Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2024: Teacher Diversification Pilot Program

Fund Code: 253

Purpose:

The competitive Teacher Diversification Pilot Program is designed to support local school and district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs. The Department will work with districts, schools, and educators to promote teaching and learning that is antiracist, inclusive, multilingual, and multicultural; that values and affirms each student and their families; and that creates equitable opportunities and experiences for all students, particularly those who have been historically underserved.

Strategies must be informed by a review of the school's or district's qualitative and quantitative data related to teacher recruitment and retention efforts. In addition, identified strategies must be aligned with the school's or district's strategic plan.

The Department strives to strengthen our partnerships with school communities across the Commonwealth. As such, grant recipients will be asked to support the Department's efforts to capture previous and current impact data as a result of your school or district utilizing these funds. All grant awardees will be required to send a team of participants (HR directors, teachers, district staff, and school leadership) to consistently attend and participate in the Teacher Diversification PLC in service of creating diverse and holistic learning communities. Please note that absences from the PLC will result in subsequent withholding of grant funds until a plan of consistent attendance is created with the school/school district and the Department. The PLC will be a hybrid 1-year commitment consisting of both in-person and virtual meetings that will be held through the 2023-24 school year to support schools and districts as they seek to develop or enhance their holistic talent diversification strategies. Additional details regarding the professional development series will be provided to grant recipients, including school and district team composition for the professional development series and session dates.

All individuals supported by Options B (financial incentives) and C (financial assistance), of this grant must commit to teaching in the school or district for a minimum of 3 years and demonstrate a commitment to supporting students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds.
It is the Department's intention to conduct a robust evaluation of this grant, using both Department staff and outside researchers. This research will include but might not be limited to surveys that all recipients of financial support or stipends will be required to complete, data collection, interviews, and observations.

Applicants may propose using grant funds to strengthen existing teacher recruitment and retention programs in one or more ways.

Option A: High School Education Pathway
The Department continues to support high quality and high impact, grow-your-own strategies such as high school education pathways. High school education pathways can be a key strategy to support the development of a racially diverse and culturally responsive teacher workforce. These pathways uniquely expose students to the teaching profession for students who may not have considered teaching and/or need support to enter the profession. As such, high school education pathways are critical levers to support the recruitment and development of prospective teachers by implementing a model that is tailored to address the needs of the school or district. The proposed pathway must clearly articulate how students from traditionally underrepresented sub-groups will be recruited and provided the opportunity to engage in the pathway.

While high school education pathways funded through this grant program do not have to adhere to a specific model, proposed models should include the following effective components:

Programming: The program should be designed in a way that exposes students to culturally responsive teaching relevant to the high school students it seeks to support.
Coursework: The model should include a series of courses and/or coursework for students to engage with that supports their entry into the profession.
Partnerships: The model should articulate how the pathway will be supported by partners such as institutes of higher education and/or community partners. Ideally, schools and districts will collaborate with partners that have experience with developing high school education pipelines.
Internships: The model should articulate how students participating in the pathway will receive opportunities to gain classroom experience.

Funding Range: Up to $20,000 per pathway per high school and up to $100k per LEA.

Please note that the Department may invite high school pathway program participants to attend virtual meetings to share their guidance and feedback on various DESE initiatives. If invited, participation would be optional.

Option B: Financial Incentives to Recruit and Retain Classroom Teachers: Loan Repayment Reimbursement, Relocation Assistance, Sign-On Bonuses, and Retention Bonuses
Schools or districts may propose using grant funds to support recruiting and retaining diverse teachers. Financial incentives that can be supported by this grant include:

Loan Payment Reimbursement: Schools or districts may provide loan payment reimbursement to school/district graduates who return to teach and/or college graduates.
Relocation Assistance: Schools/districts may provide relocation assistance for costs associated with moving to Massachusetts for newly hired out-of-state classroom teachers.
Signing Bonuses: Schools/districts may provide signing bonuses to newly hired classroom teachers.
Retention Stipends: Schools/districts may provide retention stipends to classroom teachers that have worked at the school for at least three years

Funding Range: Up to $15,000 per financial incentive, per LEA up to a total of $60,000 if all four (4) financial incentives listed are requested for funding.

Option C: Financial Assistance: College Graduates Schools or districts will identify LEA employees with a bachelor's degree and provide tuition assistance to support enrollment in, and the completion of, an approved educator preparation program to advance their role toward becoming a licensed classroom teacher. In addition, LEAs may provide these individuals with Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) preparation classes through an approved Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) provider and pay for associated MTEL examination fees.

Funding Range: Up to $12,000 per individual each enrolled year.

Option D: School Culture Support
The Department continues to support "grow your own" initiatives and encourages LEAs to continue to identify and enhance thoughtful, high-impact, new, and/or existing partnerships to diversify the teacher workforce and support teacher retention.

Employee Resource Groups
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Professional Development for staff
Grow Your Own Retention Strategies

Funding Range: Up to $75,000 per LEA.

Priorities:

Competitive priorities for this grant will be given to:

Development or enhancement of high-quality, education-specific pathway programs for high school students to enter the educator workforce.
Schools or districts in chronically underperforming status and the Strategic Transformation Region.
Schools that have participated in various DESE programs to support diverse educators and are active contributors to the Teacher Diversification PLC.

Eligibility:

This grant is open to all school districts, charter schools, career vocational technical education schools, and education collaboratives.

Funding Type:

Trust

Funding:

Approximately $2,700,000 will be awarded to schools and school districts with the possibility of additional funding.

If your school or district is awarded funds, receiving funds from this grant will be contingent upon your school district's consistent attendance and participation in the Teacher Diversification PLC. Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding is to become available, it will be distributed under the same guidelines as listed in the initial RFP document.

The total grant award will be determined by financial needs articulated by eligible schools and districts and may be modified by the Department. The requested amount should be appropriate and reasonable for the size and scope of the proposed program.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

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 must be used to support local school or district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention efforts. Activities must be reasonable, appropriate, and consistent with all applicable state and federal requirements.

Options A through D: Grant-funded activities must conclude by the project duration end date of June 30, 2024.

Option B and Option C (as applicable): Applicants may provide stipends to current classroom teachers to support pathway planning and implementation.

Project Duration:

Upon approval – 6/30/2024

All grant-funded activities must be paid by the project duration end date of June 30, 2024. All grant recipients will be expected to provide an annual summary report on grant-funded activities and outcomes once the grant is completed. Additional details will be provided to grant-funded schools and districts in the fall of 2024 regarding participation in the research that will be done for all grant recipients.

Program Unit:

Center for Strategic Initiatives

Contact:

CSI@mass.gov

Date Due:

Friday, July 28, 2023*

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due.

* All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received 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:

Please provide a copy of your LEA's strategic plan, teacher recruitment plan, and relevant school climate data grounded in student voice.

Submission Instructions:

Email all required forms in their original Word or Excel formats (e.g., not converted to a PDF; except the signed Part I document which should be converted to PDF), to CSI@mass.gov . Note: Electronic signatures are required on the emailed versions. Grant applicants will receive a confirmation message within 2-3 days via email upon receiving the submission.

Upon award, recipients will be required to enter the approved budget in EdGrants and upload the required documents. Grant recipients will be contacted with further instructions on the process.

Last Updated: July 17, 2023