Specifications include, but are not limited to: The purpose of this RFP is three-fold. The RFP is seeking qualified providers of Title IA and Title III services for non-public school students, staff and parents, Title IIA services for non-public school staff, and Pennsylvania Act 89 auxiliary services for non-public school students. Title IA services include instruction for eligible Philadelphia resident children attending non-public schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties and parent involvement activities for parents of Title I students. Title IIA provides professional development services for private school personnel at nonpublic schools within the school district. Title III provides supplemental services to improve English language proficiency and academic achievement for eligible English language learners and immigrant students within the school district. Pennsylvania Act 89 provides state funding for auxiliary services to students enrolled in a nonprofit private school within the intermediate unit. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides educational services and benefits to private school students and educational personnel, including those in religiously affiliated schools. These services are considered to be of assistance to students and educators and not to private schools. The reauthorized ESSA requires the equitable participation of private school students and educational personnel in some of its major programs including Title IA for instructional support for students at risk of failing, Title IIA for professional development and Title III for English language learners. Title IA, as amended by ESSA, provides Federal financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging academic standards. Accordingly, Title IA requires each participating LEA to provide Title I services to eligible non-public school children. These services must be equitable to those provided to public school children in each LEA. The target population is non-public school children identified as failing or most at risk of failing to meet challenging academic content and student academic achievement standards as adopted by each participating students’ non-public school, and who live in the City of Philadelphia and who are enrolled in participating non-public schools within Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. Title II, Part A provides professional development activities for teachers, principals and other schools leaders to address the specific needs of their students. The amount of funding available for services to private school personnel is governed by ESSA, which requires equitable participation of private school education personnel for professional development. The activities allowed for nonpublic schools under the law are summarized as follows: (1) Providing professional development activities that improve the knowledge of teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals; (2) Developing and implementing initiatives to promote retention of appropriately state certified teachers and principals, particularly within schools with a high percentage of low-achieving students, and initiatives, to improve the quality of teachers, principals, and superintendents; and (3) Staff advancement initiatives that promote professional growth and emphasize multiple career and pay differentiation To ensure that it is providing high quality professional development services to private school educational personnel, the Contractor should consider ways to: • assess, address, and evaluate the needs and progress of the private school educators through meaningful collaboration; • provide private school educators with an opportunity to participate in Title II activities; and • offer educational services to private school educators that are secular, neutral, and nonideological.
