ENHANCING SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS IN POVERTY GRANT APPLICATION Instructions for Grant Development and Submission

Transcription

1 ENHANCING SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS IN POVERTY GRANT APPLICATION Instructions for Grant Development and Submission INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW OF THE PURPOSE OF THE GRANT LETTER of Intent to Apply for the Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant THE GRANT PLANNING PROCESS HOW YOUR DSAC TEAM OR ODST LIAISON CAN HELP GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING YOUR GRANT NARRATIVE GRANT NARRATIVE FORM COMPLETING YOUR GRANT SUBMISSION SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION THE GRANT APPROVAL PROCESS AMENDING YOUR GRANT AFTER THE GRANT FUNDING PERIOD IS OVER: THE ENHANCING SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS IN POVERTY GRANT FINAL REPORT ENHANCING SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS IN POVERTY GRANT NARRATIVE RUBRIC Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 1 of 10

2 Introduction The Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant provides single districts and partnerships of multiple districts with funds to build educator capacity to accelerate improvements in teaching, learning, and achievement for students in poverty. This grant opportunity builds on the ESEsponsored Teaching with Poverty in Mind workshop held on November 23 and 24, The purpose of this grant program is to deepen, extend and disseminate understanding, strategies and implementation of supports for economically disadvantaged students. Grant recipients may be invited to present their work at the 2016 ESE Fall Convening. Here are some examples of strategies that districts may support with these grant funds: Extend learning to additional educators within districts represented at the poverty workshop Share learning across districts through presentations by workshop participants, professional learning groups focused on teaching students in poverty, and/or book studies focused on teaching students in poverty Create and pilot an original Reusable Learning Object (RLO) 1 to be shared with the Department and made publically available Districts are required to: Develop and disseminate specific supports for economically disadvantaged students with disabilities Further district and school goals related to the Low Income Education Access Project (LEAP) initiative (LEAP districts only) Share with the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education any products developed through this grant. Product may be made publically available. The goals and objectives of these and other grant supported strategies are to accelerate improvements in teaching, learning, and achievement for students in poverty. Please contact David Parker Dparker@doe.mass.edu for further information about creating a Reusable Learning Object. RLOs may be based upon the learning from the November workshop, or may address a specific need of participating schools and districts. RLOs could address: Impacts of poverty on learning Stress factors associated with poverty The role of emotions in teaching and learning Engagement Rules for students in poverty Building relationships for successful teaching and learning. These topics are illustrative, not exhaustive. Additional topics and ideas are welcome. If you have identified a need in your district or your region, this may be an opportunity to develop a resource to respond to that need. Resources developed through the grant are expected to be made public. 1 Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) are based on a new way of thinking about learning and provide a digital educational resource that can be reused, scaled and shared from a central online repository in the support of instruction and learning. Each RLO supports a single learning objective. They vary in size, scope and level of granularity ranging from small chunks of instruction to a series of combined resources to provide a more complex learning experience. Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 2 of 10

3 Letter of Intent to Apply for the Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant For the 2016 Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant, ALL DISTRICTS, INCLUDING EACH DISTRICT IN A MULTI-DISTRICT PARTNERSHIP, MUST SUBMIT A LETTER OF INTENT TO APPLY FOR THE GRANT BY APRIL 8, your letter of intent to School Improvement Grants (DOE) by Friday, April 8, Your letter should indicate: Whether you are applying as a single district or as part of a partnership The names, accountability levels, and Title 1 status of each school in your district that will be directly involved in grant activities. (Level 3, 4 and 5 Title I schools are eligible to receive 323-P Title I funds.) The name, role and contact information for your district s grant contact. Districts applying as part of a partnership should also: Indicate the names of all districts participating in the partnership Provide the accountability level of each participating district Indicate whether or not each district is working with the Low Income Education Access Project (LEAP); Identify the partnership lead district, which will submit a single grant narrative on behalf of the partnership. The name, role, district, and contact information for the partnership s lead contact The letter does not need to include any dollar amounts, just an indication of the district s intent to apply for funds. Dollar amounts will be determined by the number of districts and related schools applying funds. Award announcements will be made as soon as possible after April 8. For your convenience, a form letter that fulfills this requirement is included in Appendix A of the RFP. Districts may complete or adapt this form and submit it via . (See submission instructions, below, in Required Forms). THE GRANT PLANNING PROCESS The Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant is a resource provided to districts committed to improving teaching and learning for students in poverty. Eligibility to apply for the grant is as follows: Level 3, 4 and 5 districts working with the Low Income Education Access Project (LEAP) may apply as single districts or in partnership with other districts; Level 2 districts working with the LEAP initiative may apply only in partnership with any Level 3, 4 or 5 district; Level 3, 4 or 5 districts NOT working with the LEAP initiative may only apply in partnership with a district that IS working with the LEAP initiative. All applications must include a district that is working with the LEAP initiative and a Level 3, 4 or 5 district. (In some instances, the same district may meet both of these criteria.) Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 3 of 10

