Democratic Knowledge Project Grant Application

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Democratic Knowledge Project Launch (DKP Launch) MA Cohort program supporting implementation of the DKP's grade 8 curriculum, Civic Engagement in Our Democracy. Funding and support for school grants to participate in the MA Cohort program is provided by the One8 Foundation. Feel free to reach out to Chad Ajig at DKP Launch (cajig@civichistory.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 will receive competitive preference for grant opportunities.
All social studies educators who teach 8th grade students in civics at selected schools must participate in the cohort.

Complete one application per school. Even if there are multiple schools from a district applying, the questions in the application ask for school-specific responses. While some responses for each school application may reflect district priorities, practices, and policies, school specific information needs to be incorporated into each question's response.
Submit all applications by January 29, 2026, 5:00 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 application.
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

November 5, 2025 - 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

One8 Grants Webinar

Register here!

November 13, 2025 - 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

DKP Launch & IH Virtual Grant Info Webinar

Register here!

November 14, 2025 - 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

DKP Launch Virtual Info Webinar

Register here!

November 20, 2025 - 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Virtual Educator Panel

Register here!

December 1, 2025 - 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Media Literacy Module Virtual Sampler

Register here!

December 8, 2025 - Millbury Jr/Sr High, Millbury, MA - 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Open House at Millbury Jr/Sr High

Register here!

December 10, 2025 - Silver Lake Middle School, Kingston, MA - 12:30 - 2:30 p.m.

Open House at Silver Lake Middle School
Register here!

Grant Application Office Hours:

December 17, 2025 - 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

January 8, 2026 - 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

January 21, 2026 - 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Register here!

January 29, 2026

Grant Application Due by 5:00 p.m. ET.

February 9-13, 2026

School Interviews

April 15, 2026 - Four Points Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center, Norwood, MA

Grant 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 section of this application.
The school-level champion and district-level champion attend the April 15, 2026, Grant Cohort Kickoff Convening from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Four Points in Norwood. A teacher representative is encouraged to attend as possible.
100% of students in grade 8 (including students in substantially separate environments, as is possible) in the school participate beginning in year 1.
100% of grade 8 social studies teachers in the school participate 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 an in-person Summer or September Institute and in-person, day-long workshops during the school year).
The school or district leader completes administrator professional learning sequence.
As part of the professional learning sequence, the school or district champion meets with a DKP Launch Implementation Lead for at least 2 school visits per year in years 1 and 2 and for one visit in year 3.
As part of the professional learning sequence, the school or district champion meets with a DKP Launch Implementation Lead at least twice per year in years 1 and 2 and once in year 3.
Submit teacher engagement surveys, administer student experience surveys, and share responses with the DKP team.
Showcase student work throughout the year.
Share pre/post course assessment toolkit data with DKP Launch as well as student work examples and artifacts.
Host site visits with the DKP Launch and One8 teams if requested.
Submit $300 annually as a program fee, as well as a plan for how you will cover the costs associated with implementation not provided through the grant (i.e. student print outs, teacher stipends for PD and/or substitute coverage) and how you plan to financially sustain the program after the grant period ends.

Note: Grant funding is intended to support high-quality adoption of DKP Launch curricular resources and specifically 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. Schools also receive implementation 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 Launch 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

3) Please provide the name and contact information of the superintendent and principal.

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

Superintendent Contact Information

superintendent First name

superintendent last name

superintendent Email Address

Principal Contact Information

principal First name

principal last name

principal Email Address

4) Please provide the contact information of anyone else who should be included on grant communications below.

Additional Contact #1 (optional)

first name

last name

title

email

Additional Contact #2 (optional)

first name

last name

title

email

5) What is the total student enrollment in grade 8 for the 2025-26 school year?

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

Ex. 20

7) Please list the GRADE 8 SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS ANTICIPATED FOR THE 2026-27 SCHOOL YEAR. if a teacher's name is unknown, put "unknown".

Teacher Name	Teacher Email	# of Grade 8 Civics Sections

Civics Vision and Goals

8) What are your school's goals for student civic learning?

9) How do you anticipate Dkp Launch supporting these goals?

10) What resources is your school currently using in grade 8 civics? how will dkp adoption in grade 8 impact current curricular resources?

