Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
STEM Cohort 1 Phase 2 Review – Full Application
ORGANIZATION INFORMATION
Organization:
Project Title:
Request Amount
Proposed # of
children that will be
served
Proposed # of
families that will be
served
ALTERNATE:
Proposed # of
participants that will
be served
Counties Served
Friends of the Everett Public Library
3, 2, 1 STEM!
$23,000.00
Ages of Children Served
950
Prenatal
Birth – 1
Age 1
Age 2
Age 3
Age 4
Age 5
725
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Community
Characteristics of
Proposed Service
Group
Race/Ethnicity of
Proposed Service
Group
Western WA\Snohomish
1
Non-English Speaking\Poverty/Low Income
American Indian/Alaskan Native NonHispanic\Asian Non-Hispanic\Black NonHispanic\Hispanic\Multiple Races NonHispanic\Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic\White NonHispanic
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
SECTION I: PROJECT DESCRIPTION ( 15 POINTS TOTAL)
Pts.
Possible
Application Question
Grantee Response
Please provide a brief
project summary (max
200 characters)
Please provide a brief project summary (max 50 words)
Introducing babies and toddlers to STEM is as easy as 1-2-3. Rolling balls down
ramps or knocking down towers of cardboard boxes can become science
experiments from a young child's point of view. One-on-one interaction with
parents and caregivers can transform the whole world into a learning lab.
2
5
Pts.
Awarded
Reviewer Notes
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
Please provide a detailed
overview of your project
over the next 12 months
Please provide a detailed overview of your project over the next 12 months.
We will refine and routinize the STEM playtimes tested last year, and assemble
designated sets of STEM theme materials. We will improve upon our rough curriculum,
which centers on approximately 12 popular STEM themes from Phase I. We tested
each theme 2-3 times, making adjustments after each session. Themes include: Ramp &
Roll, Construction/Destruction, Light & Color, Sound & Music, Magnetism & Static,
Reflection & Magnification, Simple Machines, Water Play, Get Arty with STEM, Size &
Measurement, Playing Store with Numbers & Counting, and The Five Senses.
To create playgroup sets of adequate size, we will purchase additional books and toys,
based on which books and toys proved popular in Phase 1. We are averaging 46 people
at each playtime, about 26 kids and 20 adults. Babies and toddlers engage in solitary
play or parallel play rather than cooperative play. So, it's important to have enough
materials that every child has something to engage with.
We will also organize STEM playtime materials more efficiently, to save staff time and
to enable sets of materials to travel through the library's current delivery system. This
will involve packaging STEM materials into approved distribution containers, and
consolidating them all into one storage location, rather than half a dozen closets
throughout the building. We are reorganizing a basement office to establish "STEM
Central" where all the tubs can be organized by theme.
Our goal is to become so well organized that one adult could easily set up, facilitate,
and clean up a scheduled STEM playgroup, and in a reasonable amount of time.
Currently, it takes 2-3 library staff several hours to prepare and present a single STEM
playtime. If we can streamline this process, we could offer weekly STEM playtimes at
our smaller and more thinly staffed branch library. Potentially, we could also bring
these prepared STEM tubs outside the library. For example, to a daycare or early head
start to demonstrate STEM play to childcare providers.
We heard often from parents they could not attend our weekly STEM playtimes. They
work during the day, or that's their child's nap time. After establishing group-sized
STEM playtime sets, we hope to create smaller sets to be used 1-on-1 in the library on a
drop-in basis any time the library is open. Those small sets could include a combination
of board books in English, Spanish or bilingual, a STEM toy, activity, or manipulative and
a tip sheet for the parents. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is the
inspiration for this STEM set concept. That museum features an entire floor of
interactive exhibits for children. Families can also visit a service desk to borrow
different types of STEM building sets to play with while visiting the museum.
In addition to refining our selection of books and manipulatives, we are ready to create
standard parent handouts and posters to accompany each STEM theme. Once we have
subject experts review our writing, we want to explore options for translating those
parent materials into Spanish.
3
5
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
Please provide brief backgrounds on the key staff who will be involved in the
project. Please describe any specified STEM and Early Learning skills that the
current staff, families, board, organization, and/or community might bring to
this project. If you are hiring new staff, please indicate in your answer.
Eileen Simmons is Director of the Everett Public Library, and secretary for nonprofit Friends of the Everett Public Library. She has written and implemented
many successful grant-funded projects since 1986.
