Response to Request for Proposal Evaluation proposal to evaluate market suitability of Determining Instructional Purposes

Submitted to: Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development

Submitted by: Nathan Kieffer Consulting

Introduction
Nathan Kieffer Consulting (NKC) would like to present the following proposal to complete an evaluation of the Determining Instructional Purposes program for consideration. Far West Laboratory for Educational Research issued a request for proposal in October 2012 with a deadline for receipt of evaluation report on December 31, 2013. NKC maintains a very high standard of quality and the sections below represent our best bid on this evaluation.

Overview of the Determining Instructional Purposes program

The Determining Instructional Purposes program (DIP) was created by Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development (FWL) to develop skills in the area of planning effective school programs. The intended audience of the program included school administrators and graduate students in educational administration. DIP is divided into three self-contained training units that can be used individually or in combinations. Topics covered in the three units include Setting Goals, Analyzing Problems, and Deriving Objectives. They are designed to be delivered by a training coordinator in one intensive session or spread out over several smaller sessions. FWL's intent is to determine if additional resources should be committed to further development, marketing, and sales of DIP.

Evaluation Method
Locate field test institutions NKC will work closely with FWL to produce a list institutions and organizations likely to have a need for DIP. FWL will provide valuable insight into the audience they intend to use DIP and this will be used to make certain that the invitations to participate in the field trial are offered to suitable organizations. Field test A field test of the product will be conducted by providing samples of the material to up to 75 institutions that respond to invitations to participate. The invitation package will include promotional materials that FWL will assist in producing by providing content details. Offering the program gratis on a first-comefirst-serve basis and examining the invitation response rates will give a clear indication of interest in the program. The institutions that accept the invitation will be asked to implement the training in any of the ways recommended in the program description. This may entail a short term inservice using only one of the training units, or it may entail a more extensive implementation using all three units. This aspect of the trial is left to the participating institution to decide. Additionally, the participating institution would be responsible for providing their own training coordinator. This training coordinator would be prepared in a manner consistent with the specification of the DIP training package. The participating institutions will be asked to report their results using in a survey to

be created and conducted by NKC. The survey will be used to collect the following information: details of organization implementing DIP training details of DIP trainees duration and timeframe of training program units used: Setting Goals, Analyzing Problems, and Deriving Objectives trainee outcomes program participation and completion rates type of training coordinator preparation used Survey of participating institution attitudes A survey will be conducted in which program coordinators at participating institutions report attitudes toward the training package. Surveys will be produced by NK Consulting. The survey will be used to establish the following attitudes which may be used to improve marketing of the product: Attitude of institutions toward the training package Likelihood that the participating institution would purchase this training program based on their experience using it Likelihood that the participating institution would recommend this training program based on their experience using it Price points that would be acceptable to the institution Survey of training coordinators Training coordinators will be surveyed about their experience conducting the program as explained in the Coordinator's Handbook. This information may be used by potential customers to determine if the training coordination of DIP is suitable for their purposes. Information will be collected about the following: Ease of use of the training materials Preparedness of the training coordinator upon working through the materials on their own Problems encountered while using the material Possible additions to the training material Survey of trainees A survey of trainee attitudes toward the training package will be used to gather the following information: Satisfaction with the training materials Satisfaction with the training coordinator

Task Schedule
This task schedule assumes an evaluation start date of January 1, 2013 and a completion date of December 31, 2013.

# 1 2 3 4

Activity Initial interview with FWL marketing department Identification of potential field test institutions Distribution of invitations to participate in field trial Deadline for acceptance of invitation to participate in field trial (first 75 institutions to respond)

Responsible Party NKC, FWL NKC, FWL NKC NKC

Date of completion 01/30/13 02/28/13 03/01/13 04/01/13

5 6

Distribution of sample training materials FWL to target audience institutions Deadline for completion and return of participating institution field test reports Deadline for completion and return of trainee field test surveys Second meeting with FWL Analysis of field test data including invitation response rates Institutions participating in the field test Institutions participating in the field test NKC NKC NKC NKC

04/30/13 10/31/13

10/31/13

8 9

11/07/13 11/30/13 11/30/13 12/31/13

10 Analysis of participating institution and trainee surveys 11 Delivery of final evaluation report

Project Personnel
Head Evaluator Nathan Kieffer has two decades of experience in the field of educational publishing. After completing his Ph.D. in evaluation from Western Michigan University. In addition to in house conducting market research while working for O'Reilly Media, Inc. he has completed market assessments for several large educational publishing houses including Pearson and Wiley. Head Statistician Todd Cikraji has 10 years of experience working for the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. For the past 5 years he has been analyzing trends in e-commerce and its overall effect on the U.S. Economy. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Statistics from Texas Tech University. Evaluation Assistants Derek Kirk and Jeremy Lopez, both graduate students at the University of Chiang Mai have assisted on many evaluations with NKC. Both have acquired experience as research assistants on research projects at UCM. They are both highly skilled with SPSS statistical analysis software. They both bring valuable skills to any project but truth be told, while Jeremy is the

better clog-dancer, Derek makes a far superior pot of coffee.

Budget
Materials and shipping 3-unit training packages: 75 @ $24.95 (10 per participating institution) Coordinator's Handbooks: 75 @ $4.50/copy Training package shipping costs: 75 sets @ $50/set Invitation package production, duplication, and shipping: 250 @ $3.00/package Materials and shipping subtotal Travel and Expenses Round trip airfare from Chiang Mai, Thailand to FWL in Portland, OR: 2 trips @ $2500.00/trip 10 days @ $100.00/day Travel and per diem subtotal Personnel 2 assistants: 30 days @ $99.60/day Todd Cikraji's fee: 9 days @ $300.00/day NKC evaluation fee: 30 days @ $500.00/day Personnel subtotal Total Bid: $2988.00 $2700.00 $15000.00 $20688.00 $50000.00 $5000.00 $1000.00 $6000.00 $750.00 $23312.00 $18475.00 $337.00 $3750.00