Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

3 new school grant opportunities

Key points:

Each day, teachers are tasked with doing more and more with increasingly fewer resources. And despite federal emergency funding to help schools provide staff and resources as the pandemic abates, school leaders still grapple with funding challenges.

School grants are often one-time funding opportunities, and while they are not permanent policy changes, grants often help students earn much-needed scholarship money, gain valuable experiences, and they also connect teachers with classroom resources or professional development.…Read More

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Intervene K-12 Receives $150,000 Grant From National Nonprofit Accelerate To Make High-Impact Tutoring Sustainable And Cost-Effective

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Intervene K-12, a Houston-based online tutoring platform, announced today it will receive a $150,000 Innovation grant from Accelerate, a national nonprofit working to make high-impact tutoring a standard feature of the American school day. The grant will advance research on the impact of Intervene K-12’s signature tutoring method that pairs high-impact tutoring with mentorship to encourage academic success and career exploration. The grant will also support Intervene K-12’s unique curriculum integration and staffing model to hire tutors from various business sectors to expose scholars to diverse professionals. 

“Our unique combination of tutoring and career exploration has been implemented in dynamic, urban districts with measurable and replicable results,” said Aaron McCloud, founder and CEO of Intervene K-12. “With this grant we will be able to hire even more tutors from diverse personal and professional backgrounds to allow scholars to connect with tutors who look like them and work in highly desirable fields.” 

Intervene K-12 uses evidence-based lessons that are designed especially for Intervene K-12 scholars to meet them where they are. These lessons are leveraged using high-impact, online tutoring within the school day, during which small groups of three to five students facing similar challenges are paired with a tutor. …Read More

3M and Discovery Education Name 10 Grant Recipients Supporting Nation’s Young Scientists 

St. Paul, Minn. and Charlotte, NC. – 3M (@3M) and Discovery Education (@DiscoveryEd) today announced the 10 recipients of the inaugural 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network Alumni Grants Program. Launched in 2023, the program supports past participants and future scientists as part of the 3M Young Scientist Challenge ( #YoungScientist).  

As the nation’s premier middle school science competition, the annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge invites students in grades 5-8 to compete for a mentorship with a 3M scientist, a $25,000 grand prize, and the chance to earn the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.” The new Alumni Network and Alumni Grants Program offers previous participants networking opportunities, resources, events, and funding for existing science projects. Former finalists must be registered members of the 3M Young Scientist Alumni Network to apply. 

The Alumni Grants Program awarded a total of $25,000 in funding to ten 3M Young Scientist Challenge alumni. The 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Grants Program recipients across three funding areas are as follows:  …Read More

KidWind and Toyota Join Forces to Bring Renewable Energy Education to West Virginia

Saint Paul, Minn. — The KidWind Project, an international leader in clean energy education, has joined forces with Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (Toyota) to increase renewable energy education in West Virginia. Toyota has committed $50,000 for 2023 to expand renewable energy curriculum, specifically in Grant and Mineral counties in West Virginia.

“We are thrilled to work with Toyota and Clearway Energy Group to help bring more awareness about renewable energy to students and future wind energy employees in West Virginia,” said Michael Arquin, founder of KidWind. “This effort will support educators as they learn to incorporate renewable energy activities in their classrooms.”

Educators in West Virginia will have opportunities to participate in local professional development workshops. The workshops will include background on renewable energy and experience with curriculum and activities educators can use in the classroom to engage students in dynamic, hands-on learning. Educators will also have access to free materials through the program.…Read More

NWEA to Explore New Science Experiences for Students on Roblox

PORTLAND, Ore.–  NWEA – a not-for-profit, research and educational services organization serving K-12 students – announced today its new initiative focused on collaborative and immersive education opportunities on  Roblox – a global platform bringing millions of people together through shared experiences. Utilizing a  Roblox Community Fund  grant, the organization will explore innovative ways to use 3D immersive experiences to engage students in the study of science and assess their achievements in the subject.

While assessments are vital in traditional coursework, the results only demonstrate one small piece of a larger puzzle of what students know and are capable of achieving. Current assessments often leave out non-academic skills like student-decision making or progress toward reaching a goal. This is especially true when exploring  Next Generation Science Standards.

