Author Archives: Jessica Velez Tello

FY24 RFP FAQs

Q: I’m not sure which track I should be applying to. What should I do?

If it’s not clear which RFP track(s) to apply for given your specific context, please set up an office hour with Aankit Patel or revisit the video “Selecting the Right RFP Tracks for Your School” from our Strategic Planning Kick-off Week in June. 

Q: How will proposals be evaluated?

Proposals will be evaluated using the RFP Scoring Rubric.

Q: Should I submit separate proposals for each of the tracks of the RFP?

No, each school/department of education is expected to submit a single proposal. Your “CITE Strategy Map” (also required in your submission) should help ensure that the activities you are proposing are clearly distinguishable from one another for each program that is participating in CITE.

Q: Can our school’s proposal include multiple plans associated with a single RFP track?

A proposal can have multiple plans in program development tracks (i.e. program visioning, program ratification, and program implementation), since each program that is integrating CITE may be at different stages. 

A proposal should only have one strategic coordination plan for a school of education.

For example, one program at your college might be ready for activities that work towards program ratification, while two other programs aren’t quite there yet, and are starting with program visioning. In this case, a proposal would include three separate plans of activity (one program ratification plan, and two distinct program visioning plans). Similarly, two programs within a school of education might be ready for program implementation, and, in that case, a proposal should include two distinct program implementation plans. 

Your “CITE Footprint Projection Tool”, which you can find in your school’s CITE folder, can help you figure out the overall composition of CITE activities at your school of education.

Q: Our school of education’s proposal wants to apply for the “program visioning” and “program ratifying” tracks for one of our programs at the same time. Is this ok?

Yes, that’s ok. Visioning and ratifying can happen concurrently (not just sequentially), so proposals may include both for a single program. Proposals that include programs planning to do both stages concurrently will be evaluated using the Program Visioning Proposal Scoring Criteria and the Program Ratification Proposal Scoring Criteria.

Q: Our school of education’s proposal wants to include a specific program applying to the “program ratifying” track directly, without having a proposal associated with “program visioning” for that program. Is that ok?

If that program is able to submit the Program Vision Deliverable without applying for funding to do so, then yes. Note that the Program Vision Deliverable will be assessed as part of the Program Ratification Proposal Scoring Criteria.

Q: What does meaningful, coherent, equitable mean?

See the RFP rubric for definitions of these key terms.

Q: If we want to work on curriculum design, which funding track should we choose?

Curriculum development can happen in any of the tracks associated with program planning (i.e. visioning, ratifying, implementing) but should be oriented towards the broader goals of a given stage of program planning. For the visioning or ratifying tracks, faculty might develop early CITE artifacts to pilot in their courses, which can help inform the development of a given program’s CITE vision or scope and sequence. For the implementing track, faculty might plan to develop the “full” curriculum needed to implement a program’s CITE scope and sequence. For the strategic coordinating track, faculty might coordinate and support curriculum development efforts across multiple programs (regardless of their stage of development).

Q: Can I apply for strategic coordination if our school of education has only one program?

It’s expected that any school that has a program that’s gone beyond the “program visioning” stage will have plans to engage in strategic coordination, as there are important activities included in that track including leadership, fundraising, and communications that are not supported by the program development tracks. 

Q: We are already piloting  CITE activities in courses, but we don’t have a vision or scope and sequence for the programs associated with those courses. Should we stop implementing  and focus on visioning and scope and sequence?

No, don’t stop implementing CITE activities in courses, but your proposal plans related to Program Visioning and/or Ratifying tracks should articulate how you will use the data and learnings from that implementation in order to support the development of deliverables associated with those tracks.

Q: If I am still working to recruit and onboard faculty into our CITE work, which RFP track should I apply for? 

If you’re focused on particular programs and are onboarding faculty to support them developing program-level learning goals and scope and sequence, then you should apply to the appropriate program track (visioning, ratifying, or implementing). If you’re onboarding faculty to build out the school of education wide CITE team to engage in coordination across the school, it would be appropriate to support those activities through applying to the strategic coordination track.

Q: Can we evolve our learning outcomes after applying for an RFP track?

Yes, we encourage evolving learning outcomes, and see this as a natural process of including more voices (e.g. students) and doing intentional research activities.

Q: What should I do if not all programs at my school of education are bought into CITE, and we won’t be able to reach 80% of students without those programs?

This is a normal part of the process, and goals and associated activities aimed at changing this are perfect candidates for inclusion in the strategic coordination track. Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to Aankit to strategize approaches to doing so, and, if needed, to collaborate on bringing other programs from your school of education into CITE.