KAISER PERMANENTE Northwest Region

KAISER PERMANENTE Northwest Region THRIVING SCHOOLS Reducing Barriers to School Attendance Request for Proposals (RFP) Competitive RFP Release Date: April 26, 2017

Introduction The mission of Kaiser Permanente (KP) is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. As one of the nation s leading notfor-profit, integrated health care systems, KP seeks to positively impact the communities it serves. KPNW carefully selects investments each year to meet the needs facing our communities and to improve community health. We currently operate in 8 counties in Oregon and SW Washington (Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Lane, Clark and Cowlitz). Kaiser Permanente Thriving Schools KP has a history of supporting schools and school districts through community health initiatives, schoolbased health centers, Educational Theatre, event sponsorships, worksite wellness, volunteerism, and board/committee involvement. KP s Thriving Schools initiative expands KP s commitment to the total health of members and the communities it serves through work with local schools and school districts. It is an effort to improve healthy eating, physical activity and social, emotional and mental wellness in K-12 schools in KP s service areas, primarily through a focus on policy, systems and environmental changes that support healthy choices and social and emotional well-being. Across KPNW s service area, there are over 75 districts and 860 schools. KP Thriving Schools seeks to intentionally align and coordinate KP assets related to schools community health, workforce wellness, school-focused programs and health services and to engage external partners that have expertise in school wellness. A distinguishing feature of KP Thriving Schools is to contribute to a culture of wellness in school communities through complementary efforts targeting student, staff and teacher wellness that will support long-term behavior change, improvement in academic achievement and life-long health. Strong partnerships that build on existing expertise and work are critical to our success. We believe that deliberately coordinating our own assets and expertise with those of external partners positions us to truly influence the health of schools in our communities. Consistent with other KP Thriving Schools efforts, this grant opportunity is nested within the larger KP s Thriving Schools initiative. Need to Address Chronic Absenteeism in KP Thriving Schools KP recognizes that health is highly influenced by factors beyond the health care system that include the social and physical environment where people live, work, learn, and play. Research shows that educational attainment is correlated with physical, social, emotional and mental wellness. Individuals who attain higher levels of education enjoy better health outcomes, while low education levels are linked to lower levels of employment, lifetime earning potential, self-confidence, and overall health. In order for students to attain higher levels of education, they must be enrolled and attend school consistently. Research shows that children who are chronically absent missing more than 10% of the school year--in kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to be reading at grade level by third grade. In turn, students who are not reading at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. 1

Traditional methods of measuring attendance have included excused absence and truancy but chronic absenteeism looks at a student s time away from the classroom over the course of a year. It includes both excused and unexcused absences as well as out-of-class discipline. Chronic absenteeism is a proven early warning sign of academic risk and school dropout. Addressing the Causes of Chronic Absenteeism Nationally, more than one in ten students is chronically absent. In Oregon, that number is nearly double with more than one in six students missing more than 10% of the school year. In 2016, nearly 17% of Washington students were chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism has a disproportionate impact on specific populations--students with disabilities, students of color and students who are economically disadvantaged thereby amplifying both racial and ethnic disparities in health and academic achievement. Attendance Works, a national non-profit organization supporting schools and community organizations, highlights the many reasons driving student absences, including the physical and mental health barriers that are the focus of this grant initiative. Lack of understanding by families and in the community that attendance in early years is critical to academic success. Possible solutions include work in early education and health settings as well as family orientation and outreach. Students are not encouraged to attend school. Many students do not feel successful, or welcome in school. When they are frequently absent, students fall behind intensifying the negative experience. Possible solutions include outreach to students and families from schools or community organizations--with each absence, engaging curriculum and inclusive school environment and additional academic support for students who fall behind. Physical or mental health barriers including asthma, depression and stress, abuse, dental problems and acute illness like flu. Possible solutions include school on-site health services, screenings and connection to affordable health insurance and providers as well as healthy school environments. Students do not feel safe traveling to school. Nationally, twenty percent of children witnessed violence in their family or in the neighborhood during the previous year. Fear for personal safety is a barrier to regular school attendance. Possible solutions include safe and affordable travel options or strengthening community watch programs. Families do not trust or feel comfortable at school. This is particularly true for low income families and those with specific cultural backgrounds or who do not speak English. Possible solutions include community health and education workers, home visiting programs and school activities that engage families from many cultural backgrounds. Schools alone cannot address barriers to student attendance, nor can healthcare organizations. Community leaders and organizations have a role in addressing chronic absenteeism, building and scaling innovative programs, providing positive messaging about the importance of coming to school and supporting a nurturing school environment once students arrive. This collaboration and partnership is critical to developing life-long health and well-being for children, as well as building strong, resilient, healthy communities. 2

