Centennial School District ("CSD" or "the District") is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit written proposals from qualified vendors to provide a replacement for the educator evaluation and related professional-growth functions currently supported by Frontline Professional Growth ("Frontline PG"). This RFP is intended to identify a solution for educator evaluation and effectiveness (aligned to Pennsylvania Act 82, Pennsylvania Act 15, and the PDE Educator Effectiveness System), and, where a vendor's platform supports them, the additional functions listed in Section 3 that CSD currently manages in Frontline PG and has not yet assigned a permanent home. CSD reserves the right to award a contract for the full scope described in this RFP, to award separate contracts for discrete portions of the scope (e.g., evaluation only, versus evaluation plus professional development tracking), or to make no award, at its sole discretion.
Background
CSD currently uses Frontline Professional Growth to manage educator observation and evaluation, professional growth planning, professional development registration and tracking, Act 48 continuing-education credit tracking and reporting to PDE, tenure-tracking, staff surveys, and related reporting. Frontline PG draws staff roster, demographic, and position data from our student information system (SIS), Skyward Qmlativ, through a variety of integration methods. CSD is undertaking this review to ensure continued compliance with Act 82 and Act 15 requirements, to evaluate the market for solutions purpose-built for educator effectiveness, and to make a deliberate decision about where each function currently housed in Frontline PG should live going forward, rather than migrating the full Frontline suite (i.e., Central, Recruiting and Hiring) by default.
Scope of Work \& Functional Requirements
Vendors should propose against the functions below. "Required" functions must be met, either natively or through a named integration partner disclosed in the proposal. "Desired" and "Optional" functions are not mandatory; vendors should clearly indicate which of these their platform supports so CSD can evaluate whether a single platform or a combination of solutions best meets its needs.
Function Description Requirement
Summative rating and evaluation rubrics for all faculty, admin, and nonteaching professionals aligned to PA Act 13 and PA Act 82 requirements.
Observation Ability to build/ customize formal/informal classroom observation records and walkthrough forms aligned to CSD's adopted framework (5 Pillars of Instruction.)
Customizable Forms, including Ability to create new or leverage canned forms for walkthroughs (and beyond) that define shared "look fors" which allow for the gathering of low-inference, observable evidence of teaching, learning, and student work products
Professional Growth Plans \& SMART goals, self-assessments, administrator sign-off, multi-year growth Goal Setting cycles for faculty, admin, and nonteaching professionals with form tracking abilities
Required (for PD Catalog, Registration \& Ability to create or link to course/workshop catalog, faculty and non-teaching faculty)/ Desired Attendance staff sign-up and waitlist management, attendance, and completion tracking (nonteaching professionals)
Act 48 Credit Tracking \& PDE Continuing-education hour tracking, PDE Act 48 submission, renewal alerts Required Reporting
Tenure-Tracking License expiration alerts, credential records tied to staff Desired
Induction \& New-Teacher Induction plan tracking, mentor assignments, required documentation Optional Mentoring
Surveys \& Feedback Tools Staff/climate surveys and feedback forms tied to PD or evaluation Optional
HR Addons Replacement for Frontline Recruiting and Hiring/ Central Optional
Reporting \& Dashboards Administrator- and Board-level reporting on evaluation status and PD completion Required
Ability to mass import demographic information (staff roster, position, and HR data) from existing systems (Frontline Central, Skyward Qmlativ) via API, SFTP, or equivalent Required
A detailed, line-item version of this table, for vendor completion, is provided as Appendix A.
Vendor Qualifications
Proposals must include the following information about the vendor:
- Company background, ownership structure, and number of years providing K-12 educator evaluation/effectiveness software
- Number and names of current Pennsylvania K-12 clients, with district size and modules in use
- Evidence of financial stability sufficient to support a multi-year public-sector contract
- Any subcontractors or third-party partners used to deliver required or desired functionality
- A description of the vendor's implementation team and project management approach
- A description of ongoing support: hours of coverage, support channels, and service-level commitments
Vendor qualification information should be submitted using the form in Appendix D.
Technical \& Integration Requirements
Proposals must address each of the following:
- Hosting model (cloud-hosted SaaS preferred) and data center location(s)
- Data security and privacy certifications (e.g., SOC 2 Type II or equivalent) and compliance with FERPA and applicable Pennsylvania student/employee data-privacy requirements
- Uptime guarantee and disaster-recovery/backup approach
- Single sign-on (SSO) compatibility with CSD's identity provider (ClassLink)
- Native integration or documented API/SFTP capability with SIS (Skyward Qmlativ) for staff roster, position, and HR data
- Approach to migrating historical evaluation, PD, and Act 48 records from Frontline PG or similar solutions, including how many years of history can be converted and in what format source data is required
Implementation, Training \& Support
Proposals must include a proposed implementation timeline and plan, including: project kickoff, data migration/conversion phases, configuration of CSD's evaluation framework and rubrics, user acceptance testing, and go-live. Proposals must describe the training model available for administrators (evaluators), teachers, and system administrators, including whether training is included in the base price or billed separately, and in what format (on-site, virtual, self-paced) it is delivered. Proposals must describe post-implementation support, including any online help center, ticketing system, and escalation path for urgent issues (e.g., during an active evaluation cycle).
