Tuesday, June 19, 2012
What iPads, Turtles, and New Teachers have in Common
The NEA Foundation Awards 60 Grants to Support Educators’ Innovative Ideas
WASHINGTON, DC (June 19, 2012) — In South
Holland, IL, Michele Liberio’s non-verbal students will use iPads to become
members of a highly social technological environment as they learn how to
communicate in class more efficiently. In Hudson, MA, Elizabeth Joki’s students
will collaborate with wildlife biologists to care for, study, release, and
track endangered turtles, learning about scientific research methods, turtle
ecology and biology, and the complexities of species conservation. In Norfolk,
VA, Dr. Angela Eckhoff will guide a teacher learning community of recent
graduates as they navigate their first teaching year in a primary grades
classroom.
This is a small and very random sample of the innovative work the NEA
Foundation is funding with its latest round of grants: awarded to 60
educators in 28 states,
for a total of $216,000.
“With these grants, we are supporting educator- driven solutions that
contribute to improved student performance in public schools,” said Harriet Sanford, president and
CEO of the NEA Foundation. “Our support enables educators to engage in a
wide variety of innovative approaches to the benefit of students across the
country.”
The
NEA Foundation awards two primary categories of grants to public education
professionals: Student Achievement Grants for initiatives to improve academic
achievement, and Learning & Leadership Grants for high-quality professional development activities. Of these,
four are the NEA Foundation– EarthEcho Water Planet Challenge Grants, which support service-learning programs that improve the health of our water
planet.
A team of 20 educators, many of whom are former grantees, carefully
reviewed all applications and evaluated each one against a set of criteria.
Funded grants were selected for the quality
of the proposed ideas and their potential for enhancing student achievement.
The latest grants were awarded to educators in 28
different
states.
The NEA Foundation has invested more than $8.6
million in grants to support the work of almost 4,000 educators from every
state in the country to help students succeed. Each year, the Foundation awards
approximately 150 Student Achievement and Learning & Leadership
Grants.
The NEA Foundation awards its grants to educators three times a year. The next grant deadline is October 15, 2012. Links to the application, and grant
guidelines, including a video with step by step instructions on how to apply, can
be found at neafoundation.org.
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About The NEA Foundation
The NEA Foundation is a public charity supported by contributions from educators' dues, corporate sponsors, and others who support public education initiatives.We partner with education unions, districts, and communities to create powerful, sustainable improvements in teaching and learning. Visit www.neafoundation.org for more information. Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and visit our blog.