Democratic Knowledge Project Grant Application

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP) grade 8 curriculum, Civic Engagement in Our Democracy. Funding and support for school grants is provided by the One8 Foundation. Feel free to reach out to Adrianne Billingham Bock at the DKP (abock@democraticknowledgeproject.org) with any questions.

Application Instructions

Please review the program overview & FAQs.

Please note: Public schools in MA that have at least 10 students in grade 8 AND are in districts with at least 15% of students designated as low-income are eligible to apply. If a district is ineligible (<15% students are low-income) but a school within the district is, that school may apply.

Complete one application per school. Even if there are multiple schools from a district applying, we ask that an application reflecting school specifics be submitted for each school.
Submit all applications by March 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET.
Progress on the application can be saved - it does not need to be completed in one sitting.

Check the “save my progress and resume later” checkbox on the top of any page, then enter your email address and create a password. Click "save" and an email will be sent to you with a link to resume your survey.
To resume a saved application, you may use the link sent via email, or you can go straight to the application itself. Select the "resume a previously saved form" link on the top right of any page.
Please note: You will be asked to re-enter your email and create a new password each time you wish to save the form and resume later. You may use the same password you used previously.

Important Dates

February 28, 2024 - 9:30 a.m.

Grant Info Session (option #1)

Register here!

February 29, 2024 - 3:30 p.m.

Grant Info Session (option #2)

Register here!

March 15, 2024

Grant Application Due

March 26-28, 2024

School Interviews

April 9, 2024

Award Notification

April 24, 2024 - at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA

Cohort Kickoff Convening

High Level Programming Expectations

A competitive application will include a plan to achieve the following program expectations over the three years of grant implementation as well as a clear plan to sustain the program after the three-year grant period.

Full adoption of the 8th grade DKP curriculum, Civic Engagement in Our Democracy, at grade 8; adoption of units 0 through 6 is required in year 1 (additional units/modules are optional); full course adoption (all units and modules) is required by year 3
Each school application names one school and one district champion. For more on each role, please see the role descriptions in the Staffing Program section of this application
100% of students in grade 8 in the school participating beginning in year 1
100% of grade 8 social studies teachers in the school participating by teaching units 0 through 6 in year 1 and the full course by year 3
All participating social studies teachers complete the professional learning sequence over 3 years (including in-person Summer Institutes and in-person, day-long workshops during the school year)
School or district leader completes administrator professional learning sequence for full curriculum
As part of the professional learning sequence, teachers partner with DKP Implementation Associate for at least 2 school visits per year
As part of the professional learning sequence, school leader meets with DKP Implementation Associate twice per year
Submit teacher surveys, administer student experience surveys, and share responses with the DKP team
Showcase student work at the end of the year
Share summative assessment results as well as student work examples and artifacts with the DKP team
Host site visits with the DKP and One8 teams if requested
Commitment of $300 annually as a program fee, as well as a plan to financially sustain the program after the grant (school/district resources identified to cover annual program fee)

Note: Grant funding is intended to support high-quality adoption of DKP curricular resources and more specifically to offset the costs associated with launching the program. Grant awards will not be transferred to schools as direct payments but rather will cover the costs of professional learning and school support. Grant award sizes are determined by school sizes and based on key start-up costs primarily driven by professional learning for teachers and school/district leaders and school support from the DKP Launch team.

Grant awards are automatically calculated in the grant application and will vary based on school size, specifically, the number of teachers who will engage with DKP course material.

School Information

1) Please select your district and school.

District

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School

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2) Please provide the name and contact information of the primary school grant contact.

Primary School Grant Contact First name

Primary School Grant Contact Last name

Title

Email Address

Phone Number

Note: If the grant is awarded, the Superintendent and Principal will be required to sign the cohort participation and grant agreement.

3) What is the total student enrollment in grade 8 for the 2023-24 school year?

4) What percentage of these students are Low-income?

Ex. 20

5) What percentage of these students have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)?

Ex. 50

6) What percentage of these students are English Language Learners?

