Agency Education Department

Contractor American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages

SWIFT Contract Number 119270

Project Name Assessment Development for Languages that have non

Project Number (if applicable) {Empty}

Summarize purpose of the contract, including why it was necessary: Learning English for Academic Proficiency and Success (LEAPS) legislation of 2014 established Minnesota Bilingual and Multilingual seals; amended included the existing world language proficiency certificates in120B.022 ELECTIVE STANDARDS and directed Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to grant credit to students who have earned a seal by meeting the require proficiency levels as measured by the proficiency guidelines of the American Council in the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
ACTFL-based proficiency assessments which are the national norm do not exist for all languages the home languages for our English learners (ELs), nor are the speakers of the languages language teachers, evaluators or ACTFL trained. The legislation states that “Where valid and reliable assessments are unavailable, a school district or charter school may rely on evaluators trained in assessing under ACTFL proficiency guidelines to assess a student's level of foreign, heritage, or indigenous language proficiency under this section.”
Evaluating language proficiency requires native ability of the language, knowledge of assessment and a working knowledge of the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. Neither MDE nor district staff were qualified in all three of the required areas of expertise. ACTFL is the only organization that provides training on assessment development and proficiency guidelines for assessment and rater (evaluator) and is best suited to provide the training needed for native speakers to develop assessments to meet the criteria set forth in the legislation and rate student work on those assessments.

Project Duration

Start Date Tue, 01/10/2017 - 00:00

Original end date Fri, 06/30/2017 - 00:00

Actual end date Fri, 06/30/2017 - 00:00

Did project finish on time? Yes

Total billable hours utilized (if applicable) {Empty}

Contract Amounts

Original contract: $44100.00

Amendments $0.00

Contract total $44100.00

Did project finish within budget? Yes

What was the funding source? State 1000-E373B390-E372090

Is this a sole source contract? Yes

If this was a single source contract, explain why the agency determined there was only a single source for the services (if applicable) American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is the only vendor (outside of 1 vendor that only works with military entities) that can create new foreign language assessment tests. ACTFL's language proficiency scale is how language proficiency is measured in the US so this vendor was used to created assessment tests to align with the proficiency scan requirements.

Evaluator Name Ursula Lentz

Evaluator Email Address Ursula.Lentz@state.mn.us

Evaluate the contractor's timeliness Very satisfactory. The contractor provided excellent services. Billing was slow as the ACTFL staff member was new to sending invoices and new to working with MDE but were submitted by end of year deadline.

Evaluate the contractor's quality Very Satisfactory: Excellent understanding of each of the key projects tasks. The objectives and deliverables were all met. The contractor understood expectations of the contract and demonstrated the ability to develop high quality work and meet deadlines.

Evaluate the contractor's cost Very Reasonable: The program budget and cost were very reasonable and costs for services/duties were directly linked to the desired outcomes from the contract

Evaluate the contractor's overall performance Overall, the contractor’s performance was very, very satisfactory. The contractor provided a superb trainer and resources who went well above and beyond expectations in the time he dedicated to the project and commitment to the teachers and speakers.

Would you engage the contractor's services again? Yes

Describe any negative action taken during the duration of this contract (i.e., termination, pursuit of suspension, etc.): NA

Please rate the overall experience with the contractor 5 - very satisfied