individuals', schools' and institutions' capacities to be engaged in quality improvement of the education sector at large. The EGR Contractor will coordinate with the Smart Schools Recipient and the relevant schools to facilitate elements of the Smart Schools Program Description that are conducive to the EGR Statement of Work, and vice versa.

C.4.2 Relationship to Programming Supported by Other Donors

Currently there are no other donors that directly support raising the achievement levels of children in early grade reading and writing. However, some donors have conducted work with schools, teachers, and classrooms that may be complementary to EGR. Examples of donor programs indirectly related to EGR include:

● The World Bank’s “Teacher Education Improvement Project” (TEIP) currently scheduled to run through June 30, 2019, supports pre-service and in-service training for teachers of grades 1-4, working jointly with higher education institutions and the National Institute for Educational Training (NIET). Recently, an education delegation from NIET and higher education universities in the West Bank and Gaza concluded a study visit to the British University of Canterbury Christ Church to discuss ways to develop the existing teachers training program for grades 1-4. TEIP also works at the policy level to bring teaching levels in the West Bank and Gaza closer to international good-practice norms. TEIP has been ongoing since October 2010 and was extended in October 2015 with revisions that included NIET as an implementer of in-service teacher training for grades 1-4, and;

● The Japanese International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA), funding in 2016 the MOEHE’s reform of the curriculum for grades 1-4. However, the reform process is still ongoing as MOEHE is revising

This case study examined how these education programs achieved positive impact in basic, higher, and non-formal education, despite considerable political and environmental challenges the new curriculum for grade 1-4 where errors were identified and this will be completed in April 2017. In parallel, MOEHE is working on reforming the curriculum for grades 5-9, as well.

EGR staff must remain up-to-date and informed about other donor activities in the sector, and seek opportunities to collaborate with other donors where possible to improve reading and writing at the specified grade levels.

C.4.3 Relationship to Current Programs Managed by Local CBOs and NGOs

There are very few CBOs/NGOs working in the field of early grade reading and writing in the Palestinian territories. However it is worth mentioning the following two: The Tamer Institute for Community Education, is very active and designs and implements locally specific pedagogy in reading. They encourage rich learning opportunities for children, young adults, educators and parents as well as promote reading and expression via creative and visual arts in and outside of the classroom. They also lobby for supportive policies, establish sustainable infrastructure and provide resources for child development. On an annual basis they implement reading campaigns that are coordinated with the MOEHE. PEN Media is another organization active in the early childhood arena, has an interactive website, www.sharaasimsim.ps, and was a sub-awardee under Sesame Workshop®16. The website targets children and includes material for teachers, parents and a page on early childhood development. This NGO also works closely with the MOEHE on early childhood development and education. The content they produce is for both inside and outside the classroom interventions. The EGR should leverage, where possible, local capacity of this kind to support its interventions in early grade reading and writing. To this end, the Contractor will be required, within the first 30 days of the award, to develop an inventory of all CBOs and NGOs with a capacity to support improved early grade reading and writing instruction in the communities served by MOEHE schools.

C.5 STATEMENT OF WORK

EGR will support the MOEHE in developing a scalable model for the improvement of reading and writing outcomes at the lower basic primary school levels (grades KG-2). The EGRA exercise and subsequent World Bank report highlighted the systemic, instructional, and community-level gaps that must be addressed in partnership with the MOEHE to build the country’s capacity to deliver and monitor effective reading and writing instruction in MSA for all West Bank students at these grade levels.

Given such, EGR is the first USAID-supported initiative in the West Bank to focus specifically on improving students’ MSA and writing skills. The implementation of the activity will require intensive collaboration with the MOEHE as well as a data driven approach to continuously improve the activity’s delivery and outcomes. This Statement of Work outlines 30 years of worldwide research indicating what is essential for the implementation of successful early grade reading programming. As well, it includes descriptions of the changes that USAID/WBG expects to see in reading and writing instruction at all three levels, KG through grade 2; two areas of early grade reading that USAID has not sought in the past to reinforce in the West Bank and Gaza context.

