STATEMENT OF WORK

National Study of Reading Program

Solicitation #NIFL-02-R-0001

The National Institute for Literacy

# BACKGROUND

The National Institute for Literacy (the Institute), under the
provisions of the Reading Excellence Act and the No Child Left Behind
Act, is authorized to disseminate information on scientifically-based
reading research pertaining to children, youth, and adults. The
Institute administers its reading research dissemination activities as a
collaborative effort, called the Partnership for Reading, with the U.S.
Department of Education and the National Institute for Child Health and
Human Development. By disseminating information about
scientifically-based reading research, the Partnership for Reading will
build a common understanding of proven reading instructional strategies
for children, youth, and adults. The Partnership's activities will
include:

-   Sharing reading research findings with educators, administrators,
    and parents,

-   Creating products that make reading research accessible,

-   Bringing scientific evidence to learning, and

-   Contributing to knowledge about reading.

The National Institute for Literacy, which established and manages the
Partnership for Reading on a day-to-day basis, is an independent federal
organization created by the National Literacy Act of 1991 to provide
national leadership and assistance toward the goal of a fully literate
America. The Institute is administered through an interagency group
composed of the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor,
and Health and Human Services and receives guidance from a
Presidentially-appointed advisory board. The Institute coordinates
efforts for literacy across federal agencies, promotes public policy for
literacy, produces and disseminates knowledge about literacy, and
supports state and local programs that improve literacy practice.

# PURPOSE OF THE ACQUISITION

The National Institute for Literacy has a requirement for the
development of a new publication that will be geared to the needs of
educators who are responsible for identifying and/or developing and
implementing reading programs for students in kindergarten through grade
3 that are based on scientifically-based reading research as mandated by
the Reading First legislation, Title I, Part B of the No Child Left
Behind Act and the Reading Excellence Act. The purpose of the
publication is to provide information that will help these educators
evaluate the extent to which the programs they use or plan to use are
grounded in the scientific research on reading and fully address the
range of reading skills identified in the Acts.

# SCOPE OF THE WORK

The Contractor will be responsible for carrying out all phases of work
associated with the development of the publication. This includes
planning, conducting, and reporting the results of an analysis of the
content and data on effectiveness of widely-used programs for teaching
reading. The Contractor must develop a publication that can be used to
inform decision making about the identification, development,
establishment and implementation of reading programs at the state and
local level. The guide will provide information on the extent to which a
program includes the essential components of reading instruction as
defined in Reading First, but will not rate programs or provide a "seal
of approval' to specific programs. The essential components of reading
instruction include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development,
reading fluency, and reading comprehension strategies. The publication
must include information that will help educators distinguish between
different types of reading programs, but will provide detailed analyses
of only those programs that are comprehensive reading programs.
Comprehensive programs are those that are designed to address all five
essential components of reading instruction as defined in the Reading
First legislation. The guide will not include information on programs
that provide instruction in one or more, but not all, of the essential
components of reading instruction or intervention programs that are
designed to provide instruction to students who are performing below
grade level. The Contractor shall carry out the review of programs
through an expert panel composed of individuals who have been
nationally-recognized for their knowledge of the scientific research on
reading, for their contributions to that knowledge, or who have
experience in designing and implementing reading programs that are
grounded in the scientific research.

The Contractor shall perform the following key tasks:

**Task I:** **The Contractor shall establish a process for conducting
the review of reading programs.**

The Contractor shall develop a comprehensive written plan that describes
how the review of comprehensive reading programs will be structured and
conducted , including a timeline showing when key tasks will be
completed. The plan must address the following: (1) How review criteria
for assessing whether programs contain all of the essential elements of
reading instruction defined in the Reading First Legislation will be
developed or selected, (2) How review criteria for assessing the quality
of the scientific evidence supporting the comprehensive reading programs
will be developed or selected, (3) How programs will be identified and
selected for review, and (3) How findings of the review t will be
reported. The plan shall also include a description of the data that
will be used to conduct the review, including data collection and
analysis strategies. The process must also include an opportunity for
participants in the review to be notified of the initial findings
regarding their program, and an opportunity to submit additional
relevant information in response to findings of deficiency. The process
must also include review by the expert panel of the additional
information submitted by participants in response to findings of
deficiency. The Contractor must obtain NIFL's approval of the
individuals who will perform the review before the review begins.

Task 2: The Contractor shall select or develop criteria that will be
used to examine selected programs.

The Contractor may use the criteria developed for the Secretary's
Reading Leadership Academy (see attachment A), modify those criteria, or
create new criteria that will be used to examine the programs selected
for review. The criteria must be specific and should consider how
instruction is provided. The Contractor shall allow for a public comment
period on the criteria and submit to the COR a summary of the comments
received along with recommendations from the Contractor on what
revisions, if any, should be made to the criteria in response to public
comment. The criteria must be approved by the COR before the assessment
is conducted.

