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Lori Steiner, Chief Financial Officer OPPORTUNITIES 604 High Tech Drive Georgetown, TX 78626 June 30, 2016 Dear Ms. Steiner: Attached please find our application to provide training and technical assistance to the Head Start and Early Head Start program at Opportunities for Williamson and Burnet Counties (OPPORTUNITIES). At Shine Early Learning, our mission is to bring a relentless, collective focus on positive child and family outcomes to close the achievement gap and build a better future together for children, families, and communities served by our Head Start partners. We understand the drive and enthusiasm among the early childhood team at OPPORTUNITIES, and believe that we are best positioned to meet their immediate and long-term support needs through our Shine Assist program. Shine Assist was founded in 2012 as a unique and powerful approach to training and technical assistance. Shine Early Learning is designed to bring forward innovations and effective strategies for improving child and family outcomes developed at our sister company, Acelero Learning, which serves approximately 5,000 children in Head Start and Early Head Start programs across four states. The Shine Assist model takes to heart what we have learned as Head Start operators: that change requires time, dedication, and ongoing support over the course of multiple program years to truly lock in and succeed. Most models of technical assistance rely on one-off trainings, short-term consultancy engagements or courses specific to individual service-area related needs. At Shine, we realize that in order to build and sustain an effective model of change, we must support leaders at all levels of the organization and in all major service areas – broadly defined as early childhood education (ECE), family and community engagement (FCE) and program design and management (PDM). We work in partnership with our Shine Assist clients to assess each program’s unique situation and needs, develop realistic implementation plans, and provide regular, ongoing support through online, phone-based and in-person touchpoints concurrently across all three of these service areas. Through this robust and long-term commitment, we have been able to support our partners in achieving lasting change and greater, more measurable impact in their communities. Based on the Current and Future State descriptions in this RFP, we believe that Shine Assist can make the difference for the OPPORTUNITIES Head Start/EHS program as you work to refine your services, enhance your monitoring capabilities and clarify your vision for the future. We would be thrilled to have the chance to partner with OPPORTUNITIES through the Assist program, and work alongside your team to help enhance the essential services you provide to children and families of Williamson and Burnet Counties. Regards,

Andrew Davis, Chief Partnership Officer

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Head Start Training RFP Response Shine Assist Proposal for Opportunities for Williamson and Burnet Counties Shine Early Learning 63 W 125th St., 6th Floor | Harlem, NY 10027 Office Phone: 212-289-2402 | Fax: 212-214-0411 www.shineearly.com

Contact person: Andrew Davis, Chief Partnership Officer Direct Line: 917-572-3484 Email: [email protected]

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Table of Contents Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 4 Solution ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Comprehensive Scope of Services ............................................................................................................ 4 Additional Service Details ......................................................................................................................... 6 On-Site and In-Person Training Opportunities...................................................................................... 6 Shine Insight .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Schedule / Timeline ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Fees ............................................................................................................................................................... 8 Terms and Conditions ................................................................................................................................... 9 Qualifications, Credentials and References .................................................................................................. 9 Partner References ................................................................................................................................... 9

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Executive Summary The Opportunities of Williamson and Burnet Counties Head Start / Early Head Start leadership team has expressed a need for support across the program design and management, family engagement and early education service areas. At Shine Early Learning, we offer Shine Assist, a program of ongoing training, collaboration and support across all three of these service areas. Shine Assist takes a comprehensive approach to implementing innovative and effective practices with an eye toward long-term sustainability. With this in mind, we believe that Shine Assist will be a truly game-changing investment for the OPPORTUNITIES program, both to address its immediate-term needs and to work side-by-side with its leadership team as they see through their long-term programmatic goals.

Solution Shine Assist is a true collaboration between program leadership and the senior leaders in the Shine Early Learning group. Over the course of five-year partnerships, we work in partnership with Shine Assist clients to support the implementation of quality and outcomes-focused initiatives in Program Design and Management, Early Education and Family & Community Partnerships.

Shine Assist launched in 2012. Originally called the SARGE Affiliate Network, partner organizations and delegates nationwide received dedicated support which allowed for implementation of Acelero Learning’s tools and approach. We work to develop and refine monthly Manage by Information monitoring reports generated from child and family information systems and quarterly Manage by Outcomes monitoring reports. In Education, Partner programs implement components of the Teacher Success Rubric as well as the reflective coaching model. Our Family Services work helps programs implement the Family Strengths Assessment, a targeted goal-setting process, Family Partnership Agreements and parent workshops, all aimed at focusing on engaging parents and partners to close the achievement gap.

