K12 students and teachers are creating unprecedented opportunities for inquiry-based learning by expanding the geographic boundaries of their classrooms - - virtually and cost effectively.

Innovation Generation Grants

Funding Organization: Motorola
Website: http://www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=8153

Innovation Generation funding is designed to inspire students to learn about science and generate interest in science-related careers. The Motorola Foundation's Innovation Generation program equips students with the skills essential to both their lives today and their future success. By making the complex concepts behind math and science real and relevant, students look at their world differently through strengthened problem-solving skills. The Motorola Foundation accomplishes this through grant-making, engaging employee volunteers, building networks among STEM leaders and conducting research.

The Motorola Foundation has provided $7.5 million in Innovation Generation grants to U.S. science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs through its signature grants program in 2010. Innovation Generation funding is designed to inspire students to learn about science and generate interest in science-related careers, especially for girls and underrepresented groups.

Now in its fourth year, the program builds on President Barack Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign and federal initiatives like the Race to the Top Fund by incorporating funding, employee volunteers and intra-grantee collaboration to help boost American students’ engagement in STEM.

The expanded Innovation Generation grants program features three distinct funding areas:

  • Innovation Generation Grants  –  Support targeted, innovative STEM education programs for U.S. pre-school through 12th grade students and teachers, with grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000
  • Innovation Generation Collaborative Grants  –  Support medium- to large-scale STEM education collaborations between two or more non-profit organizations, schools and/or school districts, with joint requests ranging from $150,000 to $500,000
  • Innovation Generation University Grants  –  Support hands-on, innovative competitions, seminars and design competitions for undergraduate- and graduate-level students at select universities, with maximum grants of $50,000

Enhancing Education through Technology (Ed-Tech) State Program

Funding Agency: US Department of Education
Website: http://www.ed.gov/programs/edtech/index.html

The primary goal of this program is to improve student achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools. Additional goals include helping all students become technologically literate by the end of the eighth grade and, through the integration of technology with both teacher training and curriculum development, establishing research-based instructional methods that can be widely implemented.

Local activities include the support of continuing, sustained professional development programs and public-private partnerships. Activities also include: the use of new or existing technologies to improve academic achievement; the acquisition of curricula that integrate technology and are designed to meet challenging state academic standards; the use of technology to increase parent involvement in schools; and the use of technology to collect, manage, and analyze data to enhance teaching and school improvement.

Under the Ed-Tech program, the U.S. Department of Education provides grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) on the basis of their proportionate share of funding under Part A of Title I.

United States Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant

Funding Agency: United States Department of Agriculture 
Website: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/UTP_DLT.html

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program (DLT) is designed specifically to meet the educational and health care needs of rural America. Through loans, grants and loan/grant combinations, advanced telecommunications technologies provide enhanced learning and health care opportunities for rural residents.

The RUS DLT program supports projects in highly rural and economically disadvantaged locations to develop and expand distance learning and telemedicine capacity through the acquisition of equipment, instructional programming, and technical assistance for using eligible equipment.  

Eligibility:  Applicants must be legally organized as an incorporated organization or partnership; an Indian tribe or tribal organization; a consortium; or other legal entity, including a private corporation organized on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis. Applicants must show legal standing to contract with the federal government. Examples of eligible organizations are local education agencies (LEAs), education service centers, hospitals, higher education institutions, workforce investment boards, tribal organizations, education and training providers, health care providers, and faith-based community organizations. To be eligible for a grant, organizations must currently deliver or propose to deliver distance learning or telemedicine services for the term of the grant.

Deadline: The application deadline is April 25, 2011. 

Grant Amount: Project awards range from $50,000 – $500,000, with a one year grant period. 

Advanced Technological Education

Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Website:http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5464&org=NSF

With an emphasis on two-year colleges, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions and employers to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways to two-year colleges from secondary schools and from two-year colleges to four-year institutions; and other activities. Another goal is articulation between two-year and four-year programs for K-12 prospective teachers that focus on technological education. The program also invites proposals focusing on research to advance the knowledge base related to technician education.

FY2011 Deadline: October 20, 2011
Grant Amount: Award amount varies by grant type. Please see website and solicitation for full details.