Last Thursday, a day earlier than expected, the USDOE announced the 49 winners of the Investing in Innovation grants, otherwise known as i3.
There were approximately 1700 applications overall, 53 of which were focused on the arts Forty-nine applications were rated the highest and are now in a period of confirming the required 20 percent match from private funding (unless a waiver has been granted by the Department of Education). The match must be confirmed by September 8th.
Three of the 49 highest rated applications were arts-focused applications. So, while roughly three percent of all applications submitted were arts-focused, approximately six percent of all the highest rated applications, which are presumably heading towards final approval, are focused on the arts.
Enough with the factoids.
Here are the three arts-focused i3 applications that made the cut, a big-time congratulations to all:
1. Beaverton School District (OR) Arts For Learning Lessons Project.
Click here for the project abstract.
Click here for the review comments.
2. District 75/New York City Department of Education.
Click here for the project abstract.
Click here for the review comments.
3. Studio in a School Association.
Click here for the project abstract.
Click here for the review comments
Click here for the USDOE i3 press release.
And, here are some interesting articles about i3:
Ed Week: Interpreting i3 Scores: Good Luck.
NY Times: Education Department Deals out Big Awards (includes issue of early childhood advocates believing they were shut out of i3).
And as a promising not to all of those who didn’t make it into the 49, plus others wondering about future rounds, here’s an excerpt from an USDOE email last Friday:
In order to continue to support innovation and
evidence-based practices, the Department will convene an event in November 2010
for other promising applicants that were not among the applicants selected. The
agency plans to highlight these high-quality programs and provide them with a
forum through which potential funding partners may support efforts that the
Department is unable to support at this time. This list of promising
applicants and the details of the event will be announced in the coming weeks.President
Obama has requested an additional $500 million in funding for the i3 program in
fiscal year 2011.
And finally, in the “what did you do on your summer vacation” category, here’s a photo:
