Chicago Schools Win Personalized Learning Grants
Seven Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will receive $280,000 each as part of the Breakthrough Schools Chicago program.
The
Breakthrough Schools Chicago program is a 10-month grant competition
that supports local educators as they develop and implement
whole-school personalized learning approaches. The program is a
local-national partnership, led by LEAP Innovations and Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC). LEAP Innovations is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization
"working to transform learning by connecting education and innovation
for teachers and students," and the NGLC is an initiative of Educause.
During
the first phase of the program, educators from 15 Chicago area schools
began the process of designing and piloting whole-school personalized
learning models intended to meet the needs of their students. Each
participating school received $30,000 in planning grant funds, monthly
workshops, more than 150 hours of coaching and site visits to schools
that have already implemented personalized learning.
During the
second phase, the schools developed grant proposals for implementation
of their new learning models, based on their learning from phase one. A
panel of experts evaluated the proposals and conducted on-site visits
before selecting the four elementary and three high schools that won
the implementation grants.
The seven schools that won the 2016 Breakthrough Schools Chicago grants include:
Breakthrough
Schools Chicago is one of seven regional funds of Next Generation
Learning Challenges (NGLC). Additional funding for the Chicago program
comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Chicago Public
Education Fund, IMC Financial Markets, The Joyce Foundation and
Northern Trust.
This is the second year of the Breakthrough
Schools Chicago program. In the first year, seven schools received
support and $100,000 planning grants, and five of those schools
received $263,000 in additional implementation grants.
Further information about the Breakthrough Schools Chicago program can be found on the LEAP Innovations site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].