MCESA SUPPORTING SCHOOL LEADERS APPLICATION GRIC 2017.PDF

Last updated: 02/14/2017
General information
Organization Maricopa County Education Service Agency
Contact First name Mark
Contact Last name Wolf
Contact e-mail mark.wolf@mcesa.maricopa.gov
Contact phone number (602) 372-8210
Address
Street 4041 N Central Ave, Suite 1200
City Phoenix
State AZ
ZIP Code 85012
From what tribe is the organization requesting the grant?
Gila River Indian Community
Total grant amount request
150,000
The Gila River Indian Community offers multi-year awards. If your organization is
requesting a multi-year grant for this project or program from the Gila River Indian
Community, enter the amount to be requested each year.
Amount
Year 1 (Gila River Indian Community Grants Only) 50,000
Year 2 (Gila River Indian Community Grants Only) 50,000
Year 3 (Gila River Indian Community Grants Only) 50,000
Year 4 (Gila River Indian Community Grants Only)
Year 5 (Gila River Indian Community Grants Only)
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Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
Cover Sheet
Municipality Information
1. Date of Application: 2/28/2017 (NOTE: Click or use up/down arrow keys to move among
fields)
2. Name of City, Town or County: Maricopa County
3. Mayor (City or Town) or Board of Supervisor’s Chairman (County): Denny Barney
4. Mailing Address: 301 W. Jefferson St., 10th Floor
5. City: Phoenix State: Arizona Zip Code: 85003
6. Acknowledgement of Submission by Authorized Municipality Representative:
Typed Name/Title: Melody Henderson Signature:
Applicant Information
7. Department/Organization Name: Maricopa County Education Service Agency
8. Is this a 501c non-profit Organization? No Yes If yes, attach IRS Determination Letter
9. Application Contact Person: Mark Wolf Title: Data Research Management and Grant Development
Analyst
10. Phone Number: 602-372-8210
11. Mailing Address: 4041 N Central Ave
12. City: Phoenix State: Arizona Zip Code: 85012
13. Email Address: Mark.Wolf@mcesa.maricopa.gov Website Address: http://mcesa.info/
Project Information
14. Project Name: Shift to STEM
15. Purpose of Grant: MCESA will support 60 Maricopa County schools in designing and implementing a
new vision for STEM learning that increasing access to STEM integrated instruction for thousands of
students in rural and urban school districts. This will be done through the facilitation of six year-long cohorts.
Each cohort will be comprised of ten school leadership teams that include school administrators and teacher
leaders.
16. Priority Funding Area Education
17. Annual amount requested $50,000
18. Number of years that funding is 3 years
requested
19. Total amount requested (annual $150,000
amount x number of years)
20. Has your organization received past 2012 Volunteer Program for Reading for the Stars ($68,835)
funding from GRIC? If yes, list each year
and amount
For Office Use Only:
Data Entry Receipt Evaluation
Outcome  Approval Recommended/Amount $  Denial

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
21. Geographic area served Maricopa County

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
Narrative
Please structure your proposal to provide the following information in the order indicated. Provide the narrative
in paragraph form in the text field provided. Please be thorough but strive for brevity.
1. Briefly describe the organization’s history, mission and goals.
Maricopa County Education Service Agency (MCESA), under the direction of the Maricopa County
Superintendent of Schools, is dedicated to ensuring that all school-age children in the county graduate college-
and career-ready. MCESA builds alliance partnerships that provide leadership, services and programs in the
areas of Educational Innovation, Economic Management and Executive Leadership. MCESA traces its history
back to the founding of Maricopa County (named in honor of the Xalychidom Piipaash people) in 1871 and the
first Superintendent of Schools. MCESA serves 58 school districts, approximately 32,000 teachers, and
728,077 students.
2. If the applying organization is non-municipal or a non-profit 501c, please describe your relationship with
Arizona municipalities including past and present support, whether it be through partnerships,
collaborations, in-kind contributions, grants, tax-based funding or other. Describe the supporting
municipality’s role in this project. If the applying organization is a municipality governmental sub-
division please enter the text “Not applicable.”
Not applicable.
3. Describe the proposed project and planned goals and activities.
The Shift to STEM Project guides school leadership teams through the integration of STEM education that is
aligned to the curriculum and pedagogical approach of each school. Successfully integrating STEM education
requires a substantial change initiative with all stakeholders present including principals, other school leaders,
educational coaches, and teachers. The Shift to STEM Project equips these stakeholders with the tools
necessary to overcome common challenges schools face when undergoing a school-wide change initiative.
Each school will participate in twelve face-to-face and online learning sessions, on-site walk-throughs and data
collection, and be provided with materials, tools, and resources to support implementation of STEM
educational programming across school subjects. Through the completion of these project activities a number
of objectives will be met including the list below. School teams will:
• Identify current STEM integration and conduct a needs analysis
• Use systems thinking to create an action plan and public narrative
• Monitor plan implementation and completion of project goals
• Plan targeted support based on progress
• Assess project outcomes and create a sustainability plan
The goal of this project is to have completed a school-wide implementation of STEM education and to equip
every school leadership team with the tools and resources necessary to sustain the STEM initiative and to
continue to refine the initiative toward an ideal state based on the school’s vision of STEM education.

