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).
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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

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

Draft Statement of Work