Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. Providing program evaluation services for the federal (USDOL) TAACCCT grant (four- year evaluation period). 2. Writing a detailed evaluation plan, which complies with the grant guidelines, for submission to USDOL prior to the deadline. 3. Providing accurate and objective quantitative and/or qualitative interim reports at 12, 18, and 30 months outlining evaluation findings to date for submission to DOL, and to inform the program's continuous improvement efforts. Areas of discussion should include: program administration, program design, the extent to which these activities were implemented within the expected timeline, any key challenges associated with implementation, the accomplishments associated with these activities (preliminary quantitative and qualitative outcomes), and any lessons learned or promising practices/challenge resolutions emerging in the program. 4. Producing a final report at the end of the evaluation period. This report should include: executive summary, evaluation methodology, summary of program (including case studies as useful), presentation of formative and summative results (including a mix of graphic data representations and narrative explanations of findings, with an emphasis on outcomes, comparisons, and observations), conclusions and implication s, and recommendations for future research. 5. Creating and managing a comprehensive evaluation using a quasi-experimental design, featuring matched comparison group analysis to examine participant outcomes and impacts; provide a plan detailing data collections schedules and tasks. 6. Supporting the identification of a comparable student cohort for comparison of outcomes. 7. Reviewing and assessing existing data collection systems and making appropriate recommendations to achieve program data collection goals. 8. Developing tools and protocols for collecting, matching (where necessary), and aggregating core data across the programs; establishing formalized data collection activities and reviewing these activities periodically as a part of analyzing data as they relate to program and student outcomes and implementation progress. 9. Working with the institution to transmit participant data, including name, Social Security number, and date of birth of program participants and individuals in the control or comparison groups, using a secure data system specified by DOL. 10. Providing technical advice/assistance to the institution's information technology (IT) services in devising or adapting data collection systems. 11. Reviewing and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data to inform continuous improvement activities, and providing written reports and recommendations for adaptations and/or course adjustments throughout implementation, as needed. 12. Providing recommendations to support the acquisition of data for future cohorts. C. General Information 1. Revisions and/or addendum to the Request for Proposals. In the event it becomes necessary to revise and/or add addendum to any part of the request for proposals, revisions and/or addendum will be provided to all firms that have received the original Request for Proposal from DTCC.
