The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is requesting proposals for ‘Networks of School Improvement’ (NSIs). NSIs are groups of schools serving students in grades 6-12 that work on their own and together with an intermediary to implement a continuous improvement process that aims to improve outcomes for black, Latino and low-income students. Applications must be received by 5pm PST on Feb 21, 2018. The Gates foundation will award $500,000 to $4 million in grants.
Intermediaries that successfully pass the initial paper screening will be invited to a video interview with foundation program officers in late March or early April. In April or early May, foundation staff will conduct a short site visit to applicants who advance from the interview stage. During this site visit we will meet with the Intermediary team and visit potential NSI schools if they have been identified. Following the site visit, the foundation will select a subset of these applicants to develop a formal grant proposal for either a Type 1 or Type 2 grant. This proposal must include a detailed plan to conduct necessary data analysis and on board schools to the network.
A range of organizations may qualify as intermediaries, including nonprofit school improvement organizations, charter management organizations, higher education institutions and school districts. The NSI initiative is designed to help schools launch innovative change themselves, rather than having it imposed from the outside, according to an October speech by Bill Gates.
To qualify as a Network for School Improvement, network schools working with the Intermediary must meet the following criteria:
- Schools cohere around a common problem and aim related to improving the percentage of Black, Latino, and low-income students who make progress against an outcome or indicator(s) that is predictive of high school graduation or postsecondary success.
- Schools serve students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and/or 12. Schools may focus on one or more grades depending on the network’s aim and theory of how to reach that aim.
- At least 50% of students who are served across the network schools are Black, Latino, and low-income students. Low-income students are students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch.
- Schools are represented by teams that include leaders, relevant administrators, and/or teachers with the time, expertise, ambition, and trust to solve the problem at hand. Depending on the nature of the problem, school teams might also include district staff. School teams share leadership, accountability, and decision making.
- Schools have the commitment and support of district/CMO leadership. Support might include providing release time, access to data, and flexibility regarding district or CMO mandates.
- Schools have the authority and autonomy needed to address the problem of practice. School team members have the support and time needed to participate in the network learning and convenings.
Two types of grants will be awarded through the program.
Type 1 grants will be for three to five years and will vary in amount according to the number of schools in the network. The organiation offered a preliminary estimate, subject to later change, of $1 million to $4 million per year for this type of grant, assuming an average network size of 20 to 40 schools. Only three of these grants are likely to be available in 2018, though the number will increase yearly for the next three years, according to information released by the fooundation.
“Type 2 grants,” according to information released by the organiation, “are reserved for intermediaries that have demonstrated experience in some, but not all, of the following areas: continuous improvement methods; data collection and analysis; network facilitation; school-level leadership development; improving outcomes for Black, Latino and low-income students; and knowledge management.”
These grants are intended to build capacity for the intermediaries receiving them, and are therefore smaller in both the amount of the award and the time of the grant. These awards will be on the order of $500,000 for an entire 12- to 24-month grant period, with the actual amount determined by the needs of each individual project. More of these smaller grants will be available, according to the foundation, with as many as 10 to 15 intermediaries being awarded in 2018.
NOTE: Register for the webinar on: January 17th, 2018, 12:00 pm PST | Topic: Overview of the RFI process and what we’ve learned from the field.
Register for the webinar on: January 26th, 2018, 11:00 am PST | Topic: Overview of the RFP Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation process.
Over the next several years, the foundation intends to release multiple RFPs for applications to lead NSIs. This is the first of those opportunities, and foundation is soliciting applications only from Intermediaries at this stage. Grants will be made directly to Intermediaries. NSIs are one initiative of the foundation’s US education work.