4 A district may be included in only one application. It may not be included in multiple grant proposals. Districts are strongly encouraged to work collaboratively with their DSAC Regional Assistance Directors and other DSAC team members, or with their Office of District and School Turnaround Liaison to develop their plans for forming partnerships and for using Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty grant funds. How your DSAC team or ODST Liaison can help. DSAC Team members and ODST Liaisons are available to act as strategic thought partners as you develop your plans, and assist you with: Identifying key areas of need related to students in poverty; Developing plans consistent with identified needs that address district and school improvement goals related to teaching students in poverty; Making connections with potential partner districts; Creating effective plans for monitoring implementation; Identifying indicators and benchmarks for measuring early indicators of change and short term outcomes; Developing plans to collect information on indicators and benchmarks. Assistance with your grant application will be customized to your specific needs. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING YOUR GRANT NARRATIVE: THE PART III: PLANS FOR GRANT FUND USE Once a district or partnership s plans for using grant funds are in place, the 323-P/295 Part III Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant Narrative Form (the grant narrative) and accompanying budget workbooks must be completed. Only ONE Part III Narrative needs to be submitted on behalf of the partnership, accompanied by separate budget workbooks for each participating district. The lead partnership district will gather budget workbooks and copies of signed cover pages from all participating districts and submit them all together. What we are for looking for in this part of your district s grant application is evidence that you: used a reflective, evidence-based process to identify and prioritize needs related to students in poverty; developed thoughtful and reasonable plans for addressing those needs; and have specific strategies for monitoring the implementation and outcomes of those plans, all with an eye towards helping your district(s) determine whether activities or strategies: 1) result in the kinds of changes that will lead to the longer-term district and school improvement you expect it to foster, and 2) are a worthwhile investment of your limited resources. In short, we want to see that you are engaged in an evidence-based cycle of inquiry (aka, a continuous learning cycle) that incorporates the use of SMART criteria (i.e., Specific and Strategic; Measurable; Action Oriented; Rigorous, Realistic and Results-focused; and Timed and Tracked) to support the process. Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 4 of 10

5 Completing the Part III Plan for Grant Fund Use Form The Part III: Plan for Grant Fund Use form consists of three sections, each of which is briefly described below: Section A. Proposed Activities, Strategies, Initiatives Section B. Grant Narrative Detail Section C. District and Partnership Contact Information Section A. Proposed Activities, Strategies, Initiatives Section A asks for a numbered list of the activities, strategies and initiatives that you propose to support with your Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant. Section B. Grant Narrative Detail Section B is the heart of your grant proposal. This is where you will provide details for the activity (or activities) you propose to support with your grant award. Please provide a separate narrative for each activity, initiative or strategy listed in Section A. The narrative should include information on the following key topics, each of which is briefly described below. Topic 1. A brief description of the activity, strategy, or initiative. Topic 2. Your rationale for selecting this activity, strategy, or initiative. Topic 3. Anticipated changes. Topic 4. Monitoring implementation and assessing change. Note: The Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant Rubric (at the end of these instructions) is another resource to provide districts with specific guidance about types of information and level of detail that your narrative will need to include in order to be approved. Topic 1. A brief description of the activity, strategy, or initiative. Describe how the activity targets and will lead to transformation in the core instructional practices that are used in every classroom and instructional setting in order to accelerate improvements in teaching, learning, and student achievement of students in poverty. Include a description of the nuts and bolts of the activity you are proposing, focusing primarily on answering the following questions: What will educators be doing and learning while engaged in this activity Who will be involved (Teachers? Administrators? ) How many people will be involved? Which schools will be involved? Who will lead/facilitate the activity? What are their qualifications? When does the activity begin? When will it be completed? What resources are needed? How much will it cost? Topic 2. Your rationale for selecting this activity, strategy, or initiative. Explain to us why you chose this particular piece of work to support, including information about the evidence and process you used to select it and how it connects to and supports existing school and district improvement plans designed to support students in poverty. Topic 3. Anticipated changes. Provide clear, specific examples of the changes you expect to see in educators and/or the products/tools you expect to see developed as a direct result of this activity, strategy, or initiative. Stated another way: How will you know Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 5 of 10

