How to prioritize the future of historically underserved learners

This week the collaborative funding initiative Catalyze opened grant applications for round three of the Catalyze Challenge. This new round of grants aims to reimagine the connections between K-12 education, higher education, and careers for learners aged 11-22 — helping them to build their identities, self-efficacy, and career readiness. eSchool had the chance to dig into details with Michelle Cheang, Ed.D., Director at Catalyze. Scroll down for details on who should apply and how education institutions at all levels can ultimately benefit.

Building on key learnings from two prior challenges, this round of grants will surface and fund innovations in two primary themes — career exploration for young adolescents and activating employer partnerships.

The grant application period opened July 31, 2023, and closes September 22, 2023, with grant awards announced in December 2023. This round of funding will award up to 25 pilot grants between $100,000 and $250,000 to power 6-12 months of exploratory work and early implementation.…Read More

K-12 education funding: Most states at levels lower than pre-recession, cut spending this year

Most states have cut state funding for schools this year, and a majority of states are funding K-12 education at levels lower than before the recession, after adjusting for inflation, the Huffington Post reports. A survey published Thursday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examined 46 states–where 95 percent of the country’s elementary and secondary students reside. Delaware, Idaho, Indiana and Washington were excluded because the way they report funding data makes historical comparisons difficult, the researchers note. Of the states studied, 37 have trimmed K-12 educational funding since last year, after adjusting for inflation–19 of those states cut funding by more than 5 percent…

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Don’t weep at urban violence; prevent it with better schools

Let us not linger too long wringing our hands and shedding our tears. Be assured that I write this as one who has shed many a tear over the loss of far too many young people shot and killed in north Minneapolis over the last 20 years. But I also get deeply angry over each untimely death–because this violence does not have to happen, says Gary Marvin Davison, former researcher and writer for the 2004 and 2008 editions of “The State of African Americans in Minnesota” for the Minneapolis Urban League and current director of the New Salem Educational Initiative in north Minneapolis for the StarTribune. What the wonderful youths and adults of north Minneapolis really need are our long-term effective actions, not after-the-fact weeping and lamentation. They need constructive efforts that build for the future more than they need commiseration over momentary calamity…

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