RFP 3233 – Parent, Staff, and Student Climate Surveys
Vendor Questions/Inquiries and Responses
1:
The RFP states that MMSD is currently administering the Gallup Q12 Staff Survey and the
Gallup Student Poll:
a.
Are the staff and student surveys requested in this RFP intended to replace the
existing staff and student surveys conducted by Gallup? Or will the Gallup Q12 Staff
Survey and Gallup Student Poll continue to be conducted in the Spring, and the new
student, staff, and parent surveys be conducted in the Fall?
b. Is Gallup an eligible bidder for the new surveys?
c. What response rates has Gallup obtained for MMSD on the staff survey?
d. What response rates has Gallup obtained for MMSD on the student survey?
RESPONSE:
a. The surveys requested in the RFP are intended to replace the existing GALLUP
surveys.
b. Yes, GALLUP is an eligible bidder.
c. In 2011, the response rate was 71.2%; in 2012, the rate was approximately 80%.
d. In the 2012 student survey, GALLUP reported that they received between 9,66710,231 responses. The district’s enrollment count on the third Friday of
September was 14,451 students in grades 5-12. Therefore, the district’s best
guess at GALLUP’s response rate is between 67%-69%.
2:
Will MMSD allow the use of financial incentives as a means for attempting to increase
survey response rates?
RESPONSE: MMSD would allow the use of financial incentives for attempting to
increase survey response rates for the parent surveys; however, financial incentives
should not be used for the student or staff surveys.
3:
Can MMSD provide any budget parameters to help inform the vendor’s proposed approach?
RESPONSE: No, there are no existing budget parameters for this project.
4:
The RFP states that the data from students and staff must be collected in such a way that
enables results to be tied to existing administrative databases. Does the district want the
Vendor to conduct this linking as part of the scope of the current project, or simply turn over
the survey data to the district in such a way that enables such linkages?
RESPONSE: Provided the survey administration allows for confidential but not
anonymous results, the district could do the linking of data between survey results
and existing administrative data. Therefore, the Vendor would need to turn over the
survey data in such a way that enables that linkage.
5:
For the final report, is MMSD interested in separate school-level reports of findings (e.g.,
cross-tabs by school) for each target group, or only aggregated results across the whole
district, separate for each target group?
RESPONSE: The district would like school-level reports of findings when possible.
6:
For the student survey, will MMSD help to support a survey effort that requires students to
spend class time completing the survey?
RESPONSE: Yes, MMSD will budget time for students to complete the survey.
7:
For the student survey, do all MMSD schools have computer labs that can be used to
facilitate a school-wide online survey administration process?
RESPONSE: Yes, MMSD has computer labs that can be used.
8:
For the student survey, is the district interested in surveying ALL students in grades 3-12, or
would a sampling approach be acceptable?
RESPONSE: The district would want universal coverage of all students grades 3-12.
9:
For the student survey, the RFP states that MMSD has over 27,000 students in grades K12, but the survey effort is targeted at all students in grades 3-12. What is the estimated
student enrollment for grades 3-12?
RESPONSE: MMSD has approximately 18,500 students enrolled in grades 3-12.
10:
For the parent survey, Will the district coordinate with the vendor to send information (either
hard-copy surveys or information about the surveys) home to current students’ families
through existing district/school mailings?
RESPONSE: Yes, the district will work with the vendor to coordinate that type of
distribution.
11:
For the parent survey, For approximately what proportion of current students does MMSD
have a parent email address on file, and will those email addresses be released to the
vendor?
RESPONSE: Approximately 80% of current students have a parent email address on
file and yes, those email addresses will be released to the vendor.
12:
For the parent survey, does MMSD require the survey to be available in multiple languages?
If yes, which languages? For each language in which MMSD would like the survey to be
available, please indicate the approximate size of the parent population that would need the
survey in that language.
RESPONSE: Yes, the district would require the parent survey be available in English,
Spanish, and Hmong. For approximate size, it is approximately no more than 2,000
Spanish surveys and no more than 400 Hmong surveys.
RFP 3233 – Proposal for Parent, Staff, and Student Climate Surveys (Inquiries/Questions and Responses)
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13:
For the parent survey, is the district interested in surveying parents of ALL students, or
would a sampling approach be acceptable?
