Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2024: High Quality Instructional Materials Purchase Grant

Fund Code: 165

Purpose:

The purpose of this competitive grant is to provide funding for districts to purchase recently selected (new adoptions) of core high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) in mathematics, ELA, or science.

This grant will serve to support LEAs in purchasing and implementing HQIM in alignment with their district's instructional vision and the DESE Educational Vision for deeper learning n the following ways:

Defraying the costs of initial purchase of one coherent set of instructional materials for a given subject and grade span for up to all classrooms in the LEA.
Overseeing the development and enactment of a comprehensive equity-driven curriculum implementation plan.

For the purpose of this grant, "High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM)" in a particular content area and grade-band are defined by the following:

ELA/Literacy:
- Rated "Partially Meets Expectations" or "Meets Expectations" on CURATE, or
- Rated "Green" on EdReports' Gateways 1 and 2, or
- Appleseeds Foundational Skills
Mathematics:
- Rated "Partially Meets Expectations" or "Meets Expectations" on CURATE, or
- Rated "Green" on EdReports' Gateway 1 and "Green" or "Yellow" on Gateway 2;
Science:
- Rated "Partially Meets Expectations" or "Meets Expectations" on CURATE, or
- Rated "Green" on EdReports' Gateway 1 and "Green" or "Yellow" on Gateway 2;
- Since there are other opportunities to fund OpenSciEd Middle school, this grant cannot be used to fund OpenSciEd Middle school.

Priorities:

DESE seeks to award HQIM Purchase Grants to entities that:

Have reported currently using materials in the Curriculum Data Collection which do not meet the definition of High-Quality Materials, and have committed to switching towards materials that meet that definition.
Demonstrate favorable conditions by demonstrating an inclusive process to evaluating and selecting new materials.
Demonstrate favorable conditions and resources to sustain equity-driven HQIM implementation over time and across schools, if applicable (e.g., established professional development time for teachers, existing data cycles and protocols, MTSS structures, instructional coaching models, few competing initiatives)

Competitive priority will be given to LEAs based upon demonstrating the following:

LEAs that have not received funding to purchase or implement High-Quality Instructional Materials through the Department, or other funders, in the past three years for the grades and content areas covered by this grant (e.g., including but not limited to the following programs: Accelerating Math, Accelerating Literacy, GLEAM, Massachusetts OpenSciEd Cohort Program, HQIM Implementation Grant, and Appleseeds Implementation Grant.)

LEAs need to demonstrate building leader support by providing letters of support from each building leader included in the grant that addresses the following questions:

Based on your understanding, how many minutes per week of instruction will be needed to implement the new curriculum materials? How many minutes a week is currently scheduled for that subject? If they do not align, explain how you plan to address that issue prior to implementation.
What professional support and development will be provided for teachers at the school-level? How much time do you regularly schedule each year towards coaching and professional development at the school level? What percent of that time will be dedicated towards implementation support for the new instructional materials?
What other priorities are you prioritizing in your building? How does implementing these materials align with those other priorities?

Competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status.

Eligibility:

Local Education Agencies (LEAs), including public school districts, Educational Collaboratives, charter schools, Career Vocational Technical Schools, and Approved Special Education Schools and Programs that would apply grant funds towards the purchase of newly selected HQIM in a content area/grade band that has been reported in their Curriculum Data Collection profile materials that are not considered high-quality in at least one grade and subject area, as defined in the Purpose section above.

Funding Type:

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

Funding:

A total of approximately $4,425,000 in FY24, is projected to be available through federal funding and will be distributed based on the number of quality proposals submitted and the total cost of the assessment tools and training and support packages chosen.

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:

Funds may be used to fund:

Up to 50% of the costs of purchasing High-Quality Instructional Materials (as defined above) for one subject and grade span that have not been previously implemented. (Thus a district could be implementing a curriculum in grades 5–6, and use this grant to fund purchasing materials of the same curriculum for grades 7 & 8; funds cannot be used to purchase two different curriculum materials).
Funds will only be released to districts to purchase materials after LEAs have an implementation plan approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Specifics about the details and review of the implementation plan will be provided after LEAs are awarded.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval – 6/30/2024

Program Unit:

Center for Instructional Support

Contact:

Craig Waterman

Date Due:

Complete proposals are due by Friday September 15th, 2023.

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. on the date due.

All responses must be received by the due date and time listed in this RFP.
All responses must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions section of this RFP. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. Responses not submitted on time will not be reviewed. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed in this RFP.

Required Forms:

Additional Information:

As part of this grant program, participating LEAs will need to have an approved implementation plan before funds will be released to the LEA, and agree to provide agreed upon demonstration of meeting key dates on that implementation plan.

Participating LEAs agree to participate in any evaluation activities, such as interviews, surveys, and/or focus groups.

Curriculum Data Collection: In order to be eligible for this grant, districts must have completed their LEAs Curriculum Data Collection. The data should be viewable and up to date here: Curriculum Data. Directions about the expectations and how to provide the data can be found here: Curriculum Data Collection.

Universal screening and dyslexia
LEAs receiving this award will be required to participate in future research efforts related to early literacy assessment, including providing student-level assessment data from any approved early literacy screening assessment that is administered in the recipient schools during the award period. DESE will request that data be submitted by June 30 of each year awarded. DESE will analyze the statewide data collected for research purposes. Analyses will only be reported in the aggregate (e.g., by grade-level, region, etc.) in order to meet state and federal confidentiality laws. The identities of LEAs and schools will not be reported. All reporting will protect the identities of students, educators, schools, districts, and LEAs.

Please submit questions to: cisgrants@mass.gov by August 25th, 2023. Responses will be posted to the CIS website.

Submission Instructions:

Please email the required documents as listed above, attached to a single email, to cisgrants@mass.gov the subject line: District Name, FY2 165 HQIM PURCHASE GRANT. Please use the provided filetypes (word and excel). Signature pages should be sent pdf documents.

Applicants will receive a confirmation when the materials are received. Early submission is strongly encouraged to ensure the complete application is received and confirmed by 5pm on the due date.

Awarded Recipients: Upon award, recipients will be required to enter the approved budget, Part I-Program Unit Signature Page and required forms in EdGrants.

Once selected, recipients will be contacted and matched with an Implementation Consultant that will provide step-by-step directions on how to conduct the landscape analysis and developing an implementation plan.

Last Updated: August 16, 2023