GAR Foundation Awards $300,317 in Educator Initiative Grants
GAR Foundation’s Distribution Committee awarded $300,317 to 29 teams of educators for its annual Educator Initiative Grant (EIG) program at its May meeting.
The goal of EIG is to support teacher-initiated, classroom-based projects and methods that demonstrably impact student academic achievement. The EIG program offers grants from $1,000 to $15,000 to teams of Summit County educators, grades K-12, who work together to develop, implement, and assess instructional strategies that fulfill this goal.
“We continue to be impressed with the meaningful, creative programs teachers have shaped for our community’s students,” said Christine Mayer, president of GAR Foundation. Grants were awarded to 24 public school districts and five private schools, and will be implemented in the 2014-2015 school year. GAR received 63 EIG applications, a 28.5 percent increase from the prior year. “The EIG programs support real-world application across the Cradle to Career Continuum by helping our K-12 students achieve success in all subject matters,” said Mayer.
Among those receiving an award is Springfield High School, receiving $15,000 for its “Visual Writing: Podcasting to Increase Writing Efficacy” program. Visual writing is an enhanced process for learning how to become an effective writer, with special emphasis on revision strategies. Students will become experts in the writing process and take ownership of their own learning through self-assessment of the different traits of learning, and will use sound waves projected to visualize their writing to promote self-evaluation and growth.
National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM Middle School of the Akron Public School District received $9,500 for the STEM E5d Project. This program creates a stimulating mobile Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) career education center for middle school learners focused on engagement, education, excitement, enrollment, and entrepreneurship.
The following schools also received EIG awards at the May 8, 2014 GAR Foundation Distribution Committee meeting:
| DISTRICT | SCHOOL | PROJECT TITLE | AMOUNT AWARDED |
| Akron Public Schools | Barber CLC | Closing the Gap for Students with Multiple Disabilities | $5,338 |
| Akron Public Schools | Leggett Community Learning Center | Writers Writing Everywhere | $14,989 |
| Akron Public Schools | Litchfield MS | Be the Change | $13,634 |
| Akron Public Schools | National Inventors Hall of Fame School | The STEM E5d Project | $9,500 |
| Akron Public Schools | National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM School | Survivability of an Impossible Situation | $4,999 |
| Akron Public Schools | Ritzman CLC | Save the Oceans – in Ohio? | $2,000 |
| Akron Public Schools | Schumacher CLC | Digital Literacy | $14,400 |
| Akron Public Schools | Schumacher CLC | Dig, Plant, Grow: A School Community Garden Promoting Healthy Eating Habits! | $13,100 |
| Akron Public Schools | Garfield High School | The Understanding DNA Project | $4,610 |
| Akron Public Schools | Butchtel CLC | Solving Our Diseases: Using Project Based Learing | $9,989 |
| Barberton City Schools | Barberton HS | Goal: Self Monitoring of Our Senses | $9,987 |
| Barberton City Schools | Barberton MS | Searching for Deeper Understanding | $9,958 |
| Hudson City School District | Evamere Elementary | The 7 Habits of Happy Kids | $15,000 |
| Manchester Local Schools | Nolley Elementary School | Implementing a Culture of Leadership | $12,555 |
| Norton City Schools | Norton Middle School | Interdisciplinary Unit: Revoutionary War | $10,000 |
| Revere Local School District` | Revere Local | You’re Hired! Preparing our Students for the Future | $7,300 |
| Revere Local School District` | Hillcrest Elementary School | R Leaders | $15,000 |
| Springfield Local Schools | Springfield High School | Visual Writing: Podcasting to Increase Writing Efficacy | $15,000 |
| Springfield Local Schools | Young Elementary School | LINKS to Support Learing | $10,000 |
| Springfield Local Schools | Springfield High School & Jr High | Programming for Our Future | $14,550 |
| Summit County Educational Service Center | Greater Summit Co Early Learning Center | Observing our World through Meteorology | $1,954 |
| Tallmadge City Schools | Munroe Elementary | The Paperless Book | $4,375 |
| Tallmadge City Schools | Munroe Elementary | Project ASAP: Applying STEM Activities Practices, Phase 2 | $15,000 |
| Tallmadge City Schools | Tallmadge High School | Making Our Students College Ready in Mathematics & Improving ACT Scores | $8,700 |
| Walsh Jesuit High School | Training Tomorrow’s MacGyvers | $9,999 | |
| Immaculate Heart of Mary | Increasing Student Informational Text Proficiency Through Newscasts | $15,000 | |
| Old Trail School | Project Ocean | $4,880 | |
| Old Trail School | Cracking the Code! Programing Through the Ages | $15,000 | |
| Hoban H.S. | Revolutoinary War Living History | $13,500 |