KP Thriving Schools Approach to Improving School Attendance - Vision, Goals and Strategies By providing high quality, affordable health services and investing in organizations that create healthy, thriving communities, KPNW has supported students being at school and ready to learn. KPNW is now seeking expert partner organizations to address the health-related barriers to students being at school on a consistent basis. Through a separate but related grant initiative, KPNW will invest in technical assistance for school staff and administrators who are creating caring and compassionate school environments so that when children and staff arrive at school they can be fully engaged in learning. Our vision is that schools are the heart of health in our communities, fostering life-long mental, emotional and physical health for students and staff. Goals: To achieve this vision KPNW has the following goals: 1. Reduce individual, family, community and systems barriers to school attendance. 2. Improve community awareness of the importance of being at school and knowledge about when students should attend school and when they should stay home. 3. Increase connections to necessary social and health services within and outside of the school for students, teachers and school staff. 4. Improve support for and behavior of students, which will reduce the need for referrals, suspensions and expulsions. 5. Expand the evidence for policies and systems that support consistent school attendance. As part of this partnership, there are key strategies KP Thriving Schools has identified as needed for success: Promote community-driven solutions to support student attendance in school: Schools are a focal point in any community. Engaging community leaders, students and families is critical to understanding the root causes of chronic absenteeism and removing barriers for students and families. Operate as Partners: This work will draw on the expertise of multiple partners supporting the health and education of children. Schools are accountable for student attendance and must report absenteeism to the state. For this initiative to be successful, community organizations must work as supportive partners of school staff and administrators respecting one another s skills and responsibilities. Create a scalable approach: This work will begin with a select number of school communities within the KPNW service area, but KP Thriving Schools would like to partner in the design and implementation of a model that can be adopted by other schools, districts and health care organizations in future years. Include a Strong Evaluation: KP prioritizes learning from investments and initiatives in communities and schools and understands this is an important opportunity to build the evidence base enhancing school attendance. KP Thriving Schools will work with our chosen partner organizations, and an external evaluation organization with expertise in this area, to design and conduct a quality evaluation that will document the processes and outcomes of the initiative. This will help determine how to adjust and 3

develop KP Thriving Schools work in future phases, as well as inform the growing field of student and educator health and academic success. Promote data-driven approaches to address health-related barriers to attendance. Once data is used to identify which schools, students and populations face significant challenges with chronic absence, quantitative as well as qualitative data can be used to analyze health needs, address barriers and monitor the effectiveness of interventions. General Proposal Guidelines and Timeline To strengthen the connection between good health and academic success for students and their families, KPNW will fund up to five community organizations or education service districts (ESDs) up to $150,000 each over 3 years ($50,000 per year) to reduce health-related barriers to consistent school attendance. Grantees and their partners will be required to use student attendance data to inform their intervention and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. They will be expected to monitor and report chronic absenteeism data--either in a school, group of schools or within a specific population of students--at the beginning of the project and regularly throughout the three-year period. Grantees and their partners must seek to reduce chronic absenteeism and address health or education disparities for students with disabilities, students of color or students who are economically disadvantaged. This can include students experiencing homelessness or whose parents are migrant workers. Grant funds are intended to do one or more of the following: 1. Align existing but disconnected efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism in a school, group of schools or within a specific population of students. 2. Expand a proven program to new schools, groups of schools or specific population of students. 3. Test innovative ways of reducing chronic absenteeism in a school, group of schools or within a specific population of students. Some sample scenarios are below. These examples are not intended to limit nor guarantee acceptance of proposals. 1. Several non-profit community organizations, public agencies, health providers and parents groups are all working within a school or district to increase school attendance, but efforts are not coordinated nor are the groups tracking the impact of their efforts on chronic absenteeism. Funds are needed to coordinate disconnected efforts and support alignment with school administration. 2. Youth-led efforts to support mental or emotional health concerns of students have proven to increase school attendance in a handful of high schools. Funds are needed to expand this program to new schools. 4