11) the expected number of annual contact hours is 120 hours. How is social studies scheduled in your school (e.g., daily, 60 minutes, full year or 4 days per week, 45 minutes, semester, etc.)? Please indicate 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 2019-2023? if yes, please describe when they participated and what their participation involved.

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

14) think about your school's culture and context. 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 typically define and measure success? how will you measure the success of the dkp launch programming?

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

I am a current DKP Launch districtAttended DKP Launch Summer Institute or other DKP-run PL (e.g., Deeper Civic Learning, Past to Present Institute, Civic Learning Institute, DESE Civics Pathways)An educator at another school or districtEmail/outreach by the DKP Launch teamEmail/outreach by the One8 Foundation teamOther

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

Staffing

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 about the DKP Launch program and the grant requirements, as well as someone who is committed to high-quality implementation. Both the school and district champions are required to attend the April 15, 2026, Grant Cohort Kickoff Convening; a teacher representative is encouraged to attend as possible.

Opportunities to become knowledgeable about DKP Launch include: reviewing the DKP Launch website, curriculum portal, grant application, and grant program FAQ; attending a grant info session; participating in the grant selection interview and the Grant Cohort Kickoff Convening; attending the Summer or September Institute; and meeting with the DKP Launch team.

School-Leader Champion

The school leader champion is a school-building based leader (e.g., Principal, Assistant Principal, Department Chair, Team Lead, Curriculum Coach) who leads the DKP Launch implementation at the school level and is not participating in the grant program as an implementing teacher. 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 Launch curriculum and excited to lead the work. Either the school-leader champion OR the district-leader champion will attend day 1 of the Summer or September Institute in years 1 and 2 (dates to be specified).

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

phone number

District-Level Champion

The district champion is a district leader (e.g., Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum Director, CAO) who leads the DKP Launch 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 in the grant cohort. 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 about the DKP Launch curriculum and excited to lead the work. Either the school-leader champion OR the district-leader champion will attend day 1 of the Summer or September Institute in years 1 and 2 (dates to be specified).

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

phone number

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 parental leave, a teacher is expected to retire in one year, etc.) and how this will impact 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 DKP professional learning. 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 dkp professional learning.

All grade 8 social studies teachers in a building must participate in the DKP Launch program beginning in year 1. This should include sub-separate and push-in Special Educators as appropriate. Based on previous experience with DKP professional development, 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 or September Institute professional learning, which will take place within 60 minutes of metro Boston, MA (dates and location to be specified). Program participants will only need to attend 1 of these Institutes.

	Year 1: 2026-27
# of teachers with no DKP Launch experience who will participate in the full PL sequence
# of teachers with DKP Launch experience (i.e., have received DKP PL and have taught the full curriculum at least once) who will participate in the abbreviated PL sequence
# of teachers with DKP Launch experience who prefer to participate in the full PL sequence, including introductory training
# of teachers who will require lodging during the Summer or September Institute in MA (within 60 minutes of metro Boston)

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 for any of the above categories that do not apply to your teacher(s).

please Confirm participation.

The teacher(s) and leader can fully participate.

Confused? That's okay! Reach out to Chad Ajig (cajig@civichistory.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: The grant opportunity provides implementation supports and professional learning opportunities. Grant funds will not be directly distributed to schools. If awarded a grant, schools will receive the resources, implementation support, and professional learning valued at the calculated amount in the tables below. 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 Chad Ajig (cajig@civichistory.org).

Cost of teacher and leader professional learning

Budget assumptions

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

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

	# in Year 1	Year 1 Cost	# in Year 2	Year 2 Cost	# in Year 3	Year 3 Cost
New DKP Launch teacher professional learning
Experienced DKP Launch teacher professional learning
Leader professional learning
Summer or September 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 launch curriculum, it does not cover all costs, such as teacher stipends for professional learning, substitute coverage for workshop days, a $300 annual program fee, consumables (I.e. print-outs, worksheets), etc. Please describe other anticipated costs associated with your school’s dkp launch implementation and your plan for funding these costs, as well as how you plan to support continued implementation once the grant ends.

Finance Contact (person who will process invoice for $300 annual payment)

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

Phone Number

Name of entity

Mailing address of entity

Address line 2

city

Zip Code

State