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Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2027: Playful Learning Institute, Preschool–3rd Grade

Fund Codes: 0347 / 347A

Purpose:

The purpose of this federally-funded continuation grant is to further the work of the Playful Learning Institute with districts in Cohort 2 who were awarded the Playful Learning Institute, PK–3 Grant, Fund Code (FC) 0350 or Promoting Safe and Healthy Learning Environments: Elevating Student Voice and Well-Being (FC) 0127 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. Through this grant, the identified teams will continue to build on work started in year 1 (SY2025-26) and will expand work into identified priority areas during year 2 (SY2026-2027), including but not limited to mentoring new districts/new team members participating in the pilot.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department/DESE) will support grantees to participate in Year 2 of the Institute, which will be designed for district and school administrators, Preschool through 3rd grade (PK–3) inclusive and substantially separate classroom educators, and Out-of-School Time (OST) program staff and administrators to continue to build on the work started in year 1 to implement playful learning instructional strategies into classrooms, PK–3rd grade. Through continued coaching and professional development, participants will gain additional tools and strategies needed to intentionally design and embed playful learning across the course of the day. Playful learning will support deep dives into content; create equitable access to learning for all children; create many and varied opportunities for authentic assessment, particularly during instructional blocks across the content areas; and support students in meeting their grade level expectations and beyond as outlined in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Learning Standards.

As part of professional development, coaches will continue to work with the school teams' educators for 1–2 hours/month and district and school administrators for 1 hour/month. This in-classroom/school coaching model will be aligned with and support implementation of the action plan created by the district/school team for the 2026-27 school year.

Priorities:

The main priority for this continuation grant is to support districts from the Cohort 2 PLI pilot to develop and implement an updated action plan for the 2026-27 school year and to implement it through professional development, coaching and evaluation activities. In addition to continued requirements around coaching, PD and evaluation activities, districts will be asked to select at least one of the following areas to focus on as part of the coaching and professional development:

  • Family Engagement;
  • Supporting Students with Disabilities in Substantially Separate Classrooms;
  • Multi-Tiered System of Supports;
  • Documentation;
  • Building Capacity of Additional Classroom Educators, Preschool–3rd Grade;
  • Aligning practices with 4th and 5th Grade Educators; and/or
  • Mentoring Educators for New Educators/Administrators in Cohort 2.
Eligibility:

Districts that participated in Cohort 2 PLI Pilot are eligible to apply for funds under this continuation grant: Amesbury PS; Fall River PS; Lowell PS; Newburyport PS; Northampton PS; Norwood PS; Revere PS; Wareham PS.

Funding Type:

Fund Code 0347 Federal CFDA# 84.365
Fund Code 347A Federal CFDA# 84.173

Federal grant funds must adhere to:

  • UGG (2 CFR 200)
  • EDGAR As Applicable
  • EDGAR General Fiscal Administration 34 CFR Part 76

The receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act. Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act is determined by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Funding:

Approximately $360,000 is available.

Each district/school team is eligible to apply for $45,000 to cover expenses during the 2026-27 school year.

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 support participation of team members in the virtual and/ in-person professional development, planning, coaching, mentoring (as appropriate) and evaluation activities.

For FY2027, districts should propose a continuation budget that includes (where needed) expenses related to:

  • Substitutes and/or stipends for virtual and in-person professional development, planning time, cross team visits, coaching debrief sessions, mentoring (if selected), evaluation activities, etc. (please refer to assurance statement document for expectations around planning, PD, coaching and evaluation);
  • Travel for cross team visits and any in-person professional development — date(s) and location(s) to be determined; and
  • Any additional supplies and materials for the 10 participating classrooms, PK–3rd grade.

$35,000 of the $45,000 must be set aside for a contract to be established between the district and Neighborhood Villages to provide the coaching and professional development.

Fund use can include coordinator time, travel to professional development, stipends, substitutes, contractor for coaching/PD, supplies and materials, copying of playful learning materials.

Funds cannot be used for equipment, building/construction projects and/or curricular programs.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval* – 6/30/2027

*The grant start date is the date on which DESE receives a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and Services cannot be procured prior to the submission of a substantially approvable application. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.

Program Unit:

Office of Instruction and Multilingual Education

Contact:

Donna Traynham

Phone Number:

(781) 338-6372

Date Due:

Friday, November 13, 2026

Proposals must be received at the Department by 12:00 pm Eastern on the date due.

Required Forms:

FY27 Assurance Statement available in GEM$

Additional Information:

All team members are required to participate in professional development, coaching for educators and school/district leaders, and evaluation activities. These activities will be organized and held by vendor(s) selected by the Department.

LEAs participating in this grant/program are asked to share with DESE their student-level assessment data from the approved early literacy screening assessment that is administered in all schools in grades K-3 during this program or grant award period. DESE will support LEAs to submit the required data by June 30 of each program year. DESE will analyze the statewide data collected for research purposes. All reporting will meet state and federal confidentiality laws. Identifying information of LEAs and schools will not be reported without express consent.

Submission Instructions:

The FY27 0347 and 347A Playful Learning Institute, Preschool–3rd Grade must be submitted in GEM$. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms.

The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: October 16, 2026

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