3. A single school or district would like to test incorporating a community health or education worker into school staff meetings, thereby creating a bridge between families and schools, building trust and responsiveness and encouraging regular student attendance. The success of these projects will depend upon readiness of partner schools and districts to address chronic absenteeism. The selection criteria for these community-driven programs will include: 1. School, group of schools or specific population where more than 50% of students are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals. 2. School, group of schools or a specific population where a least 15% of students are chronically absent (missing at least 10% of the school year). 3. Supportive districts and school administrators that are willing to share discipline and attendance data as part of the evaluation. This initiative will require an initial baseline report and ongoing attendance reports to the evaluator. 4. Internal systems, structures and data collection that support school or district-wide efforts to address and reduce chronic absenteeism. 5. Evidence of a strong partnership between target school or schools, health partners and community organizations. 6. Experience using data to inform action. 7. Experience building collaborative relationships with certified and classified bargaining associations. Proposal Guidelines Letter of Intent (LOI) Interested organizations must submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) to submit a full proposal. The LOI must by submitted by June 7, 2017 and should not exceed two written pages, in addition to the template cover page with organizational information. In addition to providing a brief overview of the project, the LOI must address the following questions: 1. What is your defined population (school, group of schools or specific population of students)? 2. What is the current rate of chronic absenteeism in the school(s) or within the population of students that this project will address? (Sources for Oregon: http://www.oregon.gov/ode/reports-and-data/students/pages/attendance-and- Absenteeism.aspx; Washington: http://www.k12.wa.us/dataadmin/performanceindicators/chronicabsenteeism.aspx.) 3. What are the health-related barriers to school attendance in the school(s) or within the population of students? What data are you using to inform your conclusion? 4. What resources already exist to address chronic absenteeism? 5. How do you propose to leverage those resources? 6. Who are the partners in this project? Please list participating organizations and people, including their roles and titles. 5

7. What are the outcomes you hope to achieve with this grant and how will those outcomes be sustained? Full Proposal A Thriving Schools committee of advisors will review all submitted LOIs and by August 18, 2017 will invite a subset of those organizations to submit a full proposal. Full proposals are due by September 12, 2017. 1. Executive Summary of Proposal (maximum of 75 words) 2. Statement of Need (maximum 100 words) Current chronic absenteeism rate for school(s) and/or specific population of students within school district. Applicants that do not have chronic absence data by school should provide district-level chronic absence rates and a plan for how they will generate school or population-level data. Demographics of school. Any other supporting information documenting health-related drivers of absenteeism at the school. 3. Resources in Place (maximum 100 words) To what extent is the partnering school or schools already: o Recognizing good and improved attendance. o Engaging students and parents. o Monitoring chronic absence data (as opposed to average daily attendance data or truancy). o Providing personalized early outreach when absences start adding up. o Developing programmatic response to identified mental or physical health barriers. What are the gaps in current approach or areas that would be enhanced by the partnership? 4. Organizational capacity describing: (maximum 200 words) The organizational background location(s), size, history, structure, organizational chart and organizational budget. Experience with addressing barriers to school attendance including: o Current approaches. o Experience addressing student mental, emotional or physical health needs. o Experience collaborating with union members and leaders. o Experience working with (PK-12 grade) schools. o Specific qualifications of staff members proposed to work on this project. 5. Proposed approach to the initiative (maximum 500 words) 6