**Task 3: The Contractor shall identify programs that will be included
in the review.** The Contractor shall develop procedures for identifying
programs to be reviewed. The procedures shall include an invitation to
the publishers of the widely used programs; and a general public
solicitation inviting companies and other relevant entities to submit
their programs for review. The process must include steps and criteria
for an initial screening of programs submitted for review that
eliminates programs from consideration.

**Task 4: The Contractor shall conduct the review.** The Contractor
shall review the evidence submitted by the publisher of each program and
other relevant evidence gathered on each program. The Contractor shall
also review the evidence for each program and assess the extent of the
reliability of that data. The results of this review shall be included
in the publication resulting from this contract. The Contractor shall
carry out the review through an expert review panel that includes
researchers in reading and instructional design and researchers
recognized for their work in early reading development.

**Task 5: The Contractor shall draft a preliminary report that describes
the results of the review.** The Contractor shall write a preliminary
draft of the results of the review of each program. The draft shall
include a factual description of the program's components, the types of
evidence used to assess the program, and a description of the assessment
of each program on each criteria. The draft must be submitted to NIFL
for review. NIFL will coordinate review by Education and NICHD
officials. The Contractor shall also provide a copy of the preliminary
report on each program to the program's developer/publisher who
submitted it and provide a comment period during which the
developer/publisher may submit additional evidence to counter findings
of deficiency that failed to consider all relevant evidence or errors in
fact.

**Task 6: The Contractor shall review additional evidence and revise the
description of findings in accordance with new findings and comments
from NIFL review.** The Contractor shall review the additional evidence
submitted for each program and make the necessary revisions to the
program descriptions and assessments. The Contractor shall obtain COR
approval on all revisions.

**Task 7:** **The Contractor shall provide a mock-up of the bound and
completely formatted and finished product to the COR for review and
approval.**

The Contractor shall design the publication and prepare electronic
copies for printing and for distribution over the Internet (HTML and
PDF. Though these are different formats, each should be clear in the
presentation of the content). The Contractor shall provide an electronic
version in a format that is ADA compliant (Section 508).

.

Task 8: The Contractor shall provide NIFL an electronic copy of the
final approved report.

Task 9: The Contractor shall provide monthly written reports to the
Project Officer and periodically brief senior officials of the member
agencies of The Partnership for Reading on the progress of the project.

**[Optional Tasks]{.underline}**

Optional Task I: The Contractor shall conduct a review of supplementary
reading programs to determine the extent to which these programs are
based upon scientific evidence and will develop a publication geared to
the needs of state and local educators who are responsible for
establishing reading programs for students in kindergarten through grade
3 that are based on the findings of scientifically-based reading
research.

Optional Task 2: The Contractor shall conduct a review of reading
intervention programs to determine the extent to which these programs
are grounded in the scientific evidence and will develop a publication
geared to the needs of state and local educators who are responsible for
establishing reading programs for students in kindergarten through grade
3 that are based on the findings of scientifically-based reading
research.

# CONTRACT DELIVERABLES

1.  A draft plan describing how the review will be conducted which
    includes a timeline showing when key tasks will be completed, must
    be submitted to the COR for review and comment within 15 days of
    contract award. A final approved plan, incorporating changes made by
    the COR, must be submitted within 5 days of the contractor's receipt
    of the COR's comments on the draft plan.

2.  A list of proposed panelists who will conduct the review must be
    submitted to the COR within 15 days of contract award. A final,
    approved list of expert panelists must be submitted to the COR
    within 15 days of the Contractor's receipt of COR comments on the
    proposed list.

3.  A list of the proposed criteria that will be used to evaluate
    programs must be submitted to COR within 30 days of contract award.
    A revised list must be submitted to the COR for approval within 5
    days of Contractor receipt of COR comments on the proposed list.

4.  A list of the proposed programs that will be included in the review
    must be submitted to the COR within 45 days of contract award. The
    final list of programs to be reviewed must be submitted to the COR
    within 60 days of contract award. The final approved list must
    include a minimum of 20 programs.

5.  A preliminary report of assessment results must be submitted to the
    COR within 120 days of contract award.

6.  The database used to record the information about and analyses of
    the reading programs reviewed, including all data submitted by
    publishers, are to be turned over to the NIFL at project completion.

7.  A revised draft of the publication reporting the findings of the
    review must be submitted within 150 days of contract award.

8.  A final draft of the publication must be submitted to COR within 180
    days of contract award.

# Performance Period

The performance period will begin upon issuance of the contract award.
All work must be completed within 24 months of the beginning of the
performance period.

# REFERENCES

Title I, Part B of the No Child Left Behind Act

Reading Excellence Act

Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read, Reports
of the Subgroups

Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to
Read