Blog

Last summer, two members of the MaineSpark Coalition traveled to Manchester, NH, to learn about something called “community mini-grants.” They’d heard that the New Hampshire Alliance for College and Career Readiness—recognizing the need for community engagement in a state that prizes local control above all else—had just awarded five small grants to organizations directly serving students. MaineSpark’s leaders were trying...
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Education First, in partnership with the NoVo Foundation, once again seeks applications for teacher-led and district-level projects that foster social and emotional skills in students in grades PK-12.  We will award up to $5,000 to individual teachers or teacher teams and up to $25,000 for district-level grants to implement an innovative project in their classrooms, schools and/or districts in the...
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This case study appears in our publication Partnering on Prep: A Toolkit for Building Strong District-Teacher Preparation Program Partnerships. You can access the full publication here. Effective partnerships often start with a mutual recognition that things need to change. Though Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) and Fresno State University (FSU) had been longtime neighbors, they agreed on a crucial point: it was...
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This op-ed was originally published in The 74. More than 9 million children attend our country’s lowest-performing schools, the vast majority of them students of color. While we are familiar with the components of successful schools — attributes such as high expectations for all students, strong leadership, highly capable teachers, excellent curriculum, regular use of data, a safe learning environment, and attention to...
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This essay was first published by Carnegie Corporation of New York. As the education laws came tumbling down from the statehouse, Alison Johnson’s head spun. New, more rigorous standards for student learning. New teacher evaluation procedures. New expectations for how teachers plan and deliver their instruction. As each law passed, the English teacher at “Typicaloosa” High School tried to understand them...
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This case study appears in our publication Partnering on Prep: A Toolkit for Building Strong District-Teacher Preparation Program Partnerships. You can access the full publication here. When Lisa Barron became the Director of Teacher Education and Partnerships at Austin Peay State University (APSU), she knew that APSU had work to do. Though the institution was placing student teachers in an...
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This piece originally appeared in The 74.  Jarred Amato of Maplewood High School in Nashville is building Project LIT Community, a national, grassroots literacy movement that empowers students as readers and leaders. Rosalia Burson of Baker Middle School in Tacoma, Washington, is developing a restorative re-entry process for students who have been out of school due to exclusionary discipline. Baltimore City...
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We are excited to announce a potential grant opportunity for organizations interested in implementing and supporting “Family Math.” Family Math refers to activities that happen outside of the classroom and within the context of family relationships, the community and everyday life that support young children and families to strengthen their math awareness and math concepts; feel enthusiastic about their math abilities...
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The Social Emotional Learning Innovation Fund offers up to $5,000 grant awards for teachers seeking to foster students’ social and emotional skills in fresh, inventive or innovative ways. In 2018, for the first time, the fund asked for proposals from educators working to support the social emotional needs of LGBTQI students. In honor of National Coming Out Day, we met...
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Nearly three years ago, we asked ourselves the question: “What can districts and teacher preparation programs, partnering closely together to prepare teachers, truly do to ensure that teachers are ready to support all students to succeed?” Together, with the Joyce Foundation, we embarked on a journey to learn from successful partnerships nationwide, and built a roadmap with 10 recommendations to...
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