PROJECT H, OAKLAND, CA

$35,000
To support Studio H, a rigorous and nationally recognized design/build academic program for high school students.  Studio H applies core subject learning to teach creative fundamentals, industry-relevant design and construction skills, community development, and service through the lens of public architecture. Each year, Studio H students research, prototype, design, and construct a full-scale piece of public architecture for their community. Over the past five years, students of Studio H have constructed a farmers market pavilion that created 4 new businesses and 15 new full-time jobs, shipping container classrooms and their own school library, tiny homes for the homeless, and more. With integrated science, technology, engineering, math, and social science content, Studio H elevates high school learning for students through relevant social projects and prepares them for the rigor and research-based inquiry of their college education, careers, and beyond.

STORY SHARE, BOSTON, MA

$35,000
Support foran outreach campaign to partner with more schools, educators, and students. Story Share exists to help struggling readers beyond elementary school. Their goal is to improve literacy skills, and therefore academic and life outcomes more broadly. To do so, they are training and motivating authors to create content that is appealing to older readers who read below level and distributing the content to teachers and students on an accessible digital platform with built-in supports and assessments.

SUNDOG THEATER, STATEN ISLAND, NY

$35,000
Support to expand 3D LIT during the 2016-17 school year, the 6th year of the program. Sundog’s 3D LITERACY (3D LIT) is an integrated theatre/literacy program designed to help students who are behind in literacy learning to improve their ability to read, write, learn, and communicate. Rooted in brain development science, 3D LIT makes literacy learning a physical experience by incorporating novel ideas and whimsical games that stimulate brain neurons to help students better retain information. By boosting their capacity to learn, 3D LIT builds students’ confidence, empowering them with skills needed not only to master language, but also help create successful and meaningful lives.

COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR SCIENCE, BERKLEY, CA

$35,000
Support for a partnership with UC Berkeley’s Natural History Museums and the Lawrence Hall of Science to develop a project designed to increase the quality of science teaching and quantity of STEM learning experiences to teachers and students in 6 cohort schools in the West Contra Costa Unified School District.

KENNEDY KRIEGER INSTITUTE, BALTIMORE, MD

$35,000
Support for Project UNITE (formerly referred to as Classroom Interventions).  Kennedy Krieger seeks to demonstrate that evidence-based educational interventions can be effective for improving outcomes in school-aged children who are at risk for placement in special education programs.  The Institute believes that if these at-risk students receive proactive support via targeted classroom modifications and adapted instruction, based on expert developmental and neurobehavioral assessments, their behavior and academic functioning will improve; they will be more available for learning; and many will be able to avoid placement in special education services. These interventions, initially targeted toward specific students, are also expected to have broader effects on instructional practices of the teacher and ultimately on the entire classroom, thereby reducing the risks of special education placement for multiple students.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MI

$35,000
Support of work with social studies teachers in one middle school department to design and pilot curriculum materials that will systematically support their students as they learn to read critically, think historically, and write arguments over time. The curriculum materials will help students within and across grade levels work on two main learning goals: (1) reading and analysis of historical and current sources and (2) writing effective arguments.

ORLEANS SOUTHWEST SUPERVISORY  UNION, HARDWICK, VT

$35,000
Our Food Matters Project of the Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union of Hardwick, Vermont to support and work with a team of six diverse grade level educators from around the district in designing and implementing innovative, standards aligned, science curriculum. This curriculum will use food systems and agriculture as a lens of learning that is inherently relevant and incorporates tenants of effective learning and 21st century skills: inquiry, applied technology, whole-child wellness, and project-based, real-world problem solving.

Deer Isle Stonington High School, Deer Isle, ME

$35,000
Support for launching three new project-based learning Pathways: Marine Studies, Health Care and Visual & Performing Arts.

Mindful Schools, Oakland, CA

$35,000
Support for providing mindfulness education to K-12 schools via direct classroom instruction and training for educators.

University of Nebraska, Kearney, NE

$35,000
Support to increase physical activity and fitness of elementary school children in an attempt to decrease excessive weight gain and prevalence of obesity.

Washington and Lee UNIVERSITY, Lexington, VA

$35,000
Support for Foreign Language Futures (FLF), a unique learning/teaching partnership developed between Washington and Lee University of Lexington, Virginia, and our two neighboring local school districts, Rockbridge County Public Schools and Buena Vista City Public Schools.