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
4. Describe how the proposed project satisfies one or more of the priority funding areas identified by the
Gila River Indian Community.
The proposed project addresses the Education funding priority by assisting both educators and students in
achieving success in the classroom. Specifically by increasing educator ability and educational programming
which develop student capabilities and links STEM learning with 21st Century skills (collaboration and team
work, creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem solving). The proposed project guides school
leadership teams (including principals, other school leaders, educational coaches, and teachers) through the
implementation of STEM education aligned to each’s school’s pedagogical approach in an effort to provide
students with a well-rounded education that includes substantive and robust training in STEM subjects.
5. Identify the needs/problems to be addressed, target population and number of people to be served by
the project.
In general, schools in Arizona have struggled to implement STEM education despite a national call from
organizations such as the US Department of Education and National Science Foundation for educational
institutions to offer STEM education. This problem is especially acute in areas with a high percentage of
underrepresented student populations and economic challenges. Funding in the state of Arizona has targeted
language arts and mathematics at the detriment of STEM subjects. Even when schools attempt to address a
lack of STEM education, all too often change initiatives fail to take a systemic approach.
Occasionally, teachers are provided with a onetime professional development opportunity but are unable to
effect substantive change without the buy in from other stakeholders, including school leaders. The Shift to
STEM Project addresses these problems by guiding a school leadership team made up of school leaders,
coaches, and teachers through a system-wide change process backed by past research that equips each
school with the materials, tools, and resources necessary to effect substantive change and overcome pitfalls
schools may encounter.
The target population consists of school leadership teams from schools in Maricopa County. Impact of the
project is to both educators and students. Over the course of the three years, the project will provide direct
training to over 200 educators and additional targeted professional learning to support over 2,000 educators.
As a result of 60 schools undergoing a planned, monitored, and supported STEM change initiative, tens of
thousands of students will receive increased access to STEM educational programming.
6. Define the project as a new or continuing program.
MCESA piloted the Shift to STEM Project during the 2016-17 school year subsidized by a grant containing
STEM training requirements. It was extremely successful as indicated by participant feedback and self-
reporting of increased STEM implementation. There have been requests from multiple districts for continuation

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
of the program with additional cohorts. Receiving funding from the Gila River Community Grant would enable
scaling up to include 60 additional schools, including schools in areas with a high representation of
underserved students and schools that wouldn’t normally have accessibile funding to support STEM
professional development.
7. Provide a brief timeline including start and finish dates. Indicate if the timeline is flexible.
In November and December of 2017, MCESA will meet with school leadership teams to review data and
current goals in order to customize support offered and develop cross-district cohorts. January, February and
March will include walk-throughs with a STEM Walk-through Protocol and Design Thinking sessions with
school staffs. April will mark the start of the cross district professional learning sessions, during which school
teams will focus on specific goals they have identified while collaborating with other teams increasing STEM
integration. Each cohort will meet monthly in a combination of in person and online sessions and will be
provided with content, tools, and resources specific to increasing STEM integration. Materials will be provided
to each team in order for session content and experiences to be replicated at their sites and build capacity with
school staff. On-site teacher and leader professional learning will be provided between sessions including
walk-through support and data analysis to gauge progress and determine follow-up support needs.
8. Identify other organizations, partners or funders participating in the project and their roles.
A number of partners were involved in the development of components of the program. Tools and content
were developed in collaboration with New York City Leadership Academy and Arizona Science Foundation,
including the STEM Immersion Guide, a nationally recognized and STEMx endorsed tool.
9. Would you be able to implement the proposed plan if your organization received partial funding for this
project?
Yes, the funding requested is based on the number of school teams and types of supports included. An
adjustment could be made to the number of on-site professional learning sessions or number of schools
included in the cohorts if partial funding was received.
10. Describe your plan for project sustainability beyond the grant period. If this is a program/project
previously funded by the Gila River Indian Community describe efforts made towards the previously
described sustainability plan.
MCESA piloted this program under a prior grant with great success as indicated by participant feedback and
self-reporting of increased STEM implementation. Future plans would include an evaluation component that
would measure impact through a combination of self-assessment, survey, and walk-through data. We believe
that collection of data showing movement across the STEM Immersion Guide and evidence of effectiveness

