CTER Ed Psy490TER – Technology and Education Reform
Terri Franklin
July 11, 2000
Option1 Educational Reform Proposal
Scientific Literacy Pilot Project: This has been an annual competitive grant offered by the Illinois State Board of Education aimed at developing and piloting “curriculum, instruction and assessment in scientific literacy in order to improve K-12 student literacy levels in science and mathematics.” The Request for Proposal can be viewed at: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/rfps/ The sections required are copied here:
Proposal
Format
Use the
following as a checklist to assemble the completed proposal in the correct
order and format.
· Consecutively
number all pages in the final proposal.
· Proposals
must be written using 12-point font size and 1.5 line spacing throughout.
· Components
must not exceed the specified length.
· Incomplete
proposals, proposals that are incorrectly formatted and/or proposals not signed
by
the
agency official authorized to submit the proposal will not be considered for
funding.
____1. Cover
Page (Attachment 1): Must be signed by an agency official authorized to
submit
the
proposal.
____2. Proposal
Abstract (Attachment 1a): Concisely describe the overall objectives and
activities
of the project. Do not exceed 250 words.
____3. Proposal
Narrative: See “Narrative Requirements” on page 5. Clearly designate the
response
to each section. Do not exceed 15 pages.
____4. Budget
Summary and Payment Schedule (Attachment 2): Must be submitted on the
form
provided and signed by the agency official authorized to submit the
proposal.
Expenditures
shall be limited to those budget categories identified on Attachment 2.
Only
costs that support the objectives and activities of the project will be
approved. (See
Appendix
A for budget guidelines and Appendix B for explanation of expenditure
accounts.)
Multi-year proposals must include a Budget Summary and Payment Schedule
for
each year of requested funding.
____5.
Budget Breakdown (Attachment 2a): Must include descriptions of the
anticipated
expenditures
correlated to the line-item requests on the Budget Summary. Must include
subcontract
information, if applicable (see “Terms of the Grant,” pages 6 and 7).
Multi-year
proposals
must include a Budget Breakdown for each year of funding requested.
____6.
Letters of Intent to Participate: Submit these when proposals are a
collaborative effort
between
public entities or when a public/private partnership as defined on page 3 is
established
for purposes of implementing the program. Letters should describe the
specific
services and resources being shared in the partnership and the specific
responsibilities
of each participating entity. Letters should also describe the extent to
which
each participant was actively involved in planning and preparation of the
proposal.
____7. Certification
and Assurances (Attachments 3 and 4): Each applicant is required to
submit
the two certification forms attached (“Certification and Assurances for
Application
and Award” and “Drug-Free Workplace Certification”). These forms must
be
signed by the person authorized to submit the proposal and to bind the
applicant to its
content.
____8. Evidence
of Not-for-Profit Status (required of not-for-profit organizations only):
This
may be an IRS statement of 501(c)(3) status, a certificate of incorporation as
a not-for-
profit
corporation, or evidence of acceptance as a not-for-profit organization by the
U.S.
Postal Service. Attach a description of past involvement and present
qualifications
for providing educational opportunities in scientific literacy for
teachers and/or students.
I will be the sole author of this proposal and it will deal with introducing biotechnology to Chester High School. This summer the completion of the mapping of the human chromosomes was reported by almost every news station or newspaper in the United States. Yet many of the reporters could barely pronounce the name Human Genome Project. Scientists predict that this breakthrough could change everything from the food we eat to cures for untreatable diseases, almost scary. If there is a subject that needs science literacy it is biotechnology. Therefore I intend to saturate Chester High School with the subject by involving the topic in almost every subject area. I hope to do everthing from illustrating a biotechnology timeline, to doing debates on science-technology-society issues. Of course I also hope to get some electrophoresis and cell transformation equipment to do experiments in my biology class. In the end I want some of the computer graphics students to compile this into a web site to educate the community about this issue.
So far I have contacted 12 teachers from the departments of art, social studies, math, english, science, health, consumer science and foods, and computers and asked them to participate. Since this RFP won’t be do till April of 2001, and not be initiated till Aug of 2001, I think I can get enough to commit. I looked at some old grant proposals that I have written (one funded and one not) to critique what works and does not work. I also have a copy of a Science Lit grant written by our Chemistry teacher several years ago to look at. Today I went through my Science Teacher magazine and my copies of Scientific American looking for references to biotechnology. I know I will also need to site evidence from current literature that my purposed strategy has merit for addressing the need. I was thinking that some of the references to engaged learning and group processing that Tom McGreal noted in his transcript would be useful here. In addition some of the readings we are doing for class fit nicely here. All the details I need to address are clearly defined in the RFP: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/rfps/ .
Wow! I have written one of these before and they are a lot of work. I like the way this grant clearly defines what it wants and how it wants it, but I just don’t know if I will be able to do it all myself by August 1st. At least I will have plenty of time to revise it by the due date next April.