Need Purpose Accomplishments Funding Sources Contact Information

Publications: What Story Does the Work Tell or the HTML Version

The Need

Teachers must continually generate innovative and rigorous classroom activities if their students are expected to learn at increasingly higher levels. However, tight budgets in Philadelphia's public schools keep teachers from offering enriching activities and experiences. Isolation within large schools and a lack of available planning time also keep teachers from actively collaborating on projects and activities.

The Vision

The Small Learning Community (SLC) Mini-Grant program addresses these needs by providing teams of teachers with flexible resources, training, and increased opportunities to motivate students and raise achievement within their Small Learning Communities.

The SLC Mini-Grant program awards more than 50 grants to teams of Philadelphia teachers each year. The application process is open to all Philadelphia public school teachers, and proposed projects are evaluated on the rigor and quality of their design. The SLC Mini-Grant program seeds the development of innovative units of study in classrooms across the city. Topics of the units typically range from science and the environment to African American history, storytelling and bookmaking.

Throughout the year, grant recipients engage in a variety of professional development opportunities designed to improve their teaching and leadership skills. Professional development is offered in the following areas: project design and grantwriting, the effective integration of standards into the curriculum, and the evaluation of student work. Finally, the work of these teachers and their students is disseminated through print publications and on-line so that teachers and schools can learn from their peers and replicate innovative practices.

Accomplishments

• Since 1997, the SLC Mini-Grant program has awarded more than 250 grants, totaling more than $450,000, to teams of teachers across the city.
• Each year, more than 175 Philadelphia teachers participate in SLC Mini-Grant professional development workshops.
• Teachers and students from within each of the School District of Philadelphia's 22 clusters have benefited from a SLC Mini-Grant in the past two years.

Funding Source

Contact Information