Area districts continue federal grant effort

Administrators from 21 northwest Missouri school districts, including Maryville R-II, gathered at the Northwest Technical School Wednesday to discuss their common effort to qualify for around $20 million in federal Race to the Top grant funds.

If the consortium's effort is successful, the result will be an infusion of cash into each of the districts over four years that R-II Assistant Superintendent Steve Klotz said will be primarily used for equipment and training designed to promote personalized student instruction, much of it via technology.

Race to the Top amounts to a contest organized by the U.S. Department of Education, which is offering millions of dollars in grants to districts nationwide who submit winning proposals for innovation and reform within public schools.

Because the minimum size for district participation is 2,000 students, school systems from an eight-county area across northwest Missouri have banded together in order to apply for the grant as a single entity.

Together, Klotz said, the 21 districts serve 6,400 pre-school through 12th-grade youngsters and cover a geographical region roughly the size of Connecticut.

If the grant is approved, a portion of the money, as previously reported, could be used to restore lost funding to the Area Cooperative for Educational Support's alternative school program, currently targeted for closure in 2013-'14.

But the percentage of Race to the Top funds that would be set aside for ACES is relatively small, Klotz said — less than 10 percent. The lion's share of the money will go for projects meant to boost a wide range initiatives ranging from teacher training to providing students with personal laptops and tablets.

Klotz said the overarching goal is to improve the ways in which northwest Missouri schools prepare students for either college or post-secondary vocational training. But he emphasized that each district's needs are different, and that the grant, if bestowed, will be divided up based on numerous factors, such as the number of students served and existing technological capabilities.

He compared the process, which is being coordinated by Jefferson C-123 Superintendent Rob Dowis, to the administration of a single, large school district with multiple campuses. While the district has a single philosophy — providing personalized education that better prepares students for college or a career — each of the 21 campuses has different needs.

Some schools, for example will require increased bandwidth and additional wireless capability in order to provide laptops to students. For others, the primary requirements might be hardware or training.

Other priorities, should the grant application prove successful, include in-service education for teachers, especially with regard to using technology themselves and implementing technology into curricula and lessons.

One example would be additional funding for eMINTS — or Enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies. The program focuses on technology in the classroom as well as social interaction and student research.

Additional faculty development strategies that might be enhanced through federal grant funds include expansion of Missouri's pilot  Educator Evaluation System, which is currently active only in selected districts.

Another component would likely be software and resources needed to track data used to measure the success of various professional training and evaluation efforts.