Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Yes, It's a Sad Truth, But...

The hard truth is that some of the worst schools in the country get the most grant money. It seems like a tragedy to me, but if you have a low socio-economic population and poor test scores, it is usually easier for you to get grant money for your school than it is for others. Thank goodness there is a trend of late to break up schools that consistently perform poorly. The students in this country deserve better.

If you are from a low-performing school (next time, I’ll discuss higher performing schools), I suggest that you focus on three areas to improve your school: leadership, attendance, and reading. You should be able to find grant money in all three categories.
While a good superintendent is important for the overall academic performance of a district, it is the building principal that must provide strong leadership for a campus. Yes, you can have a weak principal and still have individual teachers who perform well, but you must have a strong principal for widespread success. While grants can be written to try to improve the performance of a weak principal, I feel that it is better to find someone with a proven track record to lead you.
The second problem that most low-performing must correct is poor attendance. It is impossible to teach students anything when they are not present in your classroom. Many low-performing schools have poor attendance overall and pockets of downright neglect. You should be able to write grants that help you center in on the problems that cause poor attendance and also look for incentives to help students want to attend school.

Finally, if you are ever going to turn a low-performing school around, you have to aggressively attack your reading problems. Most low-performing schools have students with reading levels two or more years below the norm. If this is the case in your school, you will make very little academic progress until you raise those reading scores nearer the appropriate level.

Reading is fundamental. It is fundamental to academic success. It is fundamental to student self-esteem. It is fundamental to all future academic growth. If your library is not well-stocked with interesting books on an appropriate level, you need to write a grant. If your school day does not block out time for students to read silently every day, you need to write a grant. If students are not aware of the level on which they read and don’t know how to choose appropriate books according to that level, you need to write a grant.

It is difficult enough to teach students these days when everything in your school is working well. If you have poor leadership, poor attendance, and poor reading scores, it will be almost impossible for you to move from a low-performing school to even an average school. It is imperative that you identify these problems in your school, make plans to change your current patterns, and write grants to fund these changes if you don’t have the money in your budget to do so.

I always loved being a principal, but when I became a principal at a low-performing school, it was absolutely essential that I attack the attendance problems that we had and to revamp our overall reading program so that every student practiced reading an hour each day in appropriate-level books. I know from firsthand experience how to turn around a campus:

1)      Improve your leadership
2)      Improve attendance
3)      Improve your reading scores

If you start with these three key components, you have a very good chance of actually improving your school

Check It Out: New Grant Opportunity!

Grant Name:  Kinder Morgan Foundation Education Grants
   
Funded by:  Kinder Morgan Foundation
   
Description:  Grants are primarily directed to educational programs for youth in grades K-12. Funding is provided to local, state, provincial and regional educational institutions, libraries and programs that provide ongoing support, such as Junior Achievement. The foundation also supports youth programs provided by local arts organizations, symphony orchestras, museums and others. Initial approach is to contact the foundation for application form, which is required.

Program Areas:  Arts, Community Involvement/Volunteerism, General Education, Library, Math, Reading, Science/Environment, Social Studies

Recipients:  Public School, Private School, Other 

Proposal Deadline:  7/10/2012

Average Amount:  $3,500.00 - $5,000.00

Telephone:  303-763-3471


 Availability:  All States 

Check It Out: New Grant Opportunity!

Grant Name:  “From Failure to Promise” Grant
   
Funded by:  Dr. C. Moorer & Associate
   
Description:  The purpose of the “From Failure to Promise” Grant is to assist educators in moving students from “failure to promise” in literacy, math, science, and/or technology.
   
Program Areas:  General Education, Math, Reading, Science/Environment, Technology

Recipients:  Public School, Private School, Other

Deadline:  7/31/12

Average Amount:  $1,000.00

Email:  drcmoorer@gmail

Availability:  All States

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Did You Know About All of These?

I always list two or three grants that are available to schools and foundations at the end of my blogs.   I’d also like to give you a list of big companies and brand names that have school grant programs that may apply to your school or foundation.

Granted not all of these will fit your situation or will you meet their criteria, but I wanted just to make you aware of the millions and millions of dollars that are available through these well-known organizations.  Yes, they definitely line up to take our money when we shop with them, but they also have pretty good records of giving money back to schools and the educational arms of foundations.
These are live links so you can go directly to their grant and funding web pages.  This list is not comprehensive by any means.

Gerber

Humana

Finish Line

Darden Restuarants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, etc.)

Best Buy

LEGO

Union Pacific

Lowe’s

CVS

Walmart




Try a few of these.  You might find a lot more help than you expect.

Check It Out: New Grant Opportunity!

Grant Name:  Best Buy Children's Foundation Education Grants

Funded by:  Best Buy Children's Foundation

Description:  Best Buy Children's Foundation supports and strengthens communities by contributing to a variety of organizations and programs that foster engaged, fun learning experiences for children through the use of interactive technology. The majority of funded proposals are initiated by the Foundation. However, they are interested in learning about existing and emerging national programs that creatively use interactive technology to make learning a fun and engaging experience for children.

Program Areas:  After-School, General Education, Math, Reading, Science/Environmental, Social Studies, Technology

Recipients:  Public School, Private School, Other 

Proposal Deadline:  7/1/2012

Average Amount:  $1,000.00 - $3,000,000.00

Telephone:  612-291-6108


Availability:  All States

Check It Out: New Grant Opportunity!

Grant Name:  AIAA Classroom Educational Grants

Funded by:  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

Description:  The purpose of AIAA grants is to assist educators in presenting mathematics, science, and technology principles to students (K-12) in an exciting, hands-on manner to develop our future aeronautics and aerospace engineers, scientists, pilots, and space explorers.

Program Areas:  Math, Science/Environmental, Technology 

Recipients:  Public School, Private School

Deadline:  Grants proposals considered in April & June until funds are exhausted

Average Amount:  $200.00 - $400.00
 
Telephone:  703-264-7500


Availability:  All States