Judy Pascale is Treasurer for the Friends of the Everett Public Library. She has a
Please provide brief
B.S. in Accounting, has worked as a financial analyst,and has been treasurer for
backgrounds on the key
a number of local civic groups.
staff who will be involved
Emily Dagg, Manager of Youth Services at the Everett Public Library since 2008,
in the project. Please
Master's Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of
describe any specified
Washington in 1997. Her experiences include over 17 years working with ages
STEM and Early Learning
0-18 in public libraries, and about 8 years conducting weekly storytimes for
skills that the current
5
parents with babies 2-17 months of age.
staff, families, board,
Theresa Gemmer is a Librarian II in the Youth Services department of the
organization, and/or
Everett Public Library. Theresa holds an MLIS from the University of
community might bring
Washington. She has worked in public libraries for 30 years, including as
to this project. If you are
Assistant Director / Youth Services Manager of the San Juan Island Library, and
hiring new staff, please
as a bookmobile librarian. She has 25+ years of experience presenting
indicate in your answer.
storytimes to preschoolers ages 3-5.
Andrea Wallis and Leslie Minor are Librarians I's at EPLS. Both have begun to
incorporate STEM into their weekly storytimes. Andrea works at the Evergreen
Branch library, where we hope to expand our STEM playtimes.
Jannah Minnix is a substitute Librarian I, and either covers the Youth Services
desk while Emily and Theresa are present STEM Playtimes, or she assists with
the playtimes themselves.
Project Description Total Points
15
4
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
SECTION II: PHASE 1 REVIEW (20 TOTAL POINTS)
Pts.
Possible
Application Question
Grantee Response
During the first phase of
work, what have been
your greatest learnings
that you would want to
share with the early
learning field around
STEM?
During the first phase of work, what have been your greatest learnings that
you would want to share with the early learning field around STEM?
STEM learning comes naturally to babies and toddlers; their brains are wired to
explore and experiment with their environment. They soak up everything they
possibly can, using all of their senses.
Parent interaction is key to early brain development. And it isn't rocket
science, it's actually quite simple. It's talking about everyday activities like
eating and bathing. Or getting down on the floor to play with a child, and
narrating the experience to enrich vocabulary.
Babies are capable of learning so much before they can even talk. You can ask
a 10 month-old, "Please pick up the green ball." Out of an entire room full of
balls of many different colors, they have the ability to correctly identify which
one is green, if they had early exposure to the concept of colors.
Gaze following is very important when working with pre-verbal infants; they
speak volumes with their eyes if you take the time to pay close attention. Talk
to them about whatever you notice them gazing at.
It doesn't matter what language is spoken at home, babies at our playtimes are
pre-verbal and interact with other babies and families without regard to race,
culture or language. Playing together breaks down language barriers. Smiles
and laughter are understood by everyone in the room.
STEM play is easy to do, and parents know a lot more about STEM than they
realize. Parents know much more about the world than their baby knows, the
secret is sharing that knowledge early and often.
5
10
Pts.
Awarded
Reviewer Notes
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
The primary problems were parental assumptions about when children start
learning. In the library we often encounter this reaction, "Why should I read to
my baby, if they can't even talk yet?" So, we conducted an informal survey to
gauge parent's reactions to STEM. The questions were: "What do you think
about math for babies?" and "What do you think about science for babies?"
Verbatim written comments against STEM for babies:
"NO! let them live a normal life as a little one DON"T push them!"
"I don't think baby should math because they are just babys"
"Babies are adorable They know to be cute, Math learning ruins their only
During the first phase of
knoledge"
work, please identify any
"Why? there soon going to school."
innovative approaches
Comments from pro-STEM parents:
you took to solve an
10
"YES,YES, YES Anything that can help develop their minds I say YES!"
identified STEM problem
"I want my baby to be smart. I'd like some ideas on how to teach him?"
in the community or
"I think science tastes GOOD!" wrote one parent on behalf of their 9-month
organization?
old.
Basic communication with parents about how babies learn was where we
needed to start. We held focus groups with parents, listened to them talk
about their daily routines, and gave them a survey to measure their comfort
levels with STEM. With their input, we developed STEM playgroups for babies
and toddlers, where we modeled STEM play for the parents. From the first
playgroup, we could see parents becoming more confident that they could
introduce STEM to their babies and toddlers in age-appropriate and fun ways.
Phase 1 Review Total Points
20
6
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
SECTION III: PROJECT APPROACH (30 TOTAL POINTS)
Pts.
Possible
Application Question
Grantee Response
What will it look like
when your
program/project goals
are met?
