APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, March 3, 2025
ABOUT THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION FOUNDATION
The Brookline Education Foundation (BEF) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds to support excellence and innovation in the Public Schools of Brookline (PSB). Through its programs, the BEF enriches the professional growth of educators by recognizing and supporting them as they identify and pursue opportunities that will have the greatest impact on their practice, the lives of their students, and on their school communities.
To facilitate this work, the BEF sponsors three categories of grants for which eligible Brookline educators may apply: Teacher, Collaborative, and Idea Lab grants. The process for applying for a Teacher Grant is addressed here.
TEACHER GRANTS
– Support excellence and innovation in teaching by facilitating:
- Professional growth – a proposal closely tied to a curricular or practice-related goal, and/or
- Professional renewal – a professional education activity that, while not closely tied to the curricular area of your practice, is intended to transform your thinking and teaching and offer you the opportunity for renewal as a learner.
– May be used to explore an interest or passion or acquire new knowledge related to your teaching practice, content area, or student population.
For a complete list of 2018 – 2025 Teacher Grants, click here.
GRANT ELIGIBILITY
Applications from individuals or teams of teachers, administrators, or other professional and paraprofessional personnel are welcome. Individuals must be under contract with the PSB and must have the intention of returning to teach in Brookline in the consecutive school year. Current recipients of a Teacher Grant are not eligible to apply for a Teacher Grant this year.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Projects may address any aspect of professional practice or PSB subject area and may seek to develop and implement innovative teaching practices or pilot new approaches that reflect the latest educational thinking. They also may address pressing issues in education, such as differentiated instruction, technology in the classroom, or closing the achievement gap. Projects related to teaching practice should enhance, but not duplicate, the standard PSB curriculum and programs.
Funds may be used to pay costs such as stipends, consultants, guest lecturers, travel to professional meetings/research sites, books, tuition, subscriptions, duplicating, postage, and/or supplies directly related to the project.
The BEF will not approve projects that should be funded more appropriately within the PSB budget. Thus, proposals should not request funds for equipment, textbooks, routine classroom supplies, and regular curriculum development. For example, we would not fund teacher planning time or training required to launch a new academic curriculum adopted by an individual school or the system as a whole. While we do consider funding coursework, we do not pay additional fees for graduate credit or certification.
Funded activities may be undertaken over the summer and/or during the school year but may begin no earlier than July 1, 2025.
Grant recipients must complete an outcome evaluation and provide photographic documentation for their projects. This is a straightforward document, easy to complete, and designed to help the BEF in its future planning. The outcome evaluation must be submitted at the completion of the project and accompanied by written or visual materials, if applicable.
WRITING YOUR PROPOSAL
Application forms are available to download here. Once the Application Questions are complete, you should upload the application here. Please note that you must first download the Application Questions document as a PDF before uploading it to the form – we will not be able to read your document if it’s uploaded as a Google Doc.
• Keep it simple and convey your passion. We appreciate concise, clear articulation of plans that convey your passion for the work you propose and your readiness and ability to undertake it. Write succinctly and for a lay audience. Keep in mind that most members of the BEF Grants Committee are not educators. Communicate clearly how your project will affect both you, as a professional, and your students.
Include or provide links to supporting materials, such as conference brochures, a bibliography, etc. Reviewers can then understand the details of your plan from these materials and you can devote your narrative to explaining why the proposed activity is so important to you and your envisioned outcome.
• Address every question. Please complete all sections of the application. Consider soliciting comments and suggestions from colleagues on your written proposal, particularly from those who have received a BEF Teacher Grant in the past.
• Consider all available revenue sources. Grant applicants are encouraged to seek funding from sources in addition to the BEF as necessary.
• Think “Big” Picture. Discuss your project’s anticipated outcomes. Be thoughtful about how your activities will result in a lasting impact on your teaching, your students, and your colleagues, and ways your project can be replicated in other schools. Reflect the Core Values of the Brookline Public Schools in your proposal.
• Complete the Budget Section. Use the designated categories as your guide. Keep in mind that BEF grants DO NOT fund salaried positions, regular school activities and programs, retroactive compensation, capital improvements, or equipment purchases that are not specifically related to and necessary for a project’s completion. For instance, grants may not be used to purchase a new photocopy machine or a camera for your use.
• Ask for help or more information. If you have questions about your idea, please contact Gabe McCormick, Senior Director of Educator, Program, and Strategic Development, at 617-730-2437; or Kim Barnum, BEF Executive Director, at 617-948-6999.
Information sessions will be held from 3:15 to 4:15 pm on two separate afternoons in January, dates TBD.
Grant-writing workshops will be held from 3:15 to 4:45 pm on two separate afternoons in February, dates TBD.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Adam Russell Gelfand Fellowship is chosen annually from Teacher Grant recipients focusing on geography, mathematics, and/or poetry, and enriching the teacher-student relationship. There is no separate application for the award, which includes a $500 stipend.
Charlie Baker Legacy Award is selected from among Teacher Grant recipients in the areas of US History and/or World Geography. An additional $1,000 is awarded to extend the scope of the funded grant to pay for travel to research sites, stipends, course tuition, and/or supplies directly related to the project. Interested applicants must indicate in writing how the award would extend and/or enrich their projects.
This award encourages two areas of study:
• the economic, environmental, ethnic, racial, or cultural past of the United States with a view toward improving knowledge of U.S. history
• world geography with a view toward promoting and increasing geographic literacy in the classroom
David E. Pradell Award will be chosen annually from Teacher Grant recipients who have demonstrated creativity and passion for teaching middle school. There is no separate application for the award, which includes a $500 stipend.
DEADLINES AND NOTIFICATIONS
The application MUST BE COMPLETE and uploaded by 5 PM on Monday, March 3, 2025. No extensions are possible. E-mails will be sent to applicants acknowledging receipt of the proposal.
During March and April, the BEF Teacher Grant Committee will meet to review and act on proposals. Award notifications will be sent to applicants in mid-April.
Grant recipients are recognized at the Brookline Education Foundation’s Celebrating Teachers event on May 6, 2025.
Grant recipients may begin project activities no earlier than July 1, 2025.
Grant recipients must submit evaluation forms upon completion of the grant project.
REVIEW PROCESS
The Teacher Grant Committee is comprised of PSB members, including past Teacher Grant recipients, and members of the BEF Board of Directors. The committee will evaluate each proposal based on the following:
Proposed Project:
• The proposed project supports excellence in teaching.
• The proposal is an innovative project or idea.
• It explores an interest or passion of the applicant.
Proposal description:
• The ideas informing the project are sufficiently developed and explained.
• The project activities are well defined.
• The applicant has provided helpful or necessary documents to support the application.
• The applicant will acquire new knowledge.
• The proposed budget seems realistic given the scope of the applicant’s plans.
Outcomes:
• The applicant will experience professional growth and/or renewal.
• The project will enhance the applicant’s professional practice (e.g., by offering new skills, strategies, academic enrichment or rejuvenation).
• The applicant’s students and/or colleagues will benefit from the project, directly or indirectly.
• There are clear plans to share knowledge and perspective gained in the course of the project.