- HISD Human Resources
- General Information
- Scope of Work
Grow Your Own Program
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Terms for EPP Applicant
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The following Scope of Work summary provides an overview of the minimum requirements that selected awardees will be expected to provide upon contract award.
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The Awardee must provide aspiring educators (“participants”) with a tuition-free education resulting in a bachelor’s degree and certification to teach in HISD, with certification in at least one certification field. All certification fields offered as part of the proposed partnership must be mutually agreed upon by the Awardee and HISD. The Awardee must already be approved to offer the certification fields they have proposed in their application(s).
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Grant funding must entirely cover tuition, textbooks, and fees for all selected participants. No cost for programming shall be passed on to participants.
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The Awardee must agree to cover the cost of one issuance of each required Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) certification assessment for all selected participants who complete the GYO HISD program. Unless covered by the Awardee’s approved grant budget, additional issuance of a required certification exam will be paid for by HISD or the participant.
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The Awardee must administer their Grow Your Own program along a timeline that would allow each participant to be eligible to become a teacher-of-record within two years of their matriculation into the program.
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The Awardee must work with HISD to place each participant in a paid teaching assistant position for the duration of their participation in the program. During this residency component of the program, participants will serve in a minimum 1-year clinical internship experience. Each participant must be assigned to a high-quality cooperating/mentor teacher, identified by HISD.
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The Awardee must allow for the residency experience to satisfy the clinical internship/student teaching requirements for participants. Once selected and enrolled in the Awardee’s GYO program, participants will be employed by HISD as paid, full-time teaching assistants for the entire duration of the program. Participants will not serve as the teacher-of-record in a clinical practice setting during the completion of the program.
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The Awardee must allow HISD to recommend all candidates. As long as recommended candidates meet all state and local requirements for employment as a full-time teaching assistant, and as long as they meet minimum admission requirements for the partner Awardee institution, they must be automatically admitted to the Awardee’s institution.
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The Awardee must ensure that if a participant chooses to unenroll from the Awardee’s program prior to their completion of the program, the Awardee will allow HISD to select a new participant to enroll in the program at no additional cost.
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The Awardee must agree to allow HISD, at the HISD’s sole discretion, to purchase additional participant seats in the approved GYO program at the Awardee’s prorated amount per participant, as outlined in the grant award and corresponding budget.
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The Awardee must submit a proof of participant progress report, on a semesterly basis, that outlines program progress and outcomes to date. Minimum semesterly report requirements include:
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Participant progress data
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Participant names
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GPAs
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Enrollment status (enrolled vs. unenrolled)
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Degree and/or certification currently held
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Any other relevant information as requested by HISD.
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The Awardee shall provide to HISD, within 90 calendar days of the conclusion of the grant term, a written final report that outlines program activities and outcomes. Minimum final report requirements include:
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Comprehensive summary of program activities and outcomes, including wraparound support activity and outcomes, according to supports described in response to Technical Response #6
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Participant progress data outlined in scope item #10.
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Graduation status, certification assessment passage status, and employment status for each participant
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Overall evaluation of program effectiveness, including participant graduation rate and certification assessment passage rates
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HISD satisfaction survey regarding the effectiveness of the participants’ preparation as a result of the program
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Recommendations for program improvements for future participants
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For the duration of the grant term, the Awardee must be responsive to all program evaluation requests from HISD.
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The Awardee must provide supplementary academic, career, and certification preparation support, within grant funding, to all participants enrolled in the programs, as outlined in their grant application and proposal.
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The Awardee shall agree to cooperate with HISD in establishing their Grow Your Own program as a Registered Apprenticeship program, if pursued by HISD.
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The Awardee shall agree to provide any information requested from HISD to assist HISD with efforts to have participants pay back grant funds if they do not complete a 3-year teaching commitment as teacher-of-record, according to HISD discretion. The Awardee will not be asked by HISD to return any awarded funds, but instead the candidate would be asked to reimburse HISD for an amount equivalent to their allocated seat’s value, according to a separate agreement between HISD and the participant. Payback shall be proportional to the percentage of time the participant spent as a teacher, and funds ultimately shall be reimbursed to HISD.
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Unused funding from the Awardee’s award may be reallocated, at the discretion of the Houston Independent School District.
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The Awardee shall otherwise implement a Grow Your Own program as specified in their application’s response to the Application Component section of this RFA, including all specifications outlined by the applicant in response to Mandatory Requirement and Technical Response items.
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