REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

For Impact Evaluation of AI-enabled Oral Reading Fluency solution in Rajasthan

Closing Date for Submission: November 18, 2025, at 23:59 PM

I. INTRODUCTION

Lords Education and Health Society (LEHS), registered under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 is a charitable organisation with its head office in New Delhi, India working in the health, agriculture and education domain for the poor. LEHS in furtherance of charitable objectives through its flagship unit i.e. Wadhwani AI aims to build equitable and sustainable systems to the underserved population and to bring the benefits of modern AI technology to underserved populations by building and deploying AI solutions for social impact across domains such as healthcare, agriculture, governance and education in India.

LEHS aims to promote the integration of technologies, particularly in emerging domains like artificial intelligence and innovations into the Indian mainstream primary healthcare, education, and agriculture systems through a partnership with the State and National Government, apex institutions, international agencies, and private sector partners e.g. innovators, social enterprises and other ecosystem contributors in line with its stated objectives for the betterment of society particularly focusing on projects of national and social significance. In line with its mission to support projects of national and social significance, LEHS also undertakes rigorous monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) activities to assess the impact, usability, and scalability of different programmatic interventions.

II. BACKGROUND
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Aligned with the Ministry of Education's visionary NIPUN Bharat mission on Foundation Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) and the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasize improving Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), recognizes that 'Learning to Read' enables 'Reading to learn'. Addressing the pressing challenge that about 60% of Grade 5 students cannot read Grade 2 level text remains a shared priority. While current reading fluency assessments offer value, they are often time-consuming, lack auditability and suffer from inconsistent administration. This presents opportunities for enhancement through standardization and automated systems that can provide more comprehensive reading proficiency insights.

Our collaborative partnership between Wadhwani AI and Directorate of Secondary Education (DSE), Rajasthan Government has successfully deployed an AI-powered ORF application in government schools across the state since May 2025. This innovative tool assesses students by analyzing their audio, generating fluency metrics, and categorizing them into four cohorts ranging from non-decoders to fluent readers. Based on the ORF results, the DSE has launched a targeted remediation program. The program is implemented from September- December, 2025. This program focuses on providing remediation sessions to students in cohorts one through three with guiding level-specific activities and focused practice. 

Building on the successful deployment of the AI-powered ORF tool, there is a critical need to conduct an impact evaluation to systematically assess its effectiveness. While the tool offers an innovative, scalable approach to addressing foundational literacy challenges, its adoption at scale must be guided by credible evidence. A structured evaluation will help establish the tool’s usefulness in measuring reading proficiency across diverse demographic groups. Furthermore, it will assess its influence on student learning outcomes when used for targeted remediation. Moreover, evidence from the impact evaluation will not only strengthen confidence among educators and policymakers but also inform refinements in both technology design and implementation strategy.

III. EVALUATION OBJECTIVES

This Request for Proposal (RFP) invites qualified agencies to submit proposals for an independent, rigorous impact evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the AI-enabled ORF toolin Rajasthan in improving the students reading fluency of Grades 3-8. 

The core objectives of the study are:

Measure student progress in oral reading fluency
Assess changes in Correct Words Per Minute (CWPM) and accuracy, and determine the proportion of students showing improvement across proficiency cohorts after the remediation program.

Analyze differential program effectiveness
Generate insights on variations in outcomes across student subgroups such as grade, district type, and baseline cohort.

Capture implementation learnings and stakeholder perceptions
Document teacher and school-level experiences with the ORF tool, identifying enablers and barriers to adoption to inform future scale-up and policy dialogue.

The agency shall ensure that all data remain confidential and are used solely for the purpose of this evaluation, in accordance with data protection and privacy laws.

IV. SCOPE OF WORK

The selected agency is expected to conduct a comprehensive, independent impact evaluation in government schools of Rajasthan. The primary objective is to assess students' progression in Oral Reading Fluency scores (CWPM, accuracy) and their movement across the four established proficiency cohorts from baseline (MayAugust 2025) to endline (January 2026), with the study concluding by March 2026. 

V. Proposal Submission Guidelines

Who Can Apply 

Non Profit Organizations, Business firms/for Profit Organizations with:

• Proven prior experience in conducting large-scale impact evaluations in the education sector, preferably in government school systems. 
• Strong expertise of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methodology
• Adequate human resources, technical expertise, and institutional capacity to carry out statewise study. 
• Experience with government or donor-funded education projects
• Data security and privacy protocols in place.

Submission Details  

• All responses to this RFP must be received no later than November 18, 2025. 
• The technical and financial proposal should be submitted separately only through e-mail in PDF in the below-given e-mail id: rfp.lehs@wadhwaniai.org . 

The email's subject line must contain the reference number and title of the RFP: Technical Proposal for ORF Impact Evaluation (Rajasthan) and Financial Proposal for ORF Impact Evaluation (Rajasthan). Only those who submit complete technical with password protected financial proposals and all mandatory enclosures (Section VII) will be considered.

For detailed information, please check the complete version of the RFP attached below.

Job Email ID: rfp.lehs(at)wadhwaniai.org

Download Attachment: RFP for Impact Evaluation of AI-enabled Oral Reading Fluency solution in Rajasthan- MRF 112 (1).pdf