READING TO ACHIEVE STATE POLICIES TO PROMOTE ADOLESCENT LITERACY

READING TO ACHIEVE STATE POLICIES TO PROMOTE ADOLESCENT LITERACY National Governors Association Center for Best Practices Request for Proposals The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) announces the Reading to Achieve initiative, which will provide states assistance and grants to develop state literacy plans and policies to improve adolescent literacy achievement. This initiative is made possible with the generous support of Carnegie Corporation of New York. With more than eight million adolescents between grades four and 12 identified as “struggling readers,” states must focus on adolescent literacy education if they are to graduate more students from high school prepared for college and the workforce. States committed to providing literacy instruction for students from kindergarten through high school will be best equipped to prepare all students for today's global information economy. Based on research and best practices, the NGA Center's Adolescent Literacy Advisory Panel has recommended strategies for governors and other policymakers to consider in their work to improve adolescent literacy achievement in their states in Reading to Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy (http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0510GOVGUIDELITERACY.PDF). Reading to Achieve offers governors an opportunity to develop and begin to implement practices recommended in the governor’s guide. All states are eligible to apply. This initiative is intended to assist states at any stage in the development and implementation of plans to strengthen policies to promote adolescent literacy. The NGA Center will award state grants of up to $50,000 for one year to as many as eight states. The grant period will be February 2006 through January 2007. Proposals must be received from the governor’s office by January 11, 2006. General Information The grantees and award amounts will be determined by a selection committee that is independent of NGA based on the proposals submitted in response to this request. A numerical score will be assigned to each application per the proposal selection criteria. Based on numerical score ranges (on a scale of 100), some states may be granted “conditional acceptance.” These states will receive site visits or requests for additional information in January 2006. Decisions of the selection committee are final. Awards will be announced in February 2006. The NGA Center may withdraw or modify this RFP as it deems appropriate. However, at this time the schedule is as follows: Date November 30, 2005 December 14, 2005 (1:00 – 2:00 PM EST) January 11, 2006 (5:00 PM EST) February 2006 Action RFP released to states Bidders’ Conference Call Deadline for proposal submission Grant awards announced Selection Committee The NGA Center will manage the RFP process but will have no role in the selection of state grantees. The NGA Center will convene an independent selection committee that will make decisions about grant awards to states. The committee will include foundation representatives, researchers and other national experts with experience in adolescent literacy and state level 1 policymaking. Final decisions of the selection committee will include the quality of state responses to this RFP (total points earned out of 100); the extent to which the governor and his/her staff participates actively in NGA and is in good standing with the organization; and factors valuing diversity (e.g., balance of proposed state activities described in the governor’s guide; geographic and partisan representation). Decisions of the national selection committee are solely within its discretion and are not subject to challenge. Support to Applicants During the application process, a conference call for states interested in applying will be held on December 14, 2005 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST. During this call, the NGA Center will lead a discussion of how to use Reading to Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy to develop a strong application, review application requirements, and answer questions about the specific strategies. States interested in participating in the conference call should contact Cardella Mingo at cmingo@nga.org or 202/624-7801. Throughout the grant period, the NGA Center will gather information to help state teams and non-grantee states develop state policies related to adolescent literacy. It is expected that grantee states provide this information to the NGA Center as well as send representatives to the annual Governors Education Policy Advisors’ Institutes to be held in spring 2006. Allowable Grant-Funded Activities Grants can be used to fund the following types of activities directly related to the activities described in the state’s proposal. Examples of allowable expenses include: • • • • Paying for time and travel expenses for consultants and experts (These consultants must be selected with approval from the NGA Center.); Covering travel and meeting expenses for meetings with consultants, technical assistance providers, officials in other states, and/or stakeholders in the state; Producing relevant publications and on-line resources (e.g., task force report, draft policy recommendations for public comment posted on the web); and Developing communications materials (e.g., information for teachers about professional development opportunities, an on-line state adolescent literacy site). Grant funds cannot be substituted for on-going program expenses, including personnel expenses. Grant funds cannot be used for lobbying. Grant funds may not be used for purchasing equipment. Awards and Period of Performance The NGA Center will enter into a sub-grant agreement with grantee states. The agreement will be for one year (February 2006 – January 2007). Each grantee state agrees to participate in an initiative evaluation (e.g., provision of state and district data, interviews for case study). Reporting and Payment Schedule The grant funding will be dispersed to the governor’s office or an entity designated by the governor’s office as the fiscal agent in the state application. States will receive funding in two installments within the 12 month period. The first half of the grant will be disbursed upon execution of the sub-grant agreement. The second half will be paid to states based on meeting benchmarks set in their proposals. States must submit a final report documenting progress on stated benchmarks to receive the second installment of funds. 