Cost Proposal
Vendors must submit a complete, itemized five-year cost proposal using the format in Appendix B, showing one-time and recurring costs separately by category. Vendors must state the basis for any annual increase (e.g., a fixed percentage or CPI-based escalation) and disclose the per-student, per-seat, or district-wide basis on which licensing is calculated. CSD reserves the right to negotiate a 1, 3, or 5 year contract with the winning bidder.
Proposal Submission Instructions
Proposals must include, at minimum, the following components, organized in this order:
1. Cover letter, signed by an authorized company representative
2. Company/vendor overview and qualifications (Appendix D)
3. Response to the Functional Requirements Checklist (Appendix A)
4. Response to Technical \& Integration Requirements (Section 5)
5. Implementation, training, and support plan (Section 6)
6. Cost Proposal (Appendix B)
7. A minimum of three (3) references, at least one from a Pennsylvania K-12 district of comparable size, using the form in Appendix C
8. A sample of the vendor's standard SaaS/license agreement
9. Certificate of insurance or a statement of coverage available upon request
Written questions regarding this RFP must be submitted by email to Kristin Herman, Director of Technology \& Innovation, by the Written Questions Due date on the cover page. CSD will issue written answers to all vendors via addendum by November 17. Questions submitted after the deadline, or submitted verbally, will not be answered. Proposals must be submitted electronically (PDF) to brasdo@centennialsd.org no later than the Proposals Due date and time on the cover page. Late proposals will not be considered.
Evaluation Criteria \& Selection Process
Proposals will be scored by an evaluation committee comprising representatives from the Technology, Teaching \& Learning, and Human Resources departments, along with building administrators who serve as evaluators, using the weighted criteria below.
Criterion Weight What CSD is Assessing
Cost \& Contract Terms 30% Total five-year cost, licensing model, contract flexibility, cancellation/transition terms, included modules versus a la carte options
Compliance \& Functional Fit 25% Meets Act 82 /Act 13/ PDE Educator Effectiveness requirements; coverage of Required and Desired functions from Section 3
Vendor Support \& Track Record 20% Pennsylvania client base, implementation and support model, financial stability
Data Migration \& Integration 20% Depth of historical data that can be converted; native or documented integration with SIS (Skyward Qmlativ)
Ease of Use \& Change Management 5% Usability for evaluators and staff, training approach, anticipated adoption effort
Selection Process and Timeline
Written proposals are reviewed and scored independently by the evaluation committee. The highest-scoring vendors (typically 2-4) are invited to deliver live demonstrations to the committee in January 2027. CSD conducts reference checks with each finalist's provided references, with particular attention to comparable Pennsylvania districts. Finalists provide sandbox or pilot access so that a cross-section of CSD staff - evaluators and teachers - can trial the platform firsthand. The committee finalizes its recommendation and presents it to the Superintendent's Cabinet. The recommendation is presented to the Board of School Directors for approval, anticipated in Spring 2027. Timeline for implementation would be first payment 7/1/2027 with the anticipated launch for end-users in Fall 2027 (flexible timeline).
Target Milestone
November 2, 2026 RFP issued
November 13, 2026 Written questions due
November 17, 2026 CSD issues written answers / addendum
November 23, 2026, 11:00 AM Proposals due
Early January 2027 Finalists notified
January 2027 Vendor demonstrations
Late January-February 2027 Reference checks and sandbox/pilot trials
February-March 2027 Committee recommendation to Superintendent's Cabinet
Spring 2027 Board of School Directors decision
Summer 2027 (anticipated) Contract execution and implementation kickoff
General Terms & Conditions: This RFP does not commit CSD to award a contract. CSD reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive informalities or irregularities, to negotiate with any vendor, or to cancel this RFP at any time, without liability to any vendor. All costs incurred in preparing and submitting a proposal are the sole responsibility of the vendor. Any resulting contract is contingent upon approval by the CSD Board of School Directors and review by the CSD Solicitor, and is not final until a written agreement is executed by both parties. Proposals, once submitted, become subject to the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law upon award, except for material clearly and specifically marked by the vendor as a trade secret or confidential proprietary information. Vendors must disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest and must not engage in collusion with other proposers. Proposals must remain valid and open for acceptance for a minimum of ninety (90) days from the proposal due date. CSD standard insurance and indemnification requirements will apply to any resulting contract and will be finalized in consultation with the CSD Solicitor prior to execution.
