i3 Projects Receive $18 Million in Matching Funds from Private Sector

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that private donors have committed $18 million to the 23 highest-rated projects in the 2011 Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund competition, ensuring that they have met the i3 matching requirement and qualifying them to receive $150 million from the i3 program.

“Strong public-private partnerships like these are essential to the success of reform. I want to salute the foundations, philanthropists, corporations, and individuals for supporting these innovative ideas that will dramatically enhance learning and accelerate student achievement,” Duncan said. “These projects have the potential to create solutions that will serve thousands of teachers and millions of students.”

Earlier this fall, the U.S. Department of Education announced 23 applicants as the finalists to receive part of the $150 million available in fiscal 2011 i3 funding. The projects, which were the highest-rated among nearly 600 applicants, had approximately four weeks to secure matching funds through financial support or in-kind donations.

With the private support in place, the i3 winners will begin implementing their projects, which are designed to improve achievement and put students on track to succeed in college and careers.

This year’s applicants included school districts, groups of districts, and nonprofits in partnership with districts or a consortium of schools, competing for funding in one of the program’s three grant levels.

“Scale-up” grants of up to $25 million support innovation projects with the strongest evidence and track records of success; “Validation” grants of up to $15 million fund innovations with moderate levels of evidence but which merit more rigorous investigation; and “Development” grants of up to $3 million support promising but relatively untested projects with high potential for positive impact.

In fiscal 2011, i3 will make one “Scale-up” grant, five “Validation” grants, and 17 “Development” grants.

The first round of i3 grants supported 49 projects with $650 million appropriated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grants completed this week come from the fiscal 2011 appropriations bill.

Recently, Congress passed an omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2012 that includes another $150 million for the i3 program.

A complete list of the 2011 grantees with brief descriptions of their projects is attached.  To learn more about i3’s 2011 grantees visit: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html.

Note to editors: Below is a summary of i3 projects.

Investing in Innovation Grantees Leverage Public-Private Partnerships For Success

Twenty-three projects raised a total of $18 million in matching funds to support their innovative ideas to accelerate student achievement and ensure students are on track for success in college and careers. Below are abstracts of each project. Complete narratives for each one are listed on the i3 website at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/awards.html.

Scale Up (5% matching requirement)

• Old Dominion University Research Foundation will leverage the power of technology to expand a proven model to improve math Instruction in high-need middle schools in Virginia, Texas, and Kansas. The project will use online coaching, build a virtual community of learners, and create videos of effective classroom instruction to share with teachers.
  i3 grant: $25 million
  Matching Funds: $1.25 million

Validation (10% matching requirement)

• The University of Alaska will expand an existing program that provides full-time mentors for teachers. The program has been piloted in the state’s rural communities, and the i3 grant will allow it to be used in Alaska’s four largest districts.
  i3 grant: $15 million
  Matching Funds: $1.5 million

• The National Math and Science Initiative will expand its APTIP program to make Advanced Placement courses accessible to all students. The project will work in Colorado and Indiana.
  i3 grant: $15 million
  Matching Funds: $1.6 million

• New Visions for Public Schools will work to improve algebra and geometry instruction in New York City by creating teams of teachers who learn from each other and use common formative assessments to track student progress.
  i3 grant: $13 million
  Matching Funds: $1.3 million

• The University of Minnesota will expand Child-Parent Center Education Program to sites in Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, Minn.
  i3 grant: $15 million
  Matching Funds: $2.7 million

• North Carolina New Schools Project will create Early College High School programs in 18 rural schools that serve high-need students.
  i3 grant: $15 million
  Matching Funds: $1.5 million

Development (15% matching requirement)

• Aspire Public Schools will develop the Transforming Teacher Talent program with the goal of doubling the percentage of highly effective teachers in Aspire’s public charter schools.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $450K

• Texas Tech University will design and implement a competency-based pre-service teacher education program yielding greater competency in subject area and pedagogy. It will also implement and test the impact of a competency-based intervention in mathematics at six low-performing schools.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $530K

• Temple University will develop a research-based preschool and early grades professional development model to develop the language and literacy skills of preK through first grade students. Temple will use the model in Pennsylvania and Maryland schools.
  i3 grant: $2.5 million
  Matching Funds: $475K

• The New York City Board of Education will identify barriers to students’ success in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, using data and interviews of students and teachers. It will identify and evaluate solutions to the barriers.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $450K

• The New York Hall of Science will use technology to create formal and informal science learning opportunities to teach physics.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $450K

• The Baltimore City Schools will evaluate a robotics programs and refine it to meet its goal of reducing summer learning loss in middle school students.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $455K

• The Fresno County Office of Education will enhance an existing high school course on expository reading and writing and evaluate whether it leads to a reduction in the remediation rate of students who attend college.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $500K

• The College Board will develop new ways to provide real-time feedback to identify students’ specific needs and help teachers differentiate instruction in Advanced Placement Biology classes.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $714K

• The Oakland Unified School District will implement the College Board’s EXCELerator process and provide other supports to help improve the college readiness of students.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $527K

• The Ounce of Prevention Fund in Chicago will adapt a professional development programs for teachers to address the needs of early learning professionals in community-based organizations.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $452K

• The Metropolitan Education Commission will work to turn around middle schools, high schools, and alternative education schools in the Indian Oasis-Baboquivari Unified School District, serving Native American students in the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $450K

• The Boston Public Schools will partner with the National Center on Time & Learning to turn around two middle schools. The key strategy will be to add 300 hours to the school year for all students.
  i3 grant: $2.9 million
  Matching Funds: $450K

• The Successful for All Foundation will create multimedia, interactive materials for pre-K and Kindergarten language development programs, partnering with the creators of the PBS show Between the Lions and working in schools in Ohio, Illinois, Alabama, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $450K

• Del Norte Unified School District in California will work with teachers to use assessment data to analyze student performance and target instruction to their needs.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $491K

• Berea College in Kentucky will use Advanced Placement training in middle schools and high schools participating in the college’s Promise Neighborhoods project.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $452K

• Kentucky Valley Education Cooperative will build career mapping tools and provide career and college mentoring for middle school and high school students. i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $493K

• KnowledgeWorks will turn around two high schools in South Carolina, using an online learning system and providing a focus on math and science education.
  i3 grant: $3 million
  Matching Funds: $456K