Education Value-Added Assessment System - Code, policies, procurement, financial, and other records (Department of Education)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Delaware Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Records and materials related to the solicitation, acquisition, evaluation, and use of the Education Value-Added Assessment System or any equivalent student or teacher assessment system.

This software or services may be provided by SAS, an analytic software company, though this request is applicable to this, as well as any other company providing analytic services related to student or faculty data or under consideration or contract with this agency for those services.

Materials responsive materials include but are not limited to:

• Algorithm and code: The algorithm or source code in use by this program or by which this system conducts calculations or decision making. Please provide any software that was developed by or with, given to, used by, purchased or licensed to this agency for implementation of the above referenced program. This would include original source code, any compiled binaries (also known as executables), spreadsheets, program scripts, and other digital materials used to calculate any data in the above program. It would also include the input training data for machine learning algorithms.

• Input Data: For the aspects of the software that require an input, for example, to compute a value, we request a copy of the five most recent sets of data that were used for input, as well as the five most recent outputs of the software, in whatever their native format is. If these inputs or outputs include exempt information, we ask that you exempt only that information which is specifically exempted from law, and provide the other material.

• Impact and validation studies: A copy of any validation studies conducted with respect to the program or with respect to any software or algorithms used in connection with the program, and a copy of any records pertaining to inquiries for the need of validation studies, or discussion of potential or actual validation studies. A “validation study” in this context is any study designed to assess how accurate the program is in predicting what it is supposed to predict, or to assess whether the program may err in the direction of either under- or overestimating likelihoods or predicted outcomes, or may produce any results that are biased or unexpected in any way.

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• Agreements: Contracts (including non-disclosure agreements), intergovernmental services agreements, licensing agreements, memorandums of understanding, nondisclosure agreements. Please provide a copy of any contracts, warranties, non-disclosure agreements, liability waivers, insurance agreements, and informal agreements that reference technology or otherwise guide it use or the relationship between this agency and the provider or developer of the software.

• Bid records: Any available Requests for Expressions of Interest, Requests For Proposal (or equivalent calls for bids), responses to Requests for Expressions of Interest, letters of interest, responses to Requests for Proposal, sole source or limited source justification and approval documentation, documentation of selection, and other materials generated in the consideration and selection of the technology in question

• Communications: Any correspondence between any staff at this agency with any other organization or vendor relevant to the use of the aforementioned technology or program, including records related to meetings or follow-up actions with any vendors, companies, or other private entities marketing this technology for any use. This includes correspondence in the form of emails, email attachments, paper letters, and any other form of correspondence.

• Financial records: Purchase orders, invoices, and other memoranda and documentation.

• Marketing records: All marketing materials - unsolicited, requested, or otherwise - acquired from vendors of this technology

• Policy records: Any policy directives, guidance documents, memoranda, training materials, or similar records governing the use of this technology for any purpose, including all those related to data retention, permissible and impermissible use, and security standards.

• Training records: Training material governing the use, sharing, or access to any related data related to or collected by this technology, including the legal standard that is required before using the technology. This includes all instructional materials, presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other guidance on the use of this technology. This includes any notes taking during meetings that discussed the use of the program, any explanations (whether internally or externally generated) of how the software works, and any other document that has been used to help explain the use of this technology to any party, including internal documentation, public relations materials, and executive summaries. This also includes any description of input and output data fields that will aid in understanding the type of information that is submitted to the software, and that is produced by the software.

• Use and function records: Materials that describe the function of the software considered or in use by this agency, including emails, handouts, PowerPoint presentations, advertisements, or specification documents. Please also provide all privacy impact assessments, use policies, standard operating procedures, legal opinions. Please also provide a copy of any funding opportunity announcements, grant applications and grantor status/progress reports, reports to legislative bodies, annual reports that mention the use of the Software, as well as audit records, including but not limited to security audits of the software, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodies.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 15 business days, as the statute requires.

Please note that I am a citizen of Delaware, and am using MuckRock's services to help manage and track my request.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Rudenberg