Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2022 & FY2023: Digital Literacy Now

Fund Code: 147

Purpose:

The purpose of this trust continuation grant is to establish and promote rigorous, engaging, and standards-aligned digital literacy and computer science (DLCS) education in public schools from kindergarten through grade 12. This grant will continue the DLCS implementation work from FY21 Digital Literacy Now Grant Part 1 (FC152 and FC152A) and FY22 Digital Literacy Now Grant Part 2 (FC147).

School districts are the unit of change toward creating rigorous, inclusive, and sustainable K–12 digital literacy and computer science education. This grant includes funding for the following activities:

District teams will engage in four (4) facilitated, full-day DLCS Implementation Planning workshops to review and revise the district's DLCS implementation plan. One workshop day will be held in each of: January 2022, February 2022, March 2022, and April 2022. Substitute reimbursement will be provided for teachers who attend the workshops.
Districts teams will perform an analysis of their DLCS standards coverage and gap analysis with their current curricula.
Districts will select DLCS curriculum for SY2023 to more fully align to the MA DLCS Framework . Only curriculum included in the Digital Literacy and Computer Science Curriculum Guide for Massachusetts Districts will be eligible.
District teams will attend a one-day Summit of all participating districts in May 2022 or June 2022 (date to be determined)
District leadership will recruit and schedule teachers and other educators (coaches, directors, etc.) to attend summer curriculum PD related to the selected curricula that they will implement in SY2023. The curriculum PD will occur in July 2022 and August 2022. The PD cost and teacher stipends are included in the grant.
District leadership will identify teachers who will take summer curriculum PD and who are new to CS to attend an Intro to CS workshop in April or June 2022. The facilitator cost and teacher stipends are included in the grant.
Teachers who complete the summer curriculum PD can:
- Purchase computing devices related to the curriculum (e.g., Circuit Playgrounds, tablets, micro:bits) up to a maximum of $500 (pending funding).
- Use up to two (2) days of stipends to attend school-year follow-up PD for selected curricula that require it. Those curricula include: CS Discoveries (from Code.org), CS Principles (from Code.org), Project Lead the Way (select curricula), and Beauty and Joy of Coding.
  Note: some curricula require more than 2 days of follow-up PD, however, there is a maximum of 2 days of stipends included in the grant.

Priorities:

Supports the creation of new programs and/or expanding existing programs to serve more students who are the most underserved (including but not limited to students designated as economically disadvantaged, English language learners, special education, living in rural areas, and those in underrepresented student groups). Priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status.

Eligibility:

Massachusetts public school districts which received funding for FY2021 Fund Code 152 or 152A DL Now Grant are eligible to apply for the FY2022 and FY2023 Digital Literacy Now continuation grant to continue their work.

Funding Type:

Trust

Funding:

Approximately $545,348 is available for continuing districts through the state trust account #7010-1617.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available, it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

The initial level of funding could change during the year based on changes in the awarded program (e.g., scope, course, follow-up activities, number of participants, or number of course(s)). The grant budget may be amended up or down to reflect the program changes. Grant recipients are required to contact the program liaison to discuss any proposed change to the awarded program.

Fund Use:

Funds must be used in alignment with the purpose and priorities outlined and as described in the budget that is submitted to the Department's Center for Instructional Support Office/STEM. The following uses for the funds may be included in the budget.

Funds may be used for four (4) DLCS Implementation Planning workshops. This funding may include:

Substitute reimbursement for teachers who attend
Travel costs for District Team members who attend

Funds may be used for a one-day Summit of Grant districts. This funding may include:

Substitute reimbursement for teachers who attend
Travel costs for District Team members who attend

Funds may be used for curriculum PD for educators in July and August 2022 who will be implementing the selected curriculum in SY2023. Only curriculum included in the Digital Literacy and Computer Science Curriculum Guide for Massachusetts Districts will be eligible. This funding may include:

Curriculum PD workshop cost
Stipends for eligible educators who complete the PD
Travel costs for teachers who attend

Funds may be used for an Intro to CS workshop in April or June 2022 for any teachers who are new to DLCS and who will be attending the summer curriculum PD and who will be implementing the selected curriculum in SY2023. This funding may include:

Workshop cost
Substitute reimbursement for teachers who attend
Travel costs for teachers who attend

Funds may be used for DLCS computing devices for district-selected curriculum that requires the devices. This funding is only for eligible for teachers who complete the summer curriculum PD. This funding may include:

Maximum $500 per teacher who meets eligibility (pending funding)

Funds may be used for school year follow-up PD, from September to December 31, 2022, which is required by select curricula. This funding may include:

Maximum two (2) days of stipends
Note: some curricula require more than 2 days of follow-up PD, however, there is a maximum of 2 days of stipends included in the grant (pending funding)

Funds may be used for stipends/salary for the District Team Point of Contact. The District Team Point of Contact maintains the plan and other grant artifacts in an accessible location, collects and reports data, and manages communication with DESE, the Grant Evaluator, and the PD Coordinator. For this role, plan for 1–2 hours/month, at a maximum hourly rate of $33.33.

