One8-OpenSciEd School Grant Application, 2024-25

| Resume a previously saved form
Resume Later

In order to be able to resume this form later, please enter your email and choose a password.

Password must contain the following:
  • 12 Characters
  • 1 Uppercase letter
  • 1 Lowercase letter
  • 1 Number
  • 1 Special character

Application Overview

Application Instructions
  1. Please review the program overview and FAQs.
  2. Complete one application per school.
  3. Submit all applications by Wednesday, February 5, 2025.
  4. Please click here to view a downloadable blank copy of this application for your reference.
  5. 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.
Please note: Public schools in MA that have students in grades 6, 7, and/or 8 are eligible to apply. Competitive preference is given to schools/districts with 15% or more of students from low-income backgrounds.
Important Dates
February 5th, 2025
Grant Application Due 

March 6th, 7th, and 10th, 2025
School Interviews

March 18th, 2025
Award Notification 

April 17th, 2025 - Sheraton Framingham Hotel, Framingham, 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.

Full adoption of all 6 OpenSciEd units at each grade level (6 through 8) offered in the school by year 3
  1. 100% of students at each grade level participating by year 3.
  2. 100% of science teachers in grades 6-8 participating by year 3.
  3. All participating science teachers complete the OSE Launch Professional Learning (PL) and 3 additional unit-specific PLs.
  4. Teacher Champion(s) completes PL training for all 6 units, including Launch.
School/district resources identified to cover additional costs (e.g., consumables)

Note: grant funding is intended to support high-quality adoption of OpenSciEd curricular resources and more specifically to offset the costs associated with launching the program. Schools will be provided three payments over three years and schools will pay vendors directly. Grant award sizes are determined by school sizes and based on two key start-up costs:
  1. Professional learning for teachers: All teachers attend PL for four units each.
  2. Durable equipment kits: Schools can receive up to $650 per unit per teacher, for all six units.
Grant awards are automatically calculated in the grant application and the average grant size is approximately $40,000. Grants sizes will vary based on school size and will generally exceed the average for large schools.

General Information

District and School Information


Primary Grant Contact






Grades


Teachers per Grade
How many science teachers are there for the following grades?  
(Note: If a teacher is teaching multiple grade levels please use a fraction/FTE to indicate this. For example if a teacher has one section in 7th and one section in 8th grade, please indicate 0.5 in 7th grade and 0.5 in 8th grade).



Teacher, School, and District Champions

Teacher Champion Information
Teacher Champions are science teachers who will be implementing OSE and helping lead the work with their colleagues. Examples of this support include co-planning, peer observations, planning department meetings, helping with lab set-up, supporting materials management, problem-solving around routines, etc. These Champions should be knowledgeable about OSE and excited to lead the work with other science teachers. All participating teachers will be trained in 4 units, and the Teacher Champion(s) commit to be trained in all units at the grade level (i.e., 6 units for their grade) and help support their colleagues with these units.

Note: A Teacher Champion is needed for all grade levels. This application allows you to enter up to 3 Teacher Champions.
  





  





  






School Leader Champion Information
The School Leader Champion is a school leader (e.g., Principal, Assistant Principal, Department Chair) who leads the OSE 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 are involved in hiring, supporting teacher turnover, ensuring attendance at PL, and developing the conditions for a sustainable, effective implementation OSE over time. This person is charged with achieving student and teacher outcomes related to OSE.

These Champions should be knowledgeable about OSE and excited to lead the work. They should lead communication across stakeholders, and consistently work to build support for the transition to OSE. These Champions are strongly encouraged to attend a unit-specific Professional Learning (PL) in addition to leader-specific PL to learn about OSE.




District Leader Champion Information
The District Champion is a district leader (e.g., Assistant Superintendent, Science/STEM Director, CAO) who leads the OSE implementation at the district level, often across schools. 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. The District Champion is responsible for determining who in the district is responsible for materials management and ordering, as well as partnering with the finance team to monitor grant spending.

These Champions should be knowledgeable of OSE and excited to lead the work. They should lead communication across stakeholders, and consistently work to build support for the transition to OSE. These Champions are strongly encouraged to attend a unit-specific PL in addition to leader-specific professional development to learn about OSE.




Grant Questions









Grant Questions (continued)








OSE Sequence

What sequence (OSE National sequence or MA sequence) are you following and why?

Please click here 
for more details on the likely benefits and possible challenges of each sequence. 


Implementation Plan

Table A: Please indicate which units will be offered at each grade level over the 3 year rollout. Please scroll down to select units for all 3 years within each grade at your school.

For reference, please click here to view the OSE and MA-specific sequences. 
Grade 6 Units (Massachusetts sequence)



Grade 7 Units (Massachusetts sequence)



Grade 8 Units (Massachusetts sequence)



Grade 6 Units (OSE national sequence)



Grade 7 Units (OSE national sequence)



Grade 8 Units (OSE national sequence)



Implementation Plan (continued)

Please use the following tables to outline how you will roll out OpenSciEd in your school. Which grade levels will participate when? How many teachers will be included? What units will be offered? Remember that as grant recipients and members of the cohort program, schools are expected to offer all 6 OpenSciEd units to 100% of students at each grade level by Year 3 (2027-28). 
 
