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Action Item
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 2013
TO: School Board Members
FROM: MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent
SUBJECT / RECOMMENDATIONS
Approve the Agreement for Technical Services with Multi-Dimensional Education, Inc. (MDED) for the External Evaluation of the grant funded project, Responsible Engaged Students Promoting Empathy, Caring, and Trust (RESPECT) (Information and Technology Division)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Evaluation will provide reporting services and products to meet the grantor requirements for Project RESPECT (Responsible Engaged Students Promoting Empathy, Caring, and Trust). RESPECT is a character education program at 40 elementary schools that is integrated into classroom instruction and carried out in conjunction with current education reform efforts. The program promotes eight core character traits:  caring, cooperation, courage, fairness, honesty, respect, responsibility, and self-discipline. Students learn and reinforce positive character traits as they participate in reading content instruction, thereby improving their academic achievement in reading and their pro-social skills at the same time. MDED has been selected, in part, due to their sole-source evaluation instrument approved by the USDOE. MDED has been selected from the pool of prescreened evaluation providers based on their expertise, national reputation, experience, and capacity to provide reporting in compliance with program regulations.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
• Promote a culture of safety, which is free from harassment, bullying, and aggression
FINANCIAL IMPACT (Budgeted:  Yes)
Of the $1,142,418 award for this program $21,000 has been specifically allocated for the extension year external evaluation.
EVALUATION
The funding agency for this grant requires a rigorous evaluation that utilizes valid and reliable instruments to statistically measure the impact of participation in the program. MDED will utilize their sole-source evaluation instrument (Multi-dimensional Assessment) that meets this requirement at a substantially reduced per-student cost as part of this grant evaluation. MDED will collect and analyze data at the project level and for each targeted school and produce the annual APR status report for the USDOE, in addition to the required bi-annual evaluation research reports examining the impact of the character education program on student achievement, attendance, behavior, and school connectedness.
SUBMITTED BY:  Samuel R. Whitten, Director, Assessment and Accountability
Anna L. Brown, Ed.D.   Gretchen Saunders
Chief Information and Technology Officer and Project Director, Empowering Effective Teachers
(813) 272-4600
  Chief Business Officer
(813) 272-4270
    A 6.21
Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida) * Mtg.#20131210_604 (Board Meeting) * Section A Item# 6.21