Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs: FY2010

This federal grant program will build district and school capacity to use student achievement and other relevant data to increase teachers' ability to teach and enable students to meet challenging state performance standards.

This program will support one full-time equivalent Data Specialist in each of the Department's six District and School Assistance Centers (DSACs). (See Attachment A for a complete description of DSAC and refer to Attachment C for a regional map.) Duties of the Data Specialist include:

1. accessing data and generating reports from the state's longitudinal data system Education Data Warehouse (EDW);

2. loading local student achievement data into the data warehouse;

3. making use of technology to administer formative, benchmark, and summative assessments designed to support effective tiered instruction; and

4. building regional capacity to use data to improve instruction.

The Data Specialist will be expected to help align policies and resources toward building a culture of effective and efficient data use in each region.

Priority will be given to eligible local partnerships that include a Massachusetts Educational Collaborative with at least one high-need district. Participating local partnerships must serve all districts in a region by:

1. in partnership with the Department, hiring, supervising, and evaluating one full-time equivalent Data Specialist to train and support districts to access, compile, analyze, and use district and school data;

2. managing the Data Specialist and collaborating with the Department to set and monitor performance expectations;

3. providing guidance to the Department on data needs for the region, creating a two-way partnership; and

4. collaborating as needed with the Department, other collaboratives, and other relevant educational organizations to support regional data needs.

See Attachment A for the Data Specialist job description, qualifications, and performance expectations. Terms of these positions will be negotiated collaboratively with the Department.

1. Grant funds will be distributed to eligible high-need school districts or the eligible local partnership that must include at least one high-need school district.

2. All participating districts in the eligible local partnership must have certified that they have complied with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requirements.

3. School districts participating in this program must have received a letter from the Department approving their technology plans through June 30, 2010.

1. Funds received shall be used to supplement, not supplant, personnel costs. The six Data Specialists must be new FTE employees of the applicant organizations. Salaries and in-state travel may be covered; benefits may be included.

2. At least 25% of funds are to be used for ongoing technology professional development. This may include payment for the Data Specialist's salary, consultation support, consultants, and materials for professional development. Other acceptable expenditures may include project coordination, program evaluation, dissemination, etc.

3. Each grant recipient is to set aside 10% of grant funds to procure the services or an external evaluator. The Department will coordinate the selection of an external evaluator for a consolidated evaluation for the entire program. All budgets and budget descriptions must be aligned with the activities described in the proposal narrative and reflect any coordinated use of funds from other funding sources.

4. Up to $25,000 may be used to support the purchase of technological infrastructure (hardware and software) to sustain the use of technology to improve instruction and support virtual delivery of professional development in the region.

Upon Approval - 8/31/2010*

*(All Department grants are awarded for one fiscal year at a time. The ARRA grants have been awarded to the state as part of the FY2010 budget appropriation. As with other federal entitlement grants, they are subject to the Federal Tydings Amendment, which allows any funds not expended in the year of appropriation to be carried over. This makes the effective end date for use of these funds August 30, 2011. The Department is working currently on specific carryover procedures for these funds and this information will be provided as soon as it is available.)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Competitive proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. on the date due.

1.      Part I - General - Program Unit Signature Page - (Standard Contract Form and Application for Program Grants)

2.      Part II Budget Detail Pages (Include both pages.) - Instructions

3.     Part III - Required Program Information

4.     Attachment C - Inventory Form

1.     List of High-Need Districts

2.     Attachment A: Data Specialist expectations, job description, qualifications, and evaluation

3.      Attachment B: Regional DSAC District Map

4.     Scoring Rubric

Note: The Department will hold technical assistance conference calls on Monday, August 31, 2009 from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. and Tuesday, September 8, 2009 from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.

If you are interested in participating in the call, please register via the link below. http://www.doe.mass.edu/conference/?ConferenceID=709

Submit 3 sets, each with an original signature of the Superintendent/Executive Director.

Mail to: