Mini-Grants for School Board Members.
FSE is excited to announce an innovative new mini-grants initiative. FSE’s mini-grants program is designed to support Delaware school boards in their efforts to enhance governance, strengthen community ties, and tackle local educational challenges. Mini-grants provide school board members with the resources needed to create innovative solutions, engage in professional development, and strengthen their leadership capacities.
This program reflects FSE’s commitment to understanding and addressing the unique needs of each district. By facilitating school boards’ access to targeted resources and support, we aim to empower school board members to develop effective strategies tailored to their communities. FSE will collect lessons learned from mini-grant projects to ensure that school board members across Delaware can benefit from their colleagues’ learnings, insights, and experiences.
2024 Mini Grant Winners
First State Educate (FSE) is excited to launch our new mini-grants program, aimed at supporting Delaware school boards in strengthening governance, building community ties, and addressing local educational challenges. These grants provide resources for innovation, professional development, and leadership growth.
FSE is committed to understanding the unique needs of each district and empowering school boards to create solutions tailored to their communities. We will also share lessons learned from these projects to benefit school boards across Delaware.
Now, we are proud to announce the winners of the FSE Mini-Grants Initiatives.
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This initiative aims to foster a network of collaborative school board members across New Castle County, enabling them to share best practices, address common challenges, and advocate for improved educational outcomes for all students. Through surveys, convenings, and post-event evaluations, this project will identify current communication practices, assess interest in increased collaboration, and establish shared priorities among board members. Activities include hosting two convenings—one focused on building personal connections and identifying common interests, and the second utilizing CliftonStrengths to enhance collaboration on shared priorities and explore virtual platforms for ongoing dialogue. Deliverables include a summary report detailing findings and lessons learned, a comprehensive collaboration toolkit with templates and strategies for replication, and a visual feedback summary showcasing the benefits and recommendations for future partnerships. This project supports the creation of stronger connections and impactful decision-making across school boards, with the potential to expand to other counties.
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This initiative aims to explore how incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into school board policies can enhance student achievement. This initiative involves collecting and evaluating existing board policies related to the learning environment, teaching, and student outcomes using research-based criteria. The project will develop a timeline of policy revisions, conduct a comparative analysis with districts recognized for effective AI integration, and survey stakeholders—including teachers, administrators, parents, and students—on their perceptions of AI in education. Deliverables include a summary report evaluating current policies and their impact on student outcomes, evidence-based recommendations for policy improvements to incorporate AI, and a community feedback summary highlighting stakeholder perspectives. By identifying and addressing gaps in policy, this project provides actionable strategies for leveraging AI to support student learning and create a framework for continuous improvement.
Rubric
The rubric for the FSE Mini Grants Program is designed to evaluate applications based on a comprehensive set of criteria that emphasize the potential impact and alignment with FSE's objectives. The evaluation process will assess the clarity and detail of applicant qualifications, district analysis, and the definition of the issue or challenge being addressed. Additionally, the rubric will consider how well the proposed project supports professional development or community engagement, the logical use of funds, the detail and justification of the budget, the strength of the project timeline, and the robustness of the evaluation plan. Applications will be scored on a scale, with those demonstrating the highest potential for impact and alignment receiving the strongest consideration.
