Innovation Zone
Application Tips
WVDE Office of School Improvement
Contact Person:
Shelly DeBerry, Student Success Advocate
sdeberry@access.k12.wv.us
Overview of Session
Purpose of this PowerPoint is to review
the major components of Innovation
Zone grants including:
creating a vision
using data
goals and objectives
meaningful partnerships
scalability
sustainability
evaluations
Overview of Innovation Zones
Piedmont Elementary (Kanawha County)
This Innovation Zone emphasizes personalized education plans
for all students, authentic narrative reporting of skill mastery
to parents, project based learning, interdisciplinary
connectedness and integrated content technology. Project
based learning will monopolize the daily integration among
content areas. This flexibility of curriculum design will make
instruction relevant and seamless and allow students to see
connectedness of learning.
Putnam County LINK Crew
The Link Crew program orients freshmen to the high school experience.
WINFIELD -- Putnam County students have completed one week of school. For
some, it's been a new experience.
Beth Billups is in her first year at Winfield High. To help get used to high school, she
and the rest of the freshman class are teamed with an upper classman
through a program called Link Crew.
Link Crew members show the freshman the ins and outs of high school, helping
them feel at home at their new school.
“When I had trouble finding my classes, I would have to go and find them and they
would point me in the direction to go. They told me not to worry about
anything,” said Billups.
Organizers say the program helps reduce drop-out rates and incidents of bullying in
schools.
Creating a Vision
For the Project
Create a mental image of your school
3 – 5 years from now, or how do you
help others create a mental image?
Ask the Question?
What is the vision for our
school/district for the future?
What are the primary challenges you will
face if you design a plan to move your
school toward that vision in the coming
year?
USING DATA
Ask the Questions?
1. What other data would support the need for
your project?
2. What stakeholders need to be involved in
gathering data?
3. How would you share this data with others?
GOALS
Where do we want to go?
How do we plan to get there?
Goal Statements
Samples
Goal #1
To increase graduation rates.
Objective: To use graduation coaches for at risk students.
Goal #2
To raise the graduation rate by 2% each year for the next
three years.
Objective: To implement an advisor-advisee program.
Goal and Objective
Sample
Goal #3
To raise the graduation rate of students with
disabilities by 2% each year for the next three years.
Objective: Identify students with disabilities who have high risk
predictors of attendance, behavior or course failure and assign a
teacher mentor to guide the student to graduation.
Tips for Writing Goals
Clear goals with measureable
objectives are extremely important.
It must be clear what you plan to do
and how you plan to do it.
Charts are often helpful to make it
clearer.
What is Innovation?
Ask the Question?
How will the current structure of the school, support the
innovation zone project? (i.e., scheduling practices, staffing patterns,
calendars, curriculum, instructional interventions and allocation of resources).
If not, what changes need to occur?
Tips for Writing an Innovative Project
 Articulate in your application what will be different
as a result of the project.
 What are you doing that is new and different, not
just trying to fund an existing project?
 How will this project change things for the future
not just short term?
Tip
The project needs to be systemic in
nature.
Not for just a small portion of students
but how will it put in place a system
that stays in place.
Meaningful Partnerships
What does that look like?
Why is this a major component of the grant?
Tips for Creating &
Documenting Meaningful Relationships
Use the Community Dialogue to Action Guides
http://educationalliance.org/include/files/Education_Alliance_-_Dropout_PreventionGuide%20p1.pdf
Create MOU’s
Share data with everyone
Scalability
 Provide a testing ground for innovative graduation
programs, incentives and approaches to reducing the
number of dropouts.
 Provide information regarding the effects of specific
innovations, collaborations and policies on
graduation rates and dropout prevention and
recovery.
 Document educational strategies that increase
graduation rates, prevent dropouts and enhance
student success.
Think about ways your application
can show how the project can be
scaled or duplicated by others?
Tip
Document a timeline of events and
who was responsible for each
activity.
Sustainability
1. Keeping the project alive.
2. What happens when the money runs
out? Does the project go away?
3. What are some things to consider when
addressing how to sustain a project?
Evaluation
Tip
 Use the logic model template if you are
unsure how to write up a good evaluation
Review of Tips
1. Clear goals with measureable objectives are extremely important.
2. It must be clear what you plan to do and how you plan to do it.
3. Charts are often helpful to make it clearer.
4. Articulate in your application what will be different as a result of the
project.
5. What are you doing that is new and different, not just trying to fund
an existing project?
6. How will this project change things for the future not just short
term?
7. The project needs to be systemic in nature.
8. Not for just a small portion of students but how will it put in place
a system that stays in place.
9. Document a timeline of events and who was responsible.
10. Be sure to have ideas about how to sustain the project.
11. You may want to use the logic model template if you are unsure
how to write up a good evaluation.
12. Seek technical assistance if needed and have several reviewers
look at the application before submitting it.
13. Follow all of the application guidelines.
The WVDE Office of School Improvement is
available for technical assistance throughout the
grant writing period. To make arrangements for
assistance via conference call please contact:
Shelly DeBerry
sdeberry@access.k12.wv.us
304-558-3199 ext. 53431
Grant application deadline is
no later than 4:00 p.m., Dec. 1, 2011 via email.