Approve Consultant Agreement with C. Victor Fung, Ph.D. for the Evaluation of the Professional Development for Arts Educators Grant, Project #1125 (Information and Technology)

The Professional Development for Arts Educators (PDAE) project integrates an arts training system that is intended to enable academic achievement for students. A teacher observation instrument will be developed, piloted and validated enabling teachers and administrators to assess arts educators in the context of their disciplines. The integration of the arts with other core disciplines is carefully planned through the development of strategies, model lessons, and professional development. Project is to serve 16,000 students and targeted elementary schools. The evaluator will assist with the evaluation of the Professional Development for Arts Educators Grant, project #1125. Duties of the evaluator will include, but not be limited to, designing the observation instrument for music teachers and gather observation data to provide feedback; validating the observation instrument; supporting Principal Investigator in providing sections of the report pertaining to the design of the instrument; communicating with Principal Investigator in November and June prior to project reports.

The percentage of students scoring at Level 3 or higher on FCAT reading and math will increase a minimum of 5 percentage points (Critical Success Factors 1a - Assign high-performing teachers to teach students performing below grade level; 1b - Implement interventions for students below grade level, on grade level, and above grade level.

The total grant budget is $349,994 and the evaluation budget is $40,000, of this $6,175 is for this contract.

Anticipated Date of Evaluation: Final evaluation report due June 2007.