Scaling Reading Success: Experience Corps Small Group Volunteer Tutoring

Scaling Reading Success: Experience Corps Small Group Volunteer Tutoring

Request for Application

This Request for Application (RFA) is to eligible nonprofit organizations that have partnership with schools or school districts to implement and evaluate the Scaling Reading Success program in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

The RFA is presented by AARP Foundation in collaboration with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Social Innovation Fund.

Notice of Intent to Apply Deadline:While not mandatory, applicants are strongly encouraged to email a letter of intent to apply by October 21, .

Application Deadline: Applications are due December 17, 2015at 11:59 PM Eastern Time and must be completed online.

[Notice Regarding Public Disclosure: Please note that all information submitted in this procurement process may be made public if directed by the Corporation for National and Community Service or required by law. This may include the names of organizations that submitted proposals, contact information, summaries of applications and budgets, reviewer ratings and comments, and other information.]

Table of Contents

Program Overview………………………………………………………………………3
Eligibility Information……………………………………………………………………9
Subaward Information…………………………………………..……………………...10
Application Information…………………………………………………………………10
Review Criteria…………………………………………………………………………..13
Application Process……………………………………………………………………..14
Timeline…………………………………………………………………………………..15
Additional Terms and Conditions……………………………………………………...16

Informationrelated to the Scaling Reading Success program is available at

Program Description

Program Overview

In 2015, AARP Foundation received a Social Innovation Fund (SIF) grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to serve as an intermediary grant making organization that will identify, support, and monitor nonprofit organizations to implement the Scaling Reading Success Program. This subaward competition is open to eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationsin Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a key White House initiative and CNCS program, combines public and private resources to grow the impact of innovative, community-based solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income communities throughout the United States. SIF was founded on the fundamental idea that we can make enormous progress towards overcoming the nation’s mostsignificant challenges by finding and growing promising solutions with evidence of effectiveness. As part of the public/private partnership, AARP Foundation has matched dollar for dollar the $3 million it received from the Social Innovation Fund, which in turn has doubled the total investment to $6 million towards the implementation and evaluation of the Scaling Reading Success Program. The same principle is required from subrecipients, which will also provide a 1:1 match to their subawards.

Scaling Reading Success promotes the expansion and implementation of AARP Foundation’s award-winning Experience Corps program. Experience Corps engages people 50 and older in addressing one of their communities’ greatest challenges: reading literacy. In the 2013-14 school year, Experience Corps was in 211 schools and 1935 classrooms across 22 high-need communities in the United States. Just over 2,000 volunteer tutors served over 31,000 children with sustained one-on-one or small group tutoring, and whole-class assistance through our literacy assistance strategy.

Our children are the nation's hope for building a strong future economy and society. Yet across the country, an estimated 6.6 million children from kindergarten through 3rd grade are struggling with the most fundamental underpinning of all learning: literacy (AECF, 2010). The January 2014 KIDSCOUNT® data snapshot released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed that 66 percent of all U.S. fourth graders and 80 percent of U.S. fourth graders from low-income families are not reading proficiently. While the 2013 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) found modest improvements in fourth grade reading for all students over the past decade, the gap between scores of low-income children and upper-income children has widened over the past decade by 22 percent. The students being left behind are the target recipients of Experience Corps services.

A rigorous studyfrom Washington University and Mathematica Policy Institute of Experience Corps’ 1:1, volunteer tutoring programincluded more than 800 first-, second- and third-grade students at 23 urban schools in three cities and found statistically significant reading gains for Experience Corps students.

Students who work with Experience Corps tutors for a single school yearexperience more than 60 percent greater gains in critical literacy skills whencompared to similar students who were not served by Experience Corps.
Teachers overwhelming rate the program as beneficial to their students and no orlow burden to them.

A study from Johns Hopkins University of 1,194 children in kindergarten through 3rdgrade from six urban elementary schools, found not only positive reading outcomes for students but also positive behavioral outcomes.

Third grade children whose schools were randomly selected for the program hadsignificantly higher scores on a standardized reading test than children in thecontrol schools.
In schools with Experience Corps, referrals to the principal for classroommisbehavior decreased by half while referrals in other schools remained aboutthe same.

Experience Corps volunteers currently employ two main tutoring strategies—sustained tutoring and classroom literacy assistance—which are distinguished by their level of intensity. In sustained tutoring, volunteers work with students either one-on-one or in small groups(of up to four students), who are assigned to them for an entire school year. They meet 2-3 times per week and work towards each student’s specific year-end literacy goals. Literacy assistance is a school year-long engagement between a tutor and classroom where the tutor supports the teacher's daily literacy objectives. In this strategy, tutors work with all students in the classroom, but focus on students that might need extra help learning the day's lesson.

