Part 1 of the Grant Writing Guide for the Martha
Holden Jennings Foundation took
you through Section #5 “Objectives and Plan of Action.” This column picks up
with Section #6
“Assessment” and takes you through “Endorsements.”
6. Assessment –
DR.
BROOKS’ WRITING TIP: Organize your
assessments around the goals
and phases of your grant. If you have four goals, then have four phases
for
the timeline and have four stages for the assessment.
How will you assess the results of your
efforts? Specifically, what measures
will
you use to provide evidence of the extent to which the strategies you
employed
had an impact on student performance? Critical
Questions: Does the plan for
evaluating
the grant adequately assess the quality and impact on student
achievement
and/or development to meet the objectives of the activities proposed?
Has adequate time been allowed for review
process and application
form accurately completed?
Assessment
Criteria:
# Project's goals and objectives are
clearly defined and measurable where appropriate
# Proposal includes a specific
evaluation plan to assess goals and objectives
# Evaluation plan includes formative and
summative assessment
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7.
Sustainability- How will you
sustain the effective practices after the funding
period ends?
DR.
BROOKS’ WRITING TIP: This is the section where you would indicate
that the school district would be willing to sustain your prototype and integrate
it
into the regular school or district budget.
A sentence to this effect in a
Superintendent’s support letter would
help with this section. Say it here.
Have the Superintendent reinforce it in their letter of support.
Sustainability
Assessment Criteria:
# Project is applicable to other
populations
# Proposal includes an explicit
discussion of post-grant sustainability and future
funding sources
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8.
Dissemination –
DR.
BROOKS’ WRITING TIP: Think about
disseminating your results on
your district website, e-mail communication
system or showing what you have
achieved at a workshop in the district. Utilize electronic dissemination
techniques. Be imaginative here.
Critical
Questions: How will you share the results of your project with colleagues?
Will this grant be used by more than one
classroom?
Dissemination
Assessment Criteria:
# Proposal includes appropriate methods
to identify what new ideas and effective
practices were learned
# Proposal includes a specific plan to
disseminate the outcome results, the new ideas,
and the effective practices
from the project
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DR.
BROOKS’ WRITING TIP: Make sure you have aligned your district
and building
goals with your grant application goals. You can list your district
goals and place project goals
inside them or list the grant goals once again.
Go to Section #5 and copy and
paste goals here. Your goals should be
used
to organize your timeline and budget.
Use them to organize your assessment.
9.
Alignment - State how this
project fits into the total school or district-wide
curriculum or improvement
plan.
Alignment
Assessment Criteria:
# Proposal shows an alignment among the
objectives, activities, evaluation, and
dissemination plans
# Proposal identifies alignment to state
and district standards based on the particular
grant category
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10.
Budget -
DR.
BROOKS’ WRITING TIP: If you still not
sure if something will be
funded, call the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation
and ask. Provide a
clear explanation of
how budget items relate to specific educational needs.
Find someone who is very good with budgets to
help you with this section.
Make them
part of your team.
See “Grant-to-Educators” cover sheet
guidelines for budget items that are not a
priority. Provide a detailed itemized budget needed to
implement the project.
Specifically, •
Materials not normally supplied by school funds. List items,
including titles of books and
costs of materials. Please do not request standard
school supplies such as
construction paper, scissors, and glue, etc. • Equipment.
Note: requests
for equipment must directly reflect the project purposes for
students and/or
educators and must not be fundable by district resources.
See “About the Foundation”. • Total cost of
the proposed project, including
any other funds supporting the project.
Budget
Assessment Criteria:
# Proposal reflects efficient use of
existing organization resources in addition to the
requested resources
# Total grant request is commensurate
with identified program requirements
# Proposal indicates specifically how
Jennings funds will be allocated
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11.
Endorsement –
DR.
BROOKS’ WRITING TIP: You might consider drafting the endorsement
letter offering it to your
superintendent for review and editing.
Busy
superintendents will appreciate a clear letter that they can sign
rather than
having to craft the entire letter.
You know your project best. List
the
project goals in the letter. Make
sure the superintendent knows you are
applying for the grant, so they will
recognize your draft letter when it comes
to their desk. Don’t assume they will be available to sign
anything. The
bigger the district, the
slower the signature process will be.
The Superintendent of Schools MUST
complete the endorsement section prior
to consideration of the proposal by the Foundation. Evidence of district “in-kind”
financial support is a critical
factor in assessing proposals.