RESPONSE: The district is open to either option.
14:
For the staff survey, the RFP states that MMSD employs 4,300 full-time staff plus over 2,500
part-time staff. Are part-time staff included in this survey effort? If yes, are email addresses
available for part-time staff?
RESPONSE: The staff survey would only include full-time staff.
15:
Will you consider out-of-state contractors/vendors for the survey work?
RESPONSE: Yes, the district will consider out-of-state contractors/vendors.
16:
Are you willing to pay for travel?
RESPONSE: The District will not pay for travel. (Please see notation on Attachment D.)
17:
How many parents do you want to receive the survey (all or a random sample of
elementary, middle school and high school parents)?
RESPONSE: The district is open to either all parents or random sample(s). In total,
there are approximately 18,000 households in MMSD.
18:
What if a parent has more than one child in the District—located at different schools? Are
you expecting parents with more than one child in the district to receive the survey more
than once?
RESPONSE: Ideally each parent would receive the survey only once but would
complete it in a way that cites the schools all their children attend.
19:
Is the survey by household for parents rather than by the number of students they have
attending schools in the District?
RESPONSE: Yes, it is by household.
20:
Do you have the email addresses and additional contact information for parents in a
database that can be shared with the contractor/vendor?
RESPONSE: Yes, the contact information is available.
21:
How would you like paper surveys distributed to parents? Is it acceptable for parents to pick
up and drop off the survey at the school/building?
RESPONSE: The district is open to on-site distribution.
22:
How many paper/manual surveys do you anticipate?
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RESPONSE: For the parent survey, the district does not have an estimate of the
number of paper/manual surveys. Since 20% of families do not have an email
address on file, the best guess would be that 20% of responses would be on paper.
23:
Is the survey in one language (English)?
RESPONSE: For the parent and student surveys, the survey would be available in
English, Spanish, and Hmong. For staff, the survey would be available in English.
24:
What is the format for the existing survey data (SPSS, CSV, Excel, Etc.)?
RESPONSE: Existing survey data is available in an Excel document. We do not
receive individual responses, but instead are only provided the aggregate data.
25:
For the last survey conducted by Gallup, what were the survey participation rates for
students and staff?
RESPONSE: For the 2012 staff survey, all regular staff were invited to participate and
the response rate was approximately 80%. For the 2012 student survey, all students
grades 5-12 were invited to participate and the response rate was approximately 68%.
26:
Was the survey that Gallup conducted a climate survey or something different?
RESPONSE: It was a staff and student climate survey.
27:
Do you plan to conduct the Gallup survey in addition to the climate survey requested in the
RFP? Are these two different surveys?
RESPONSE: No, these surveys would replace Gallup.
28:
Are the 2,780 teachers, 145 administrators and 1,300 support personnel considered to be
“regular staff?” Are there others in the regular staff category?
RESPONSE: Yes, they are all considered regular staff. Regular staff also includes
part-time workers.
29:
How many students are in grades 3-12?
RESPONSE: MMSD has approximately 18,500 students enrolled in grades 3-12.
30:
Is one electronic survey questionnaire acceptable for all students in grades 3-12?
RESPONSE: The district would need the survey to be tailored to the reading level of
students; therefore, it is likely that one survey would not be appropriate for all
students grades 3-12. However, the district would hope that the question content
would be the same, with wording edits to account for the difference in age.
31:
If the survey doesn’t launch until spring 2015, when are you anticipating the work beginning
in 2014 to prepare for the launch in the spring of 2015?
RESPONSE: The district anticipates work would begin in spring 2014.
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32:
What is your budget for this project?
RESPONSE: There is no defined budget for this project.
33:
Section 1.2.1 of the RFP: We assume that the vendor is expected to survey parents of
current students only (i.e., not to include parents of students who are not currently enrolled).
Is this correct? This will affect the tone and content of the parent survey.
RESPONSE: Yes, this would be a survey of parents with students who are currently
enrolled only.
34:
Section 1.2.1 of the RFP: Roughly how many parents will be eligible to complete the
survey?
RESPONSE: In total, there are approximately 18,000 households in MMSD.
