A Refugee Acculturation Student Support Center (RASSC) will be established to meet the myriad needs of refugee students and their families as they become acculturated into their new country. From October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005, 271 school-age refugees settled in Hillsborough County, with a total of 817 refugees of all ages. Many of the older refugees are family members of the school-age children. Many refugee students and their families exhibit social, educational, and mental health needs that interfere with the ability of the family members to thrive and develop into productive community members. Currently, there are no separate services for refugees and their families beyond that which is provided to Limited English proficiency (LEP) students within the school district. To assist in this endeavor the Florida Refugee Achievement Grant was authorized. The grant includes the evaluation of its effectiveness. The consultant will assist with the evaluation of the Florida Refugee Achievement Grant, Project 1211. The consultant's duties will include, but not be limited to, conducting meetings with the project manager to document process variables during initial stages of implementation; assisting in the development of the data collection process (project manager and Department of Assessment and Accountability liaison); providing consultative services in the evaluation design and for data collection; writing status reports as needed and an annual evaluation report.

Goal 1: The percent of students scoring at level 3 or higher on FCAT Reading will increase a minimum of 5 percentage points; 1e - Involve families in supporting literacy at home.

The total grant budget is $280,000. The amount for evaluation is $12,000, of this $8,000 is for this contract.

Final evaluation report due September 2007.