Illinois Board of Higher Education
C Lindsay Anderson, Chair · Dr. James L. Applegate, Executive Director
MEMORANDUM
TO: Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative Consortia Members
FROM: Dr. James L. Applegate, Executive Director
DATE: April 16, 2015
RE: FY2016 GYO Education Initiative – Renewal Application
Due Date June 1, 2015
This document contains the materials needed to submit a renewal application for the Fiscal Year 2016 GYO program. For the past five years, the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) and the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative (GYO) Project Directors have worked together to make improvements to the GYO program in order to develop a pipeline of high-quality teachers to teach in hard-to-staff schools across the state. It has been a good partnership and we have made good progress, but we still have more to do. The Governor’s budget released in February 2015 eliminated several IBHE grant program including the GYO program. We are hopeful the program may receive flat or partial funding in FY2016, therefore we are releasing a renewal application as not to be behind if funding is restored. The release of the FY2016 renewal grant application does not constitute a contract at this time.
One of the major findings in the state during the development of the Illinois Public Agenda for College and Careers and Success was that one Illinois is affluent, well educated and economically dynamic with a seemingly bright future. The other Illinois struggles to make ends meet, lags in educational attainment, and is economically stagnant. Separating these two states is a prosperity gap that is wide and growing. The GYO Initiative is one approach to addressing the prosperity gap by developing teachers to teach in the state’s neediest schools. This is both a laudable, but difficult task.
This FY2016 renewal application contains a 100 point Criteria for Review and Approval rating system. Decisions as to which consortia will receive renewal funding and at what level will be based on the score you receive and the amount of funds available. Funding will be provided to consortia that: write high-quality renewal applications; clearly demonstrate a need for teachers in high-need areas; provide teacher candidates needed support services, demonstrate collaboration from all partners to ensure candidate success; and demonstrate success in ultimately getting candidates who are hired in high-need partnership schools to graduate with a teaching degree.
Illinois Board of Higher Education
Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative
Fiscal Year 2016 Renewal application
Table of Contents
Page
General Information 3
Fiscal Information 3
Renewal Application Format 4
Attachments
1- Cover Page 8
2A- Project Narrative 10
2B- FY2016 Grant Objectives 11
3-Evaluation Plan 12
4-Student Support 13
5- FY2015 Annual Report (Word), Candidate Profiles and Performance Report (Excel) 14
6- Hard to Staff Schools 17
7- Budget (Excel format) 18
8- Budget Justification 19
9- Terms of the Grant 20
10- Certifications 23
Appendix 1 – General Guidelines for completing the application 25
Appendix 2 – Criteria for Review and Approval 26
Appendix 3 – Budget Line Code Descriptions 28
Appendix 4 – Definitions from GYO Statute 30
General Information
Grant Award: The Governor’s budget released in February eliminated the GYO program while the IBHE approved a flat budget of $1,500,000 for the GYO program in Fiscal Year 2016.
Grant Period/Due Date: The anticipated grant period is August 11, 2015 through August 31, 2016. In order to review your applications and get approval by the Board of Higher Education on August 11, please return your completed application materials on or before June 1, 2015 5:00 p.m. You may want to consider overnight mail on May 29 or deliver your application directly to the IBHE office to ensure you adhere to the deadline.
Application Submission: The IBHE needs three complete copies of your renewal application. Mail one copy of the cover page (Attachment 1) with an original signature. Please submit three applications to:
FY2016 Grow Your Own Teacher Initiative Program
Attn: Jody Hunt, Illinois Board of Higher Education
1 North Old Capitol Plaza
Suite 333
Springfield, Illinois 62701-1377.
Contact Person: For more information on this renewal application, contact Jody Hunt, Grants Administrator at 217.557.7374 or e-mail .
Fiscal Agent/Project Director Responsibilities
All IBHE grant programs require that a fiscal agent/project director be assigned to each grant. The fiscal agent/project director performs many important functions throughout the year to help make sure the goals and objectives of the consortia are successful. Here is a list of required fiscal agent responsibilities:
A. The fiscal agent/project director acts on behalf and at the direction of consortia partnership and holds equal, but not greater, power in the group decision-making process. The fiscal agent/project director is not authorized to make unilateral decisions, nor is it authorized to override group decisions.
