Framework for Learning grants, Degree Qualifications

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Lumina Foundation has announced three grants totaling $2.35 million to test and refine the beta version of its Degree Qualifications Profile, a framework for defining the knowledge and skills individual students need to earn an associate, bachelor's, or master's degree.

The foundation awarded $1.5 million to the Senior College Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges to transform its accreditation process with an eye toward assuring clearer standards for graduation rates, levels of learning, and degree outcomes. Using a four-phased process, WASC will redesign the process for member schools in California and Hawaii with the Degree Qualifications Profile as a central reference point. The work is expected to be completed by the fall of 2014.

In addition, the Higher Learning Commission and the Council of Independent Colleges each received grants of $425,000 to explore the applicability and usefulness of the Degree Profile model. To that end, HLC will recruit a cohort of twenty diverse institutions, including community colleges, that are eligible for the region's Open Pathway model, while CIC also will recruit a number of schools to apply and test the model.

"We hope to learn both how well the draft profile works as a common definition for degree levels and whether it can plan an ongoing role in the accreditation process," said HLC president Sylvia Manning. "Does the Degree Qualifications Profile offer descriptions of attainment for American higher education that are broad and flexible enough to fit such a diverse enterprise but also specific and substantive enough to constitute a valid standard? And how might it be improved?"

“Lumina Foundation Awards Three Degree Profile Grants: Testing a New Framework for Learning.” Lumina Foundation Press Release 5/12/11.

UEDA Identifies "Talent Development", "Innovation and Entrepreneurship", and "Research and Analysis" among Categories in 2011 Awards of Excellence Com

May 17, 2011

The University of Economic Development Association (UEDA) has announced that nominations are currently open for UEDA's 2011 Awards of Excellence. Nominations are due by June 30.

Click here for complete background and a description of the application process.

There are five new Award of Excellence categories for 2011:

1. Talent Development
2. Innovation and Entrepreneurship
3. Community Connected Campus
4. Leadership and Collaboration
5. Research and Analysis

Several of the category examples may be of interest to the workforce community. The Talent Development award focuses on the partnerships needed to create flexible, responsive career pathways to expanding business, offering as an example "collaboration between a community college and a research university to develop a new certificate program in sustainable manufacturing." The Research and Analysis ategory focuses on the capacity of colleges and universities to provide new forms of research and to design the next generation of analytic tools for community, economic and workforce development practitioners.

STEP-UP Short Term Education program

Description

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications from institutions to implement and evaluate the NIDDK Short-Term Education Program for Underrepresented Persons (STEP-UP). STEP-UP is a national program designed to provide ten to twelve weeks of summer research education and training for high school and undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds underrepresented in the NIDDK mission areas including diabetes, endocrinology, metabolism, nutrition, obesity, and digestive, liver, urologic, kidney, and hematologic diseases.

Link to Full Announcement

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-11-011.html

Talent Dividend Prizes

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Kresge Foundation in Troy, Michigan, has announced that more than fifty metropolitan areas have entered its $1 million Talent Dividend Prize competition, which aims to boost college attainment in U.S. cities by 1 percent.

Supported by Kresge and the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education, the prize will be awarded to the metropolitan area with the greatest increase in the number of post-secondary degrees granted per capita over three years. The metropolitan area that wins can use the prize to launch a national promotional campaign centered on talent development. Kresge also announced that it will award up to $570,000 in $10,000 challenge grants to cities that secure a like amount of support from donors to support local college achievement.

According to CEOs for Cities, the nonprofit organization that will award the prize, a 1 percent increase in college attainment would spur an estimated $124 billion a year in increased earnings nationwide. "There are huge financial gains that can be achieved through small improvements in educational attainment in our cities," said CEOs for Cities president and CEO Lee Fisher. "This competition is part of our ongoing effort to generate awareness — and ultimately action — among urban leaders of the potential economic returns that can be achieved by increasing the rate of college degrees by just 1 percentage point. Simply put, the more educated a city's population, the more robust its economy will be."

“$1 Million Competition Aims to Boost Number of College Grads in Urban Centers Across the U.S..” Kresge Foundation Press Release 5/10/11.

