2015 Grant Recipients

COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR SCIENCE, BERKLEY, CA

$35,000
Support for a partnership with UC Berkeley’s Natural History Museums and the Lawrence Hall of Science to develop a project designed to increase the quality of science teaching and quantity of STEM learning experiences to teachers and students in 6 cohort schools in the West Contra Costa Unified School District.

KENNEDY KRIEGER INSTITUTE, BALTIMORE, MD

$35,000
Support for Project UNITE (formerly referred to as Classroom Interventions).  Kennedy Krieger seeks to demonstrate that evidence-based educational interventions can be effective for improving outcomes in school-aged children who are at risk for placement in special education programs.  The Institute believes that if these at-risk students receive proactive support via targeted classroom modifications and adapted instruction, based on expert developmental and neurobehavioral assessments, their behavior and academic functioning will improve; they will be more available for learning; and many will be able to avoid placement in special education services. These interventions, initially targeted toward specific students, are also expected to have broader effects on instructional practices of the teacher and ultimately on the entire classroom, thereby reducing the risks of special education placement for multiple students.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MI

$35,000
Support of work with social studies teachers in one middle school department to design and pilot curriculum materials that will systematically support their students as they learn to read critically, think historically, and write arguments over time. The curriculum materials will help students within and across grade levels work on two main learning goals: (1) reading and analysis of historical and current sources and (2) writing effective arguments.

ORLEANS SOUTHWEST SUPERVISORY  UNION, HARDWICK, VT

$35,000
Our Food Matters Project of the Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union of Hardwick, Vermont to support and work with a team of six diverse grade level educators from around the district in designing and implementing innovative, standards aligned, science curriculum. This curriculum will use food systems and agriculture as a lens of learning that is inherently relevant and incorporates tenants of effective learning and 21st century skills: inquiry, applied technology, whole-child wellness, and project-based, real-world problem solving.