2 Goals and Expectations Adolescent Literacy for State Policies to Promote States selected to receive a grant will be required to develop a state literacy plan. States may elect to develop a K-12 literacy plan or establish a state literacy plan for grades four through 12 that aligns to the existing early literacy plan. The amount of the grants will vary depending upon the process the states propose for plan development and to what extent the state will begin initial policy implementation. This grant is not intended to support large-scale, statewide implementation. The strongest state applications will focus on designing a literacy plan based on state needs. States that already have a plan that includes components addressed in the NGA Center guide may use this grant to implement strategies and policies targeted to improving adolescent literacy. The NGA Center and other national experts will work with the initiative states to develop and implement their state plans. The NGA Center will provide technical assistance to the grantee states and must approve any outside consultants with which states will contract under this grant program. Based upon current literacy achievement status, goals for improvement, and existing policies and practices, states may use their grant funds to engage in activities that may include the following: • Build the knowledge of key policymakers and educators about the research and best practices in improving adolescent literacy achievement through presentations at meetings, web casts or materials dissemination. Policymakers with the authority to institute and act upon recommended policy changes will be key participants in knowledge building activities. Conduct a policy audit of current policies and practices to determine areas of greatest state need for raising literacy achievement. Hold meetings of a task force or advisory committee on adolescent literacy comprised of top level state education and policy officials to develop a set of policy recommendations. The task force members will include the governor and/or senior level governor’s representatives. Additional task force members will be all or some of the following: state board members, teachers and principals, district leaders, the chief state school officer, state agency staff with literacy or related area responsibilities, state legislators, professional development providers, teacher preparation program faculty, the state Reading First coordinator, business representatives, community leaders and foundation representatives. Governors may choose to build a task force or subcommittee on adolescent literacy into their high school redesign initiatives. This approach will be acceptable as long as the governor can demonstrate a deliberate and specific commitment to addressing particular needs of struggling readers and using research-based literacy instructional strategies across the curriculum. Goals for these meetings will be to build key stakeholders’ knowledge on the issue of adolescent literacy, devise communications and policy strategies, and develop a state literacy plan. Solicit feedback on state plan recommendations via a web dialogue, a governor’s summit or in-state forums or focus groups. • • • 3 • Partner with other states and national organizations to develop or learn about promising approaches for communicating the need for a state focus on adolescent literacy, raise public and educator awareness of effective strategies for enhancing literacy skills of students in grades four through 12, and encouraging adolescents to engage in reading and writing activities. States might also begin to implement some of the policy recommendations suggested by their plans, many of which are included in Reading to Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy. These may include: • Establish a statewide adolescent literacy office. A designated adolescent literacy office can coordinate assistance and programs, advocate for the issue, and provide information to educators and policymakers. Develop a professional development curriculum at the state level or in conjunction with school districts that is based upon effective adolescent literacy instruction. Create a teacher training or recertification curriculum that reflects the most current research findings on adolescent literacy. Devise a school or district literacy plan template that can be used for literacy planning and aligns to state standards, assessments and other requirements such as a continuous improvement plan for under-performing schools. Develop or refine standards for adolescent literacy across the content areas. Specifically, as states revise their content standards to meet more rigorous college preparatory requirements as part of their high school redesign initiatives, they might include explicit literacy expectations across the content areas. • • • • 4 Required Proposal Content and Selection Criteria Governors’ offices are invited to submit a proposal for the Reading to Achieve initiative that addresses the selection criteria below. Proposals may be no longer than ten (10) pages, excluding attachments (e.g., cover page, governor’s letter). Proposals should be written in 11-point font and single-spaced. Required elements must be addressed to be considered for funding. • Cover Page (Required). The cover page of the application should include: State name; name and contact information (name, title, address, phone, email, fax) for the application point of contact, team leader and fiscal agent; total amount of funding requested. Letter of Interest and Commitment from the Governor (Required). This letter should demonstrate commitment from the governor for this project and to participate in or send a high-level representative to state literacy plan development meetings. Need and Goals for State Participation (30 points). This section of the proposal should answer all of the following questions and use relevant information to describe the state’s need and goals with respect to improving adolescent literacy achievement. Describe the state’s current literacy performance (See page 13 in Reading to Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy for examples of literacy proficiency measures to include.). What successes has the state had in raising early literacy and adolescent literacy achievement? What problems are you trying to solve through the development of a state literacy plan, and what solutions are you considering? What capacity exists within the state to address these problems? How do these solutions hold the potential to raise student achievement, close the achievement gap, and improve high school