35:
Section 1.2.1 of the RFP: With regard to the eligible parents’ contact information,
approximately how many distinct parent email addresses can the district provide to the
vendor? This will help us better understand the volume of potential telephone and paper
outreach required to contact the parents.
RESPONSE: In total, there are approximately 18,000 households in MMSD and
approximately 80% of current students have a parent email address on file.
36:
Section 1.2.1 of the RFP: With regard to the eligible parents’ contact information, can we
assume that there is a home telephone number available for each student?
RESPONSE: Yes, a phone number is available in most cases.
37:
Section 1.2.1 of the RFP: With regard to the eligible parents’ contact information, can we
assume that there is a home mailing address available for each student?
RESPONSE: Yes, a mailing address is available in most cases.
38:
Section 1.2.3 of the RFP: What are the distinct key stakeholder groups to which the vendor
will present (for example, teachers, parents, Board members, district-wide administrators)?
This will help us determine the scope and tone of presentations required.
RESPONSE: The stakeholder groups would include Senior Leadership Team, the
Board of Education (or Board of Education Working Group), and principals.
39:
Section 1.2.3 of the RFP: Which of the key stakeholder groups will require an on-site
presentation of results? This will help us determine the overall number of on-site
presentations expected.
RESPONSE: The stakeholder groups would include Senior Leadership Team, the
Board of Education (or Board of Education Working Group), and principals.
Presentations could be done on-site or virtually.
40:
Section 1.2.3 of the RFP: What is the anticipated timing of the on-site presentations to key
stakeholder groups? For example, will all of the on-site presentations be concentrated within
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a given week or will they be spread out over the course of several weeks/months? This will
help us plan accordingly for the on-site presentation needs.
RESPONSE: These presentations would be spread out over a one-month period.
41:
Section 1.2.4 of the RFP: Will the district allow the vendor to review the previously
administered GALLUP staff and student survey instruments? This will enable us to consider
any potential connections between the district’s previously administered surveys and the
fresh instrument that will be administered in spring 2015, if so desired by the district.
RESPONSE: Yes, the district will allow for that.
42:
Section 1.2.4 of the RFP: Will the district allow us to review the data previously collected
through the GALLUP staff and student survey instruments? This may enable us to provide
extended longitudinal comparisons in some areas, which may provide additional value to the
district given that tracking perceptions over time represents a priority (as noted in Section
1.2.2 of the RFP), if so desired.
RESPONSE: Yes, the district will allow for that.
43:
Can you please provide us the estimated level of funding for this project and/or the contract
award amounts for prior rounds of this survey?
RESPONSE: There is no estimated level of funding available.
44:
Are you able to share the other goals from the Strategic Framework developed in July,
2013? Please confirm that this study will be tracking and measuring only Goal #3 which is
that “Every student, family and employee experiences a customer service-oriented school
system.”
RESPONSE: The Strategic Framework is available at mmsd.org/framework. Goal #3
will be the primary use for these surveys, although results may also be used to help
with other district initiatives and priority areas.
45:
Please confirm that you would provide the Parent, Staff and Student contact lists for use in
conducting the surveys.
RESPONSE: Yes, those lists would be provided.
46:
If lists are provided, will they be separated by parents, staff and students? Will the lists
contain names, phone numbers, email addresses, school and grade information? Will the
email addresses be for home or work for staff?
RESPONSE: Yes, the lists will be separated by parents, staff, and students. The lists
will contain contact information, including name, phone number, and email address,
as appropriate. The school and grade information would be provided if the survey
design warranted its use (if not confidential and able to tie to existing administrative
data). The email addresses for staff would be work emails.
47:
Will everyone on the list (assuming lists are provided) qualify or will there be additional
qualifications needed to participate?
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RESPONSE: Everyone will qualify to receive the survey.
48:
In section 1.1, the RFP identifies several staffing groups including teachers, administrators,
support personnel, part time workers, substitute teachers and summer recreation workers.
It is also stated in section 1.2.3. that all regular staff need to be surveyed. Please clarify
which of these staffing groups you classify as being regular staff.
RESPONSE: Regular staff includes teachers, administrators, support personnel, and
part-time workers. It does not include substitute teachers and summer recreation
workers.
49:
Will all parents and students need to be sent surveys as well, or may we recommend a
statistically valid sub-sample?
