Investigating History Grant Application

Welcome and thank you for your interest in Investigating History. Funding and support for school grants is provided by the One8 Foundation to support implementation of Investigating History. Feel free to reach out to Hannah Coleman (hcoleman@one8.org) with any questions.

Application Instructions

Application Instructions

1. Please review the program overview & FAQs.

Schools are required to implement in all relevant grades (i.e., 5th, 6th, and 7th grade).
If your school only includes one of these grades (e.g., you are a K-5 school), you are not eligible to apply unless another school in your district with additional grade levels has adopted Investigating History or is currently applying for a grant (e.g., K-5 school requires a 6-8 school has adopted or is applying). If your school includes two or three of these grades, you are eligible to apply on your own.
Competitive preference will be given to schools/districts with the following criteria:

Schools in which, or schools within districts in which, the student body includes at least 15% low-income students
Schools within districts that plan to use Investigating History for all students in grades 5-7 in the 2025-26 school year

2. Complete one application per school. Even if there are multiple schools from a district applying, we ask that an application reflecting school-specific information be submitted for each school.

3. Submit all applications by Friday, February 14, 2025 11:59 p.m. ET.

4. 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

December 10, 2024

Grant Application Opens

December 18, 2024, 3:30pm ET

Program informational session

Register Here!

February 14, 2025

Grant Application Due

February 28, March 3, or March 5, 2025

School Interviews (45-minute, interviews conducted via Zoom)

March 14, 2025

Award Notification

April 14, 2025 – 8 AM-3 PM at Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood, MA

Cohort Kickoff Convening for Selected Applicants

Mid-June 2025 or Mid-August 2025

Unit Launch for selected applicants

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 Investigating History curriculum in all relevant grades, including both the implementation of all curricular units and participation in required PL.
Each school application names one school leader, one district leader, and one teacher champion. For more on each role, please see Champion Role Description.
100% of students in relevant grades (5-7) at the school are provided with Investigating History.
100% of social studies teachers in relevant grades (5-7) at the school are using Investigating History.
All participating social studies teachers complete the full PL arc over 3 years (see detail on PL page).
School and district leader(s) complete(s) the administrator professional learning arc for full curriculum.
Teachers and leaders engage with Investigating History school support team (e.g., host 1-2 annual visits).
Submit teacher and administer student experience surveys to the Investigating History team.
Showcase student work at the One8 end of year showcase.
Host site visits with the Investigating History and One8 teams if requested.
Commitment of $500 annually as a program fee to maintain access to the school support team and ongoing IH school events, as well as a plan to financially sustain the use of Investigating History after the grant (school/district resources identified to cover annual program fee).

Note: Grant funding is intended to support high-quality adoption of Investigating History curricular resources and more specifically to offset the costs associated with launching the program. Grant awards will be distributed to schools to cover the costs of professional learning.

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

3a) What grade levels do you plan to implement investigating history in as part of this grant?

5th6th7th

3b) Do any other schools in your district currently use Investigating History or are any other schools in your district planning to apply for this grant with more grade-levels?

YesNoNot sure

4)

What is your total student enrollment in grade 5 for the 2024-25 school year?

What is your total student enrollment in grade 6 for the 2024-25 school year?

What is your total student enrollment in grade 7 for the 2024-25 school year?

5)

Please list all 5th grade social studies/history teachers:

	Teacher Name	Teacher Email
5th Grade Teacher 1
5th Grade Teacher 2
5th Grade Teacher 3

Please list all 6th grade social studies/history teachers:

	Teacher Name	Teacher Email
6th Grade Teacher 1
6th Grade Teacher 2
6th Grade Teacher 3

Please list all 7th grade social studies/history teachers:

	Teacher Name	Teacher Email
7th Grade Teacher 1
7th Grade Teacher 2
7th Grade Teacher 3

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

Civics Vision and Goals

6) What are your goals for student learning in social studies?

7) How do you anticipate investigating history supporting those goals?

8) Have any teachers used at least one unit of investigating history previously?

YesNo

8a) Please describe what supports and professional learning these teachers received and assess how implementation has gone for these teachers so far.

8b) why are you interested in participating in the grant cohort at this stage in your investigating history implementation?

8a) What resources are you currently using for 5-7 History/social studies and how would you assess their strengths and weaknesses?

8b) What about the Investigating History materials and approach are you and your team most excited about?

8c) What about the Investigating History materials and approach do you and your team anticipate being challenging? How are you thinking of addressing these potential challenges?

9) What would successful Investigating History implementation look like to you?

10) 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 the specific schedule for each grade included in the grant.

11A) how did you hear about the investigating history grant opportunity? please select all that apply.