Ex. 10

7) Please list the GRADE 8 SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS ANTICIPATED FOR THE 2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR.

Teacher Name	Teacher Email	# of Grade 8 Civics Sections

Note: If a teacher's name is unknown, put "Unknown".

Civics Vision and Goals

8) What are your goals for student civic learning?

9) How do you anticipate Dkp supporting these goals?

10) What resources are you currently using in grade 8 civics? how will dkp adoption in grade 8 impact current curricular resources?

11) How is social studies scheduled in your school (e.g., daily, 60 minutes, full year or 4 days per week, 45 minutes, semester)? Please note if it differs by grade and provide specifics on the grade 8 schedule.

12) did any teachers in the school participate in the dkp design/redesign pilot project that took place from 2019-2022? if yes, please describe when they participated and what their participation involved.

13) What about the dkp materials and approach are you and your team most excited about?

14) What about the dkp materials and approach do you and your team anticipate being challenging?

15) the dkp team will be collecting data and information to measure success of the program overall. how does your school/district typically define and measure success? how will you measure the success of the dkp programming?

16) how did you hear about the dkp grant opportunity? please select all that apply.

I am a current DKP school or districtAttended DKP Summer Institute or other DKP-run PL (e.g., Deeper Civic Learning, Legacy of Slavery)An educator at another school or districtEmail/outreach by the DKP teamEmail/outreach by the One8 Foundation teamOther

16b) please describe how you heard about the dkp grant opportunity.

Staffing Program

Staffing and Program Champions

Please identify the school-level and district-level “champions” of the program.
In this context, a champion is an educator who will become knowledgeable of the DKP and the grant requirements, as well as someone who is committed to high-quality implementation. The champions are required to attend the April 24, 2024 Cohort Kickoff Convening; a teacher representative is also required to attend that convening.

Opportunities to become knowledgeable about the DKP include: reviewing the DKP website, the DKP curriculum portal, the grant application, and the grant program FAQ; attendance at a grant info session; participation in the grant selection interview and the Cohort Kickoff Convening; attendance at the Summer Institute; meetings with the DKP team; and professional learning workshops.

School-Leader Champion

The school leader champion is a school leader (e.g., Principal, Assistant Principal, Department Chair, Team Lead, Curriculum Coach) who leads the DKP implementation at the school level. Ideally, this champion will be in a leadership position and have the ability to inform common planning time/department meetings, observe teachers, review data, and make budgeting/scheduling decisions. These champions should be knowledgeable about the DKP curriculum and excited to lead the work. These champions will attend day 1 of the Summer Institute in years 1 and 2 in addition to leader-specific professional learning to learn about the DKP.

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

District-Level Champion

The district champion is a district leader (e.g., Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum Director, CAO) who leads the DKP implementation at the district level, often across schools if the district has multiple schools serving eighth graders and more than one of these schools is participating. Ideally, this champion will be in a leadership position and have the ability to inform common planning time/department meetings, observe teachers, review data, make budgeting/scheduling decisions, and hold a cross-school view. These champions should be knowledgeable of the DKP and excited to lead the work.

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

17) Are all eligible middle schools in your district applying to adopt dkp?

YesNo

17b) How were the schools that are applying selected? Are there plans to include additional schools in future years?

18) How familiar are teachers and administrators in your building with the dkp? how were they familiarized and what were their reactions?

19) does your school or district have specific policies or approval processes for adopting a new curriculum? If so, how will you meet these?

20) have you done a social studies curriculum adoption in the last 6 years? if so, what was the process? What worked well and what were the lessons learned?

21) WHAT IS THE AVERAGE TEACHER TURNOVER THAT YOU SEE IN YOUR social studies DEPARTMENT? WHAT IS YOUR PLAN TO ONBOARD AND TRAIN NEW TEACHERS (FOR EXAMPLE, OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS, OUR SCHOOL HAS HAD 1 of our 3 social studies TEACHERS TURN OVER…)?