Offerors are urged to familiarize themselves both with USAID/WBG expected outcomes across the grade levels, as well as with the foundations of those outcomes in international educational research. Offerors are encouraged to propose evidence-based approach (es), to achieving the results described herein. Offerors should include, where possible, the use of innovations that show promise in improving early grade students’

16 The Sesame Street Program was funded by USAID from 2008-2011 reading results. USAID/WBG will carefully consider the merits of any and all proposed approaches that demonstrate a clear understanding of how the MOEHE functions and makes decisions, that reflect knowledge of best practices, and that incorporate the application of cutting-edge breakthroughs in early grade reading programming.

The following are high level outcome indicators with target ranges based on results seen in the 2014 EGRA that the Contractor must use for data collection and which the Contractor is expected to achieve over the implementation of EGR.

1a. Required Percent of KG students who, by the end of their KG year, demonstrate reading fluency and understand the meaning of grade-level text as a result of EGR:

EGRA: No data (27% performing at or above benchmark without diacritics in grade 2) Baseline expectation for KG: (3%) Midline expectations for KG: (20-30%) Endline expectations for KG: (31-50%)

2a. Required Standard Indicator under U.S Education Strategy (ES) 1.1, adapted: Percent of students who, by the end of two grades of primary schooling, demonstrate reading fluency and understand the meaning of grade-level text with USG assistance:

EGRA: 27% performing at or above benchmark without diacritics Baseline expectation: (27-30%) Midline expectations for KG: (31-45%) Endline expectations for KG: (46-60%)

For the purposes of measuring the highest-level outcomes of the EGR, the Contractor will also collect data and report on the additional following outcome indicators:

1b. Required number of policies implemented to support the improvement of reading and writing outcomes in the target schools as a result of EGR.(See Section C.5.1)

EGRA: No data Baseline expectation: 0 Midline expectations: 1-4 Endline expectations: 5-8

2b. Required Percent of KG students who, by the end of their KG year, demonstrate the ability to express their thoughts through writing. (See Section C.5.2)

EGRA: no data Baseline: 0%-1% Midline: 5%-10% Endline: 11%-20%

3b. Required Percent of students who, by the end of grade 1 and 2 of primary schooling, are able to express their thoughts through writing. (See Section C.5.2)

EGRA: no data Baseline: 5-10% Midline: 11%-20% Endline: 21%-35%

4b. Required proportion of KG, first, and second grade teachers able to implement the EGR reading programs with fidelity and in an evidence-based manner. (See Section C.5.2)

EGRA: no data Baseline: 10-25% Midline: 26%-40% Endline: 41%-60%

5b. Required proportion of parents and community members utilizing program-provided tools and programs to support students' acquisition of reading and writing skills. (See Section C.5.3):

EGRA: no data Baseline: 5-10% Midline: 11-20% Endline: 21-35%

C.5.1: Policy Framework for the Instruction of Reading and Writing in Grades KG-2 in the West Bank Strengthened

Early grade reading initiatives, particularly those intended to be taken eventually to scale, rely on the cultivation of an enabling policy environment at the central ministerial levels, so that an element of standardization can be introduced into students’ daily learning routines. The sub-results under this result are intended to assist the MOEHE not only to implement EGR successfully, but also to prepare for the longer-term goal of expanding it to all schools under the ministry’s purview.

C.5.1.1: Time Allocated for Early Grade Reading and Writing Instruction Increased

Research with young learners has demonstrated that the more time they have available to practice reading every day, the faster they learn to read. Currently, reading specialists estimate that a minimum of 60 minutes a day of reading practice is necessary in the early grades for a child to learn to decode with comprehension by the end of grade two. Additional class time, possibly up to as much as an additional 60 minutes, is needed for a child to learn both the calligraphic skill of handwriting and the skill of encoding (i.e. spelling out) words to record his/her thoughts on paper (known as expressive writing).

Although not official, recent data exists about the time on task available for the instruction of reading and writing in the West Bank, Palestinian educators estimate that it is far less than the ideal two hours per day.

This is in large part due to the fact that the curriculum for the earliest grades requires students to follow approximately eight subjects, meaning that each subject can only be the focus of the class’ attention for 30 to 40 minutes. In addition, since reading and writing are amalgamated into the Arabic language class in all MOEHE schools, the time for practicing either could be assumed to be less than 15 minutes per day, at best.

