July 2005 — SETDA
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A New Competitive Grant Model for Nevada
Transitioning to scientifically based research through testing and assessment.
Technology funding can have consequences beyond its original intent of providing money for equipment, professional development, and other necessary aspects of a project. It also can be a lever for changing "the way we have always done it." In Nevada, we used Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) funds to start breaking the cycle of "continuation grant politics." The newly designed application required projects to be implemented at the classroom level with a strong evaluation and assessment component designed to show evidence of an impact on student achievement. The push at both the state and federal levels for accountability led the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) to transition to a new emphasis on scientifically based research.
The Competition
Sensing the possible disappointment from districts and consortia comfortable with their "entitlement" funding, the NDE split the EETT competitive grant funding into three sections. First, money was dedicated for a statewide technology conference (11 percent); second, for a competition similar to previous years (62 percent); and third, for a special competition developed for new scientifically based research projects (27 percent). This was the first step in moving toward a totally research-based competition.
The Winners
A nonprofit public television station partnered with an urban school district to conduct the statewide conference. The regular competition attracted the usual applicants: urban districts and rural consortia. The special competition grantees included two consortia: 1) a partnership with higher education (University of Nevada, Reno) and four rural school districts (Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, and Nye counties) that focused on middle school science; and 2) a partnership with a for-profit company (Classroom Connect) and an urban school district (Clark County in Las Vegas) that focused on second-grade literacy. The following section includes reflections and preliminary assessment data on the university/rural project called, Rural Science Teachers Teaching with Technology (RST3).
Developing Content
The RST3 program had all the earmarks of an exciting and successful project:
- Narrow grade-level grouping: middle school
- Focused content area: science
- Scientifically based research: a strict control of variables.
The administrators in the project each selected two teachers to meet with researchers as a core planning group. The teachers examined the science standards and proposed topics that would provide ample opportunity for technology integration.
Critical to the project was setting up a research design that would isolate the effects of the technology integration on student achievement in middle school science with as much validity as possible. Teachers designed units of study that included assessments and an integrated technology component. Teachers also crafted the units in such a way that they could be taught with or without the technology. This allowed for selection into an experimental group (with technology) and a control group (without technology). The teachers conducted class one period with technology and another period without technology, because they felt they could hold other variables more constant for comparison purposes if they taught the units both ways.
