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Proposal for: BFK•Award® Services Presented to: Maricopa County Educational Services Agency (MCESA) April 18, 2014 1160 Dublin Road, Suite 500 Columbus, OH 43215 | (614) 481-3141 | (614) 481-8997 fax | www.BattelleforKids.org OVERVIEW It is with pleasure that Battelle for Kids (BFK) offers this proposal to expand our partnership with the Maricopa County Educational Services Agency (MCESA) and the Rewarding Excellence in Instruction and Leadership (REIL) program to encompass the full utility of BFK•Award® web- hosted services through June 30, 2015. Based on our experience as a strategic partner with MCESA for similarly significant REIL components (i.e., career pathway development and roster- verification services leading to high-quality strategic measures) BFK stands ready to leverage our proprietary software and workflow process to assist MCESA with educator effectiveness data quality assurance, secure educator effectiveness reporting, and enhanced functionality for local managers to lead the REIL Initiative’s compensation phase from the district- and building- level. BFK understands that the motor that drives the REIL Performance-Based Management System is a data management system that connects inter-related data points to inform educator practice, to improve organizational success, and ensure program compliance. Considering the collaborative efforts of both MCESA and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to develop and implement a data management system (i.e., ADEConnect and its applications), BFK proposes the following work to complement and enhance ADE Connect and its interface with REIL stakeholders. BFK·Award®: Scope and Services Scope of Expanded Services BFK proposes to host BFK•Award® for the REIL Alliance (REIL) and REIL: The Next Generation (REIL-TNG) Districts1 for the remainder of the 2013-2014 School Year and continuing through June 30, 2015. Our hosted solution would continue to be integrated with the ADE Connect - REIL Decision Support System’s data verification tools and would also be a dedicated District-level portal that engages stakeholders and informs the payroll processes at each respective location. From our experience with the MCESA-REIL project and from our partnerships with many large education agencies implementing strategic compensation, we know with certainty that these types of compensation programs utilize several data sources (i.e., multiple measures) that must be combined to display a comprehensive/summative snapshot of performance to stakeholders. BFK and MCESA have done this data mapping work to a large extent and have outlined how data at a very high level come together to create meaning for stakeholders. This proposal’s intent is to serve stakeholders at the local level by empowering District HR Administrators, Building Leaders, Coaches and Teachers to engage with their effectiveness data during structured review periods in order to arrive at the most accurate representation of one’s performance. Still providing support to MCESA- and ADE-level staff, BFK•Award® would now allow for District- and Building-level support teams to be included in the work-flow process as well. 1 Alhambra Elementary District (AED) will receive customized set-up and implementation services and will be priced separately; however, for the purposes of this section, BFK will treat AED as part of the entire REIL Cohort. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document Because we understand the moving parts to the REIL Initiative, we can bring clarity to the REIL data verification process and greatly impact the REIL compensation process in the early months of School Year 2014-2015. This proposed work stream was created under the assumption that each REIL District has: Defined eligibility criteria stakeholders must possess in order to be considered for REIL Awards. This eligibility criteria varies by District. Determined which stakeholder groupings (i.e., stakeholder categories or “job families”) are to be considered if found eligible. These categories vary by District, but for the most part they include stakeholder groupings like Leaders, Coaches, and Teachers. Determined how effectiveness is reported to stakeholders via the utilization of REIL Scorecards. These scorecards vary by stakeholder category. BFK•Award® and its service delivery model can embrace this variability by customizing the user experience at the District- and Building-level while still ensuring program compliance at the County- and State-level. Description of Services Data & Technology Services – BFK would continue to host and maintain a personalized MCESA-REIL Portal that delivers web-based services, provides communication to MCESA staff related to the REIL program, and offers employees access to data displays that are used to compute effectiveness scores. The BFK•Award® application is available via the MCESA-REIL Portal. MCESA is responsible for contracting with a value-added provider for the value-added analysis and related reporting which is outside the scope of this proposed work. In addition, BFK will provide support for updating of and/or redesigning the MCESA portal to include content for each district’s respective Award program. Communication Services – BFK would continue to provide communications services to support the REIL program which includes aligning to the look and feel of the program and providing MCESA-REIL branding where