Please outline your initial approach to reduce chronic absenteeism in a school, group of schools or specific population of students in this project. Include implementation strategies that are responsive to KP s Thriving Schools vision and goals and outline the following: Modification of your current approaches to addressing school attendance to meet KP Thriving Schools vision and goals. How to approach schools and bring staff and teachers on board. Specific methods for supporting staff, teachers, students and/or parents. Content of program and methods for administering information and trainings. Proposed implementation timeline and budget given the following guidelines: o Project will be implemented and evaluated over a 3-year period beginning January, 2018. If applicable, a proposed plan for developing a scalable model to reach more schools. 6. Evaluation (maximum 100 words) KP Thriving Schools is planning to implement a strong evaluation and hire a contracted evaluator to support grantees: (a) for ongoing program improvement; (b) to inform the broader field; (c) to measure health and educational outcomes and; (d) to build evidence for changes in policies and systems. Considering the approach and understanding that a full evaluation plan will be designed in 2017 in conjunction with the implementation plan, please describe: How do you currently evaluate your work? Please share any key findings, reports or instruments in the appendix. In addition to chronic absence data, what outcomes would you recommend tracking/measuring for this initiative? Any staff in your organization that will be assigned to work with contract evaluator hired by Kaiser Permanente. 7. References (not included in word limit) Please provide 2-3 letters of reference specifically related to addressing school attendance. One letter must be from a school stakeholder who will partner in this project. One letter must be from a funder or key partner. 8. Budget (not included in word limit) The grant amount will be up to $150,000/grantee. Full proposals must outline a grant budget that includes: Grantee s personnel costs including: o Staff for semi-annual convening each year with other Thriving Schools grantees. o Staff to collect data and work with KP s contract evaluator. Supplies and equipment needed to complete the project, including communications costs. Travel costs. Subcontractors (if necessary). 7

KP will provide direct support to the grantee including: Hiring a contract evaluator to assess the impact of this initiative on students, staff and school culture. Semi-annual convening of school leads from all school pilot sites and grantee staff. Proposal Selection Criteria The following criteria will be utilized in selecting the recipient of the Reducing Barriers to School Attendance grant: Grantee is targeting a school, group of schools or a specific population where at least 15% of students are chronically absent (missing at least 10% of the school year). Grantee is seeking to address health or education disparities for disadvantaged student populations. Grantee has provided examples describing their experience in the following areas: o Experience supporting administrators, staff, students and parents in school settings. o Understanding of the specific challenges, nuances and approaches to working in a school setting and with school employees. o Success addressing health and education disparities within a community. o Developing and implementing quality plans and initiatives and managing projects. o Experience using data to inform interventions. Overall proposal quality and effectiveness in meeting KP Thriving Schools vision and goals. Approach and budget. Team leadership and organizational capacity. Proposal Timeline and Milestones (dates subject to change) 2017 2018 2019 2020 RFP and selection of Community Organizations and Evaluator. Implemenation of funded partners and programs Begin data collection for evaluation. Convene funded partners Convene funded partners. Continue implementation and evaluation. Plan for sustainability and scaling. Convene funded partners. Share findings with school and community leaders. Incorporate best practices into KP. Date January, 2017 April 26, 2017 May 24, 2017 11:30 am to 12:30 pm Kaiser Permanente Building 500 NE Multnomah Street, Room 3A/B Milestone Announce grant initiatives Release RFP Information Session for interested grantees 8

Portland, OR 97232 June 7, 2017 August 18, 2017 August 24-31, 2017 September 12, 2017 December 5, 2017 Letter of Intent (LOI) to apply due Organizations invited or declined for full proposal Site visits to invited organizations Full proposals due Grant award notification or declination Proposal submission Please submit LOI to: Community.Benefit@kp.org by June 7, 2017, 5pm Final Proposals will be submitted via an online application system For questions please contact: Elizabeth Engberg Thriving Schools Program Manager Kaiser Permanente Northwest Phone: 503-813-4498 Email: Elizabeth.P.Engberg@kp.org, 9