Note: Grant funds may not be allocated to pay for both a participant's graduate credit tuition and a stipend; or substitute reimbursement and a stipend. Grant funding may be used for stipends for work outside of school hours but cannot be used for work during school hours.

Project Duration:

FY22: Upon Approval (no earlier than 01/01/2022) – 06/30/2022

FY23: Upon Approval (07/01/2022) – 12/31/2022

Program Unit:

Center for Instructional Support Office/STEM

Contact:

Paula Moore

Date Due:

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Required Forms:

Part I — Signature Page: FY22 (Standard Contract Form and Application for Program Grants) — Submit as a PDF file
Part I — Signature Page: FY23 (Standard Contract Form and Application for Program Grants) — Submit as a PDF file
Part II — Budget — FY22 — Enter Directly in EdGrants
Part II — Budget — FY23 — Submit as an Excel file
Part III — Program Information — Submit as a Word file

Additional Information:

As DL Now Grant recipients, District and school teams agree to participate in an external, third-party, independent evaluation of the DL Now Grant activities with the goal of supporting improvements to the training, curricula implementation, and supports. The evaluation methods used with district and school teams may include, but are not limited to, surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups. School and district administrators will support the evaluation by participating in evaluation activities and by supporting teachers' participation in evaluation activities. Additionally, the district administrators will connect the evaluation team with district personnel who can identify appropriate data collection policies. The following is a list of possible school- and district- level data that may be shared between the District, DESE, and/or potential third-party evaluators.

- Personnel participation data (e.g., attendance in trainings and implementation meetings)
- Implementation data (i.e., measures of curricula implementation fidelity that could be reported by the school/district teams, or through interviews surveys, and other methods)
- School and district outcome data related to DLCS classes (e.g., class schedules, student demographics in DLCS classes, student grades, student interest surveys, MCAS scores, etc.)
DESE and all of our research partners are required by federal (FERPA) and state (FIPA) law to protect the confidentiality of individual-level data. Research partners are required to enter into a legal agreement with DESE to ensure the confidentiality of all data and reporting that meets state and federal law as well as DESE's additional suppression rules to ensure that no individual can ever be identified.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education expects grant recipients to share a description of the outcomes of the grant and products as requested to expand the impact of the grant.

A grant-end report on the funded activities and outcomes of the program(s), including a section specifically on lessons learned that could be shared with others, is due to the Department by December 31, 2022.

For Grant Management processes, including the request for funds, information about requesting funds beyond the initial payment, and additional details on managing your grant, see this webpage: EdGrants: User Guides and Information

In order for districts to include an indirect cost rate in their budget submission, the district must be listed on the FY2022 and FY2023 indirect cost rate approval spreadsheet located on the Grants Management website.

Submission Instructions:

Submit all required grant materials through EdGrants. In EdGrants, districts are required to create and name the project. Please use the following naming convention for your "Applicant Project Name" in EdGrants:

FY22 FC147 Digital Literacy Now - Applicant Name

All items listed under the required forms section of this RFP should be uploaded / attached in the Attachments List formlet of the Application Submission in EdGrants. This includes:

Signed Part I — Signature Page: FY22 with Superintendent's signature — submit as a PDF
Signed Part I — Signature Page: FY23 with Superintendent's signature — submit as a PDF
Part II — Budget — FY22 — submit as an Excel file (You will also enter this budget in EdGrants in the budget section)
Part II — Budget — FY23 — submit as an Excel file — (Do not enter these budget details in the budget section of EdGrants, only upload as an Attachment)
Part III — Program Information — submit as a Word file

In addition, the final FY22 budget that the applicant is requesting will be entered directly into EdGrants as part of the application submission process.

For Guidance Documents regarding EdGrants, visit EdGrants: User Guides and Information.

Please note: It is up to the district to determine whom they want to add as EdGrants Front Office users in order to submit grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

Last Updated: October 25, 2021