PART III – REQUIRED PROGRAM INFORMATION
Please answer the following questions using no more than ten (10) pages not including the budget pages (using Arial 10 point font). Applicants must mail/email two (2) copies of the complete application (see submission instructions).
District: ______
Grant Contact Person: ______Title: ______
Address: ______
Email: ______Phone Number: ______
Safe and supportive schools shall mean schools that foster a safe, positive, healthy and inclusive whole-school learning environment that (i) enables students to develop positive relationships with adults and peers, regulate their emotions and behavior, achieve academic and non-academic success in school and maintain physical and psychological health and well-being; and (ii) integrates services and aligns initiatives that promote students’ behavioral health, including social and emotional learning, bullying prevention, trauma sensitivity, dropout prevention, truancy reduction, children’s mental health, foster care and homeless youth education, inclusion of students with disabilities, positive behavioral approaches that reduce suspensions and expulsions and other similar initiatives.
- Participating Schools
Provide the name of each recipient school that will receive funding to develop action plans. For each school, provide current relevant information that includes, but is not limited to: past experience in using the Framework and the tool, school wide initiatives that promote safe and supportive learning environments and student and faculty/staff survey data that reflects school climate.
- Action Plans
Provide information regarding how the following grant participation requirements (outlined below) will be fulfilled by the participating schools and district, if awarded the grant. Include information such as who will be responsible for making final decisions regarding the work, who will coordinate and facilitate the efforts, who will likely be consulted with and involved during the process, how the team will ensure the action plans support, complement, or enhance existing school and district improvement plans. Describe how this grant funding will expand upon and strengthen currently existing safe and supportive learning environment efforts. Action plans must be based on all six of the following elements: Leadership, Professional Development, Access to Resources and Services, Academic and Non-Academic Support, Policies, Procedures and Protocols and Collaboration with Families.
- SCHOOL ACTION PLANS:
Each participating school will be required to develop and implement an action plan, based onthe Framework and Self-Assessment Tool.
- DISTRICT ACTION PLANS:
Associated district action plans must also be created that explicitly support recipient schools.
- CONNECTION TO EXISTING SCHOOL AND DISTRICT PLANS:
The school and district action plans created through this initiative must explicitly support, complement, or enhance existing school and district improvement plans.
- SHARING INFORMATIONWITH THE DEPARTMENT
Copies of the school and district action plans must be submitted to the Department at times that will be communicated to all awarded grantees. These are expected to include early winter 2015 for the initial action plans and summer or fall 2016 for a final report on implementation of the action plans.
3. Framework and Self-Assessment Tool
- Describe how the Framework and Self-Assessment Tool will be used to determine local priorities for action plans. Include information on use of other assessment tools if applicable. Information on how assessment results will be used to refine, improve, or strengthen current programs and collaborations should also be included. Include examples of other currently existing safe and supportive self-evaluation efforts.
- Provide information regarding the anticipated amount of time to be spent responding to the Tool, spent in generating action plans addressingall six areas, and spent on making efforts to implement the action plans.
- Also provide information regarding ways the district will specifically support these efforts.
- Provide specific information on how the proposed work will assist schools in developing and implementing strategies to create safe and supportive environments for all students.
- Describe goals and objectives for creating action plans that assist in creating and maintaining safe and supportive learning environments.
(BHPS) Framework and Self-Assessment Tool – Note that any interested school can request a username and password via . Anyone interested in browsing the tool can use TEST1 as the username and password (TEST2 or TEST3 or TEST4 or TEST5 also works – just use the same number for both the username and password). The Department will provide training in using this tool to all awarded grantees. This information can be found on the Safe and Supportive Schools web page at: Safe & Supportive Schools: - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
For more information on the BHPS Tool and Task Force work, see the BHPS Task Force Final Report.
4.Fund Use
Describe how the requested funds will be spent, and include the budget and associated budget narrative forms provided in the Funding Opportunity RFP’s Required Forms section. Funds must be used to support the creation of school and district action plans that address allof the six sections of the BHPS Framework. After a grantee’s action plans are completed, if thegrant has not yet spent all awarded funds the grantee may propose (for the Department’s approval) to use the balance of funds towards implementation of the action plans that address all six sections of the Framework.
5.Project Timeline
Indicate anticipated dates regarding the proposal. Include timeframes for details such as convening a school team, responding to the questions in the Self-Assessment Tool, determining areas to prioritize for improvements, finalizing an action plan, implementing the action plan, and assessing progress regarding the plan. Timelines should indicate what will occur during the current school year (by June 30, 2016) and what will occur beyond that timeframe, if applicable.
Please note: Successful grantees shall participate in conferences to be held by Departmentas well as evaluation of this grant program.
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