The potential number of students served through theproven one-on-one sustainedtutoring strategy is limited by the number of volunteer tutors available to provide such a commitment and the costs associated with recruiting, training and managing volunteers. To reach more students without commensurately increasing volunteer and financial resources needed to implement the program, Experience Corps has been incorporating more small group sustained tutoring, sometimes supported by classroom literacy assistance at several of its sites.Preliminary evidence has shown the small group sustainedstrategy is as, or more, effective than the one-on-one sustained tutoring strategy. By firmly establishing credible evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of small group volunteer tutoring, up to four times as many students could be served per tutor than with one-on-one tutoring. For example,in the 2013-2014 school year, Experience Corps volunteers devoted over 123,000 hours of one-on-one tutoring to approximately 6,500 students. If each one of those sessions included four students (the maximum number recommended for a small group) (US Department of Education, Institute for Educational Sciences, 2009), 26,000 students would have been served by the same number of volunteers. These numbers could grow even higher if Experience Corps can demonstrate, as is hypothesized, that small group sustained tutoring in combination with classroom literacy assistance can further boost reading outcomes while also providing whole-class benefits. Experience Corps has adopted guidelines that balance both types of interventions with a focus on sustained tutoring. These guidelines establish that a minimum of 80 percent of volunteer hours be devoted to small group tutoring and the remainder spent on literacy assistance strategies.

Through the support of the Social Innovation Fund, we are seeking to expand the Scaling Reading Success model (small-group sustained tutoring alone or small-group sustained tutoring with classroom literacy assistance) to organizations currently implementing volunteer-based tutoring models,as well as those organizations seeking to add the Scaling Reading Success model to otherexisting services they provide to schools in their communities. Through the work of the subawardees, we aim to serve 4,000 additional students through this innovative model.

Implementation of Scaling Reading Success program

There are six elements that are critical to the accomplishment of Experience Corps and the Scaling Reading Success program. These elements are the underlying foundation of the Scaling Reading Success program, which starts with developing a clear set of expectations and formalized relationship among AARP Foundation, subrecipients, school leadership and teachers to ensure the right students and classrooms are receiving the intervention over the course of the entire school year.

Results Oriented: Produces measurable improvements for students, volunteersand schools.
Tutor Commitment: Mature adults invest the time to assure reliable, consistentsupport for students. Scaling Reading Success volunteers are placed in classrooms to tutor below-grade-level kindergarten through 3rd grade students, committing to serving 2-3 days per week throughout the school year.
Rigorous Volunteer Training: Provides highly qualified tutors and mentors for students and new skills for volunteers. Scaling Reading Success volunteers receive at least 25 hours of targeted training and coaching in literacy, behavior management, child development and other relevant areas.
Team-Based Approach: Creates peer support network which leads to improvedsocial connections among volunteers, school personnel and AARP ExperienceCorps and affiliate staff.
Community Roots: Establishes significant presence in schools, connects schoolsand 50+ community.
Intergenerational: Students and tutors benefit from working together in theclassroom consistently.

Additional Support from AARP Foundation

In order to implement the model successfully, AARP Foundation provides on-going support to its subrecipients.

Standards of practice: AARP Foundation has rigorous standards of practice for both business operations to ensure sustainable organizations and program implementation to ensure that the Scaling Reading Success program is implemented with fidelity. This includes a review (similar to an accreditation review) conducted by trained peer reviewers from other Experience Corps programs.

Technical assistance: AARP Foundation develops nationwide technical assistance (TA) plans based on prioritized needs. As with all Experience Corps programs, subrecipients will participate in nationwide TA events and receive individualized technical assistance. At the site level, technical assistance will be provided to support successful volunteer training and rigorous site implementation. All subrecipients, in addition to receiving targeted technical assistance to become compliant with the AARP Foundation standards, will be provided with TA to support the SIF-funded evaluation activities and will become part of the SIF learning community.

Experience CorpsScaling Reading Success e-kit: The e-kit is a compilation of tools, resources, policies, and templates for every phase of program development and implementation. The e-kit is housed on the Experience Corps intranet to which subrecipients will have access. This self-service resource houses our practice knowledge from nearly 20 years of operating Experience Corps. The e-kit houses over 100 resources and is continually updated with new materials and documents.

Comprehensive volunteer training resources: The Training Resource Site that will be housed in the e- kit. This content library will include facilitator and participant guides in all content areas required for volunteer training, activities and handouts to use with children, training videos demonstrating tutoring techniques and typical classroom situations and other resources. Subrecipients will have access to this content to create training agendas, and facilitator and participant materials for their volunteer tutor training. The national office will provide technical assistance to promote coherent and consistent use of these materials.