I am a current Investigating History school or districtAttended Investigating History PL this yearAn educator at another school or districtEmail/outreach by the Investigating History/DESE teamEmail/outreach by the One8 Foundation teamOther

11B) please describe how you heard about the investigating history grant opportunity.

Staffing Program

Staffing and Program Champions

Please identify one school-level, one district-level, and one teacher-level “champion” of the program.

In this context, a champion is an educator who will become knowledgeable about Investigating History and the grant requirements, as well as someone who is committed to high-quality implementation. The champions are required to attend the April 14, 2025 cohort kickoff convening. Opportunities to become knowledgeable about Investigating History include reviewing the Investigating History website, the Investigating History curriculum portal, the grant application, and the grant program FAQs, participation in the grant selection interview and the cohort kickoff convening.

School-Leader Champion

The school leader champion is a school leader (e.g., Principal, Assistant Principal, Department Chair) who leads the Investigating History 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 Investigating History curriculum and excited to lead the work. These champions will attend the one-day Summer Unit Launch in year one in addition to leader-specific professional development in all three years to learn and support their teachers in Investigating History.

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

District-Level Champion

The district champion is a district leader (e.g. Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum Director) who leads the Investigating History implementation at the district level, often across schools if the district has multiple schools serving 5-7th graders and more than one of those 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 Investigating History and excited to lead the work. These champions will attend the one-day Summer Unit Launch in year one in addition to leader-specific professional development in all three years to learn and support their schools in Investigating History.

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

Teacher-Leader Champion

Teacher-Leader Champions are Social Studies teachers who will be implementing Investigating History and helping lead the work with their colleagues. These champions should be knowledgeable about Investigating History, the grant, and excited to lead the work with other Social Studies teachers.

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

12) How familiar are teachers and administrators in your building with Investigating History? How were they familiarized and what have you done to build teacher and administrator buy-in to this program?

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

14) 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?

Implementation Plan

Adoption of all curricular units is required in year one, with support for each unit provided during the unit launch professional learning sessions.

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

Budget

Use the tables below to calculate the grant funding request.

Professional Learning Pathways: Teachers will attend PL according to their experience with the curriculum and need for unit unpacking. See the Investigating History Professional Learning Pathway below, to help you answer question 16 based on your teachers’ experience with the Investigating History curriculum.

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

	5th grade	6th grade	7th grade
# of teachers without Investigating History experience who will participate in the introduction and in all four unit-launch PL workshops
# of teachers with Investigating History experience who will participate in the digging deeper workshops
# of teachers with Investigating History experience who nonetheless prefer to participate in the introduction and all four unit-launch workshops
# of teachers who will require room and board for professional learning workshops (note: funding is prioritized for districts 75+ miles away from PL location)

Note: We will calculate years 2 and 3 as well as leader costs based on year 1 designations. 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 leaders can fully participate.

17) PLEASE INDICATE THE number of sets of durable materials your school will need.

	5th grade	6th grade	7th grade
# of classroom sets of printed materials needed (includes one teacher’s guide, one set of master copies, and one set of classroom resources.)

Confused? That's okay! Reach out to Hannah Coleman for help (hcoleman@one8.org).

Budget and Narrative

Funding Request

The tables below contain calculated grant amounts corresponding to the table 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 training and implementation numbers. Need help? Please reach out to Hannah Coleman (hcoleman@one8.org).

Note: Grant funds are calculated to cover professional learning and will be directly distributed to schools.

Cost of teacher and leader professional learning

Budget assumptions

Summer Introduction + Unit 1 Launch for New Teachers ($700 per teacher). Offered June 9th and 10th or August 20th and 21st 2025.
Teacher workshops ($350 per teacher per day) Offered in October 2025, January 2026, and March 2026.
Leader workshops ($350 per leader per day)
Lodging if 75+ miles away ($200 per night)
Durable materials ($700 per classroom set)

Based on the Professional Learning Sequences Table, the total costs are calculated below:

Cost of teacher and leader professional learning based on your inputs on the previous page:

	# in Year 1	Year 1 Cost	Year 2 Cost	Year 3 Cost
TOTAL teacher professional learning (New + Experienced)
New Teachers/ Teachers Attending Unit Launch
Returning Teachers Attending PL Workshops for Experienced Teachers
Leader professional learning
Lodging for PL
Durable Materials
Total

Total grant request

sum of yearly totals

18) While grant funding helps to cover expenses associated with adopting the Investigating History curriculum, it does not cover all costs, such as teacher stipends for professional learning, substitute coverage for workshop days, etc. Please describe other anticipated costs associated with your school’s Investigating History 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

State