appropriate. Additional support would include training resources, email templates for District and Building leaders, and user guides for all stakeholders. Throughout the engagement, BFK would coordinate with MCESA to ensure our efforts align with the organization’s public communications to both school-based stakeholders and community-based stakeholders. If MCESA wishes, BFK can increase our support around the REIL program, including strategic counsel. Client Engagement and Project Management Services – BFK would provide a dedicated Human Capital client engagement manager working directly with MCESA and ADE as well as a project manager to oversee the proposed work. The client engagement manager would be responsible for overseeing the project as a whole, strategic consulting, ensuring quality of the deliverables, and coordinating the communications between MCESA, ADE and BFK’s project team. Human Capital resources would be provided for on-site support throughout the engagement and particularly as the expansion ramps-up towards the end of the 2013-2014 School Year. The project manager would develop a project plan that will define deliverables, the schedule, milestones and person(s) responsible who will serve to monitor and track project successes throughout the project life cycle. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document BFK·Award® Costs Fee Summary School Year 2013-2014 Cost BFK builds infrastructure for MCESA via $69,896.25 enterprise-level services. This includes clean-up and close-out of SY2013 and stand-up of SY2014. BFK provides strategic counsel regarding roster $5,625.00 verification. Total $75,521.25 Fee Summary School Year 2014-2015 Cost BFK executes full-capacity BFK•Award® for all $279,585.00 REIL Alliance and Next Generation Districts. BFK provides strategic counsel regarding roster $22,500.00 verification. Total $302,085.00 Alhambra Elementary District - BFK·Award® Costs Fee Summary School Year 2013-2014 Cost BFK builds infrastructure for AED via enterprise- $7,766.25 level services. This includes clean-up and close-out of SY2013 and stand-up of SY2014. BFK provides strategic counsel regarding roster $625.00 verification. Total $8,391.25 Fee Summary School Year 2014-2015 Cost BFK executes full-capacity BFK•Award® AED $31,065.00 BFK provides strategic counsel regarding roster $2,500.00 verification. Total $33,565.00 Accompanying this proposal’s electronic delivery is the notarized sole-source letter validating BFK as the sole and only source for this software and services. Please review and retain the letter for your consideration of this proposal. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document BATTELLE FOR KIDS’ PROJECT TEAM Battelle for Kids’ staff members (nearly 100 total), consultants, and faculty have a wealth of experience serving as teachers, principals, superintendents, in other education leadership roles, as well as in business, project management, technology, and communications. TEAM LEADS The following individuals will serve as team leads in providing strategic counsel and implementation support for this engagement. Their bios follow in the subsequent pages of this proposal. Engagement Manager and Human Capital Lead: Thom Griffith Technology Lead: Bob Noe Communications Lead: Mary Franz Project Manager: Abbey Smanik The expertise of others will be called upon to implement this work as well. Thom Griffith, BFK•Award® Engagement Manager Thom Griffith joined Battelle for Kids in 2011 and has a strong background in education and human resources management. Thom manages BFK•Award® software to support the compensation practices resulting from the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) implementations in Tennessee and Arizona (i.e., MCESA-REIL Data Verification services). He also supports the TIF work in Ohio alongside 23 TIF Coordinators who are fully immersed in the TIF work. Working with Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma and Oshkosh Area School District in Wisconsin as the lead consultant on the compensation, job analysis and job evaluation work streams, Thom has also executed strategic compensation design work to complement the implementation expertise he exhibits as Award Manager. Recently, Thom has worked with classified employee departments and non-instructional staff at Reynoldsburg City Schools in Ohio implementing performance management scorecards and a comprehensive evaluation system. Prior to joining Battelle for Kids, Thom served as the field facilitator and testing coordinator for REACHigher - Lorain County, Ohio’s P-16 council on education. Operated by Lorain County Community College, the council served all public and private preschools, K-12 LEAs, and higher education institutions in the county. Under his facilitation from 2009-2011, REACHigher awarded 7,500 professional development contact hours for county-wide school personnel and awarded over $500,000 in the form of ACT materials for students. Thom also enabled access to REACHigher’s benchmarking reports to all 16 public LEAs in Lorain County, Ohio. Education Master of Labor and Human Resources, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, Cleveland State University Professional Memberships and Affiliations Society for Human Resource Management Ohio High School Athletic Association BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document Bob Noe, Technology Lead Bob Noe joined Battelle for Kids in 2010, bringing two decades