FY2025: Playful Learning Institute Continuation Grant Program

Fund Code: 0347

Purpose:

The purpose of this continuation grant program is to support five (5) school teams to continue participating in the Playful Learning Institute, PK-3 (PLI). Through this grant, the five teams that were part of cohort 1's pilot, will continue to build on work started in year 1 (2023-24) and expand work into identified priority areas during year 2 (2024-25), including but not limited to mentoring new districts participating in the pilot as part of cohort 2.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (Department/DESE) Early Learning Team will support grantees to participate in Year 2 of the Institute, which will be designed for district and school administrators, Preschool through 3^rd grade (PK–3) inclusive classroom educators, and Out-of-School Time (OST) program staff and administrators to continue to build on the work started in year 1 to implement playful learning instructional strategies into classrooms, PK–3^rd grade. Through continued coaching and professional development, participants will gain additional tools and strategies needed to intentionally design and embed playful learning across the course of the day. Playful learning will support deep dives into content; create equitable access to learning for all children; create many varied opportunities for authentic assessment, particularly during instructional blocks across the content areas; and support students in meeting their grade level Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Learning Standards.

As part of professional development, coaches will continue to work with the school teams' educators for 1–2 hours/month and district and school administrators for 1 hour/month. This in-classroom/school coaching model will be aligned with and support implementation of the action plan created by the district/school team for the 2024-25 school year.

Priorities:

The main priority for this continuation grant is to support districts from the year 1 PLI pilot cohort to develop and implement an updated action plan for the 2024-25 school year and to implement it through professional development, coaching and evaluation activities. In addition to continued requirements around coaching, PD and evaluation activities, districts will be asked to select at least one of the following areas to focus on as part of the coaching and professional development:

• Family Engagement;
• Supporting Students with Disabilities in Substantially Separate Classrooms;
• Multi-Tiered System of Supports;
• Documentation;
• Building Capacity of Additional Classroom Educators; and/or
• Mentoring Educators for New Educators/Administrators in Cohort 2.

Eligibility:

Districts that participated in the Year 1 PLI Pilot Cohort are eligible to apply for funds under this continuation grant: Beverly Public Schools; Boston Renaissance Charter Public School; Pioneer Valley Regional School District; Sharon Public Schools; and Woburn Public Schools.

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 84.424

Federal grant funds must adhere to:

• UGG (2 CFR 200)
• EDGAR As Applicable
• EDGAR General Fiscal Administration 34 CFR Part 76

Funding:

Approximately $175,000 is available.

Each district/school team is eligible to apply for $35,000 to cover expenses during the 2024-25 school year.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

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 support participation of team members in the virtual and/ in-person professional development, planning, coaching, mentoring (as appropriate) and evaluation activities.

For FY2025, districts should propose a continuation budget that includes (where needed) expenses related to:

• Substitutes and/or stipends for virtual and in-person professional development, planning time, coaching debrief sessions, mentoring (if selected), evaluation activities, etc. (please refer to assurance statement document for expectations around planning, PD, coaching and evaluation);
• Travel for in-person professional development — date(s) and location(s) to be determined; and
• Any additional supplies and materials for the 10 participating classrooms, PK–3^rd grade.

$25,000 of the $35,000 must be set aside for a contract to be established between the district and a vendor selected by DESE to provide the coaching and professional development.

Fund use can include coordinator time, travel to professional development, stipends, substitutes, contractor for coaching/PD, supplies and materials, copying of playful learning materials.

Funds cannot be used for equipment, building/construction projects and/or curricular programs.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval (not earlier than 9/1/2024)* – 06/30/2025

*Grant start date cannot be prior to DESE receiving a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and services cannot be procured prior to Grants receiving and approving an application submission. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.

Program Unit:

Student and Family Support

Contact:

Donna Traynham

Phone Number:

(781) 338-6372

Date Due:

Friday, September 13, 2024

Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis and may be submitted prior to the due date. Extensions, if needed, may also be requested by the due date.

Additional Information:

All team members are required to participate in professional development, coaching for educators and school/district leaders and, both of which will be organized and held by a vendor selected by the Department, and evaluation activities.

LEAs participating in this grant/program are asked to share with DESE their student-level assessment data from the approved early literacy screening assessment that is administered in all schools in grades K–3 during this program or grant award period. DESE will support LEAs to submit the required data by June 30 of each program year. DESE will analyze the statewide data collected for research purposes. All reporting will meet state and federal confidentiality laws. Identifying information of LEAs and schools will not be reported without express consent.

GEM$ Submission Instructions:

The FC0347 Playful Learning Continuation Grant will be submitted in our new Grants for Education Management System (GEM$). GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants. Continuation grant applications are considered submitted when the LEA Fiscal Representative approves the grant application in GEM$.

The following will be required to be submitted or uploaded directly into GEM$:

• Assurances (template provided in GEM$)
• Budget: Will be entered into the GEM$ Budget Form.
• Program Narrative

Please Note: Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All these roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: August 15, 2024