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January 26, 2014 Page 1 of 4 1535 West Jefferson #37, Phoenix, Arizona 85007 602-364-2517 State of Arizona Department of Education To: Solicitation File From: Peter Raquer Date: April 6, 2022 Subject: Executive Summary of RFP BPM004016, ESSER III Set Aside Statewide Recovery Funds This Request for Grant Application (RFGA) commenced under the Revised Arizona Procurement Code. A.R.S. § 41- 2702 was followed. A.R.S. § 41-2534, Competitive Sealed Proposal was also followed, including R2-7-C301 (Solicitation), R2-7-C302 (pre-Offer conference), R2-7-C306 (Receipt, Opening, and Recording of Offers), R2-7- C316 (Evaluation), R2-7-C316 (Evaluation of Offers) and R2-7-C317 (Contract Award), as modified by the requirements of A.R.S. § 41-2702. Background The Arizona Department of Education issued this RFGA Solicitation concerning the use of ARP ESSER III Set- Aside Funds (Statewide Recovery Funds) under Section 2001 of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) of 2021, Public Law 117-2, enacted March 11, 2021, in accordance with A.R.S. § 41-2701. The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has received funding through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act to provide new Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER III Fund grants to support local recovery needs and efforts in response to COVID-19. ESSER III includes new required set asides for both ADE and LEAs. These will help guide state and local decision making for leveraging these new funds to accelerate academic success – particularly for our most vulnerable student populations. While the vast majority of ARP ESSER III funds went directly to LEAs for COVID recovery, ADE, as the State Education Agency, has the authority to maintain a portion of funds for statewide initiatives and investments. In addition, under ARP, the ESSER Fund includes three State-level reservations for activities and interventions that address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups, including each major racial and ethnic group, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, English learners, gender, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care: • 5 % of the total ARP ESSER allocation for the implementation of evidence-based interventions aimed specifically at addressing learning loss, • 1 % of the total ARP ESSER allocation for evidence-based summer enrichment programs. • 1 % of the total ARP ESSER allocation for evidence-based comprehensive after-school programs ADE will use its approved ARP ESSER plan developed with stakeholder feedback and data to bring additional focus to the work at-hand and ahead under the following key priority areas: 1. Enrichment and reinforcement to learning 2. Mental, behavioral, and physical health support for students and educators 3. Student and family re-engagement and support for critical academic transition periods, including early childhood to Kindergarten, middle to high school, and high school to post-secondary. January 26, 2014 Page 2 of 4 1535 West Jefferson, Phoenix, Arizona 85007 • 602-364-2517 These priorities will help ADE address key pressing issues currently facing students and schools across the state, including, but not limited to: 1. Assessing learning loss and measuring and evaluating progress: Schools need guidance on how best to assess the impact of learning loss of students, selecting and using universal screening tools, diagnostic assessments, and other data sources to identify learning gaps. This would include how to analyze these local assessment data to support instructional decision-making and how to measure and evaluate the impact of evidence-based strategies, programs, and practices on student learning over time 2. Equitably increasing learning opportunities and digital access: The pandemic revealed long-standing inequities in learning opportunities – particularly for Arizona's historically underserved and most vulnerable student populations. There is a critical need to support the intentional selection and implementation of evidence-based strategies and resources to support schools equitably and sustainably, accelerate learning and increase learning opportunities for students. Across the state, students' uneven engagement in distance and online learning exacerbated absenteeism and learning gaps due to lost instructional time. Given this, there is a need to continue to address the digital divide and homework gap – particularly concerning access to reliable, high-speed internet for students at home and supporting teachers on how to integrate the use of technology in their teaching effectively. 