B. Neither the fiscal agent/project director nor any other individual or entity that is party to the grant application may use GYO funds to supplant any other federal, state, or local funds. GYO funds must supplement and not supplant amounts typically devoted by the institutions of higher education to, and other resources available for, assisting teacher candidates.
C. As required by and within the time frame specified by IBHE and/or the IBHE external evaluation contractor, the fiscal agent/project director is required to collect, provide, and facilitate data collection from GYO teacher candidates, and all individuals and entities party to the grant application.
D. In partnership with and on behalf of all individuals and entities party to the grant application, the fiscal agent/project director must submit an annual programmatic report. The report must address the degree to which all program objectives set forth in the grant application were met.
E. The fiscal agent/project director submits quarterly progress reports as required by a new provision in the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act effective July 1, 2010.
F. The fiscal agent/project director must ensure that the following individuals attend the annual Statewide Learning Network meeting:
1. A representative of a higher education partner,
2. A representative from an participating public school,
3. A representative from a community partner, and
4. At least one cohort candidate.
Higher Education Partner Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of each four-year institution of higher education, and any two-year institution that is a consortium member to the grant application, to assist the IBHE with the forgivable loan process as follows:
A. Maintaining records of the forgivable loan amounts incurred by each individual for tuition, fees, and books;
B. Maintaining current candidate contact information including current and former names, social security numbers, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses during candidate enrollment in the institution; and
C. Notifying IBHE no later than 30 days following the end of the second consecutive semester after a candidate fails to enroll in coursework as expected. Notification must include current contact information, the reason the candidate left the program and, if applicable, the total amount of the student loan incurred for tuition, fees, and books through the notification date.
Application Format
Each application must be submitted in the order and format outlined below. Please use the following as a checklist in assembling your completed proposal.
1. Signatory Cover Page (Attachment 1): This form must be completed, dated, and signed by the fiscal agent/project director of the consortia. If the fiscal agent/project director is from a higher education institution, the President/CEO of the higher education institution must complete, date and sign under the applicant institution/organization line. If the fiscal agent/project director is not from a higher education institution, the President/CEO of the organization must complete, date and sign under the applicant institution/organization line. One original signature copy of the cover page (Attachment 1) is needed.
Consortia Member Contacts (Attachment 1): This form should be completed, dated, and signed by each consortia member. Provide the contact information for all other key consortia members not included on Attachment 1. All signatures do not need to be on the same consortia member contacts page. This is a sample contact list; you may add others as needed.
All partners are required to know, understand and adhere to the GYO statute and rules, certifications, terms of the grant, and all other requirements included in this renewal application. It is the responsibility of the fiscal agent to ensure that the partners have said knowledge and adhere to program requirements.
2 Project Narrative (Attachment 2A): Use Attachment 5, GYO Grant Objectives to provide a breakout of objectives and activities. Use the project narrative to provide the following information:
A. Provide a general overview of your consortia for FY2016 including the intended outcomes;
B. Describe the key project personnel, their qualifications, and their roles and responsibilities;
C. Describe the plans you have in place to assist students who are facing serious challenges in the GYO program (i.e. academic, financial, dispositional, etc.);
D. Briefly describe your procedures for counseling out students;
E. Provide projected teacher vacancies in your partner districts including staffing trends over the past 5 years and projected vacancies for the next 5 years;
F. Provide a needs assessment explaining how your GYO Initiative fills a need as well as draws on potential community assets;
G. Provide any additional information you feel will show that you have a successful consortia developed and procedures in place to mentor, train, graduate, and place students in hard-to-staff Illinois school districts.
H. If admitting new candidates, describe how your GYO programs will conduct diagnostic testing or screening to better predict and identify future applicants’ success in the program (Note: this information is required in the proposal in order to be approved for funding to admit new applicants).
