In a typical year (without a stimulus bill), the federal Department of Education has about $20 million in discretionary funds. In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave away over $373 million to education, the Walton Foundation gave approximately $134 million, and the Broad Foundation about $39 million. Education Read more
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has released the Department’s first report on the revamped School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, “Baseline Analyses of SIG Applications and SIG-Eligible and SIG-Awarded Schools.” This baseline report provides an overview of the state policies and practices for SIG implementation as well as a description Read more
A new interactive map from Education Sector looks closely at the 843 schools that have been selected as school improvement grantees so far, and how they are spending the money. Schools improvement grantees can receive $6 million per school over a three-year period. The combined grants are expected to serve Read more
A new issue brief released by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices offers lessons drawn from its State Strategies to Improve Chronically Low-Performing Schools project, which sought to address underlying causes of failing schools: weak leadership; inadequate skill levels among teachers; and insufficient high-quality teaching materials. In 2009, Read more
Next Generation Learning Challenges, funded by the Gates Foundation, announced a new round of challenge grants that will provide up to $10 million to expand promising technology tools and applications that help more students master seventh- through ninth-grade math and literacy competencies, which are critical to college and career readiness. Read more
Want to obtain grant funding from the Department of Education in 2011? The December 15 Federal Register included the Department’s notice of final supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs for 2011. Find out NOW where your project “fits” so you can be sure to apply for any applicable Read more