Comprehensive Scope of Services  Starting in August, 2016:  Kickoff meeting with program team, data lead(s) and appropriate partner stakeholders as well as assigned senior content leads from Shine Assist. • Desired outcomes: A shared understanding of the structure and expectations of a Shine Assist partnership; initial vision-setting for what we would like to achieve together. A preliminary assessment of the systems, tools and approaches that are currently in use across PDM, FCE and ECE areas of the program.  After the kickoff meeting, follow-up including intensive, individual support focused around the following areas:

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Monitoring and data system: Assessment of current usage of data system, with potential to migrate onto Shine Insight data system at program leadership discretion. Report development to support accurate ongoing monitoring efforts over the course of the year:  Note: Ongoing licensing / access to Shine Insight is covered within the scope of a Shine Assist engagement. If OPPORTUNITIES leadership does opt for a transition to Shine Insight as the primary Head Start / EHS system of record, initial implementation, training and data migration fees are separate, to be negotiated in good faith based on the unique needs of the OPPORTUNITIES program. Deliverables:  MBI development: Shine Early Learning’s data team will work with program management and data specialists in order to develop and distribute a robust monthly MBI (“Manage by Information”) report.  Ongoing MBI produced monthly, with additional support for analysis and data quality enhancement provided as needed. Upon implementation of Shine Insight (if applicable), Shine Assist leads will work with the OPPORTUNITIES team to effectively use the one-click MBI reports generated directly from the system.  MBO development (If prioritized by OPPORTUNITIES leadership for Year 1): Initial alignment of school readiness goals with assessment systems, development of appropriate MBO targets, preliminary assessment of fall assessment data targeting full MBO implementation at winter checkpoint.

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Family Engagement: Shine Assist FCE lead will work with OPPORTUNITIES family engagement leadership to assess and understand current system of engaging with families, as well as monitoring and tracking the quality of these interactions; work toward identifying and implementing any necessary changes to the family assessment system either for effectiveness and/or in order to facilitate better tracking and use of family outcomes data. - FCE Systems: Implementation of Family Success Rubric and goal-setting process; family partnership agreements and impact-driven parent workshops. Early Education: Shine Assist ECE lead will work with OPPORTUNITIES early education leadership to support the program in establishing effective practices in curriculum implementation. Shine Assist leads will also work with the OPPORTUNTIES program to suggest and, as appropriate, help to implement a staffing structure and rubric-based

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performance evaluation system that will fully support regular coaching / professional development for teachers. - ECE Systems: Ready to Shine curriculum and supporting curriculum work groups; Streamlined assessment + assessment work groups; reflective coaching model training and implementation Overall suite of services of Shine Assist: Regular webinars (typically monthly) in PDM, FCE and ECE to help with ongoing implementation of Shine Assist initiatives. Monthly phone calls (“implementation calls”) between Shine Assist content area experts and dedicated leads from OPPORTUNITIES management staff. Two in-person visits over the course of each full year of services, with subject and scope to be decided upon collaboratively between OPPORTUNITIES and Shine, based on implementation priorities over the course of the year. Access to our online library of proprietary tools, resources, forms and additional webinars specifically designed for Shine Early Learning partner programs.

We truly believe that there is no other program in the nation that can offer a programmatic scope, highly skilled team or track record of success comparable to Shine Assist, and would welcome the chance to extend our work with the OPPORTUNITIES Head Start / EHS program.

Additional Service Details On-Site and In-Person Training Opportunities Assist partners receive two in-person training sessions per year – from high-impact strategic planning sessions to large group trainings for line staff. Examples of specific trainings offered to partners in the past have included:  On-Site Training Opportunities in PDM: • Self-Assessment and Five-Year Goals • Using Data to Drive Outcomes (monitoring training) • Facilitated Annual Planning Session (for senior leaders, board members, and policy council members, as appropriate) - Senior leader from Shine Early Learning PDM team will facilitate annual planning meeting - Includes agenda preparation, working with OPPORUNITIES team member(s) to prepare relevant data, assisting with shaping and setting five year goals with clear annual objectives  On-site Training Opportunities for Family Services • Overview of Shine Early Learning's Family Services Approach • Contracting with All Families to Close the Achievement Gap

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• Family Self-Assessment and Family Success Rubric • Conducting the Family Meeting and Developing Family Goals • Facilitating Achievement Gap Workshops; Center-Based Campaigns  On-Site Training Opportunity in ECE: Moving Toward Intentional Curriculum and Direct and Embedded Assessment (for instructional support and education leadership staff) • Overview of Ready to Shine supplementary curriculum plans • Review of intent, purpose Curriculum Collaboration Meetings • How to Use the Reflective Coaching Cycle to support intentional teaching  For Partners in Years 2-5 – Opportunities for quality and implementation support: Additional options for training include participation for two senior leaders to participate alongside Head Start leaders nationwide in our Educational Leader Academy and Family Engagement Leaderships Academies. This is essentially a trainer of trainer workshop to best position these two content leads as domain experts. These are not required for Shine Assist members, but can be made available based on interest and appropriate alignment with implementation timing.

Shine Insight Shine Insight is a specialized child and family data system for Head Start and Early Head Start providers that is exclusively available to Shine Early Learning partner programs. If OPPORTUNTIIES opts to implement Shine Insight at any point during its partnership, ongoing use of the standard system is included in the scope of this proposal. For initial setup and implementation of the system, additional services, integrations, support and pricing will be negotiated in good faith as a separate agreement. Key performance metrics include response times for non-reporting modules (4 seconds) and uptime (99%).

