Massachusetts Charter Schools

Consultant Opportunity: MA Charter School Special Education Capacity Building Project

For more information, the MA Charter School Special Education Capacity Building Project RFR can be found on COMMBUYS

Scope of Service/Purpose of Procurement:

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) seeks an experienced vendor to work with charter schools across the Commonwealth to create model program development guidelines and resources, including professional development, focused on building schools' capacity to establish new programs for low incidence/high needs students with moderate to severe disabilities, as well as how to better support and serve students with behavioral needs. This work will result in collaborative program design as well as training sessions for school leaders, special education directors, teachers, and/or deans of discipline in order to increase staff capacity to work with low incidence/high needs students and students with behavioral needs.

Project deliverables will include, as time and hours permit:

• Model program guidance for all charter schools to use in establishing programs that serve low incident/high needs student, and/or revise existing program structures and guidelines to more effectively serve these students;
• Facilitating work with charter schools across the Commonwealth for opportunities to collaborate in designing model program guidelines for working with low incidence/high needs students;
• Design, facilitate, and participate in training sessions regarding best practices for setting up programs (staffing, capacity) for low incidence/high needs students with disabilities (identification, program assessment, staffing etc).
• Design, facilitate, and participate in training sessions regarding best practices for refining and revising current school programs in order to better support students with behavioral needs.
• Design, facilitate and participate in training sessions to model best practices in key discipline contexts related to behavioral needs, focused on one or more of the following goals:

1. To demonstrate and teach how to perform an effective Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA), and support continuing staff development of skills for conducting FBAs;
2. To demonstrate and teach school teams skills needed for creation of effective formal behavioral intervention plans (Behavior Intervention Plans or BIP).
3. To train school staff in procedures related to effective use of manifestation determination meetings as a means for distinguishing between discipline-related behaviors related to a disability and discipline-related behaviors not related to a disability.
4. To train school staff on identifying persistent behavioral and academic performance issues that should trigger referral for a special education evaluation.

Budget:

Not to exceed $149,500 for the entire project (through June 30, 2015). ESE reserves the right to award this contract to multiple vendors based on the Commonwealth's best interests in getting the services delivered. Services will be paid for on an hourly rate basis. The rate should be inclusive of all vendor expenses.

Required Qualifications:

The selected vendor must possess:

• Past experience and record of success in developing high quality programming in working with public school districts in developing, implementing, and running programs that serve low incidence/high needs students with disabilities.
• Significant experience designing and providing professional development to school leaders on issues around serving low incidence/high needs students as well as behavioral supports.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Located within the Boston metro-area and availability to travel to schools across the Commonwealth.

Submission Requirements:

Please submit a response which includes the required forms (as listed on Comm-PASS) in addition to:

• Resume: Resume should demonstrate relevant previous high-quality work as those proposed in this RFR.
• Work sample: Work sample should reflect the vendor's capacity to provide feedback and guidance to a school regarding their programming for students with disabilities and with behavior needs as those proposed in this RFR and the ability to write clearly.
• Proposed budget and brief budget narrative.
• At least two professional references with contact information.

The full proposal packet must be mailed or hand delivered and arrive no later than 5:00 pm on July 1, 2014. Include one original plus two copies (three in total), along with an electronic version of the full proposal on a flash/jump drive or CD, to:

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign

Lee DeLorenzo, Project Coordinator

75 Pleasant St.

Malden, MA 02148

PLEASE NOTE: After the submission review process, selected vendors will be required to submit additional required forms.

Inquiries:

No phone calls regarding RFR will be accepted. If you have any questions, please send an email to ldelorenzo@doe.mass.edu, specify 15CSOLD1 in the subject line. Questions must be submitted by June 9, 2014 and will be posted with answers on or around June 16, 2014 at 5:00 PM EST. Questions and the corresponding answer will be posted to the COMMBUYS website (www.commbuys.com, under this Bid.)

Small Business Program Plan:

This is a small procurement targeted to small businesses participating in the Commonwealth's Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP). The Department intends to evaluate bid responses from and to award a contract to a SBPP-participating business(es) who submit a bid that meets or exceeds the solicitation criteria only. If determined that there is inadequate SBPP capacity, or no SBPP-participating vendors provide a responsive bid, the Department will evaluate and award bid responses received from non-SBPP businesses. To determine eligibility and to participate in the SBPP, please review the requirements and general program information at www.mass.gov/sbpp.