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
would make this project more scalable and would make us a viable candidate for private and public sector
funding opportunities. We also believe that because this project involves school teams and a shared leadership
model it will lead to increased sustainability within the partner districts.
11. Describe your plan to document progress and results.
The MCESA Research and Evaluation team will support with analyzing and documenting all data collected.
The results will be shared with educators locally and nationally through existing collaborations with partner
organizations such as the Arizona Science Teachers Association, Arizona Science Foundation, AZ STEM
Collaborative, County Regional Centers STEM Collaborative, AZ STEM Schools Community of Practice, and
100Kin 10.
The MCESA Communications team will publish news about the program on MCESA’s website and through
social media. Data will be collected around the following:
• Teacher efficacy- through the use of the T-STEM Survey
• Changes in teaching and leading practices- through the use of the STEM Immersion Guide
• Changes in student learning experiences- through the use of the STEM Walk-through Tool
12. Indicate any application to and/or awards made by a tribe other than the Gila River Indian Community
for state shared revenues for this and any other project for the past five (5) years. If this information is
included in a separate attachment, please indicate that here.
Funding
Grant Funding Source
Amount
2010 Books for Home Reading Libraries – Reading for the Fort McDowell Yavapai
$8,000
Stars Nation
2012 Volunteer Program for Reading for the Stars Gila River Indian Community $68,835
2011 Continued funding for Books for Home Reading Fort McDowell Yavapai
$7,000
Libraries – Reading for the Stars Nation
2011 Reading for the Stars Tohono O’odham Nation $55,500
Fort McDowell Yavapai
2012 MCESA – Reading for the Stars $5,000
Nation
Fort McDowell Yavapai
2016 MCESA Youth Advisory Councils $7,500
Nation
Fort McDowell Yavapai
2017 STEM Pro Live $6,540.53
Nation

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
Project Budget
Budget Period: November 2017 – October 2019
For each budget item listed here please provide a narrative description on the following Project Budget Detail
page.
Proposed Budget Expense Amount Amount In Kind Total Budget
(list each budget item) requested from requested or contributions
GRIC secured from
other funders
1. STEM Leader Coach $72,825 $0 $72,825 $145,650
2. STEM Teacher Coach $62,175 $0 $62,175 $124,350
3. STEM Practices Materials $15,000 $0 $0 $15,000
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Total Budget $150,000 $0 $150,000 $285,000

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
Project Budget Detail
Please provide a narrative description for each of the project budget items listed on the previous page. Include
the dollar figure and how it was derived.
1. STEM Leader Coach (0.44 FTE @ $48,550 per year x 3 years = $145,650) – The STEM Leader Coach will
facilitate 18 sessions of professional learning with STEM leadership teams each year, working with a total of 20
school teams annually and inclusive of 60 to 90 educators. This will result in a total of 60 school teams and
180-270 educators over the course of the grant. Additional coaching activities will include on-site walk-through
and data support, leader training, and co-facilitation of staff professional development. The budget for the
STEM Leader Coach includes both salary ($37,106 per year x 3 years = $111,318) and corresponding benefits
($11,444 per year x 3 years = $34,322). Half of the budget for these STEM Leader Coach activities will be
provided as an In-Kind Match.
2. STEM Teacher Coach (0.44 FTE @ $41,450 per year x 3 years = $124,350) – The STEM Teacher Coach will
facilitate 18 sessions of professional learning with STEM leadership teams each year, working with a total of 20
school teams annually and inclusive of 60 to 90 educators. This will result in a total of 60 school teams and
180-270 educators over the course of the grant. Additional coaching activities will include on-site walk-through
and data support, classroom observation and feedback, and teacher training. The budget for the STEM
Teacher Coach includes both Salary ($31,680 per year x 3 years = $95,040) and corresponding benefits
($9,770 per year x 3 years = $29,310). Half of the budget for these STEM Leader Coach activities will be
provided as an In-Kind Match.
3. STEM Practices Materials ($15,000) – During each of the face-to-face learning sessions, teams will participate
in integrated STEM learning experiences using the engineering and design process. STEM Practices Materials
will be provided to each school to support replication of the STEM practices experienced in the professional
learning sessions. This should result in shared knowledge and the building of capacity of extended staff at
each school in addition to the STEM Leadership Teams. These materials will include both consumable and
non-consumable science materials and resources. The cost for these materials is estimated to be $15,000 for
the 3 year grant period ($250 per school x 20 schools x 3 years = $15,000).
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Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2017
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