Schedule / Timeline Shine Assist is designed as a five-year engagement, with our annual cycle starting in the summer with our Summer Leadership Academy (which OPPORTUNITIES staff were able to attend in advance of this proposal process in June 2016). Each annual cycle follows a similar structure of planning and ongoing support including phone, online and in-person touchpoints as described above. The timeline below captures the intended cycle of services for Year 1 as an example – with the intention that Years 2, 3, 4 and 5 follow the same outline but will have different content priorities based on implementation progress and current program needs.  Late summer / early fall 2016 • Shine Assist kickoff • Initial vision-setting, overall assessment and program planning work • Service-area-level assessments and implementation planning for Year 1  Fall 2016 • Ongoing initial training and roll-out planning for work in PDM, FCE and ECE programs • Ongoing content support in PDM, FCE and ECE initiatives – begin to implement agreedupon pilots and rollouts for 2017-2018 program year  Winter / Spring 2017:

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• Ongoing support in PDM, FCE and ECE initiatives • Planning and strategy development for summer / Year 2 support  Summer 2017 • June: In-Person Leadership Institute: Shine Assist participants will send key leadership members participate in a kickoff event at Shine Assist Leadership Academy • July / August: Finalize plans / scope of work for partnership priority in Year 2  Ongoing support (Year-round) also includes: • Content-rich webinars for Management Team members in PDM, ECE, and FCE • In-person Training: Two in-person training opportunities per year (beyond the Summer Academy). See above for details. • Online Document Library: A robust, Head Start- and EHS-focused library including proprietary tools, templates, forms and policies and procedures documents to support the overall implementation of a high-quality program, including resources specific to Shine Assist implementation work.

Fees Cost: -

$80,000 annual fee for support of the OPPORTUNITIES program for a three-year term beginning in 2016 and running through the end of the Assist program year in 2019 (May 31). The Shine Assist program is offered as a complete package priced per client, and does not include optional lineitem components for deliverables within its base offering. This pricing structure allows us to offer our partners maximum flexibility to set appropriate priorities within our total suite of services, and decide on a scope and sequence for implementing Shine Assist-related initiatives that truly meets their needs.

Additional pricing and terms may be applied for the following: -

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Additional in-person events, above and beyond two (2) in-person training events per year. Additional in-person engagements are priced at $1,500 / day up to three days, plus travel costs (air fare, hotel, transportation and per diem). Shine Insight implementation. As described above, if OPPORTUNITIES does decide to implement the Shine Insight data system, incremental costs related to initial setup of the system (including data transfer, requested customizations or additional training / support) will be negotiated in good faith based on individual program needs.

Opportunity Timing: In order to facilitate a streamlined process for training and programmatic support under the current proposed pricing structure, this pricing is contingent on a signed agreement prior to August 1, 2016.

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Exhibit A Note: The sample contract submitted has since been updated for final

Terms and Conditions signature, and has been removed from the contract exhibit to avoid confusion.

Please see the Appendix to this proposal for a copy of our standard Shine Assist contract, as proposed for the OPPORTUNITIES Shine Assist engagement.

Qualifications, Credentials and References Since its inception in 2012, Shine Assist has served 47 programs across 18 states, serving more than 53,000 children annually across the continental U.S., Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In our programmatic work, we have helped our partners to: -

Align five-year goals with trackable indicators for improved monitoring Re-imagine organizational design to build a more effective, better-supported program across PDM, ECE and FCE Supported the implementation of a new curriculum, Ready to Shine, for Head Start students Rolled out hugely successful family engagement workshops and initiatives to meaningfully involve parents with the program’s overall content and curriculum. Revise self-assessment process from an annual one-off event to a quarterly, data-driven model

Partner testimonials include: -

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In PDM: “We’re at a good place. We’re tracking the right data, our compliance indicators are regularly monitored, and we’ve got indicators and tools to track progress on our five-year goals and short term objectives. We’re ready to get innovative with our tools. With the groundwork and staff education done, we can start looking more closely at quality and innovations in tracking.” Senior Director of Early Childhood Services in Baltimore, MD On the Ready to Shine curriculum: “Transformative. As a teacher, I can still modify and adapt it, but this is a great framework. It’s not a script, but it’s a foundation that I can build on for each individual child in my classroom.” Education Lead in Fayetteville, AR On Family Engagement tools: ““There is something that we can actually see. So [managers] can talk with their family advocates – this is happening, or you did this, and it looks like you’ll need to do this – it lets us be more hands-on.” Early Head Start Director in New York, NY

Shine Assist is uniquely set up to support long-term, results-oriented change at partner programs.

Partner References Name Kathy Patreka Berta Velilla Pamela B. Davis

Title Head Start/Early Head Start Director Director, Early Learning Programs Executive Director

Organization Manatee Community Action Agency Child Focus, Inc.

Phone 941-750-6667 x.7001

Email [email protected]

513-685-5306

[email protected]

Kids Incorporated of the Big Bend

850-414-9800 x 106

[email protected]