3. Addressing disruption and trauma on student learning and development: Support that may have previously been in place was either limited or ended due to schools' inability to effectively deliver these services when closed for in person learning or operating in hybrid models. Furthermore, the pandemic brought new grief, loss, and trauma, potentially including increased risk for violence and abuse in the home. Given this, there will continue to be a need to provide targeted, evidence-based strategies to support students, staff, and families' well-being and mental health needs. There is also a need for ongoing professional learning, resources, and support for teachers to integrate Social Emotional Learning competencies into their daily classroom routines and practices and trauma-sensitive approaches using frameworks. This Grant will fund proposals to address the priorities set forth in its plan. Timeline • The RFGA was released on October 25, 2021 • Letters of Intent were e-mailed through the Arizona Procurement Portal (APP) on October 25, 2021 to suppliers obtained from the APP bid list. • The solicitation was amended twice, on October 28, 2021 and November 4, 2021. • The RFGA closed on December 10, 2021. Due to discrepancy between the due date and time listed on the RFGA and in APP, email applications for the RFGA were accepted through 5:00 pm on December 10, 2021. • Over 200 applications were received and evaluated. • In addition, on March 30, 2022, four additional offers were found to have been timely filed but, through an error within APP, not properly included in the file for received offers. These offers were also evaluated. Evaluation Process • Three Evaluation teams were created, one for each of the key priorities identified in the RFGA. Each team consisted of 3 to 5 evaluators who have knowledge and familiarity of the gifted assessment • The evaluation meeting were completed on March 18, 2022. Pursuant to statute, the results of the Evaluation teams were provided to the Superintendent of Public instruction to be reviewed, affirmed, modified or rejected. • The Superintendent of Public Instruction issued her Award Determination on March 30, 2022. • The four additional offers were reviewed on April 7, 2022, and the evaluation team’s recommendations were forwarded to the Superintendent of Public Instruction on April 9, 2022. • Upon review, the Superintendent of Public Instruction accepted the recommendation of the evaluation team and decline to issue additional awards. Contract Award In accordance with A.R.S.41-27o2, the Superintendent of Public Instruction approved the award of Grants to the following applicants: January 26, 2014 Page 3 of 4 1535 West Jefferson, Phoenix, Arizona 85007 • 602-364-2517 1. Akimel Ootham Pee Posh Charter School 2. Arizona Autism United Inc. 3. Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona 4. Arizona Educational Foundation 5. Arizona Science Teachers Association (Deeper Dive) 6. Arizona Science Teachers Association (Science and SEL Symposium) 7. Arizona Technology Council Foundation dba SciTech Institute 8. Center for the Future of Arizona (School Participatory) 9. Center for the Future of Arizona (Pathways) 10. Coconino County (Coconino County Education Service Agency) 11. County of Maricopa Avondale School District 12. Maricopa County (Maricopa County School Superintendent’s Office) 13. Mindfulness First 14. Phoenix Conservatory of Music 15. Playworks Education Energized 16. Santa Cruz County Superintendent’s Office 17. Special Olympics Arizona Inc. 18. Valley of the Sun – United Way 19. Waterford Research Institute 20. Notmykid Inc 21. County of Yavapai dba Cottonwood Oak Creek School In addition, the Superintendent of Public Instruction also made the following awards to applicants, conditioned upon a resolution of contractual exceptions, claims of confidentiality, completion of appropriate documents, or acceptance of an award modified by the Superintendent: 1. Arizona Business and Education Coalition 2. Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (ASU Wylie) 3. Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (ASU Basile) 4. Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (Technical and Finance) 5. Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (Kulinna) 6. Arizona Board of Regents on behalf or Arizona State University (FP31791) 7. Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley 8. Chicanos Por La Causa Inc 9. Childsplay Inc 10. City of Tempe 11. County of Maricopa dba Cartwright School District 12. Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation 13. Higher Ground A Resource Center 14. Jobs for Arizona Graduates 15. Junior Achievement of Arizona 16. Valley of the Sun Young Mens Christian Association (Membership) 17. WestEd 18. Yavapai County Arizona State Opportunity Collaborative All of the provisional offerors except Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley reached an agreement with ADE on the contractual issues by April 9, 2022, and were awarded. Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley requested until April 16 to accept or reject the offered terms. Submitted by: Peter Raquer, Procurement Contractor Date: April 12, 2022 January 26, 2014 Page 4 of 4 1535 West Jefferson, Phoenix, Arizona 85007 • 602-364-2517