Encouraging small grant applications is a well-known marketing strategy for technology vendors. Teacher leaders are inclined to apply for external funding or technology support, but aren’t sure how to organize the small grant application to maximize success. These short, but structured, small grant applications are often very similar. I have taken well-written three page proposal to vendors and been “given” the technology as long I promised to write up the results. Once a new technology is in one classroom, other teachers become curious and sometimes envious. Vendors know this. Curiosity and envy can be great motivators. Suddenly, the technology in one classroom is the technology of a grade level team. Then the next grade level teachers wonder how they can get similar technology because their students are expecting it. More importantly, success in one classroom helps to support the next grant application. I once funded a phone line into my son’s fourth grade classroom and attached it to a MacIntosh Plus, a slow modem and university supported Internet access. I supervised a student teacher in the same room using the Internet. Seven years later, I sited that project as a prototype for a successful $540,000 federal grant on parental Internet access to classrooms and web-based teacher training. Remember, GrantSuccess is a system for writing successful small grant applications. The next two columns apply GrantSuccess to a generic classroom technology small grant application that, once written, could be shaped to any emerging technology opportunity.

Step One: GETTING READY:

Put a new folder on your desktop and label it “Project Technology.” Copy the funding agencies Request For Funding Proposal (RFP) pages from the website. Put those pages into your project folder. Copy your district and building Continuous Improvement Plan and Technology Plan into you folder. Include any recent state proficiency test score results. Include the most recent description of the demographics of your district. Tell your building principal that you are considering making application. Create three Word documents and place them in the folder. Label them respectively “Action Summary,” “Grant Writing Guide” and “Key Vocabulary.”

Step Two: BUILDING THE ACTION SUMMARY

The Action Summary document organizes all the “actions” that are necessary to have the application successfully reviewed. Most grant programs have similar application requirements. Below are typical expectations, My writing tips are in italics.

1. The proposal should be 2-3 pages in length. This 2-3 page restriction does not include the cover page. Build the cover page now, label it “cover page” and put it in your project folder.

2. The Cover Page requires specific information.

• Project Title
• First and last name, and job title
• Associated school name
• Address, city, state/province, zip/postal code, country
• Workplace phone number and e-mail address

4. The titles should be bold 12-point Arial font. Example: bold 12-point Arial

5. The body of the text should be 10-point Arial font. Example: 10-point Arial font

Dr. Brooks’ Tip: These expectations will be different from one RFP to another. Don’t mess with the specific spacing, fonts or type sizes. You can compose the grant application in whatever spacing, font and type size you like, but in its final version, make sure you are using what they ask for.. Wrong fonts or sizes and your application is never even considered. Follow whatever guidelines the RFP recommends.

6. Send (1) copy of your proposal by mail or e-mail. Electronic submissions will be accepted in Word, Word Perfect or Text/ASCII formats only. All files must be uncompressed – please do not send files in ZIP, ZOO or SIT or other compressed formats. These have become pretty typical directions. One copy is electronically sent.

7. The project concludes with a final research paper detailing the study's findings. Most vendors use the report to market the product.

All proposals must fulfill the above requirements and address the category questions in order to be considered by the committee.

Areas of study include: curriculum development, students with disabilities, gender and technology, distance learning, literacy programs, coaching, collaboration, teacher training, learning theories and student participation in class. Again, these are very typical.

Technology should not be the primary focus of the research. Instead, applicants should investigate the learning environment, learning outcomes or changes in students' behavior and attitudes.

My next column will describe the Grant Writing Guide for your classroom technology application.

Dr. Douglas Brooks is a Professor in the School of Education, Health and Society at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He teaches summer workshops in grant writing and consults with individuals and school districts at all stages of the grant writing process. He is the Director of Partners In Learning at http://performancepyramid.muohio.edu

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