MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR Part A of the 2006-2007 MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS COMPETITIVE GRANT
I. Introduction/Background
In January of 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) became law. The Improving Teacher Quality Grant Programs (Title II) are a major component of the No Child Left Behind legislation. These programs encourage scientifically based professional development as a means for improving student academic performance. As schools are responsible for improving student learning, it is essential to have highly qualified teachers leading the way.
Title II, Part B of NCLB authorizes a Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) program. MSP is intended to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts. In Michigan, applications that include any of the 33 Mathematics and Science Centers will receive priority points over other applications as stated in the State School Aid Act Section 99 (see Appendix B). Other partners may include public charter schools or other public schools, colleges of teacher education, community colleges, businesses, and nonprofit or for-profit organizations concerned with mathematics and science education.
Michigan will be allotted approximately $4,000,000 for the MSP competitive grant program for 2006-07. The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is responsible for the administration of this program. A portion of the funds available will be awarded by the MDE to support the most appropriate, research-based proposal submitted by a state-wide organization or agency, working with eligible partnerships, to provide a program to develop credentialed teacher leaders across the state.
II. Program Description
Purpose: The Federal Mathematics and Science Partnership program supports improved student achievement in mathematics and science through enhanced training for mathematics and science teachers. The Michigan Department of Education is responsible for conducting a competitive grant process that makes awards to partnerships of high-need school districts and science, mathematics, and engineering departments within institutions of higher education (IHE) (Part B - Mathematics and Science Partnerships).
The Michigan Mathematics and Science Partnership program is concerned with the lack of sustainability of many professional development programs for teachers across the state. Current research suggests that learning communities allow for in-depth and sustainable professional development [1]. Furthermore, current budget constraints dictate that teacher development is site-based and “home-grown”, creating a need for school or district level teacher leaders to develop and guide local learning communities. According to the National Research Council mathematics education can be improved by providing teachers “with significant professional development opportunities to improve their teaching through in-depth study in the context of inquiry groups and summer institutes” and with “electronic and other forms of access to the ever-expanding knowledge base about teaching”. Furthermore they promote establishing “programs and policies that develop teacher leaders who facilitate the continuous learning of their colleagues” [2]. The American Association for the Advancement of Science in their Project 2061 Blueprints project states “Schools should … view individual teachers as specialists in various areas, including science” [3]. For these reasons the Michigan Mathematics and Science Partnership program will address the following outcomes for at least the next 2 years:
· Develop more teacher leaders in high needs schools with math or science content area expertise; and
· Sustain cohesive support and reliance by all Michigan school administrators for learning communities which provides effective professional development in mathematics and science for enhanced teacher expertise in targeted schools; and
· Establish and maintain a structured network for teacher leaders to keep current on State or National education policy and for the exchange of ideas.
The intention of the Michigan program is that if these outcomes are met, we will achieve the ultimate goal of increased student achievement in mathematics and science.
The Michigan program will allow the following authorized activity of Title II, Part B, Mathematics and Science Partnership, Section 2202, (c):
“Designing programs to prepare a mathematics or science teacher at a school to provide professional development to other mathematics or science teachers at the school and to assist beginning and other teachers at the school, including (if applicable) a mechanism to integrate the teacher's experiences from a summer workshop or institute into the provision of professional development and assistance.”
We interpret this activity to have two parts:
a) The designing of a teacher leader program including identifying, training and supporting teacher leaders; and
b) The selection, development and support of teacher leaders at high-needs schools.
(See Appendix A for proposed timeline)
III. Application Instructions
There will be two applications for this grant, with each application addressing one of the parts of the activity described above. These are instructions for Part A: Teacher Leader Development Module. Part B will be developed jointly by MDE and the Part A grantee.
A. Eligible Applicant
Any Institution of Higher Education or any other organization or agency with the ability to develop, deliver and sustain high quality professional development to regional centers across the state of Michigan is eligible to apply Part A. This professional development must be able to improve the academic achievement of students in the areas of mathematics or science by increasing the number of teachers qualified to conduct site-based professional development in mathematics or science in high-needs schools. This organization or agency will serve as a fiscal agent with oversight responsibilities for training and support of teacher leaders. Part B applicants will be limited to high needs districts and schools.
B. Targeted Activities
Applicants for this grant will prepare a professional development module that will:
Prepare and qualify mathematics and/or science teachers to provide professional development to other mathematics or science teachers in high needs schools; and to assist beginning and other teachers in high needs schools in the delivery of the curriculum. This project must result in Qualified Teacher Leaders. These are individuals who:
· Possess or are on track for a masters degree in mathematics or science education which includes credits in mathematics or natural science classes taught by STEM[1] faculty
· Possess the characteristics of an effective teacher [4]
· Exhibit knowledge of various curricula, including the Michigan Curriculum Framework
· Possess leadership skills and the ability to recognize and deliver effective professional development within a school environment
Provide school administrators with information and skills to establish and support learning communities within their buildings.
Establish and maintain a structured communication network for teacher leaders.
This grant will be awarded to one Michigan organization or agency for a 24-month period. This may be extended to up to 48 months if funding is available in the 2007-2008 grant period. (See timeline in Appendix A)
C. Project Criteria
Projects must also meet the following criteria:
· Must have an active and well-defined partnership with STEM staff in all aspects of the grant including planning and delivery of professional development. Since this is a state-wide effort it is expected that STEM faculty from a variety of institutions will be involved.