Math Sciences Workforce Program

Description

The long-range goal of the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) Workforce program is to increase the number of well-prepared U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents who pursue careers in the mathematical sciences and in other NSF-supported disciplines. The Research Training Groups in the Mathematical Sciences (RTG) activity is a part of the Workforce program. RTG supports education through research involvement in groups centered on a common research interest that span the entire spectrum of educational levels from undergraduates through postdoctoral associates.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 11-540

American Graduate Initiative

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced the launch of a $4.4 million public media initiative to help improve high school graduation rates in the United States.

Public radio and television stations located in twenty community "hubs" where the dropout crisis is most acute will receive grants through the American Graduate initiative. In turn, the stations will provide resources and services designed to raise awareness of the dropout crisis, coordinate action with community partners, and work directly with students, parents, teachers, mentors, volunteers, and leaders to lower dropout rates. Stations in up to forty additional markets will receive grants through the National Center for Media Engagement. In addition, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through its support of CPB's Teacher Town Halls and the StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative, will give teachers a way to share their perspectives and experiences with helping all students graduate high school.

American Graduate builds on the success of public media in early childhood education to reach students in middle school — the stage in a young person's life when the disengagement that leads to dropping out often begins. Research shows that every year more than one million students drop out of high school. If the trend persists over the next decade, experts predict that it will cost the country more than $3 trillion in lost wages, productivity, and taxes.

"Public radio and television stations are deeply rooted in the communities they serve, and they have demonstrated time and again that they are an important resource in helping to address critical issues such as the mortgage crisis, at the local level," said CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison. "Through American Graduate, public media will 'make it happen' by helping communities take on a new challenge — high school graduation rates — to create a more promising future for our children, the economy, and the entire nation."

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Introduces Initiative to Combat the Dropout Crisis.” Corporation for Public Broadcasting Press Release 5/03/11.

Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program provides funding for new, mid-level and senior-level alliances, the Bridge to the Doctorate (LSAMP-BD) Activity, and knowledge generation activities in broadening participation, e.g., research on topics in STEM education related to retention and persistence of students from populations underrepresented in STEM majors and careers. In FY2012, the program plans to support up to two pilot regional Louis Stokes Centers of Excellence in Broadening Participation which will further scholarly research in broadening participation in STEM disciplines and mentor institutions regionally that have interest in increasing STEM B. S. degrees to underrepresented minorities but are not currently participating in one of the 41 existing alliances.

The LSAMP program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming STEM education through innovative recruitment and retention strategies and experiences in support of groups that historically have been underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaskan Natives, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Pacific Islanders. The knowledge generation portfolio contributes to the body of literature on successful practices in student recruitment, retention, persistence, and attainment of STEM undergraduate and graduate degrees, especially for the previously mentioned populations underrepresented in STEM disciplines.

Managed synergistically, the LSAMP program enables seamless transitions from pre-college to the STEM baccalaureate to attainment of the doctorate and entry to the STEM professoriate. Support begins at the baccalaureate level with emphasis on development of broad-based regional and national alliances of academic institutions, school districts, state and local governments, and the private sector to increase the diversity and quality of the STEM workforce. Eligible LSAMP undergraduate students may receive continued support for up to two additional years of STEM post baccalaureate study through the Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity. BD participants are expected to transition to STEM Ph.D. programs and the professoriate and/or STEM workforce.

Linkages with NSF projects and other graduate programs in the nation furthers the graduate education experience of underrepresented STEM students through the doctorate level, preparing them for fulfilling opportunities and productive careers as STEM faculty and research professionals.

Summer Stipend grants

Summer Stipends support individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly resources. Summer Stipends support full-time continuous work on a humanities project for a period of two months. Summer Stipends support projects at any stage of development. Summer Stipends are awarded to individual scholars. Organizations are not eligible to apply. NEH encourages submission of Summer Stipends applications from faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Institutions with High Hispanic Enrollment, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. The Summer Stipends program welcomes projects that respond to NEH's Bridging Cultures initiative. Such projects could focus on cultures internationally or within the United States. International projects might seek to enlarge Americans' understanding of other places and times, as well as other perspectives and intellectual traditions. American projects might explore the great variety of cultural influences on, and myriad subcultures within, American society. These projects might also investigate how Americans have approached and attempted to surmount seemingly unbridgeable cultural divides, or examine the ideals of civility and civic discourse that have informed this quest.