Table B1: Please enter the estimated number of students participating in OpenSciEd by grade level over time. 
Note: The numbers should represent the discrete number of participating students in that school year.  It should not indicate new students or be cumulative over years.
Year 1 (2025-26) Students Year 2 (2026-27) Students Year 3 (2027-28) Students
Grade 6 Students (#)
Grade 7 Students (#)
Grade 8 Students (#)
 
Table B2: Please enter the estimated percentage of students participating in OpenSciEd by grade level over time.
Year 1 (2025-26) % Year 2 (2026-27) % Year 3 (2027-28) %
Grade 6 Students (%)
Grade 7 Students (%)
Grade 8 Students (%)
 
Table C: Please enter the estimated number of teachers participating in OpenSciEd by grade level over time. 
Year 1 (2025-26) Teachers Year 2 (2026-27) Teachers Year 3 (2027-28) Teachers
Grade 6 Teachers
Grade 7 Teachers
Grade 8 Teachers

Budget

Use Tables D and Table E below to calculate the grant funding request.  
  1. Professional learning (PL) for teachers: All science teachers and Teacher Champions in the building complete 4 PL workshops over the three-year grant (1 Launch and 3 unit-specific sessions).
    • Note: Teacher Champions will also be trained in units 5 and 6, funding for which is automatically included in a separate grant stipend and should NOT be included in the tables below. An automatic stipend will also be included for an extra PL allowance for new teachers.
  2. Durable equipment kits: All teachers receive a one-time $650 durable equipment allowance for each unit offered.
Confused? That's okay! Reach out to Micah Joselow (mjoselow@one8.org) for help.



Table D: Teacher Professional Learning

Please indicate the number of teachers requiring PL over time.


Notes: 

1). Do not include PL for Teacher Champions to train in units 5 and 6.

2). Launch (Unit 1) and Unit 2 should be completed in Year 1 of the program.

3). If there are no teachers training in a particular unit in a particular year, please enter 0.
Year 1 (2025-26) PL Needs Year 2 (2026-27) PL Needs Year 3 (2027-28) PL Needs
Launch PL (Unit 1)
Unit 2 PL
Unit 3 PL
Unit 4 PL


Table E: Durable Equipment

Enter the number of new durable kits needed at each grade level over the three years.  The number of new kits = number of teachers multiplied by the number of units they are teaching for the first time.  

Notes: 
1). If correct, the sum of the numbers in the grid should equal the number of teachers x 6. 
2). If there are no teachers implementing a unit for the first time in a particular year, please enter 0.

Year 1 (2025-26) Kit Needs Year 2 (2026-27) Kit Needs Year 3 (2027-28) Kit Needs
Grade 6 Durable Kits
Grade 7 Durable Kits
Grade 8 Durable Kits

Budget and Narrative

Funding Request
The tables below contain calculated grant amounts corresponding to the worksheet 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 PL and kit numbers. 

Need help thinking through the budget? Check out this budget planning worksheet and/or get in touch with Micah Joselow  (mjoselow@one8.org).

Budget assumptions
  • Launch PL: $700 (per teacher)
  • Unit PL: $500 (per teacher)
  • Durable Kits: $650
  • Teacher Champion allowance: Up to $3,000 depending on grades offered 
  • New teacher allowance: Up to $2,800 depending on school size
Professional learning budget (in dollars)
Year 1 PL Budget (2025-26) Year 2 PL Budget (2026-27) Year 3 PL Budget (2027-28)
Launch Budget
PL for Unit 2 Budget
PL for Unit 3 Budget
PL for Unit 4 Budget
Durable equipment budget (in dollars)
Year 1 Kit Budget (2025-26) Year 2 Kit Budget (2026-27) Year 3 Kit Budget (2027-28)
Grade 6 Kit Budget
Grade 7 Kit Budget
Grade 8 Kit Budget

Total Budget - By Year

Note: This represents the requested amount by year, but does not represent the grant disbursement amounts, which is detailed below.
Year 1 Totals (2025-26) Year 2 Totals (2026-27) Year 3 Totals (2027-28)
PL Subtotals
Durable Kit Subtotals
Teacher Champion Subtotals
New Teacher Allowance Subtotals
Grant Totals

Grant Disbursements - By Year

Total grant award will be paid in three disbursements:
50% of total grant award will be paid in year 1
30% of total grant award will be paid in year 2
20% of total grant award will be paid in year 3

Note: This represents the grant amount that will be distributed to your school/district ahead of the upcoming school year (in late spring/early summer). 
Grant Disbursements
Year 1 Grant Disbursement
Year 2 Grant Disbursement
Year 3 Grant Disbursement
Total Grant Disbursement

Financial Contact Information







To whom do we make out the check?




Interview and Submission

Interview Scheduling
As part of the grant application process, schools may be invited to participate in a 45 minute interview. We are asking all applicants to schedule a tentative interview time now and the team will confirm the interview at latest one week prior to the date and time selected.

We suggest including the primary grant applicant, as well as the District Champion, School Champion(s), and Teacher Champion(s) as appropriate and possible.

Please schedule your team for an application interview by visiting the Calendly Scheduling Page.

 
Check all of the boxes below to confirm that your implementation plan as outlined in the application meets the following required design elements. This field is required.
Programming Expectations
 
Note: Shortly after submitting the application, the primary grant contact will receive a confirmation email. If they do not see that email within a few hours, please check your junk mail or reach out to mjoselow@one8.org.