Next Generation Learning Challenge awards

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

The Next Generation Learning Challenge, an effort to identify and scale technology-enabled approaches to college readiness and completion, has announced inaugural grants totaling $10.6 million to twenty-nine organizations.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and William and Flora Hewlett foundations, the initiative awarded grants to institutions, collectives, and companies working to address a continuum of interrelated issues spanning secondary and postsecondary education, from grades six through college. Recipients include the Iowa Community College Online Consortium, Wake Forest University, and Carnegie Learning, which was awarded $750,000 for its Mathematics Fluency Data Collaborative, an effort to improve performance in developmental math courses by building games to help students develop the fluency and number sense required to succeed in mathematical problem solving.

"The Mathematics Fluency Data Collaborative will establish a practice that values iterative testing and refinement of learning games based on careful examination of student data," said Steve Ritter, chief scientist for Carnegie Learning and director of the project. "Our team of researchers will mine the data to better understand which gaming parameters lead to success. The game code will be released under an open source license, so that the games can serve as a model for additional development as well as a platform for researchers interested in developing and testing improvements to the games."

For a complete list of grantees, visit the Next Generation Learning Web site.

“The Next Generation: Learning to Learn.” Next Generation Learning Challenges Press Release 4/07/11.

“Carnegie Learning Math Project Awarded Next Generation Learning Challenges Grant.” Carnegie Learning Press Release 4/07/11.

Personnel Development To Improve Services and Results for Children With Disabilities

The purposes of this program are to (1) help address State-identified needs for highly qualified personnel--in special education, related services, early intervention, and regular education--to work with children, including infants and toddlers, with disabilities; and (2) ensure that those personnel have the necessary skills and knowledge, derived from practices that have been determined through scientifically-based research and experience, to be successful in serving those children. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.325K.

Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education (IHEs).

AT&T grants awarded

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

To help meet a Grad Nation campaign goal of raising the national high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020, AT&T has announced a $2 million investment in three initiatives that are using data-driven systems to better prepare kids to transition into high school.

AT&T will contribute $500,000 each to the Data Quality Campaign, which works to increase the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement, and Civic Enterprises, which is working to develop early warning and intervention systems through research on student absenteeism, behavioral problems, and course failures. Civic Enterprises will use the remainder of its funds to implement Grad Nation's Civic Marshall Plan, which seeks to address the dropout problem in high schools.

In addition, AT&T will contribute $1 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to expand the BE GREAT: Graduate program, which works to identify established risk factors among vulnerable high school students and provide mentors to help students graduate. In an effort to catch problems early and instill good academic practices before high school, BGCA will use a portion of the funds to launch BE READY, a program designed to teach study and organizational skills to eighth- and ninth-graders.

"We are grateful for this generous support from AT&T enabling us to expand the reach of our graduation initiative," said BGCA president and CEO Roxanne Spillett. "We know from research and firsthand experience, that many of the middle school age youth we serve suffer serious challenges making a successful transition into high school. We believe that every child in America deserves a great future and graduating from high school is an absolute must."

“AT&T Commits $2 Million to Support High School Retention Goals of the Grad Nation Campaign.” AT&T Press Release 3/23/11.

Youth grants announced

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation has announced that it will invest up to $42 million over three years in nine nonprofit organizations working to transform the life trajectories of the country's most economically disadvantaged youth.

Recipients include Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL), which was awarded a three-year grant of up to $5 million, including $2 million in the first year, to boost the number of young people in its summer learning program, increase its evidence base, and strengthen its capacity to sustain growth; the Center for Employment Opportunities, which was awarded a three-year investment of up to $6 million, including a first year award of $2.25 million, to build its service capacity in upstate New York and expand into new areas in California and Oklahoma; the Children's Aid Society-Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, which was awarded $3.5 million to serve approximately some 11,000 young people nationally over the next three years; and the Children's Home Society of North Carolina, which was awarded a three-year investment of up to $6 million, including $2 million in the first year, to expand and implement its Family Finding program statewide. Additional grants were awarded to the Children's Institute, the Gateway to College National Network, Reading Partners, and the SEED Foundation.

The grants were awarded through EMCF's new True North Fund, which was created to capitalize and expand programs serving low-income youth. True North includes $10 million from the Social Innovation Fund; $10 million in matching funds from EMCF, including $2 million to support evaluation; and a total of $17 million from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Duke Endowment, the Tipping Point Community, and the Open Society Foundations. The latter group of funders awarded support to help those grantees that meet their own grantmaking criteria fulfill a portion of their SIF matching requirement and expand and evaluate their programs.

"By aggregating and delivering upfront large infusions of capital for building evidence and organizational capacity, we and our co-investors in the True North Fund hope to demonstrate a more effective model of leveraging private and public capital on behalf of low-income youth," said EMCF president Nancy Roob. "If our investments succeed, we will have made a major step toward taking to scale proven, cost-effective solutions to some of our nation's toughest problems, and made an enormous difference in the lives of thousands of young people."

“Charting a Path for Growth.” Edna McConnell Clark Foundation Online Announcement 3/31/11.

Transition to Teaching grants

The Transition to Teaching program encourages (1) the development and expansion of alternative routes to full State teacher certification, as well as (2) the recruitment and retention of highly qualified mid-career professionals, recent college graduates, and highly qualified paraprofessionals as teachers in high-need schools operated by high-need local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that operate as high-need LEAs. Applications for grants under this competition must be submitted electronically using the Grant.gov Apply site (Grants.gov). You may access the electronic grant application for Transition to Teaching program at http://www.Grants.gov. You must search for the downloadable application package for this program by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA number's alpha suffix in your search (e.g., search for 84.350, not 84.350A).The telephone number for the Grants.gov Helpdesk is 1-800-518-4726 or e-mail: support@grants.gov.

Link to Full Announcement

Transition to Teaching Grant Program CFDA 84.350A

Dollar General Literacy grants

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation provides support to schools, libraries, and literacy-based nonprofit organizations throughout Dollar General’s thirty-five-state market. The foundation is now accepting applications for Back to School Literacy Grants and Youth Literacy Grants.

Back to School Grants provide funding to help school libraries and media centers meet some of the financial challenges they face in the following areas: implementing new or expanding existing literacy programs; purchasing new technology or equipment to support literacy initiatives; and purchasing books, materials, or software for literacy programs. Applicants must be K-12 public, private, or charter schools. Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded.

Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries, and nonprofit organizations working to help students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading. Applicants must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, a K-12 private or public school, a college or university, or a public library. Grants of up to $3,000 will be awarded.

All applicant organizations must reside in and provide direct service within Dollar General's thirty-five-state market area and must be located within twenty miles of a Dollar General store.

For complete grant guidelines, eligibility quiz, application procedures, and store locator, visit the Dollar General Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP