The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) in the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) seeks to procure the services of a qualified vendor with expertise and experience in the design of education systems (e.g., aligning curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and accountability systems) as well as the technical expertise to maintain, develop, support, augment, enhance, and customize an integrated and progressive web-based portal that serves as a practical one-stop-shop for the implementation of a range of efforts by the Commonwealth focused on improving student achievement. Thus, the selected Offeror must be conversant with educational content and methods reflective of current proven practice as well as knowledgeable on the design and development of advanced technologies to seamlessly support educators and foster continuous school improvement.

Additionally, strategic to the efficacy of Pennsylvania’s current system, Standards Aligned System (SAS),is its dynamic quality: a work-in-progress philosophy that allows it to grow and evolve as research informs, as resources and stakeholder requirements emerge, and as Commonwealth initiatives decree. Therefore, the selected Offeror must be able to demonstrate that they not only can be flexible to changing requirements, but also have the awareness and capacity to identify incipient needs and opportunities for improvement as well as propose and implement appropriate solutions.

Pennsylvania’s SAS was designed to serve primarily Commonwealth stakeholders such as PK-12 local education agencies (school districts, charter schools, cyber charter schools, AVTS/CTC, and intermediate units) and non-public schools, institutions of higher education (IHE), parents and students, and the general public; however, as of February 28, 2018, there were 289,000 registered users, with approximately 1 million non-duplicated visitors during the 2016/2017 School Year, representing 16 countries including the United States.

SAS is currently comprised of three ‘portals’:

-Apublic-facing open websiteproviding information and access to Pennsylvania academic standards, the curriculum framework, assessment tools, standards-aligned materials and resources, and resources to promote effective instructional practices as well as safe and supportive schools.

-A registered-user tool kit for the creation of personalized websites and ePortfolios, curriculum maps, lesson plans, student learning objectives, and assessments, and for participation in professional development and online communities.

-A registered-user dashboard specific to education administrators providing information and access to data analytics, resources, andprofessional development relevant to their leadership roles and profile foci.

Prospective Offerors must be able to provide continued maintenance, development, enhancement, training, and support services for SAS available at or propose a solution that is comparable (at a minimum) but which offers additional efficiencies or effectiveness in support of commonwealth goals.

Furthermore, PDE may solicit related optional services to include but notbe limited to:

-A system that facilitates Project-Based Assessments (PBAs).

-An interactivedata dashboard for access to, and the dissemination of information on, Pennsylvania’s “Future Ready Indicators” of progress toward academic achievement, language proficiency, presence, persistence, and preparation for college and career.

-Professional development to support educators and education leaders in successfully implementing the provided PK-12 resources and strategies.