Statesboro High Wins Grant for STEAM Education

Gov. Nathan Deal today announced six award winners for the Innovation Fund Tiny Grant program, a competitive grant opportunity that provides funding to traditional public schools, charter schools and school districts to implement small-scale programs that directly engage students.

“The Innovation Fund Tiny Grant connects educators with additional resources to implement innovative initiatives to improve student achievement,” said Deal. “These grant proposals address critical areas in today’s educational environment and provide a foundation for educators to develop new strategies. I congratulate each of the award winners and I look forward to seeing the impact each Tiny Grant will have on the futures of students in Georgia.”

Programs funded by Tiny Grants must align with one of three priority areas: applied learning with a focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education, development and replication of blended learning school models, and birth-to-age-eight language and literacy development.

Grantees will evaluate the impact of the programs on student engagement and achievement and submit their findings to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement at the end of the grant period.

The grant award winners and respective programs are listed below.

Applied Learning with a Focus on STEAM Education

Woodland Middle School
Bartow County School District
Engaging and Achieving Through Maker Lab

Statesboro High School
Bulloch County Schools
Using Virtual Reality to Teach Blueprint Reading & Design

Metter High School
Candler County School District
Metter High School Algebra I Graphic Design Logo Project

Paulding County School District
STEAM Resource and Development Innovation Lab

Birth-To-Age-Eight Language and Literacy Development

Esther Jackson Elementary School
Fulton County Schools
Project SOAR

Furlow Charter School
Sumter County Schools
Bilingual Book Project

Descriptions of the winning proposals are available here.

About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund invests in public education entities that develop and scale programs that enable Georgia educators to improve student performance and tackle our state’s most significant education challenges. In 2011, the Innovation Fund began as a $19.4 million grant competition created under Georgia’s Race to the Top (RT3) Plan. To continue the Innovation Fund’s work beyond RT3, Deal appropriated state funding for Fiscal Years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Since its inception, the Innovation Fund has invested more than $36 million of state and federal funding through grants to school districts, charter schools, postsecondary institutions and nonprofit organizations to pilot innovative education programs, ranging in focus from teacher and leader induction and development to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) applied learning, blended learning and birth-to-age-eight language and literacy development. More information about the Innovation Fund is available on the GOSA website.