As a result of the 2014 EGRA, the MOEHE is aware of the need to examine options for increasing the time available to early grade students for practicing their reading and writing skills. However, the MOEHE currently lacks precise information about how much time, in actuality, is truly dedicated to the study of reading and writing. This is an essential piece of data without which the critical decisions about how much of an increase to allocate to each subject cannot be made.

In order to strengthen and solidify the national policy framework for the implementation of evidence-based early grade reading, EGR will undertake, within its first year of operations, a “time on task” study to determine how much time students are truly practicing reading and writing during the school day in the EGR schools. The Contractor will work with the appropriate MOEHE research and statistics departments to select and pilot a methodology for this study, to validate that methodology and accompanying instruments, to establish a sampling plan (if needed), to implement the study, and to analyze the results. Once it is known how many minutes a day, on average, Palestinian children in KG, grade 1, and grade 2 are given to practice their own reading and writing, the MOEHE will be equipped by the Contractor to examine its options for increasing this time allocation as much as possible, to at least two hours per day.

Although the EGR team cannot establish policy on behalf of the MOEHE, educational policy analysts from the EGR team will support the MOEHE in these deliberations and, if possible, in the development of directives for the MOEHE schools indicating what options are available to them for increasing reading and writing time-on-task. These options may differ depending on the size and type of the school, as well as depending on what ‘system-wide’ adjustments the MOEHE might be willing to make. By year three of the Activity, the Contractor will have conducted, at least in a subset of the EGR schools, a pilot experiment using a longer learning time per day for reading and writing instruction will have been conducted, and the results from children learning to read and write under those conditions will have been compared to the results of those studying reading and writing for just a few minutes a day. This will be another important data point in helping the MOEHE decide if it is important to make reading and writing a core subject and to alter the primary schedule to allow for the internationally-accepted two hours per day of time needed to study both subjects at that level. USAID/WBG expects that, by year five of the activity, the MOEHE will have added some amount of time for the study of reading and writing system-wide, although that amount of time will remain to be determined in the discussions based on the time-on-task and pilot test data to be collected under this sub-result.

C.5.1.2: Updated National Standards for Early Grade Reading and Writing Adopted

As with a sufficient time allocation, clear standards and benchmarks for student performance in reading and writing for each grade level, and for teacher performance in the instruction of reading and writing, are essential policy elements for the implementation of a successful, evidence-based, early grade reading activity. As demonstrated in the Background section, the MOEHE is in the vanguard of many countries and ministries in this regard, having set provisional benchmarks for certain student reading sub-skills during a two day workshop in 2014 with, among others, experts from the Department of Supervision and Quality and the Assessment and Evaluation Division. Furthermore, participants at that workshop did not propose benchmarks for the familiar words task or the reading comprehension for 90 seconds without diacritics task.

Nor did that workshop derive any standards or benchmarks in writing, or any standards for teacher performance in reading or writing instruction. However, in 2016 MOEHE convened a committee that developed benchmarks for Arabic language for grades 1-4. To lay the foundation for a unified intervention in early grade reading and writing for the Palestinian education system, reviewing, updating and completing the standards and benchmarks framework (if necessary) is an important policy step.

Therefore, under this sub-result, the Contractor will assist the MOEHE to:

● Conduct a workshop to launch the process of ‘updating’ the standards, where representatives from the districts and regions in the West Bank, as well as from the central ministry, convene, examine current international practice in standard-setting in reading and writing for grades KG-2, examine the current documentation on standards and benchmarks in the Arabic curricula for grades KG-2, examine the results from the EGRA 2014 and any comparable assessments, and then formulate recommendations for student early grade reading performance in all reading and writing sub-tasks for each grade;

● Develop, based on the expectations for student performance identified, a standards framework specific to early grade reading that defines instructional and pedagogical skills teachers should possess in order to be able to teach early grade reading in each target grade;

● Field test the recommended standards with teachers and administrators by working with a sample of schools to investigate how clearly articulated they are and how useful they will be for…