graduation rates? How will the development of a state K-12 literacy plan build upon the state’s Reading First plan or link a literacy plan for grades four through 12 to the state’s early literacy plan? How will the state literacy plan connect to and support the state’s high school improvement initiative? To what degree has the state demonstrated a commitment to change by proposing and implementing innovative policies and practices that positively support adolescent literacy? States participating in the Reading to Achieve initiative will be expected to make concrete progress in developing, testing and implementing strategies for improving adolescent literacy. Describe indicators or measures the state will use to demonstrate progress that results from the funded activities. Acceptable project benchmarks may include: Development of a state literacy plan; Expanded professional development or certification options based on best practices and research in adolescent literacy; Realigned federal and state funds, including additional incentives, to support adolescent literacy initiatives; Gains in public understanding of and support for a focus on adolescent literacy; Increased press coverage across the state on the impact of adolescent literacy on student achievement and high school graduation rates; Increased number of pre-service teachers, teachers, and principals receiving adolescent literacy instruction training; and Improved data tracking and/or reporting for literacy indicators. • • • Describe Team Leadership and Membership. (30 points) Participating states must create an interdisciplinary policy team, including a representative from the governor’s office, to 5 implement this project, and must designate a team leader. The governor may choose to designate this team as an adolescent literacy task force or P-16 Council literacy subcommittee. The team should include senior executives from the governor’s office and relevant state agencies, educational institutions, private non-profit and business organizations. Team members might include senior-level representatives chosen from some or all of the following areas: state education agency (chief or deputy and other relevant senior staff) state board of education state legislature (e.g., education committee chair) state-wide policy, non-profit, community or business organizations educators (e.g., superintendent, principal, teacher, literacy coach, association representative) university/higher-education (e.g., chancellor of university system or college/university president. dean of education school, literacy researchers) foundation community state finance or budget officer All applications should identify a team leader who will serve as the key contact person. The team leader should be a senior-level representative from the governor’s office. The team leader will: ensure the team makes steady progress toward the development and implementation of the state literacy plan; identify potential areas for immediate and long-term policy development or action; serve as the primary liaison to the NGA Center; and coordinate all in-state meetings and activities associated with this project. In addition to listing the project team members and leader, please describe the following: How does membership of the proposed team reflect the key agencies and high-level officials with authority to affect adolescent literacy policy and practice in the state? What knowledge of existing state literacy policies and practices (e.g., state Reading First plan, teacher certification requirements) do the team members offer to the development of a K-12 state literacy plan? How will local school district personnel, higher education, community organizations, and researchers be involved in the state literacy plan development process? Does the team’s composition support bipartisan and sustainable leadership for the state literacy plan? How have members of this team worked together in the past to develop and establish effective education policies? What knowledge, skills and influence does the team leader have to successfully implement the project? • Describe the State’s Work Plan. (40 points) In the Need and Goals section of the proposal, the state identified the types of changes it hopes to make through the development and implementation of a state literacy plan. Based on the state’s needs and goals, describe the activities in which the state will engage over the next year to develop and/or begin to implement a state literacy plan; provide a month-by-month implementation timeline with persons/groups responsible; describe anticipated policy changes required to sustain efforts beyond the current governor’s term (e.g., legislation, executive order, regulatory change); discuss strategies for building public support for the policy action and how the major stakeholders will be engaged; 6 discuss how the governor and other policymakers would demonstrate their commitment to address the policy challenges and actions outlined for this project (e.g., executive order, legislative change, public pronouncement on the issue) • Budget. (Required). The budget should detail the state’s plans for spending the grant and be presented in the format outlined in Attachment A. A budget narrative must accompany the budget and indicate costs associated with each proposed activity. Additional Considerations. (Required) How has the governor and key policy staff been engaged in NGA and NGA Center activities? To what extent is the state in good standing with NGA? • Total Points—100 Submission Information Governors’ offices must submit their proposal packages by 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, January 11, 2006. Paper or electronic submissions will be accepted. Applications should be submitted to: Cardella Mingo National Governors Association Center for Best Practices 444 North Capitol Street, Suite 267 Washington, DC 20001-1512 202/624-5313 (fax) cmingo@nga.org 7 Attachment A: Budget Template Reading to Achieve Initiative State Policies to Improve Adolescent Literacy PROJECT BUDGET Activity One Activity Two Activity Three TOTAL PERSONNEL Salaries Fringe Benefits Indirect Cost (per approved rate) X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Total Personnel CONSULTANT TRAVEL MEETING EXPENSES SUPPLIES OTHER EXPENSES: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL REQUEST 0 0 0 0 Attach a budget narrative detailing the items in each activity and cost type. All expenses must be consistent with state fiscal guidelines. Meals are not reimbursable unless the participants are on out-of-town travel status.