of experience in technology solutions, systems design, data analysis and application programming. Bob has played a significant role leading the technical work in several statewide roll outs of our learning management system BFKLearn®, as well as leading roster verification projects in hundreds of school districts across the country. Bob leverages his technology background, leadership skills, and educational focus to help SEAs and LEAs identify, design, and implement technology solutions directly targeted to educational improvement. Before coming to Battelle for Kids, Bob served as Senior Software Developer for MBA Focus, LLC where he designed and implemented software as a service-based customizable solution for more than 50 top MBA schools comprised of more than 700 Web pages. He also worked as a Senior Software Systems Engineer at Verizon Business, designing, implementing, and supporting a data collection and mediation system that processed $1.2 billion annually. In addition, Bob spent time as an independent software designer. Education Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, Minor in Mathematics, Youngstown State University, Magna Cum Laude. Mary Franz, Communications Lead Mary Franz joined Battelle for Kids in 2009. In her role as a communications specialist, she provides communications direction and support for a variety of education organizations in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, including the Tennessee Department of Education, Tulsa Public Schools, the Lubbock Independent School District, and several others across the country. Mary has seasoned experience helping districts communicate how their human capital strategies support educational-improvement goals, in areas related to recruitment, professional growth for educators, performance management, and strategic compensation model branding, stakeholder messaging, and implementation strategies. She has been involved with the development of resources for teachers and leaders, including How to Understand and Use Value-Added Analysis: A Toolkit for Educators and Focus on My Building/System guides, and also creates and manages content for portals and various state- and district-wide communications. Mary served on a team that developed the book, How to Use Value-Added to Improve Student Learning: A Field Guide for School and District Leaders, published by Corwin Press in December 2011. She previously led marketing efforts for all of Battelle for Kids’ workshops and conferences for educators. Mary was also involved with the development of Battelle for Kids formative instruction and value-added online courses as part of the BFK•Learn® solution. Prior to joining Battelle for Kids, Mary served as a regional marketing coordinator for Nordstrom. In this role, she planned major fashion events for the company and provided marketing support to 15 stores, spanning eight states throughout the Midwest region. Mary had the opportunity to spearhead fundraising events that benefitted organizations, such as UNICEF, the Chicago History Museum and Children’s Cancer Research Fund, among others. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document Mary was honored to receive the All-Star award for her work ethic, customer service, and commitment to excellence. In addition to her work for Nordstrom, she served as a contributing writer for St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles magazine. Education Bachelor of Arts, Communication, University of Missouri Abbey Smanik, Project Manager Abbey Smanik joined Battelle for Kids in 2013 as a project specialist supporting a variety of educational-improvement initiatives for school districts in the areas of human capital development and educator effectiveness. Prior to joining Battelle for Kids, Abbey worked as an intern with the Ohio Department of Education in the Office of Early Learning and School Readiness. She provided research and data analysis support for projects related to early learning in addition to administrative support for the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge Grant. Abbey also served as a research assistant at The College of Wooster, where she worked with two faculty members to plan an academic conference for university professors from across the country. Abbey recently completed her master of public administration degree at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. Education Master of Public Administration, The Ohio State University Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, The College of Wooster BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document ABOUT BATTELLE FOR KIDS Battelle for Kids (BFK) is a national, not-for-profit organization that provides counsel and innovative solutions for today’s complex educational-improvement challenges. With headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, our mission-driven team of education, technology, communications, and business professionals specializes in creating strategies that advance the development of human capital, the use of strategic measures, the implementation of effective practices, and communication with all stakeholders in schools. BFK partners with state departments of education, school districts, and education-focused organizations to advance these strategies with the shared goals of: improving teaching effectiveness and student progress; informing instructional practice in real time; recognizing and rewarding teaching