FY2024: High School Senior Internship in Education Project (HSSIEP)

Fund Code: 0435

Purpose:

The purpose of this competitive grant is to help grow the educator pipeline by engaging students into the teaching profession as a potential career path and placing them on a pathway to become educators.

Through this program, schools will provide high school seniors with paid internships to explore the teaching profession in an authentic and meaningful way. Students will gain valuable experience in a career-readiness program that offers a hands-on opportunity to work with elementary students in a classroom setting, learn instructional methods from mentor instructors, and engage in educator preparation curriculum.

As school districts across the country and in Massachusetts are facing a teacher shortage, accelerated by the impacts of the pandemic, this program offers multiple methods of addressing immediate and long-term impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic:

• provides classroom support in the form of student interns to K–8 students, particularly those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Provides high school seniors, students whose key middle and high school years were significantly interrupted by the pandemic with relevant, real-world application of their learning as they connect their learning with their personal and career goals.
• Increases interest in the teaching profession, thereby expanding the teacher pipeline
• Through prioritizing programming in communities serving higher populations of traditionally underserved populations, generate a more racially diverse teacher pipeline to serve students of Massachusetts leading to a teacher workforce that is reflective of the student populations served.

Priorities:

Competitive priority will be given to:

1. Alignment with existing high-quality, education-specific pathway programs for high school students to enter the educator workforce program as outlined above. Preference will be given to applicants who have participated in the Teacher Diversification Pilot Program.
2. Number of interns and K–8 students served, particularly from demographics most impacted by COVID-19 pandemic
3. Amount of funding directly paid to students as wages/stipends
4. Competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status.

Eligibility:

Eligible applicants are MassHire Workforce Boards and School Districts. Applicants must be the direct employer and payroll processor of the student interns and commit to the program described above.

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA: 84.425 Federal Coronavirus Relief Programs - Federal Grant Programs

Federal grant funds must adhere to:

• UGG (2 CFR 200)
• EDGAR As Applicable
• EDGAR General Fiscal Administration 34 CFR Part 7

State Line Item 7009-6600

Funding:

Approximately $1,500,000 is available.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Recipients of the grant must:

• Administer an internship program for High School Seniors connected to an existing pathway or program such as a local Teacher exploration pathway funded through MA DESE FC253, a chapter of Educators Rising, or other local exploration program. CTE C74 programs are not eligible as cooperative education opportunities should be in place. The internship should ensure students are engaged in authentic experiences in the education field that occur during the school day in K–8 classrooms. Students should intern approximately 5–15 hours a week.
• Own the fiscal responsibility and all payroll procedures of ensuring that students earn a stipend or wages for their participation as a student intern.
• Complete Work-based learning plans through the MA Connecting Activities Database for all student participants.
• Support students with professional learning and resources to provide meaningful support to K–8 students, particularly those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, students from low-income families, underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds, underrepresented genders, English learners, students with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children or youth in foster care, or migratory students.

Funds should be used for student wages, stipends, and direct expenses of administering the program. Funds may not be used for: teacher stipends, teacher/staff professional development and food/meals.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval – 6/30/2024

Program Unit:

CCTE

Contact:

Ignacio Chaparro

Date Due:

Updated: February 2nd at 5:00PM

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5 p.m. Eastern on the date due.

All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity

GEM$ Submission Instructions:

This grant will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)

Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date listed in the RFP.

Please Note: Grant Submission requires applicants to have their organization established in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization in GEM$ must contact the DESE Program Unit issuing this grant at a minimum 5 business days prior to the due date for temporary organization access.

Failure to provide DESE with GEMS Request Form at least 5 business days prior to the due date may result in not meeting the submission due date listed above. DESE cannot accept or review applications after the due date.

Last Updated: March 8, 2024