FY2023: Appleseeds Implementation Grant

Fund Code: 203

Purpose:

The Appleseeds Implementation competitive grants will support districts to seamlessly implement Appleseeds: Evidence-Based Foundational Skills for Massachusetts in grades K–2, either full schoolwide implementation or pilot. This grant will fund:

• Purchase of all printed materials for Appleseeds: Evidence-Based Foundational Skills for Massachusetts in grades K–2
• Professional development and support for teachers, principals, and literacy coaches from a DESE-approved Appleseeds PD provider (See downloadble Appleseeds PD Provider Menu under Fund Use)
• Onsite implementation support responsive to districts' and schools' strengths, needs, challenges, and opportunities

Grounded in the belief that high-quality instructional materials can support excellence with equity, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) is committed to expanding access to strong curricular materials as a powerful way to narrow opportunity gaps and accelerate student learning. In the fall of 2022, DESE released Appleseeds: Evidence-Based Foundational Skills for Massachusetts, an openly available curricular resource that is aligned with the standards for Reading Foundational Skills and reflects the evidence-based practices outlined in the state's vision for excellent early literacy instruction, and in the Mass Literacy Guide. Appleseeds is a complete package of evidence-based instructional materials for reading foundational skills, grades K–2, that includes everything from lesson plans to student workbooks to decodable readers to assessments.

Priorities:

DESE seeks to award Appleseeds Implementation grants to entities that:

• Are committed to prioritizing equity and excellence through commitment to evidence-based early literacy practices
• Are actively investing in equity, inclusion, and cultural responsiveness in literacy for all learners
• Demonstrate favorable conditions and the resources, including time and commitment, necessary to make and sustain meaningful adoption and implementation, across multiple schools if applicable

LEAs will commit to:

• Implement Appleseeds (Track 1/Pilot or Track 2/Full Implementation)
• Contract a DESE-approved Appleseeds PD provider: (See downloadable Appleseeds PD Provider Menu under Fund Use) to work with for implementation and professional development support using grant funds
• Assess and share data for all students in grades K–2 in the participating schools using an approved early literacy universal screening assessment. See Additional Information below for more details.

Competitive Priorities:

1. Competitive priority will be given to LEAs which serve a population of students of which over 50% are identified as low income.
2. Additional competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status and the Strategic Transformation Region

Eligibility:

Public school districts, charter schools, collaboratives, and approved special education programs that serve students in grades K–2, are eligible to apply.

In addition, to be eligible, Curriculum Data must be up to date on DESE District Profiles for K–8 ELA/Literacy, K–12 math, and 6–8 Science by the time of the grant due date. To check if this information is complete, check the statewide Curriculum report, Or, visit your District Profiles page via Profiles Home, and select Curriculum Data from the left-hand navigation. If the required data is not complete or up-to-date, details and directions on how to enter or update this data can be found on Curriculum Data Collection.

Funding Type:

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

Funding:

A total of approximately $1,000,000 is projected to be available across FY23 and FY24 based on the number of quality proposals submitted and the total cost of the training and support packages chosen.

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.

If funding is for both FY23 and FY24, you will include both amounts in your estimate.

Fund Use:

This grant will provide funding as well as hands-on support from Appleseeds specialists for recipients to accomplish the activities listed under either Track 1 or Track 2. Following the grant period, recipients are expected to continue implementing the materials and practices initiated by this grant.

For information on the PD Providers, download this document:

• Appleseeds Implementation Grant — PD Provider Menu

Track 1: Pilot Appleseeds: Evidence-Based Foundational Skills for Massachusetts in grades K–2 in Spring 2023 Note: Piloting Appleseeds will look different for each district. Districts should consider how many units and how many classrooms you would like to pilot Appleseeds within your district.	Track 2: Fully Implement Appleseeds: Evidence-Based Foundational Skills for Massachusetts in grades K–2 in Spring 2023 or School Year 2023-2024 Note: Fully Implementing Appleseeds is teaching in every single classroom in K-2 in each school in your district.
Funding Activities for Track 1 and Track 2: Purchase and ship all Appleseeds curricular materials in grades K–2 Provide Professional development for teachers and administrators to support skillful and culturally responsive implementation of Appleseeds

Project Duration:

FY2023: Upon Approval (no earlier than 2/1/2023) – 6/30/2023
FY2024: Upon Approval (no earlier than 7/1/2023) – 6/30/2024

Important Note: all FY23 grant funded goods and/or services must be provided and/or received by June 30, 2023.

Program Unit:

Office of Literacy and Humanities
Center for Instructional Support

Contact:

Linda Sewnarine

Date Due:

Monday January 23, 2023*

Complete proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due. A confirmation of receipt will be sent. Applicants may submit proposals before the grant deadline.

*All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not submitted 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.

Required Forms:

• Part I for FY23 — General — Program Unit Signature Page

• Part I for FY24 — General — Program Unit Signature Page

• Part II — Budget Workbook (Please read the "START HERE" section to create cost estimates. Please note that there are sperate budgets for FY23 and FY24.)

• Part III — Applicant Required Program Information and Narrative Responses

• Part IV — School Assurance from each participating school principal

• Part V — School District Assurance

Note on Budget Details.
Please use the provided Budget template to calculate each budget. This does not necessarily represent your final award amount. Costs for some items, like materials printing purchases, cannot be accurately budgeted until the printing vendors finalize the amount. In those cases, the Budget template provides estimates to be used in the application. Recipients will be able to seek budget amendments after award to reflect accurate costs.

Additional Information:

Please submit questions to Linda Sewnarine by January 9, 2023.

Responses will be posted to Literacy and Humanities page under news by January 13^th, 2023.

LEAs receiving this award for ELA/Literacy 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 districts and schools will not be reported. All reporting will protect the identities of students, educators, schools, and districts.

Submission Instructions:

Please email the required documents as listed above, attached to a single email, to CISgrants@mass.gov using the subject line: [District Name] - FC203 - Appleseeds Implementation Grant Application. Please use the provided filetypes (word and excel). Signature pages should be sent as word or 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 Eastern on the due date.

Awarded Recipients: Upon award, recipients will be required to enter the approved budget, Part I and required documents into EdGrants. Once selected, recipients will be contacted with further instructions on the process.

Last Updated: December 22, 2022