Approve the Consultant Agreement for Dr. Tina Bacon to Conduct an Evaluation of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (Information and Technology Division)

The purpose of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant is to implement centers as Choice options for the District’s Unitary Plan that helps to reduce, eliminate and prevent minority group isolation throughout the district. Dr. Tina Bacon will evaluate the success the grant is having on the program to date by supervising and reporting the results of the grant evaluation. Dr. Bacon will meet with national consultants hired by the Department of Education to assist the Local Educational Authority (LEA) with the rigorous evaluation pieces of the Magnet grant and will assume the role of principal investigator and mentor adjunct evaluators. Dr. Bacon will attend conferences, do programming for data collection, communicate with participants, conduct site visitations, assist in the planning stages of implementation and will analyze collected data. Dr. Bacon will coordinate efforts and communicate with the Magnet Program Supervisor and the Department of Assessment and Accountability at all times. The program evaluation will involve approximately 5,000 students and 400 teachers at Ferrell Middle School, Lee Elementary School, Tampa Bay Tech High School, and Rampello K-8 School.

Goal 5: The District will eliminate the FCAT achievement gap by a minimum of 10 points as reported by the No Child Left Behind. CSF 5.c: Design and implement program scheduling to meet the remediation and enrichment needs of students.

The grant budget is approximately $918,474 and the amount allotted for this phase of the evaluation is $34,000.

Final report to be submitted to the Department of Education and the Hillsborough County Public Schools’ Director of Assessment and Accountability and Magnet Program Supervisor and Staff by December 31, 2007.