Link to Full Announcement

http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/stipends.html

School In-Service Training

Deadline: May 6, 2011

Source: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

• School In-Service Training Grants for Grades 9–12 Teachers

The NCTM will provide $4,000 for high school teachers (9-12) to receive in-service training. Costs may include honoraria and expenses for consultants, materials, substitute time, and conference or workshop registrations. Entries will be judged on need, mathematics content, scope of the plan, number of teachers and students affected, distribution of costs, urban-rural isolation, and multi-ethnic student body. Only schools with at least 1 current NCTM individual member are eligible to apply.

Nickelodeon Big Help grants

[from Philanthropy News Digest] Sponsored by Nickelodeon and the NEA Foundation, NEA Foundation-Nickelodeon Big Help Grants are available in the form of Student Achievement grants of up to $5,000 forK-8 public school educators in the United States.

The Big Help Grants program is dedicated to the development and implementation of ideas, techniques, and approaches to addressing four key concerns: environmental awareness, health and wellness, students' right to a quality public education, and active community involvement. The grants target these four concerns as areas of great promise in helping 21st century students develop a sense of global awareness that encourages and enables them to make a difference in their world.

The application process is the same as for the NEA Foundation's Student Achievement grants. Applicants should specify that their request is for the Big Help Grants program in their application.

Visit the NEA Foundation Web site for complete program information.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Lumina Foundation announces grants

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

The Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education has announced grants totaling $15.4 million to eleven organizations in eight states and the District of Columbia working to enhance student preparation, success, and productivity in higher education.

First-quarter recipients include the San Francisco-based Tides Center, which was awarded two grants totaling $8.15 million to assist Lumina with its multistate, multiyear productivity initiative. Other grants included $1 million to the D.C.-based Aspen Institute to create the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence; $425,000 to the Chicago-based Higher Learning Commission to explore the applicability and usefulness of the Degree Qualifications Profile through the Open Pathways accreditation affirmation process; and $200,000 to Complete College America in Zionsville, Indiana, to assist state consortia in the development of strong Community College and Career Training Grant (C3TG) applications. In addition, the foundation awarded $200,000 in strategic planning support to the United Negro College Fund in Fairfax, Virginia.

"The key to our nation's long-term economic success is a twenty-first century labor force, one with adaptable workers who possess the kinds of high-level skills and relevant knowledge that can only be offered in well-designed and rigorous postsecondary programs," said Lumina Foundation president and CEO Jamie Merisotis. "That's why the Big Goal — that by the year 2025, 60 percent of working-age Americans will hold high-quality college degrees or credentials — is all about ensuring that many more students enroll in and complete such programs, which is the focus of the deserving organizations that Lumina granted dollars to in the first quarter."

“Lumina Foundation Announces 2011 First-Quarter Grants.” Lumina Foundation for Education Press Release 4/18/11.

Research Training Groups in the Mathematical Sciences

Description

The long-range goal of the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) Workforce program is to increase the number of well-prepared U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents who pursue careers in the mathematical sciences and in other NSF-supported disciplines. The Research Training Groups in the Mathematical Sciences (RTG) activity is a part of the Workforce program. RTG supports education through research involvement in groups centered on a common research interest that span the entire spectrum of educational levels from undergraduates through postdoctoral associates.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 11-540

Mentoring Through Critical Transition Points in the Mathematical Sciences

Description

The long-range goal of the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) Workforce program is to increase the number of well-prepared U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents who pursue careers in the mathematical sciences and in other NSF-supported disciplines. The Mentoring Through Critical Transition Points in the Mathematical Sciences (MCTP) activity is part of the Workforce Program. MCTP supports education through research involvement of cohorts of trainees at specific stages of professional development that have been identified as crucial to career success.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 11-542

Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Description

The purpose of the Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MSPRF) is to support future leaders in the mathematical sciences by facilitating their participation in postdoctoral research environments that will have maximal impact on their future scientific development. There are two options for awardees: Research Fellowship and Research Instructorship. Awards will support research in areas of the mathematical sciences, including applications to other disciplines.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 11-541