R -- Advance Notice of IES/NCEE FY05 Procurements

The purpose of this announcement is to provide advance notice of seven potential FY05 ED/IES/NCEE procurements. The program office contact for all seven opportunities is Ricky Takai at 202-208-7080. Additionally, a contract specialist point of contact is provided for each opportunity. A brief description of each procurement follows: STUDY OF TEACHER PREPARATION IN EARLY READING INSTRUCTION (Plan no. ertd050026) The National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award an 18-month contract to assess the extent to which the coursework offered by schools of education are aligned with the principles of scientifically based reading. The study includes an option to assess new teachers' preparation to teach the five essential components of reading as identified by the National Reading Panel report and specified in the Reading First program statute. This option would extend the contract by 6 months. Contact Isadora Binder, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. IMPACT EVALUATION OF MATH CURRICULA (Plan no. ertd050017) The National Center for Education Evaluation of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award a four-year contract to assess the impact of commercially available math curricula on student achievement. The curricula to be evaluated will be selected through a competition under the evaluation contract. The implementation of the curricula and student math achievement will be measured. Contact Isadora Binder, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. A RIGOROUS TEST OF THE VALUE ADDED METHOD OF ASSESSING TEACHER PERFORMANCE (Plan no. ertd050038) The National Center for Education Evaluation of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award a 3-year contract to assess the reliability of the value-added method of assessing teacher performance. The study will purposively select a group of districts (and their schools - approximately 100) in states that collect student test score data that are linked or can be linked to the classroom level. Analyses will be conducted to assess the similarities and differences in the rank ordering of teacher performance across the two methods as well as the robustness of the results. The study will also include analyses to help inform the use of value-added measures in practice. Contact Isadora Binder, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. THE IMPACT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO ENHANCE TEACHER CONTENT AND PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN MATH (Plan no. ertd050039) The National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award a 4-year contract to evaluate the impact of different strategies of professional development on student achievement. This study will require approximately 90 schools in 6 districts. It is likely that this project will involve a development effort. Contact Isadora Binder, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSES TO ENHANCE AND INFORM TEACHER QUALITY (Plan no. ertd050037) The National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award up to a 4-year contract to collect data or analyze existing data to complement an existing NCEE study (An Impact Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Methods). The task order will also include secondary data analyses to explore the potential of key teacher compensation strategies designed to affect recruitment and retention. Contact Kenneth Bell, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. IMPACT EVALUATION OF STUDENT MENTORING (Plan no. ertd050022) The National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award a 13-week contract to determine the feasibility of an impact evaluation of the Department's Student Mentoring Program with an option to extend the contract by 33 months to conduct the impact study. The impact study will require approximately 30 grantees. Contact Vidya Vish, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. IMPACT EVALUATION OF RANDOM-MANDATORY STUDENT DRUG TESTING (Plan no. ertd050021) The National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) of the Institute of Education Sciences intends to award a three-year contract to assess the impact of random-mandatory student drug testing programs that target high-school students enrolled in extracurricular activities. The study would include approximately 40 high schools. Contact Elizabeth Hoover, Contract Specialist, at [email protected].