RESPONSE: The district is open to surveying all parents or a representative sample.
All students in grades 3-12 will be surveyed, and the district is not open to a subsample.
50:
In section 1.2.2 it is stated that one of the objectives is to ‘disaggregate findings by various
subgroups and school /administrative sites to discover differences’. Please clarify
specifically which school/administrative sites will need to and analyzed and if the lists that
may be provided will identify and include these school/administrative sites?
RESPONSE:
Results should be able to be disaggregated by the 50+
school/administrative locations, along with the four attendance areas. These would
be identified and provided to the vendor upon receipt of contract.
51:
How long do you anticipate the survey length will be for each respondent type? Do you
anticipate that all three surveys will be approximately the same length?
RESPONSE: The district is open to ideas on the length of the climate surveys. The
Vendor would work with the district in the spring of 2014 to design the surveys and
determine optimal length for each.
52:
Will MMSD be identified as the sponsor of the study? Also, will MMSD provide any preannouncement of the survey to alert respondents of its pending arrival?
RESPONSE: Yes, the district would be identified as the sponsor of the study. Yes,
the district would provide a pre-announcement of the survey.
53:
Will the parents need to be evaluated via a mixed mode methodology (electronic, paper,
phone) or is email/electronic sufficient given that the other 2 surveys will be conducted
electronically?
RESPONSE: Parents will need to be contacted to complete the survey in various
ways, including electronic, paper, and phone; email will not be sufficient for this
group.
54:
How specifically will the electronic surveys be sent to staff and student respondents? Will
the survey be shared via email, online portals or other means?
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RESPONSE: The district is open to Vendor ideas on the administration of the survey.
55:
Given that within the student population 55% are minorities, will additional languages need
to be utilized to conduct the surveys? If so, which surveys will require additional languages,
which languages will be needed and in what proportion do you anticipate a language other
than English will be used?
RESPONSE: For the parent and student surveys, the survey would be available in
English, Spanish, and Hmong. For staff, the survey would be available in English and
Spanish. For approximate size of the parent survey, it is approximately no more than
2,000 Spanish surveys and no more than 400 Hmong surveys. For the student
survey, approximately 14% of the district’s student population speak Spanish, and
approximately 3% speak Hmong.
56:
How many of the 27,000 students are grades 3-12?
RESPONSE: MMSD has approximately 18,500 students enrolled in grades 3-12.
57:
In section 1.2.3 it states that the confidential surveys should be built so that results can be
tied to existing administrative data on staff and students. Can you provide additional
information (what it includes and what format it is in) regarding the administrative data that
the results would be tied to?
RESPONSE: This administrative data would include demographics, employment
history (staff), and achievement and engagement data (students). Most of this data is
stored in existing databases and available in Excel files. Provided the survey
administration allows for confidential but not anonymous results, then the district
could perform the linking of data between survey results and existing administrative
data.
58:
Please clarify/confirm that from Spring of 2014 to Spring of 2015 the vendor will undertake
stakeholder and key respondent input to guide survey development. Also, that the three
surveys (Parent, Staff and Student) will be sent simultaneously in the Spring of 2015.
RESPONSE: Yes, the vendor will help MMSD undertake stakeholder input to guide
survey development. The three surveys will be administered during the spring, but
exact dates of administration may differ.
59:
Will this study be continued after 2015 to track the results with 2015 being established as
the baseline? If so, how many years out should our proposal include?
RESPONSE: The RFP includes a contract for surveys awarded through June 30,
2015, with the option by mutual agreement of the District and contractor to renew for
three additional one-year periods unless amended, cancelled, or rebid.
60:
Will any interim reporting be required as we move toward the final report with data tables in
2015? Will any summary reporting be needed after the Key Stakeholder conversations as
survey development occurs?
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RESPONSE: Yes, interim reporting will be required, with response rates by location
as a minimum requirement. Yes, summary reporting of the Key Stakeholder
conversations will be part of facilitating role for the Vendor.
61:
Is there budget that has been identified for this effort?
RESPONSE: No budget parameters have been identified.
62:
When will the final deliverables be due? Is there an end date deadline?
RESPONSE: For 2015 survey results, reports would be due late spring-early summer
2015. The same cycle would repeat in subsequent years.
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