6 that this activity is been successful? (Note: We are looking for early indicators of change here directly related to grant funded activities.) Explain how these early indicators of change (e.g., changes in actions, discourse, expectations, instructional practices or products developed) will directly support and lead to changes in practice at the classroom level (i.e., the intermediate/short term outcomes that will ultimately have a positive effect on student learning and student achievement). Be sure to articulate clear measures of implementation, focusing especially on early evidence of change benchmarks and short-term outcomes. Topic 4. Monitoring implementation and assessing change. Describe your plans to assess whether any products or learning from the activity, strategy, or initiative are: a) being implemented with fidelity, and b) leading to the anticipated changes you articulated in Topic 3 Be sure to include information about: The types of evidence you will be collecting; How that information will be collected and analyzed and by whom; Who is ultimately responsible for this process. NOTE: ESE does not plan to collect these data for accountability purposes. Section C. Partnership and District Contacts This section asks you to list the names and contact information for the primary contact for a multidistrict partnership, and contact persons for each participating district. If you are applying as a single district, list district contact information under District Contact Person(s). COMPLETING YOUR GRANT SUBMISSION SUBMIT YOUR ENHANCING SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS IN POVERTY GRANT FOR APPROVAL TO THE ESE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT MAILBOX. Once you have completed the Part III narrative, submit an electronic copy of the form, along with your 323-P and 295 budget workbooks to the School Improvement mailbox. Please cc David Parker. Districts applying in partnership will send budget workbooks and copies of signed cover sheets to the lead partnership district. The lead partner will then submit all documents together to the School Improvement mailbox. AMENDMENTS If any future amendments to the grant are necessary, contract David Parker Dparker@doe.mass.edu for an amendment-ready copy of your budget workbook. Apply for the amendment by completing the Amendment worksheet in the budget workbook and updating the Budget Summary. Amendments must be completed at least 30 days before the expiration of funds. Amendment Deadline: August 26, 2016 Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 6 of 10

7 ENHANCING SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS IN POVERTY GRANT FINAL REPORT Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty grantees are expected to submit a final report of no more than three pages using the Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Final Grant Final Report Template in Appendix B by October 31, 2016, one month after the end of the grant funding period. The Final Grant Report is designed to a provide the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with a snapshot of how your grant was used, any successes and challenges in implementing the grant as planned, reasons for any changes, and your plans for supporting ongoing work to monitor, deepen and sustain the learning associated with grant activities. We use the information to help improve the grant process. The report is also shared with your DSAC Regional Assistance Director or Office of District and School Turnaround Liaison, who may contact you to discuss possible follow up support, if that seems appropriate. Fund Use Narrative Instructions Page 7 of 10