Grants Management: AARP Foundation will also support subrecipients with TA for resource development, communications, expertise in running large volunteer programs, and operational support and connections to AARP state offices. The AARP Foundation Grants Managementdepartment will provide ongoing technical assistance and training to subrecipients to ensure they are able to comply with the requirements for managing federal funds.

Data systems and reports: Subrecipients will have access to tools and technical assistance related to every aspect of data collection and reporting. They will receive licenses to use the Salesforce database system for tracking students and volunteers. Salesforce user manuals and training modules provide instructions for how to enter, update, and access program data in the national program database, and data migration templates are provided to mass-input or update data into the Salesforce database.

Subrecipients will also be provided with training on the use of electronic time sheets and required esurveys, scan technology, and forms for collecting and processing daily volunteer session logs. Surveys are provided to the Experience Corps network by AARP Foundation for the collection of program outputs and outcomes from teachers, volunteers, and local program staff. The surveys collect teacher ratings of student academic performance and engagement behaviors, impact of the Experience Corps program, and volunteer outcomes and satisfaction with the program. All sites receive annual, individualized outcome reports based on the survey data submitted. These reports are used to confirm program effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, report program results to current and potential funders and stakeholders, and to ensure quality service delivery.

An active peer network: Subrecipient programs will become a part of an active peer network, which includes all Experience Corps programs across the country. This network holds a wealth of knowledgethat is shared and exchanged via monthly network calls and webinars, in-person meetings, and affinity groups. These formal supports promote the informal support and resource sharing that happens as program sites reach out to each other to ask questions and share resources. We are also cultivating a peer-mentoring strategy for leaders of new sites.

Specific Subrecipient Activities

Establishing Project Infrastructure / Identify staff and infrastructure to support implementation and oversight ofthe Scaling Reading Success program in schools.
Planning and Coordination / Coordinate the Scaling Reading Success program with other wrap-around services focused on increasing grade level reading such as parent engagement, student attendance and summer learning.
Gather Resources for Data Collection / Obtain necessary testing data through school or school districts on a timely basis.
Maintain Leadership Support / Demonstrate and maintainsenior institutional leadership for Scaling Reading Success program.
Volunteer Recruitment and Management / Recruit and manage a volunteer base consisting of older adults (age 50+) to act as in-classroom tutors. Subrecipient should also provide on-going training (through AARP Foundation resources) and recognition.
Evaluation Oversight and Data Capturing / Assist AARP Foundation evaluation partners with local implementation and ensure timeliness of data gathering and inputting into AARP Foundation data management systems.
Match Requirement / Subrecipient should be actively engaged with local funders to ensure it is meeting its match commitment, which must be demonstrated every 12-months through its financial reports.
Engagement with AARP Foundation / Key staff must participate in the Scaling Reading Successconveningon March 9-10, 2016 in Washington, DC; bi-weekly/monthly status update meetings, bi-monthly network virtual meetings, and additional trainings to be scheduled.

Evaluation of the Scaling Reading Success Program

The goal of the competition is to identify nonprofits that, in partnership with schools/school districts, will participate in the Scaling Reading Success model and in a rigorous evaluation to test the following two hypotheses:

Small group sustained tutoring by volunteer tutors is an effective intervention for helping students who are struggling to read when compared to a “business as usual” comparison or control group.

Full classroom literacy assistance in combination with small group sustained tutoring by volunteers will a) provide an additional value add to students in small group and b) provide a value add to the full classroom of students when compared to “business as usual” comparison or control group.

Through the successful expansion and testing of this new model, AARP Foundation will provide a scalable and cost-effective intervention to achieve grade-level reading for all students by the third grade.

Subrecipients will participate in the evaluation at a minimum by:

Contributing to the development of data collection protocols based on their understanding of program operations;
Collaborating with schools and/ or school districts and the AARP evaluation partner to collect necessary evaluation data;
Obtaining school-based testing (student reading assessment data) data through a formal arrangement with the school or school district;
Enteringinformationinto the AARP Foundation’s data collection systems; and
Participating in in-depth interviews with evaluation staff for the implementation evaluation.

The staffactivitiesabove may not include all that is necessary to support the evaluations. Subrecipients should plan to commit sufficient resources to the evaluation process.

The evaluation process also provides an opportunity to the subrecipient to learn about its own implementation of the Scaling Reading Success program and utilize the results of the evaluation to refine its literacy tutoring model. We want to ensure the evaluation complements the subrecipient’s current organizational learning environment.

Federal Grant Compliance

This program is funded by AARP Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service Social Innovation Fund. The subawards are federal grants, and subrecipients will need to commit to the terms and conditions for receiving federal grants (which may change or be updated by the federal government during the project period). Subrecipients should be familiar with and follow the current Code of Federal Regulations under Chapter II part 200 (also known as 2 CFR 200 or Uniform Guidance). The full list of regulations can be access via this link.