It's no secret that technology is reshaping the educational landscape, but how exactly? This infographic from Knewton and Column Five Media offers a rather visual look at one new model of education. In the 'flipped classroom' no longer do teachers feel the 'sage of the stage' role, lecturing for hours on end, but instead shift to helper bee as a 'guide on the side.' Class time can be reserved for hands-on activities and problem solving, while internet-based video lecturers are the new homework. The statistics look promising, representing a substantial increase in performance by college freshman.
Responsible Sports is offering grants of $2,500 to non-profit youth sports organizations or educational athletic programs to promote responsible parenting and sportsmanship. Coaches and parents complete online coursework and subsequent quizzes for a chance at the grant awards. 6 to 7 grants are awarded depending on organization class, but applying organizations can only receive the grant once. Additionally, sport organizations must be registered with Responsible Sports and are encouraged to contact an administrator with the organization if not already in the database. Deadline is on-going.
At a glance it can be hard to see the impact of the breadth of services offered by the Whitefoord Community Program (WCP) on the cluster of Atlanta neighborhoods they serve. The non-profit runs four health clinics in nearby schools, offers child development and pre-K services, after school programs, digital media training, summer reading and math workshops and even a Bike Rite health initiative.
In a time of tight city and state budget, more and more municipalities are looking for ways to deliver services to the communities that need them. In Atlanta, one such program, the WCP, has been in place for years and could prove to be a model for the nation. Through grants and other funding the project has proven sustainable. Through community involvement it has proven useful and effective.
Look a little closer at the project and you’ll see the evolution of a community support system that weaves together family, health and education. What stated with a one-square mile area and a single health clinic in Whitefoord Elementary School on the east side of Atlanta more than 15 years ago has evolved into a system that reaches into a number of communities in that area of the city.
All of these services work in tandem from just about the time the child leaves the womb until he or she graduates high school with one goal in mind: providing the children of this inner-city community with the tools they need to complete their education.
Clarence Jones, director of the WCP's Beyond School Hours program, has been with the organization since shortly after it's founding.
At nine weeks, infants can enroll, space provided, in the WCP’s Child Development program and start gearing up for their formal education. Unlike traditional daycare, this nationally accredited child development program employs HighScope Curriculum, a style of early childhood teaching and learning focused on active participation and educational development.
Newly appointed executive director Katie Jo Ballard will be the first to tell you that the Georgia Office of Children and Families (GOCF) has a heck of a job. Since 2008 the organization has been charged with implementing “a spectrum of prevention, intervention, and treatment services for all children” in Georgia.
That means identifying effective programs and delivering funding across four areas of service: youth development, family violence, juvenile justice, and prevention programs.
“We’re looking for people that can provide 360 kinds of care for a family,” says Ballard. “Like really wrap themselves around a family and support them in every aspect.”
The GOCF doesn’t deliver any services directly. Rather, the organization distributes a combination of federal and state funds to community-based programs through a competitive grant process.
Since taking office in mid-August, Ballard has been trying to wrap her head around everything the organization does. The agency offers so many grants in so many areas, and some of those grantees offer sub-grants, she says, so there’s a lot to take in.
“I’m a very visual person, so I’m actually going out there and trying to visit sites so I can see what they do,” she says. “That’s what’s been the most rewarding to me, actually meeting a survivor of domestic violence, meeting a child that survived sexual exploitation, hearing those stories and how our programs have helped them… That’s the best part, but it’s also the hardest.”
The Youth Garden Grant Program (YGGP), supported by The Home Depot Garden Club, will award more than $50,000 in home depot gift cards for youth-oriented gardening programs before year’s end. Five grantees will receive $1,000 gift cards, and 95 others will get $500 cards. Most non-profits, community and education organizations may apply. Applicants must plan to with at least 15 children between the ages of 3 and 18 in the coming year. While this specific grant is for the 2011 year, YGGP offers a new round of grants each year.
From the federal level, the Administration of Children, Youth and Families are offering funding opportunities to support effective strategies to help youth at risk of aging out of foster care develop skills to strengthen and manage their relationship with biological family members and other important individuals in their lives. The end goal is to promote a healthy transition into adulthood. Projects selected for funding will be expected to:
Increase reunification or other permanency for youth who are at risk of aging out of the foster care system;
Build protective mechanisms (i.e. self-regulation, coping, and self-efficacy) and factors with youth to promote relational competencies and the ability to successfully seek out environments and social settings that support their own positive development now and in the future;
Demonstrate effective strategies to promote connecting youth with adults in a long-lasting and meaningful way;
Develop models or strategies of youth relational competency, youth leadership, employment and educational achievement;
Evaluate the processes and outcomes of these strategies and models; and
Each project will serve as a "learning laboratory" producing knowledge about capacity-building and effective practices in the coordination and delivery of services to young people in foster care. The application deadline is July 7, 2012.
Thoughts of summertime and teens usually bring to mind images of baseball, swimming holes and lazy, nothing-filled afternoons. But nestled in the corner of a Midtown Atlanta high rise a group of teens have been passing the dog days of the season in a slightly different way. For nearly two decades VOX Teen Communications has been honing the journalism and leadership skills of a diverse cross section of Atlanta teens. Each year more than a hundred pass through the newsroom doors or slide into the seat at one of their workshops. During the school year, the non-profit publishes the city’s only teen-powered newspaper.
The Whole Kids Foundation (WKF), a non-profit by Whole Foods Market, is accepting grant applications from eligible schools and non-profits to help schools grow students’ relationship with and understanding of food through the practice of gardening.
A good way to think about what makes for a really good teacher is to ask what makes for a really bad one. Not only is failure in education easier to see than success, its presence is far more effective at highlighting just what the art of teaching is all about. Nothing, for instance, demonstrates the importance of enthusiasm more readily than a monotoned teacher lulling a class into peaceful slumber. If you want other examples, have a look at this summer’s movie, Bad Teacher. That isn’t an artistic recommendation; the movie has little to offer from that perspective.
The Francis L. Abreu Charitable Trust for metro Atlanta, provides grants for children and youth services, education, health associations, arts and culture organizations. The trust supports capital campaigns, program development, seed money and matching funds. The deadline for this grant is September 30.