Implementation Plan

Adoption of units 0 through 6 is required in year 1, and additional units/modules are optional. Full course adoption (all units and all modules) is required by year 3.

22) Please describe any expected deviations from the described implementation requirements (e.g., a teacher is on maternity leave, a teacher is expected to retire in one year, etc.) and how this will affect your plan.

Budget

Grant funding requests will be calculated based on a building's number of grade 8 social studies teachers and their respective professional learning needs. On this page, you will determine which professional learning sequence fits each teacher based on their experience with the DKP curriculum. For reference, this Professional Learning Sequences Table outlines what each sequence entails.

23) PLEASE INDICATE THE NUMBER OF TEACHERS who will follow each professional learning sequence based on their experience with the dkp curriculum.

All grade 8 social studies teachers in a building must participate in the DKP Launch program beginning in year 1. Based on previous experience with the DKP curriculum, some teachers may follow an abbreviated professional learning sequence, as outlined in the Professional Learning Sequences Table. Please provide the number of teachers in your building who fall into each sequence category. Please also provide the number of teachers who will require lodging during the Summer Institute professional learning, which will take place in Cambridge, MA.

	Year 1: 2024-25
# of teachers with no DKP experience who will participate in the full PL sequence
# of teachers with DKP experience who will participate in the abbreviated PL sequence
# of teachers with DKP experience who prefer to participate in the full PL sequence, including introductory training
# of teachers who will require lodging during Summer Institute in Cambridge, MA

Note: We will only need teacher designations for year 1 and can extrapolate from there. We will assume that 1 leader will participate in the leader sequence for each school. We will likely extend opportunities for additional school or district leaders to participate in professional learning if they would like, which will be discussed during the grant interview. Please put 0 if there are no teachers who fall into one of the above categories.

please Confirm participation.

The teachers and leader can fully participate.

Confused? That's okay! Reach out to Adrianne Billingham Bock (abock@democraticknowledgeproject.org) for help.

Budget and Narrative

Funding Request
The tables below contain calculated grant amounts corresponding to the information you filled out on the previous page. If you wish to make adjustments to the amounts, please return to the previous page and edit your estimated teacher professional learning sequences and required lodging numbers.

Note: Grant funds are calculated to cover professional learning and implementation support and will not be directly distributed to schools. If awarded a grant, schools will receive the resources and support valued at this amount. Please note that participating schools will also be required to contribute a $300 annual program fee that is not included in the grant funds.

Need help thinking through the budget? Get in touch with Adrianne Billingham Bock (abock@democraticknowledgeproject.org).

Cost of teacher and leader professional learning (in dollars)

Budget assumptions

Summer Institute: $345 (per attendee per day)
Workshop: $340 (per teacher per day)
Lodging: $340 (per teacher per night)

Based on the Professional Learning Sequences Table, costs are estimated to be as follows:

Year 1 teacher cost is 3 days of Summer Institute and 3 workshops for a total of $2,055
Year 2 teacher cost is 2 days of Summer Institute and 3 workshops for a total of $1,710
Year 3 teacher cost is 1 day of Summer Institute and 3 workshops for a total of $1,365
In year 3, teachers who began as "Experienced" attend 0 days of Summer Institute and 3 workshops for a total of $1,020
Leader cost is 1 day of Summer Institute for a total of $345 per year, for 2 years

	# in Year 1	Year 1 Cost	# in Year 2	Year 2 Cost	# in Year 3	Year 3 Cost
New DKP teacher professional learning
Experienced DKP teacher professional learning
Leader professional learning
Summer Institute Lodging
Total

Note: After year 1, "New" teachers become part of the "Experienced" track.

Total grant request

sum of yearly totals

24) While grant funding helps to cover expenses associated with adopting the dkp curriculum, it does not cover all costs, such as teacher stipends for professional learning, substitute coverage for workshop days, a $300 annual program fee, etc. Please describe other anticipated costs associated with your school’s dkp implementation and your plan for funding these costs.

Finance Contact

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

Phone Number

Name of entity

Mailing address of entity

Address line 2

city

Zip Code

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