Emerging Latino Leaders Scholarship Program

The Best Buy Children’s Foundation and NCLR are proud to launch the sixth NCLR–Best Buy Emerging Latino Leaders Scholarship Program, which will award $25,000 in scholarships to graduating Hispanic high school seniors throughout the United States. 

Starting next week, online applications will be made available here.  The deadline for submission is Friday, April 27, 2012, and the winners will be announced in May 2012.  

Blended Learning Technology initiative

Education Elements in Palo Alto, California, has announced commitments totaling $6 million to expand its blended learning technology services to meet the growing demand for such services from schools nationwide.

The funding — which includes support from Harmony Partners, Rethink Education, and Eff Martin of Anthos Capital, as well as longtime Education Elements contributors Tugboat Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, and Wally Hawley, founder of the venture capital firm InterWest Partners — will enable the organization to expand its education consultant and support teams, strengthen its content and technology partnerships, enhance its technology platform, and open an office in Washington, D.C.

Since 2010, Education Elements has worked with schools, educational networks, and districts to adopt blended learning. To that end, it offers a comprehensive suite of design services and an SAAS-based Hybrid Learning Management System (HLMS) that allows institutions to personalize student learning and focus on small-group instruction. Over the next two years, the organization plans to grow its network of forty schools to more than two hundred. Among other things, it will use the new funding to develop additional HLMS features that support schools' blended learning approaches, as well as tools that enhance students' ownership of their own learning.

"We are gratified by the continued support from the investment community in helping Education Elements and its partner schools realize the potential of blended learning for teachers and students," said Education Elements CEO Anthony Kim. "Given the unprecedented student achievement and teacher satisfaction that our first schools have experienced, demand for our products and services has far exceeded our expectations this past year, and we look forward to continuing to ensure that schools and teachers have the support they need to accelerate student learning by integrating novel approaches to technology into their everyday instruction."

“Education Elements Raises $6 Million to Continue Helping Schools Transition to Blended Learning.” Education Elements Press Release 

AT&T to invest in programs focused on graduation rates

AT&T has announced a five-year, $250 million commitment to boost high school graduation rates nationwide.

Building on the success of AT&T Aspire, which has invested more than $100 million in educational initiatives since 2008, the commitment will focus on improving high school success and college and career readiness through an approach that uses technology to engage at-risk students. As part of the effort, AT&T Aspire will collaborate with innovators, educators, and other companies at AT&T Foundry innovation centers to develop cutting-edge solutions to educational obstacles; expand strategic alliances with organizations that specialize in developing and marketing new interactive learning tools; incorporate interactive "gamification" and social media tools into educational programs; and enable students in underserved communities to explore careers before graduation through internships in areas related to twenty-first century skills. AT&T also will collaborate on a nationwide initiative with GameDesk to transform traditional instruction and equalize education for all students.

Later this year, the telecommunications giant plans to launch the Aspire Mentoring Academy, which will enable AT&T employees to help students at risk of dropping out to succeed in school and life. Building on the success of its Job Shadow initiative with Junior Achievement, the company will create a program in which employee-student teams learn work/life skills, explore real business problems, and form lasting relationships. The company also will work to encourage more of its customers, partners, and other stakeholders to join the campaign; increase its financial commitment to local education-focused groups, especially those that embrace social innovation, focus on twenty-first century skills, or provide training in STEM fields for students in underserved communities; and support community organizations that specialize in helping students and improving the quality of education.

"It will take all of us w

Dropout recovery grant

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Gateway to College National Network has funds available for partnerships between colleges and K-12 school districts to implement the Gateway to College dropout recovery program.

Gateway to College is a nationally recognized dual credit program that serves youth who have dropped out of school or are significantly behind in credits and unlikely to graduate. GtC classes are taught on the college campus. Students begin with the Foundation Experience, a learning community where students take developmental reading, writing, and math. After completing the Foundation Experience, students transition to regular college classes where they continue working toward their high school diploma and, simultaneously, an associate's degree.

In the fall of 2012, GtCNN will select up to ten college/K-12 partnerships for multi-year contracts worth between $325,000 and $440,000. In addition to start-up funds, successful applicants will receive training, technical assistance, professional development opportunities, and program evaluation-from the initial year of planning and training through program implementation, and for as long as the program remains a member of the network, which currently includes programs at thirty-five colleges in twenty states.