· Partnership with a Mathematics/Science Center is not required for an MSP grant. However, the department shall give preference to MSP projects which include Mathematics/Science Centers within the partnership
· Aligned to the Mathematics (Mathematics Teaching & Learning) and/or Science (Updated Science Benchmarks) Content Standards in the Michigan Curriculum Framework.
· Aligned with the Michigan professional development vision and standards (Professional Development Standards).
D. Proposal Requirements
Letters of Intent
Please send a letter stating your intent to submit an application for a MSP grant by March 31, 2006. In this letter, please provide a brief description of the proposal, list any anticipated partners and an estimate of the funds needed. Send this letter electronically to Ruth Anne Hodges, MSP Team Leader, .
Application
Proposals must be submitted through MEGS, where you will find all the forms and directions. (Applications through MEGS will be available beginning April 1, 2006). The following sections will be required:
· Professional Development Abstract: A brief summary (see MEGS for format) that provides sufficient information for an initial overview of the grant’s project goals, key features of the professional development that will be addressed and expected benefits of the work. This must include:
a. a description of the purpose of the project;
b. an outline of the proposed training model that includes a brief description of each of the components and a timeline
· Program Narrative (20 page maximum)
1. Plan of Work: As outlined in the timeline, the grantee will have approximately a year to finalize the proposed plan before the training of teacher leaders actually begins.
a. Description of Plan: The proposal describes a plan that convincingly demonstrates how the proposed professional development activities will address the targeted activities (see Section B) set forth by the MSP program. The plan described provides for work-embedded application of new learning, continuous reflection and ongoing support and meets standards for professional development set forth in the National Staff Development Council’s Standards for Staff Development (www.nsdc.org).
b. Activities: The proposal must have an efficient and reproducible means of identifying and training candidates to become teacher leaders in high needs schools. Activities must serve to:
· Identify potential candidates for teacher leaders.
· Train teacher leaders to deliver content-based professional development activities[2] for the teachers in the schools they will be serving.
· Support teacher leaders in the implementation of learning communities in schools.
· Provide the administrators in schools with teacher leaders with information and skills to establish and support learning communities within their buildings.
· Establish and maintain a structured communication network for teacher leaders
The plan must also be flexible enough to accommodate the training of teacher leaders from across the state and recognize that where these teacher leaders will be located will not be identified until February 2007 when the applications for teacher leaders from interested high-needs schools will be reviewed through a peer-review process. The recipient of Part A of the Michigan MSP grant will be expected to work with MDE in developing the application for Part B – Teacher Leader application.
2. Partnerships: As stated on page 1 of this application “Partnerships between high-need school districts and … STEM faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts.” Therefore the proposal must provide opportunities for STEM faculty and teacher leaders to interact in meaningful ways. Since this is a state-wide effort it is anticipated that STEM faculty from a variety of IHEs could be involved. Likewise, the proposal should have components that will help teacher leaders deal with the issues that often typify high-needs schools.
It is preferred, but not required, that the proposal also have a plan for utilizing Michigan’s Mathematics/Science Centers as per Sec99 of the School Aid Act (see Appendix B).
3. Research or Evidence Base: The project description must cite and present the current state of knowledge relevant to the project. This brief literature review must clearly indicate why the proposed activities were selected or designed. If the proposal builds on prior work, the project narrative must indicate what was learned from this work, and how the lessons learned are incorporated in the project.
4. Evaluation: The Teacher Leader Development Module will be part of a statewide evaluation project on the effectiveness of teacher leaders in improving the content knowledge of teachers in their schools. As such the applicant will be asked to cooperate with the state evaluator in gathering and interpreting the required data. However, the applicant must identify instruments that would appropriately measure the outcomes of the project. While these instruments might be subject to future change, the project description must allow reviewers to see that there are appropriate tools available that will adequately measure the project outcomes.
5. Management Capability: The project description must clearly demonstrate that the submitting team has expertise in the content area and the capacity to manage the project, organize the work, and meet deadlines. An organizational/process chart that outlines responsibilities of all partners must be included.
· Budget Detail
Although the initial project will train and support teacher leaders for the 07-08 school year, work on developing the training module will begin in the spring of ’06. Therefore the budget should be a 24-month project budget (8/1/06 through 8/1/08) and must clearly be tied to the scope and requirements of the project. All budgets must include provisions for key staff to participate in at least two state and one national or regional technical assistance meetings; and to help develop the application for Part B.
Matching and in-kind contributions are not required; however, these contributions are taken into positive consideration for reviewing project funding. Therefore, include descriptions of all such contributions.
· Appendix
While reviewers are only expected to read and score the 20-page narrative, the Appendix, which is not counted as part of the 20-page limit, must include
i. Resumes of key faculty and staff; (each resume cannot be over 2 pages).
ii. Letters of interest from STEM faculty
The Appendix can also include additional documents such as:
- Evidence of impact from prior professional development efforts; and/or
iv. Elaboration of research or evidence base used to design this program.
· Projects will compile and deliver a Professional Development packet to the Michigan Department of Education at the conclusion of the project. This packet will include the professional development materials (e.g., syllabus, text, teacher resources, classroom vignettes) and any other necessary components that would enable the professional development replication. Any products developed with Title II B monies do not have proprietary rights.
E. Application Procedures
Institutions/organizations interested in applying for a No Child Left Behind Mathematics and Science Partnership Competitive Grant must submit a completed application on MEGS [Michigan Electronic Grant System (MEGS)] by the deadline of May 26, 2006 by 11:59 p.m. (Applications through MEGS will be available beginning April 1, 2006).The following is a tentative timeline for notification after the application deadline: