Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2023: High Quality Instructional Materials Implementation Grant

Fund Code: 185

Purpose:

The High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) Implementation Grant will support districts in implementing recently purchased tier 1 core high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) in mathematics, ELA, science and digital literacy. Intended to support evidence-based, culturally responsive, inclusive, and equitable implementation of high-quality materials and to amplify the power of those materials, this grant will provide funding and support to accelerate student learning.

This grant will support districts' HQIM implementation in the following ways:

Development and enactment of a comprehensive equity-driven curriculum implementation plan
Strengthening of existing partnerships between districts and educator preparation programs (i.e., supporting teacher candidates with building their curriculum literacy)
Professional development for educators, coaches, and administrators to support the skillful implementation of new HQIM
Customized, individualized, and systematized support from an expert implementation consultant who will provide regular onsite support throughout the duration of the grant

Priorities:

Funds will serve to support a targeted number of goals aligned to the following:

DESE seeks to award HQIM Implementation Grants to entities that:

Have selected and purchased high-quality core curricular materials for one or more content areas and/or grade bands
Articulate a clear approach to curriculum implementation and demonstrate evidence of or a plan for stakeholder engagement in the implementation of new curricular materials
Demonstrate favorable conditions and resources to make and sustain equity-driven HQIM implementation over time and across schools, if applicable (e.g., established professional development time for teachers, existing data cycles and protocols, MTSS structures, instructional coaching models, few competing initiatives)
Have (or plan to have) existing partnerships with educator preparation programs

Competitive priority will be given to LEAs based upon demonstrating one or more of the following:

Districts with at least one school or schools that are identified as requiring assistance in the state accountability system based upon 2019 data and/or
with an overall accountability percentile of 20 or below based upon 2019 data.
Districts whose total student population is comprised of 10% or more students identified as English Learners.
Districts that serve a population of students of which over 50% are identified as low-income.
Additional competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status and the Strategic Transformation Region

Eligibility:

Public school districts or charter schools that have reported in the Curriculum Data Collection materials considered high-quality, as defined by a rating of "Partially Meets Expectations" or "Meets Expectations" on CURATE or

ELA/Literacy: rated "Green" on EdReports' Gateways 1 and 2;
Math/Science: rated "Green" on EdReports' Gateway 1 and "Green" or "Yellow" on Gateway 2;
Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS): rated as "comprehensive curricular materials" with alignment to college-and-career-ready learning standards on the DLCS Curriculum Guide.

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA: 84.425 Federal Coronavirus Relief Programs - Federal Grant Programs

Funding:

A total of approximately $19,480,000, with approximately $8,223,865 in FY23 and $11,266,110 in FY24 and FY25, is projected to be available through federal funding and will be distributed based on the number of quality proposals submitted and the total cost of the assessment tools and training and support packages chosen.

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.

Fund Use:

Funds may be used to fund:

Professional Development from an DESE approved vendor for educators, including teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators. Districts will work with the Implementation Consult to review and receive DESE approval.
Educator's time, either through the use of stipends for educators time above and beyond contracted time, or funds to hire additional staff to offer participating staff release time from other district responsibilities.
The strengthening of curriculum literacy among future educators through the development or strengthening of the Educator Preparation partnership, including purchasing access to curricular materials for regular use in educator preparation programs, such that candidates graduating from that program have a strong foundation in the curricular materials used by the district or LEA.
Targeted one-time expenditures that support the sustainability goals of the grant. All expenditures must be approved by DESE before they are made.
Additional Fund Use Details

Project Duration:

Upon Approval – 8/31/2023

Updated Language: Pending appropriation and the meeting of all grant requirements, all grantees will be eligible for a one-year continuation grant in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 (Upon Approval – 8/31/2024) to support enactment of the implementation plan developed through this FY2023 grant and to continue approved activities. Eligibility for this continuation grant is contingent upon a continuation application and funding availability.

Program Unit:

Center for Instructional Support

Contact:

Craig Waterman

Date Due:

Tuesday November 22, 2022*

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due. Applicants may submit proposals before the grant deadline.

*All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not submitted on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity.

Required Forms:

Additional Information:

As part of this grant program, participating districts and partnered educator preparation programs will be provided an Implementation Consultant who will meet regularly with the district, with the goal of building district capacity to support sustained skillful use of HQIM. After being awarded the grant, districts will work with the Implementation Consultant to complete a landscape analysis of their district, which will include engagement with a range of stakeholders, to develop an approved implementation plan for the districts and partnered preparation programs by March 1st, 2023. Once the plan has been developed, the remainder of the grant will be focused on implementing this plan. Grant activities will conclude by 8/31/2024.

Participating districts and partnered educator preparation programs will also receive feedback from data collected by a third-party Implementation Evaluator. The evaluator will provide regular feedback to the implementation leadership team formative information that can be used to impact the grant activities, as well as overall feedback on the overall impact at the end of the grant.

Finally, lessons learned about efforts to support implementation will be shared with the wider community through resources such vignettes and resources developed over the course of the grant.

Universal screening and dyslexia
LEAs receiving this award for ELA/Literacy will be required to participate in future research efforts related to early literacy assessment, including providing student-level assessment data from any approved early literacy screening assessment that is administered in the recipient schools during the award period. DESE will request that data be submitted by June 30 of each year awarded. DESE will analyze the statewide data collected for research purposes. Analyses will only be reported in the aggregate (e.g., by grade-level, region, etc.) in order to meet state and federal confidentiality laws. The identities of districts and schools will not be reported. All reporting will protect the identities of students, educators, schools, and districts.

Submission Instructions:

Please submit questions to: cisgrants@mass.gov by October 21^st, 2022. Please visit our website: Curriculum Matters: Instructional Materials and Professional Development for the responses, and more information about the Grant, including webinars and FAQs.

Please email the required documents as listed above, attached to a single email, to cisgrants@mass.gov the subject line: District Name, FY23 FC185 HQIM IMPLEMENTATION GRANT. Please use the provided filetypes (word and excel). Signature pages should be sent pdf documents.

Applicants will receive a confirmation when the materials are received. Early submission is strongly encouraged to ensure the complete application is received and confirmed by 5pm on the due date.

Awarded Recipients: Upon award, recipients will be required to enter the approved budget, Part I-Program Unit Signature Page, Part III-Required Program Information, Part IV-School Assurance from each Participating School, Part V-School District Assurance and Part VI-Partnered Educator Preparation Program Assurance in EdGrants.

Once selected, recipients will be contacted and matched with an Implementation Consultant that will provide step-by-step directions on how to conduct the landscape analysis and developing an implementation plan.

Last Updated: November 7, 2022