Successful applicants for start-up funds will be able to demonstrate flexible systems that allow students to earn a high school diploma (either through the college or in cooperation with a K-12 partner) and provide access to public K-12 education funds for high school completion; strong partnerships between the college and the local school district(s) involved in program implementation; the desire to embrace the Gateway to College academic approach and student support strategies at every level throughout the college; and compatibility of the Gateway to College model with the mission and vision of the college and school district, in order to support the required commitment to working with dropout youth.

Visit the Gateway to College Web site for complete program guidelines and application procedures.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

USA Funds announces grants for postsecondary education

[from Philanthropy News Digest] Indianapolis-based USA Funds has announced grants totaling $1.2 million to twenty-five organizations working to improve postsecondary education for students in thirteen states and the District of Columbia.

Ranging in amount from $20,000 to nearly $400,000, the fourth-quarter grants include $200,000 to the American Indian College Fund in Denver to provide needs-based scholarships to students attending tribal colleges and universities; $395,893 to the D.C.-based Links Foundationin support of a program that helps African-American students transfer from community colleges to four-year historically black colleges and universities; and $100,000 to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education in Juneau for an early awareness initiative that promotes postsecondary education preparedness among elementary, middle, and high school students in the state.

"The quarter's grant awards support a new initiative to help African-American students at community colleges complete their studies and pursue four-year degrees," said Robert C. Ballard, USA Funds' senior vice president for access and outreach. "USA Funds also is supporting national scholarship programs that help minority students benefit from higher education, as well as events to help families complete the application to qualify for federal and other sources of financial aid for college."

“USA Funds Awards $1.2 Million in Higher Education Grants.” USA Funds Press Release 3/06/12.

Walton Family Foundation awards $159 for public education

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Walton Family Foundation has announced grants totaling more than $159 million in support of efforts to reform the nation's public education system.

In 2011, the foundation awarded grants to more than two hundred organizations in sixteen communities with concentrations of low-income families and a shortage of high-performing schools. The largest grant, $22.9 million, was awarded to the Charter School Growth Fund in Broomfield, Colorado. Other grant recipients included Teach for America($12.5 million), the Local Initiatives Support Corporation ($6.78 million), the KIPP Foundation ($6.4 million), and GreatSchools, Inc.($4.77 million). Overall, the foundation awarded grants totaling $73.45 million in support of efforts to create quality schools; more than $58 million for initiatives to shape public policy; $26 million in support of programs that improve existing schools; and $1.4 million for research and evaluation.

For a complete list of the foundation's 2011 education reform grantees, visit the Walton Family Foundation Web site.“Walton Family Foundation Invests $159 Million in K-12 Education Reform in 2011.” Walton Family Foundation Press Release 3/07/12.

New Website Details Governor Corbett’s Proposed $338.1 Million Funding Increase for School Districts

February 28, 2012


Harrisburg – The Department of Education today launched a new website that clearly explains the increases in state taxpayer funding that school districts will receive under Governor Tom Corbett’s proposed 2012-13 state budget.

The website, which offers accurate funding information for the primary subsidies appropriated to school districts, is www.investinginpastudents.com.

Corbett’s proposed 2012-13 budget would provide more than $9.3 billion in state taxpayer funds in support of public schools. This is an increase of $338.1 million, or 3.7 percent, over the current budget and represents the largest amount of funding to public schools in state history.

Earlier this month, Governor Corbett proposed to consolidate four education line items – Basic Education Funding, Pupil Transportation, Nonpublic and Charter School Pupil Transportation, plus School Employees’ Social Security - into one funding source, known as the Student Achievement Education Block Grant.

Lumina announces $7.7M in grants

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation has announced grants totaling $7.7 million to twenty-nine organizations in sixteen states and the District of Columbia.

The grants will support organizations working to produce one of three outcomes the foundation believes will help boost the number of students who succeed in postsecondary education by 2025: preparation of students academically, financially, and socially for success beyond high school; an increase in college completion rates; and an increase in institutions' capacity to serve more students. 

Building Community and Capacity for Data-Intensive Research in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences and in Education and Human Resources

As part of NSF's Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) activity, the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), and the Office of Cyberinfrastructure seek to enable research communities to develop visions, teams, and capabilities dedicated to creating new, large-scale, next-generation data resources and relevant analytic techniques to advance fundamental research for the SBE and EHR sciences. Successful proposals will outline activities that will have significant impacts across multiple fields by enabling new types of data-intensive research. Investigators should think broadly and create a vision that extends intellectually across multiple disciplines and that includes--but is not limited to--the SBE or EHR sciences. 

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 12-538