Agency: Maryland Higher Education Commission
Deadline: September 23, 2009
The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) has announced the 2010 Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) State Grants program. The ITQ grant aims to provide professional development to teachers, principals, assistant principals and other highly qualified paraprofessionals that can impact the academic achievement of all students in the core subject areas. For purposes of this program, the federal definition of core subject areas is English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography. In Maryland, art includes art, music, dance, and theatre; science includes biology, chemistry, earth/space science, physical science, and physics.
Grant-funded projects must address one or more of the four following purposes:
- Provide teachers, highly qualified paraprofessionals, and—where appropriate—principals with subject knowledge in the academic subjects they teach;
- Train teachers, highly qualified paraprofessionals, and principals to use computer-based technology to improve student achievement in core academic subjects;
- Offer principals instructional leadership skills to help them work effectively with teachers to improve student achievement in core academic subjects; and
- Instruct teachers, highly qualified paraprofessionals, and principals to use challenging academic content standards, student achievement standards, and state assessment data to improve instruction and student academic achievement.
Proposed projects should be related to K-12 student content standards, taking into consideration teacher certification requirements and other relevant assessments, and support the Maryland Teacher Professional Development Standards.
Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to eligible K-16 partnerships that aim to meet this goal. Eligible partnerships must include these three partners:
- A Maryland public or private institution of higher education (IHE) and the division of the institution that prepares teachers and principals;
- A Maryland public or private IHE and its school of arts and sciences (defined as an academic unit that offers one or more academic majors in disciplines or content areas corresponding to the academic subjects in which teachers teach);
- A Maryland high-need local education agency (LEA). For purposes of this grant program, LEAs meeting the definition of “high-need” are Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and Somerset County.
Applications must show evidence of cooperative planning, both between education and arts and sciences partners and between IHEs and LEAs. Schools of arts and sciences and a school of education are two different partners, even if they are both constituent parts of the same fiscal agent institution. In addition to the three required partners, the lead IHE may also include another local educational agency, a public charter school, an elementary school or secondary school, an existing professional development school, an educational service agency, a nonprofit educational organization, additional institutions of higher education, a nonprofit cultural organization, an entity carrying out a pre-kindergarten program, a teacher organization, a principal organization, a business, or a combination of any of these.
Notification will be issued by October 26, 2009, at which point funded projects may begin. The proposed project period is from October 26, 2009 through April 30, 2011. Grant sizes will vary but should not exceed $200,000 total request.
MHEC will hold two technical assistance meetings on July 22 and August 3, 2009, at The Charles I. Ecker Business Training Center (Gateway Business and Technology Training Center), 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive - Room 3, Columbia, Maryland from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. If you would like to attend this technical assistance meeting, please RSVP to lliberat@mhec.state.md.us. If you are unable to attend and are interested in receiving information, please notify the Office of University Research Services. A staff member can attend and make notes available.
URL: http://www.mhec.state.md.us/Grants/ITQ/ITQ.asp
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America's Historical and Cultural Organizations: Planning Grants
Agency: National Endowment for the Humanities
Deadline: August 26, 2009
This grant supports projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public.
NEH offers two categories of grants for Interpreting America’s Historic Places: Planning and Implementation Grants. Planning grants are available for those projects that may need further development before applying for implementation. This planning can include the identification and refinement of the project’s main humanities ideas and questions, consultation with scholars in order to strengthen the humanities content, preliminary audience evaluation, preliminary design of the proposed interpretive formats, beta testing of digital formats, development of complementary programming, research at archives or sites whose resources might be used, or the drafting of interpretive materials.
Project formats for Interpreting America’s Historic Places planning grants might include visitor orientation exhibits, interpretive displays and labeling, revised scripts and education training materials for docents, publications such as brochures or guidebooks, interpretive driving or walking trails or tours, annotated itineraries, trail signage, video or audio displays, on-site interactive media, and digital products. Planning grants can be used to plan, refine, and develop the content and interpretive approach of historic-place interpretation projects that reach broad audiences. Applicants should have already begun consulting with scholars to help shape the humanities content of the project and with other programming advisers appropriate to the project’s format.
To ensure that the humanities ideas are well conceived, projects must use a team of scholars who represent major fields relevant to the subject matter and offer diverse perspectives and approaches. Projects may also include other participants with experience and knowledge appropriate to the project’s formats or technical requirements.
Applications that make innovative use of emerging technologies are encouraged. Projects must do more than simply provide a digital archive of material. They should offer new ways of contextualizing and interpreting information that engages public audiences interactively. Applications may, for example, include plans to create PDA tours and resources, podcasts, virtual environments, wiki formats, other formats that utilize user-generated content, virtual imaging, GIS mapping, online scholar-led discussions, streaming video, games, or other digital formats. When it is relevant, applications must explain how user-generated postings to public cyberspace will be vetted by qualified scholars or project staff for accuracy and public educational value. Digital components must rest on sound humanities scholarship and enhance the project’s humanities content for the general public in ways that take unique advantage of the proposed formats.
Awards typically last for a period of twelve months and typically do not exceed $40,000. Awards of up to $75,000 are available for Chairman’s Special Award projects that have exceptional significance and promise to reach exceptionally wide audiences.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/IAHP_Implementation.html
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