This week Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn awarded 21 Governor’s Civics Seal mini-grants promoting life-long civic engagement in schools and districts across the state.
This, according to a press release from the Tennessee Department of Education.
“Teaching civics to our students is a key priority of my administration, and I’m pleased to see this initiative is taking shape,” the press release quoted Lee as saying.
“Thanks to these new resources, we can better prepare our students in the classroom and in life for what it means to be a citizen of this great nation.”
The mini-grants allocate $220,000 to support public schools and districts implementing high-quality civic education programs that result in readiness for college, career, and civic life. The grants will be used in the 2020-21 school year to fund programs that include:
• Promoting life-long civic engagement by providing access to high-quality, standards-based civics resources
• Establishing civics programs in rural and urban schools and districts
• Supporting highly effective educators through civics-based professional development
• Preparing schools and districts to earn the Governor’s Civics Seal.
“We are very excited for this great program that aligns with our priorities coming to students and classrooms across the state,” the press release quoted Commissioner Schwinn as saying.
“Our Best for All strategic plan calls for providing teachers and students with access to high-quality instructional materials and focusing on supporting the whole child development, including through opportunities to become more civically engaged, and this program will help us do just that.”
The recipients of the Governor’s Civics Seal mini-grants are:
School-Level Grants ($5,000)
• Glencliff High School
• Ivy Academy
• Short Mountain Elementary School
• Soddy Daisy Middle School
• Unaka High School
• West Side Elementary
• Woodbury Grammar School
School-Level Grants ($10,000)
• Chattanooga Charter Schools of Excellence
• Perry County High School
• Smyrna High School
• South Fulton Middle High School
• Woodland Elementary School
District-Level Grants ($15,000)
• Cannon County School District
• Claiborne County Schools
• Collierville Municipal School District
• Hamilton County Schools
• Knox County Schools
• Shelby County Schools
• Stewart County Schools
• Warren County School District
• Washington County Schools
Governor’s Civics Seal Mini-Grant recipients were selected through a rigorous and competitive application process. Districts and schools submitted applications outlining the strengths of their current civics programming. Additionally, applicants presented a proposal to illustrate how the school or district would utilize grant funds to provide high-quality standards-based civics resources, establish civics programming, provide civics-based professional development for teachers, and/or prepare schools and districts to earn the Governor’s Civics Seal. A committee reviewed and scored all applications with a rubric evaluating qualifications, impact strategies, and needs identification. Mini-grants were awarded to top scoring applicants based on the Governor’s Civics Seal Evaluation Framework.
For questions about the Governor’s Civics Seal and mini-grants, please contact [email protected].
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
A special “shout-out” should go to Stewart County’s teacher Kyle Mallory. His teaching of the US Constitution not only helped Stewart County get some civics grant money, but has also helped his students win scholarship money from the TN Star Constitution Bee. Nice work!