excellence; and aligning goals and maximizing impact in schools. For nearly a decade, Battelle for Kids has engaged with school districts and state-level organizations to support their educational-improvement efforts across the country, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as the District of Columbia and Hong Kong. Battelle for Kids has seen student success grow dramatically when educators have access and the capacity to understand and use value-added information for school improvement. BFK’s efforts are focused on the use of assessment data to produce teacher-level information to drive improvement in instruction and teacher effectiveness. We provide high-quality, multi-modal professional development to increase assessment literacy and the use of formative instruction and summative measures for instructional decision-making. Transforming American education provides the greatest opportunity to improve our nation’s economy and prosperity. The better job we do of accelerating growth and achievement for all students, the better prepared they will be to: Seize opportunities in a changing economic environment; Be personally responsible for themselves; Possess creative problem-solving skills; and Be engaged in and understand the world in which they live. BFK believes that to transform education and prepare all children to be college- and career- ready, we must: Recruit, develop and retain the right people; Identify and provide them with access to the right measures; Ensure they can use that information to effectively implement the right practices; and Strategically communicate with and engage all stakeholders using the right messages. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document RELEVANT EXPERIENCE Following is a high-level sampling of some of Battelle for Kids’ experience engaging education organizations in Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. USING HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS ACROSS THE DISTRICT Educational improvement must involve comprehensive, cohesive, and aligned systems to select, grow and retain effective educators. Districts and schools that consistently find, develop, retain, and constantly improve their people will create better outcomes for students. The BFK Human Capital Strategy outlines Battelle for Kids’ comprehensive approach for integrating and aligning human capital efforts to promote transformational change. As part of this strategy, BFK provides innovative, proven solutions to help districts create strategically- aligned compensation systems, selection processes, evaluation tools, and performance- management programs. Battelle for Kids understands and has navigated the adaptive and technical challenges of strategic compensation models. Adaptive challenges or “winning hearts and minds” are overcome through high-quality, blended professional learning, communications, and change management. Technical challenges are overcome by individuals possessing the experience to anticipate problems before they arise and finding solutions to those anticipated problems before they produce unwanted results. BFK offers various solutions, such as BFKAward®, that solves many of the technical challenges associated with performance-pay models. Battelle for Kids has collaborated with and provided counsel to school districts across the country to help them develop and implement human capital systems that foster the best environment possible to improve teaching and accelerate student learning. Following are a few examples of this work: Maricopa County Education Service Agency––Arizona. Battelle for Kids partnered with Basis Policy Research to assist the Maricopa County Education Service Agency (MCESA) with developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating tools and processes for selecting career pathway candidates in six local school districts under MCESA’s first generation REIL program. BFK provided expertise around program design and measures to support the development of MCESA’s Selecting Teachers to Enter Pathways (STEP) process, including collaborating with REIL staff and other stakeholders to create a multiple data point system for screening teachers and principals for possible placement in career pathway positions. BFK worked with REIL to identify and train a core group of peer evaluators to assist in the selection process across the six REIL districts. In addition to supporting the design and implementation of the STEP assessment tool, BFK provided counsel to assist MCESA and the REIL Management Team in determining the appropriate career path placements for teachers and principals. Houston Independent School District (HISD)—Texas. As the 7th largest district nationwide, HISD has a significant number of programs. Battelle for Kids has partnered with BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document the district since 2007 to provide strategic counsel and help synthesize these efforts. This work has included: o Creating the ASPIRE (Accelerating Student Progress. Increasing Results & Expectations) brand and supporting materials and developing a comprehensive strategic communications plan to launch ASPIRE—HISD’s educational-improvement and performance-management model. o Selecting an ASPIRE Core Team to partner with HISD and BFK in developing and implementing a professional development plan to build the capacity of administrators, central-office staff, and teachers to use value-added information for