THE NEED
Focus on Stafford Schools Educators
SCPS Educators are continually aspiring to meet the growing demands of a diverse student population, all the while doing so with limited funding, and rarely with any additional funding. Various grant programs within SCPS meet these needs.
Innovative Teaching Grants - school funding is a consistent issue within the public education system. The issue is not just local, but nationwide. SEF focuses on the creativity of our educators by providing funds for content delivery that is a step above the rest, innovative and engaging.
Reflect Stafford - Children learn from people who look like them. This fact has been studied and reported on for years. SEF focuses on diversity in the classroom by working in concert with the SCPS Dept of Talent Development to identify diverse current employees who wish to transition to a classroom teacher, then provide funds for their continued education.
OUR ROLE
SEF supports OUR teachers and OUR students. We are local and our board is made up of families who have children in SCPS who are dedicated to making SCPS the best it can be.
THE IMPACT
Of the multiple grants awarded for the 2023-24 school year, the below are just some that represent the impact of teaching grants on our students.
Project: Jobs for Virginia Graduates (Phoenix Center for Innovative Learning)
The Phoenix Center for Innovative Learning, Jobs for Virginia Graduates, and GED programs developed a project titled “Maker's Unleashed: Fostering Design Thinking through 3D Printing, Cricut Crafting, and Collaborative Making/Phoenix Center for Innovative Learning.” Through the implementation of interactive technology, Ms. Angela Eppenstein noted that the students developed “the necessary knowledge, experience, and skills to succeed in today’s workforce.” High-tech tools provided students with experiences, simulations, and project-based learning to strengthen their skills and prepare them for life after graduation. A field trip to Shannon School of Aeronautics in January 2024 enabled students to ignite their interest in flight and provided them with a point of reference on how to begin a successful career journey in aviation.
Project Modeling RC Cars in Motion (Brooke Point High School)
Brooke Point High School’s Science Physics students will participate in a “Modeling RC Cars Motion” Project. The grant will allow for the purchase of 4 Sharper Image Stunt Rovers and 4 Sharper Image Gravity Rovers. Students will then work in teams to apply critical thinking skills to model a student-selected stunt event of an RC car. Students will collaborate and communicate as they describe a stunt in writing, then with an online computer application called Tracker: Video Analysis and Modeling. Students calibrate the video with a known measuring device and set a coordinate plane. This method allows students to gather motion data by plotting the frame-by-frame motion of their stunt car. Students then infer a relationship between the x and y positions through time to determine a motion that is constant or accelerated, linear or circular, or another type of motion. Since many of these students are riding bikes, or skateboards, or learning to drive automobiles, this investigation is directly related to their lives.
Project: When Stars Are Scattered
Location: Gayle Middle School
GMS library Stafford Education Foundation 2022.pdf
Location: Rising Star Early Childhood Education Center
Project: Tower Garden
Stafford Education Foundation report 2021-22.pdf
Location: Widewater Elementary School
Project: Brain Bins
Funding Need
Innovative Teaching Grants garner up to 30 applications per open cycle. In the last 5 years, there has been funding available to provide for approximately 10 projects for a total amount of $15,000. Our goal for 2024/25 is to increase the funding to provide for at least $25,000 in total.
Although Reflect Stafford is a newer opportunity to SEF, teacher licensure takes at least 4 semesters and can range from $3K to $5K, depending upon the current credit hour cost. In 2023, funding was provided for 6 employees to gain licensure. The total grant amount was $30,000.
A survey was sent to SCPS first-year teachers asking them to reflect as their first year comes to a close. We asked, What do you WISH you had in your classroom as a first-year teacher? Then, What do you KNOW you need for your second year? Mentor 360 - Year 2 purpose is to provide those year 2 teachers with the items they know they need for year 2. Depending on the responses will provide us with our funding requirements. Funding need is $4000.
The total funding needed for the 2024-2025 school year is $59,000