3 FY2016 Grant Objectives (Attachment 2B): Describe your FY2016 goals and objectives. Make needed changes/updates to the previous year objectives with the goal of improving the program based on progress to date, strategies that have proven effective, and the elimination of strategies that have proven ineffective. The clarity of the grant objectives will have a positive impact on the final score.
4 Evaluation Plan (Attachment 3): Describe what your consortia will be evaluating, how the data will be analyzed by the consortia members, who will be involved in this analysis, and how evaluation results used by your consortia to improve project outcomes.
5 Student Support (Attachment 4): Use Attachment 4, Student Support to provide a breakout of the following information as defined in section 20 of the statute:
A. Describe the experience of the higher education institution in preparing GYO candidates for teaching in hard-to-staff schools as well as advising and providing student support through the teacher education program;
B. Describe your consortia’s policy for candidates to continue in the program;
C. Describe your plans to ensure that candidate take advantage of existing financial aid resources before using the GYO loan funds;
D. Describe the student support services provided to assist candidates in passing the test of academic proficiency. If you are adopting student support procedures that prepare candidates for the ACT/SAT test in lieu of the TAP test, please explain how successful that has been;
E. Describe diagnostic testing to occur to future GYO candidates to better predict applicants’ success in the program;
F. Describe the other student support services (counseling, tutoring, academic advising, etc.) to be offered to candidates throughout the year and how partners might work together to coordinate these services;
G. Describe your plans for the testing and qualitative evaluation of candidates’ teaching skills to ensure that graduates of the program are prepared for teaching ;
H. Describe strategies derived from community organizing advocacy that will help candidates develop tools for working with parents and other community members to generate resources for kids and schools.
6 Annual Report, Candidate Profiles and Performance Reports (Attachment 5): The annual report is intended to summarize the overall progress of activities completed or expected to be completed through June 30, 2015. Include the outcomes of the activities that occurred, e.g., the consortium held monthly cohort meetings that increased candidate knowledge of the matriculation process as evidenced by pre- and post-meeting surveys. For FY2016, IBHE is asking you to submit reports 1 and 2 below in the attached Excel files.
1 For all your current active GYO candidates, complete the GYO profile summary.
2 Provide a Performance Summary Profile
Important Notice: We will be providing the current IBHE data on each GYO consortia to the grant reviewers to cross check, so please make sure that the data in your grant proposal is updated and accurate. Please also remember that last year, reviewers did deduct points for proposals that were not well written and up to date.
7 Targeted Hard-to-Staff Schools (Attachment 6): List the hard-to-staff schools along with school districts to be served by your consortia. Please include a letter of intent from one or more Illinois school districts or groups of public schools that serve a substantial number of low-income students as defined by the GYO statute. Letters must indicate the districts’ willingness to collaborate in offering opportunities for candidates in the GYO program to complete pre-student teaching clinical experience in hard-to-staff schools or positions and to place persons graduating from the program in teaching positions in such schools or positions so that their loans may be forgiven as specified in the Act.
Refer to appendix-4 for a definition of Hard-to-Staff schools.
8 Budget (Attachment 7): The budget information must be submitted on the Excel spreadsheet provided and shall be certified by the President/CEO of the applicant/lead institution on the Cover Page (Attachment 1). It is recommended that other general administration costs should be funded with matching In-Kind institutional funds. The GYO statute and rules document eligible expenditures under the GYO Initiative and the budget section under the general guidelines help clarify eligible expenditures.
9 Budget Justification (Attachment 8): The project budget must be accompanied by a description justifying the anticipated expenditures as set forth in the line items included on the Budget form. A clarification should be given in the budget justification on how the allocation of funding will be targeted to the most needed or beneficial services to candidates
10 Terms of the Grant (Attachment 9): The Terms of the Grant shall be certified by the President/CEO of the fiscal agent/lead institution on the Signatory Cover Page (Attachment 1). The signatures on the Cover Page signify such certification. Upon final approval of the renewal grant application and budget, a fully executed grant agreement will be returned to the fiscal agent budget contact person.