8 Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant Narrative Rubric Section B, Topic 1: Description of each activity, strategy, initiative What will you do with the funds from your Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty grant? What? Who? How many? When? 0 - No Evidence Description of the activity 1 - Needs Improvement 2- Satisfactory There is insufficient explanation of how the activity will build educator capacity to teach students in poverty It is not clear what educators will be doing and/or learning The timeline for activities is missing or incomplete The timeline falls outside of the funding period of the grant The narrative includes insufficient detail on how Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty grant funds will be used to support the activity It is not evident whether, how, or which schools, especially Level 3, 4 and 5 schools, will substantially benefit from the activity It is not evident that students with disabilities will substantially benefit from grant activities Description of the activity. There is a clear and cogent description of how the activity will build educator capacity to teach students in poverty The description includes an explanation of how the activity targets and will lead to improvements in core instructional practices benefitting students in poverty It is clear what educators will be doing and/or learning while engaged in the activity The timeframe for the activity falls within the grant timeline The narrative details how Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty grant funds support the activity (e.g., stipends, contractors) The activity will clearly benefit schools, especially Level 3 4 and 5 schools, and the narrative identifies which schools, in particular, will benefit Benefits for students are clearly described in proposed grant activities Participant information: Time commitments of educators is not detailed It is not clear who will be engaged in the activity and/or how many educators will be involved Facilitator information Information about facilitators or trainers is missing or incomplete Details of expenses are missing or incomplete Participant information: Time commitments of involved educators are provided The narrative clearly indicates who will be engaged in the activity and how many educators will be involved. Facilitator information: Facilitator names are provided, and qualifications of trainers/facilitators are clearly described (e.g., attended November 2015 Teaching with Poverty in Mind workshop) Topic 2: Rationale for selecting this activity, strategy or initiative Why did you choose this activity, strategy, initiative? Rationale for choosing activity: It is not clear why this activity was selected It is not clear what needs are being addressed by this activity Connections between the activity and strategic goals Rationale for choosing activity: Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant Narrative Rubric ~ Page 8 of 10 The narrative provides a cogent rationale for selecting each activity, including details on: o The strategic goals the activity supports o The educator, school and/or district needs

9 Topic 3: Anticipated Changes How will you know the activity has been successful? Note: ESE will not be collecting benchmark data. Benchmarks are for the purpose of tracking implementation and ensuring successful implementation of activities. are not clear A through-line to the classroom is not described or is incomplete The process for reflecting upon information is not described Indicators of change Expected changes in educator behaviors or products are not clearly described Identified outcomes are long-range, not short term or intermediate It is not clear that (or how) expected changes from this activity will produce meaningful change in the classroom Success criteria for the activity are not clearly described being addressed o How the activity addresses and supports those needs and goals o What makes the activity a high-leverage strategy that will contribute to improving teaching and learning for students in poverty How the activity, strategy, or initiative will ultimately reach the classroom Indicators of change The narrative describes the changes you are expecting to see in educators and/or the products/tools you expect to see developed as a direct result of this activity, strategy, or initiative. The narrative explains how these early indicators of change (e.g., changes in actions, discourse, expectations, instructional practices or products developed) will support and lead to changes in practice at the classroom level (i.e., the intermediate/short term outcomes that will ultimately have a positive effect on the learning of students in poverty). The narrative provides specific information about the early indicator(s) of change that the district expects to see as a direct result of this activity. For instance: o changes in educator knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, instructional practices, beliefs o artifacts such as tools or products that will be developed Example(s) represent meaningful measures of change likely to result from this activity The narrative provides an explanation of how the district expects these early indicators of change and/or tools and products to support and/or lead to changes affecting the classroom (e.g., implementation of tools or products developed, changes in practice) There is a description of what a successful outcome for each activity will look like Tools and resources that will be generated from each activity are described Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant Narrative Rubric ~ Page 9 of 10

10 Topic 4: Monitoring implementation and assessing change Note: ESE will not require data collected during the monitoring process to be reported. Monitoring is for the purpose of tracking implementation, not for district accountability. Monitoring process A plan to monitor the quality and fidelity of the activity is missing or incomplete It is not clear how evidence will be collected, or by whom SMART criteria are not evident in the plan to monitor the activity A timeline for collecting information is missing or incomplete A process for feedback and reflection is missing or incomplete Monitoring process The narrative describes plans to monitor implementation and assess whether any products or learning from the activity, strategy, or initiative are: o of high quality and/or are being implemented with fidelity and o leading to the anticipated changes described in topic 3. The narrative includes information about the specific indicators and/or evidence (qualitative and/or quantitative) that will be used in this work, and how that information will be collected and analyzed. The narrative describes how the district intends to measure and assess changes in educator practice described in Topic 3 Plans for monitoring implementation and assessing change are appropriate to the scope and scale of the activity Responsibility for monitoring The narrative identifies who is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, data collection, and assessment processes The timeline and frequency for collecting information is noted A process for providing feedback to stakeholders is described Enhancing Supports for Students in Poverty Grant Narrative Rubric ~ Page 10 of 10