“This collaboration allows us to explore science as a verb by looking at how students engage in solving science instead of science as a noun,” said Dr. Abby Andres, Vice President of the Future Impact and Growth team at NWEA. “We’re excited to create high quality science experiences that can lead to new (and richer) data, new measurement opportunities that are both academic and non-academic, and ultimately better insights for teachers.”…Read More

TutorMe Partners With Snowline Joint Unified School District to Provide One-on-One Tutoring Support

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) — TutorMe, an online tutoring solution creating access and opportunity for all students, announces a partnership with  Snowline Joint Unified School District (JUSD). This partnership provides high school students in the rural community with accessible tutoring support to meet graduation requirements.

The state of California provided the district with an  A-G Completion Improvement Grant, which allows districts to purchase resources students need to improve their knowledge. The district used the funding to acquire TutorMe for students to increase their subject knowledge for the A-G requirements, which they must pass to apply to a four-year university.

Through the partnership with TutorMe, students can work one-on-one with high-quality tutors 24/7 when it works best for them, whether before school, after school, or even on weekends. TutorMe enables meaningful connections that students need to learn and thrive, creating better learning outcomes for the entire school community.…Read More

VHS Learning Is Awarded Teaching with Primary Sources Grant from Library of Congress 

 Boston – VHS Learning has been selected to receive a $25,000 grant to create a high-quality U.S. History curriculum and professional development supporting discussion-based primary source analysis online and in other learning settings. This project is funded by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Eastern Region program, managed by Waynesburg University.

“The goal with this grant project is to engage online learners in frequent primary source analysis experiences that increase their sense of connection to classmates, self, and the curriculum,” President & CEO of VHS Learning, Carol DeFuria said. “We are honored to receive the TPS grant from the Library of Congress to deepen student discussions through primary source analysis, and we look forward to bringing this to high school students through an online U.S. History curriculum.”

During the grant project, VHS Learning will design 33 primary source analysis lessons within a cohesive, newly-developed U.S. History curriculum. Primary source analysis will be integrated into weekly discussions within all three course formats of the curriculum, including asynchronous, paced, and self-paced models. …Read More

Utah STEM Action Center Adds IXL Math to K-12 Personalized Learning Grant List

SAN MATEO, Calif.  — IXL, the personalized learning platform used by more than 14 million students, announced that it has been added to Utah’s K-12 Math Personalized Learning Software Grant list by the state’s STEM Action Center. The approval signals to educators that IXL Math is backed by rigorous research to support its effectiveness in Utah and opens up grant funding for schools and districts to adopt the platform.

The Action Center promotes STEM education in Utah by identifying and providing funding for resources that are proven to help learners grow. Before adding IXL Math to the state’s grant list, the Action Center and Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) rigorously evaluated the platform to determine its efficacy. 

The UEPC’s research, Associations Between IXL Personalized Learning Software Use and Student Mathematics Achievement in Utah: 2020-2021, found a statistically significant relationship between IXL usage and an improvement in math outcomes, writing: “…on average [Utah students that] use IXL for 20 minutes or more per week perform better on statewide math assessments than students who do not use IXL.” …Read More

Cook Center for Human Connection Offers up to $100,000 in Matching Grants for School Calm Rooms

Salt Lake City — The Cook Center for Human Connection, a nonprofit dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention, launched today at the Mental Health Summit, co-hosted with the America Association of School Administrators, the Calm Room Grant to enable schools to create an in-school safe space for students to reset when they feel anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, angry, or frustrated.

The Cook Center is offering a nationwide matching grant of up to $5,000 per school for up to 20 schools to create a Calm Room in their building. A calm room is a supportive therapeutic environment for students to go where they can focus on self-calming efforts and learn to self-regulate their bodies and their emotions. An important component of an overall mental health approach, calm rooms feature quiet spaces with low-stimulation decor and fixtures, soft furniture and carpet, and other materials that reduce stress and foster positive coping techniques.

“More and more schools are developing calm rooms as part of a strategy to improve student well-being based on new psychological research,” said Cook Center CEO Anne Brown. “We are thrilled to offer the grant program to expand these efforts to more schools across the country and help them address student mental health, which has become one of the most critical issues of our time.”…Read More