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Hillsborough County Public Schools, Florida
Tuesday, 10/06/2020
School Board Meeting
Title

B6.02 - Approve the Purchase of Curriculum and Industry Certification Testing Vouchers from Certification Partners (Academic Services)

Description

Certification Partners Curriculum and testing vouchers have been integrated into the curriculum of multiple Career and Technical Education courses, as well as Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles. Certification Partners offers the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) program for middle school students, and various Certified Internet Web (CIW) programs such as Internet Business Associate, Site Development Associate, E-Commerce, JavaScript Specialist, and Advanced HTML5 CSS3 for high school students. Industry certification tests are a required component of career-themed courses as outlined in Florida’s Career and Professional Education legislation. Students successfully earning industry certifications generate weighted full-time equivalent funding and are included in the calculation of school grades. 

Certification Partners owns and manages the CIW Certification Program, which consists of a number of certification exams, curriculum (online and print), the ICT Essentials, Certified Testing Center (CTC) online, and other materials. The CIW Official Certification Exams and curriculum are copyrighted, both online and print materials. The CTC application, CIW Certification Exams and Official CIW Certification Program curriculum are copyrighted materials by Certification Partners. The CIW Certification Exams program is not licensed to other organizations for the purpose of selling the CIW program of curriculum and exams.

In accordance with the Florida Department of Educational Purchasing Policy 6A-1.012(11)(b), the requirement for requesting competitive solicitations for commodities or contractual services from three or more sources is hereby waived as authorized by Section 1010.04(4)(a), F.S., for the purchase of educational services and any type of copyrighted materials including, without limitation, educational tests, textbooks, and printed instructional materials where such materials are purchased directly from the producer, publisher, or the owner of the copyright.

Gap Analysis

The Florida Department of Education in conjunction with CareerSource Florida determined there was a statewide need for digital literacy skills. The industry certifications provided by Certification Partners fill the need for digital literacy in the Business and Information Technology industry.

Previous Outcomes

In 2019/2020, students earned 3,826 industry certifications from Certification Partners CIW and ICT suite of industry certifications.

Expected Outcomes

In 2020/2021, we project that students will increase the number of earned industry certifications from Certification Partners CIW and ICT suite of industry certifications by 10 percent to 4,209.

Strategic Plan Goal

* Provide a student-centered learning environment that engages every child

Recommendation

That the Board approve the purchase of Curriculum and Industry Certification testing vouchers from Certification Partners.

Contact

Terry Connor, Deputy Superintendent for Instruction, Academic Services, terry.connor@hcps.net, (813) 272-4221
Daniela Simic, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction, Academic Services, daniela.simic@hcps.net, (813) 272-4221
Warren S. Brooks, Executive Director, Career, Technical, and Adult Education, warren.brooks@hcps.net, (813) 231-1860

Financial Impact

As of August 17, 2020, the year-to-date expenditures with Certification Partners are $32,500. The additional curriculum and testing vouchers needed from this vendor for the 2020/2021 school year are estimated to be an additional $150,000 and are purchased as needed. For the 2020/2021 school year, funds will be available in Industry Certification projects ranging from 4527 to 4719, as well as the Carl D. Perkins Secondary Grant - Project 0028.

Review Comments

Gretchen Saunders , Chief Financial Officer (813) 272-4270