Development and Expansion Grants

Development and Expansion Grants are awarded to support the development of new educational strategies that target demonstrated need and have the potential to serve as models  for the rest of the district.  Development and Expansion Grants may be school-based or district-wide.  Projects may:

• Support the expansion and sharing of successful pilot projects funded through the Innovations in Education grant program.
• Provide professional development and resources that enhance curriculum and/or community in the Arlington Public Schools.
• Support administrative leadership initiatives that enhance curriculum and/or community in the Arlington Public Schools.

2011 Grants

Lucy Calkins Writing Program for Grades Four and Five

Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Teaching Writing is a state-of-the-art writing program that uses a workshop approach to engage students in writing about what is meaningful in their lives. Taking students’ current abilities as starting points, the program offers a consistent, coherent framework and student conferencing method to teach narrative and expository writing with increasing sophistication. In 2011, the Lucy Calkins Units of Study were piloted in Arlington’s third grade with great success.  This grant will provide funds to expand the program to the fourth and fifth grades in all elementary schools, by purchasing curriculum kits and providing professional development to all fourth and fifth grade teachers, as well as elementary English Language Learners (ELL) and Special Education teachers.

Educational Technology Investment

AEF has partnered with the Arlington Public Schools to help implement its recently published technology plan.  As part of the Arlington School Committee’s mandate to “strategically and systematically provide and integrate technology into the core curriculum to promote 21^st Century student learning,” AEF’s grant provided funds for the purchase of LCD projectors to be dispersed across the district.  LCD projectors are a key investment in educational technology, and a necessity for other classroom tools such as interactive whiteboards, document cameras and interactive student response systems – all of which foster an engaging learning environment.