Our weekly STEM playgroups for babies and toddlers can be set-up, facilitated,
and cleaned up by one adult in a reasonable amount of time. There are
adequate quantities of books and manipulatives, organized into easy-to-use
sets. Each week's theme follows an established and well-tested "curriculum,"
with age-appropriate board books to accompany each theme. Parent materials
are well-developed and printed to look professional. We start the process of
having those materials translated into Spanish.
STEM playtimes expand to include the Evergreen Branch Library. Materials are
easy to send to the branch library via our courier system; all materials are
stored in shipping totes compatible with the shipping system we currently use.
These same totes could potentially enable us to visit other sites, such as
daycare centers.
All Youth Services (YS) librarians continue to attend trainings and expand their
knowledge of STEM in early childhood. All YS librarians are comfortable
facilitating a STEM playtime, and other library employees have the opportunity
to do so if interested. Our regular library storytimes are becoming
"mathematized" and "STEMatized."
STEM play materials are also available in "mini-sets" for families to play with
on a drop-in basis, all the hours the Main Library is open. We hope to expand
the mini-sets to the branch library if they are well-received at Main. We dream
of sustaining our STEM Playgroups into the future, and helping other libraries
try out STEM playtimes with babies and toddlers. We fantasize about
publishing a baby/toddler STEM handbook for public libraries.
7
10
Pts.
Awarded
Reviewer Notes
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
At a professional level, our staff will become better facilitators, and we will
make it easier for other library staff, volunteers, or parents to potentially
facilitate these playtimes in the future. We continue to refine our themes over
multiple iterations; our activities grow more engaging each time. We make it
easy for other libraries to replicate STEM playtimes for babies and toddlers.
With families, we want to see a change in parent behavior as they become
more comfortable engaging in STEM-related play with their children from a
very young age, and parents will tell us about how they continued their STEM
What outcomes would
play at home. We continue to hear stories from families about how the STEM
indicate to you that your
play concept is spreading throughout the family to grandparents, aunts, and
10
program is achieving
uncles. Parents brag to us about how well their child made the transition to
success?
preschool or kindergarten. Eventually, we want all adults in the community to
understand that early STEM is just as important as early literacy.
We also want each child who engages in the program to learn and grow as a
result of these playtimes. Most of the families are repeat attendees, and we
can see over time the changes in how their children play. We repeat the same
12 themes each quarter, and can observe the way individual children engage
with the materials in more sophisticated ways each time. Another indicator of
success is when we overhear toddlers using STEM words in their conversations
at the library.
8
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
We haven't officially conducted measurements in terms of changes in staff
performance; nonetheless we noticed significant changes over the past year.
For example, clean-up at the beginning of 2014 took 1-2 hours, and only 30-60
minutes by the end of 2014. Preparing handouts grows quicker and easier
each session, because we re-use the same materials about every 12 weeks and
make improvements on each draft. We could start documenting this prep time
each week.
We keep a count of how many children and adults attend playtimes, and
collected quantitative and qualitative data from parents throughout 2014,
sample surveys attached. Questions included favorite STEM activities, and
activities children continued at home.
What proposed
None of us are statisticians, so we may look for training or assistance in that
methods/tools will be
area. Having our 2014 surveys reviewed by an expert could be beneficial, to
5
used to measure your
improve our methods in 2015.
outcomes/goals?
We held informal focus groups with parents in November 2013, and again in
November 2014 with many of the same families. Transcribing comments was
prohibitively time-consuming, going forward; we could look into recording
these conversations and paying someone to do the transcription.
Measuring outcomes at the child level relies on our observations and
comments from parents. We have extensive photo-documentation of all but
one of our 36 STEM playtimes. It's possible to follow individual children
through the year via those photos and notice their skills changing over time.
Gleaning data from photos is new to us, so we may look for guidance on doing
that.
9
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
The primary challenges are related to time and staffing. Our facility is open 7
days a week; 57 hours per week at the Main Library and 55 hours at the
branch. Running the library and providing customer service are top priorities.
Providing immediate, in-person public service is unpredictable and full of
interruptions. Interruptions range from a staff person out sick to evacuating
the building in an emergency.
Our Children's Library is an informal learning facility, and ideally it's always
staffed with a qualified and experienced youth services librarian. Being a youth
services librarian is a little bit like being a classroom teacher. It's necessary to
What are some
hire substitute librarians to cover our "classroom" in order to vary from our
anticipated challenges
regular duties.
and limitations in
5
Our secondary challenges are knowledge and experience. Outcome
capturing your proposed
measurements are an ongoing part of public library work, but it's a smaller
outcomes?
part of our current duties. We had some coursework in outcomes
measurements in graduate school, and we have basic ongoing experience, but
we're not experts, nor are we the most efficient at capturing outcomes.