educational improvement and its role in the differentiated compensation program. o Developing and implementing solutions to support ASPIRE, including the following: ASPIRE•Learn is an online learning management service that provides staff access to personalized learning paths, including online courses around the use of value- added information, formative instructional practices and highly effective teaching practices to inform instruction. ASPIRE•Link allows instructional staff to verify their student rosters. This information is used to develop the teacher-student linkages necessary to create teacher-level value-added reports. ASPIRE•Award allows HISD to take the verified value-added reports, staff job classifications and other data to calculate differentiated compensation for campus- based employees. ASPIRE•Support offers an Inquiry/Response System through which HISD can receive online inquiries from staff that can be tracked from question to answer/resolution. ASPIRE•Communicate occurs through the ASPIRE portal www.houstonisd.org/ASPIRE. This site provides employees with single-sign in access to these solutions and information to stakeholders. o Providing strategic counsel to support the district’s efforts to develop a performance- management system to align goals, utilize data and develop people district wide. Since ASPIRE launched in the 2007–2008 school year, student achievement and progress have significantly increased. HISD’s number of schools rated by the Texas Education Agency as Recognized or Exemplary grew from 157 in 2008 to 206 in 2010. In 2012, HISD paid $35.1 million in ASPIRE Awards across 12,390 campus-based employees to recognize their excellence in raising students’ academic progress in the 2010−2011 school year. BFK is continuing to help the district build upon this success. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools—Tennessee. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools engaged Battelle for Kids in the implementation of a strategic compensation system using investments from the Tennessee Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). BFK provided counsel around the strategic design of a comprehensive system to encourage and reward educator effectiveness, with a specific focus on addressing the challenges associated with the recruitment and retention of highly effective educators particularly in high-needs schools and subject-areas. To engage stakeholders and encourage buy-in, BFK developed a communications strategy and messaging to provide a clear understanding of the system, its core components, and the opportunities it offers educators to improve their practice. The district is using the BFK•Award® solution to manage the award process (including educator eligibility and categorization), estimate award amounts, and deliver reports for payroll execution. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document Lee County Public Schools—Florida. In 2013, BFK began partnering with Lee County Public Schools (LCPS) in support of the district’s efforts to develop a strategic compensation system and career ladder program for teachers. Initial efforts focused on engaging stakeholders to design a strategic compensation system for teachers and principals that reflected LCPS’s specific needs and values, and was compliant with state laws and guidelines. As part of the compensation system, BFK assisted LCPS in designing career ladders that create meaningful growth opportunities for teachers. Putnam County Schools—Tennessee. In 2010, BFK initiated its partnership with Putnam County Schools (PCS), a large district just an hour outside of Nashville. BFK executed communications services around the PCS strategic compensation system design completion and successful district-wide implementation via BFK•Award®. This included creating a new brand for the strategic compensation system, which involved an extensive testing process with key stakeholders. Working with the new brand, BFK developed materials to build understanding among internal and external stakeholders, including developing a Web portal for public dissemination of information while also providing access to BFK•Award®. Additional marketing materials included messaging, introductory slides, editorial calendar, copy for staff newsletter, and a brochure for teachers and administrators. Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF)––Ohio. Battelle for Kids continues to partner with the Ohio Department of Education and 23 Ohio school districts to implement Ohio TIF which is a five- year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support work with designing recognition programs, improving data systems, redesigning educator evaluations, and delivering targeted professional development. The overarching goal of this initiative is to improve teaching and learning in every classroom, for every student. Student growth data, including value-added measures and educator evaluations are key components of the TIF Award models. Districts continue to refine their strategic compensation Award models throughout the duration of the grant as well as identify opportunities for sustaining components of Ohio TIF beyond the grant funding. BFK supports the efforts of Ohio TIF through strategic consulting, compensation software services via BFK•Award®, professional development, strategic communications, and sustainability planning. BFK•Award® Services Presented to MCESA Proprietary and Confidential Document