USDOE SEED Grant Award

 

The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has been awarded a $15-million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the 2013 Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant competition. Through labor-management partnerships, the work will take place in six SEED sites; four states, Kentucky, Nevada, New York, and Washington, and in two districts, Albuquerque and San Francisco.

 

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will serve as a guiding partner in this effort as the six SEED sites collaborate in pursuit of the two aims. Another critical participant, the American Institutes for Research (AIR), will serve as the evaluation and research partner. All of the partners are organized into a Network Improvement Community, a model of learning and doing to reach specific aims.

The NYS partnership consists of National Board Council of New York (NBCNY), Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA), affiliated with the School of Education, University at Albany, New York United Teachers  (NYSUT), and the New York State Education Department ( NYSED).

Description and Purpose of Allocation

 

NBCNY has been authorized by NBPTS through the SEED Grant to award eligible high needs school districts competitive grant monies to support enhancing teacher effectiveness. This will be accomplished through the grant’s overarching aims of increasing the number of teachers who engage in the National Board process and by supporting teacher leader development and opportunities.

Furthermore, this grant calls upon schools and districts to capitalize on the expertise of accomplished teachers by offering opportunities to participate in leadership training and development. Creating leadership opportunities for teachers, with these skill sets, increases the capacity of these teachers to impact professional culture and instructional practice.

 

Funding Project Goals

The funding project seeks to achieve two aims:

 

Aim 1: Increase the number of teachers, in high needs schools, participating in the National Board Certified process.
 

Aim 2: Increase the number of teachers participating in teacher leadership training and serving in leadership roles to promote system wide advancement.

Eligible Districts

NBCNY is requesting applications from high needs districts to reach the two aims listed above. School districts may identify an individual school or multiple schools within the district as the target site(s) for the grant award. In addition, schools may enter into a consortium to complete the  application. Consortiums must identify the lead agency. 

Five high needs projects (school districts or consortiums) will be selected as SEED grant implementation sites. Each school and district will receive guidance from NBCNY to plan and implement activities that will lead to successful progress towards the stated aims. 

Project recipients will share information between sites and with NBCNY to promote greater understanding and learning about teacher effectiveness and teacher leadership.