The third challenge is the sheer quantity of information gathered so far, and
figuring out what to do with it all. We saved thousands of photographs this
year, documenting 35 of our STEM Playtimes. We also have data from 4
different surveys, 2 pre-program focus groups, and one end-of-2014 feedback
session. It's somewhat overwhelming, plus the City's servers are at capacity,
limiting our ability to store data, especially large files such as photos.
Project Approach Total Points
30
SECTION IV: FINANCIAL INFORMATION (20 TOTAL POINTS )
Application Question
Grantee Response
What is the total
operating budget for
your organization?
$14,000.00
Pts.
Possible
5
10
Pts.
Awarded
Reviewer Notes
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
To continue, streamline, and evaluate the STEM playtimes we developed in
Phase 1, we will need adequate quantities of playtime materials, equipment to
help with evaluation, and people power.
In Phase 1, we selected toys that engage babies and toddlers in STEM play. We
continue to acquire adequate quantities of age-appropriate, gender inclusive,
safe, non-toxic, non-choking hazard, washable, rugged and not-too-expensive
educational toys from established and well-respected manufacturers and
vendors.
Books go along with each playtime. We feature books for parents to refresh
their memory of STEM topics or give them ideas for STEM activities at home,
Please provide a budget
and age-appropriate STEM non-fiction books to read with their children. There
narrative explaining how
is a selection of board books for in-library use during each playtime. These
awarded funds will be
10
books are written for babies and toddlers, and support our 12 different STEM
used in the next 12
themes.
months.
We anticipate needing equipment to assist with evaluation. Babies and toddlers
don't fill out surveys, so photo and video documentation will be important.
Then, we can go back see how their play changed over 12 months. Parents are
very liberal with their verbal feedback, and a voice recorder would help us
capture their comments verbatim. We could also go back and transcribe their
comments as part of the evaluation process.
As for people power, substitute librarians can free up library staff to conduct
STEM playtimes or evaluations. We may also need: help with transcription,
training for library staff to improve evaluation skills, expert review of parent
materials, and potentially translation of parent materials into Spanish.
11
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas
and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
If we did not receive additional funding from Thrive we would ask two local
foundations for funding to help us continue our weekly STEM Playtimes. Our
local foundations receive many requests, so depending on their interest in our
program and their financial resources, we would have to set priorities and tailor
our program to the amount of money available.
We would like to expand our Playtimes to our branch location. We would like to
Please describe any plans
put together individual STEM activities for in-library use by parents and their
that you have for
children. We would like to be able to replace toys, books, and supplies that
sustainability and
wear out. We would like to improve the materials we provide to parents, and to
5
scalability if Thrive does
have them translated into Spanish. Any of these activities could be scaled up or
not award you funding
down or out, based on available resources.
for this phase of work.
If we receive no additional funding from any source, we could keep reusing the
same 12 playtime themes we've developed so far, with all of the same
materials. It would also be necessary to simplify set up and clean up for the
playtimes, so we could sustain these playtimes with fewer staff, ideally just one
librarian.
Budget and Attachments Total Points
Note: Does the project budget seem reasonable for the scope of work proposed?
20
SECTION V: FUNDING PRIORITIES (TOTAL POINTS 15) – OVERALL, HOW WELL DOES THE PROPOSAL SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING FOUR FUNDING
PRIORITY AREAS:
Pts.
Possible
Funding Priority Area
1. Benefits to the Early Learning Field: Priority will be given to projects that have demonstrated the
capacity to inform the early learning field on how to increase STEM success for children, families, and
communities during Phase 1.
2. Innovation Approach: Priority will be given to projects that developed innovative ways to solve an
identified problem in the community or organization during Phase 1.
3. Identification of Means of Measuring Project Success and Impact: Priority will be given to projects that
have used learnings in Phase 1 to inform means of measuring success in Phase 2.
4. Support of Underrepresented and Underserved Communities: Priority will be given to projects that
identified and highlight how the organization will work with young children of the population who
currently are underrepresented and underserved in the STEM workforce.
Funding Priorities Total Points
12
4
3
4
4
15
Pts.
Awarded
Reviewer Notes
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
Attachment 1: Budget Proposal
13
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
Attachment 2: Letters of Support
14
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
15
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
16
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
17
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
Attachment 3: Evaluation Tools
18
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
19
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
20
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
21
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
22
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
23
Scoring Instructions: Points should be awarded based on how well the prospective grantee answers the question. As noted in the
instructions, there are 4 funding priority areas and at the end, we will ask you to award overall points for how well the project meets
the four priority areas so keep this in mind while reading the proposal.
24