'Best in Class' Grants To Award Teachers with Classroom Supplies
The 2011 Best in Class grant program will award teachers with $50,000 in funding for classroom equipment and materials. The grant is being offered by the non-profit Kids in Need Foundation and women's clothing retailer Loft. (Loft also provides additional benefits to teachers via its LoftLovesTeachers program, including discounts, in-store events, and sweepstakes.)
Grants will be awarded to about 100 teachers in amounts of $100 to $500, though in exceptional cases additional funding might be awarded, according to the organizers. Applicants will be required to describe a specific project to be funded, including the objectives and activities involved in the project, the ways in which students will be evaluated in the project, and the purpose to which any funds awarded will be put.
The grants are designed to provide funding for projects that "make creative use of common teaching aids, approach curriculum from an imaginative angle, or tie nontraditional concepts together for the purpose of illustrating commonalities," according to organizers. "Innovation and merit account for 40 percent of the evaluation." Objectives and feasibility will each account for another 20 percent; evaluation instrument and budget will each count for another 10 percent.
Proposals should not overlap with previously funded projects and should not request funding for items like packaged lesson plans, book collections, trips, stipends, admission fees, or "substantial" equipment like computers.
The program is open to certified teachers in K-12 public, private, charter, and parochial K-12 schools but is not open to preschools or home schools.
Applications for the grant program are being accepted now through Dec. 9. Notifications of winning proposals will be made Feb. 1, 2012. Online applications can be found on the Kids in Need Foundation application site.