Name of Grant Program: Financial Literacy Pilot Program Fund Code: 740 PART III REQUIRED PROGRAM INFORMATION PROGRAM OVERVIEW The urgency of financial education in our state has been highlighted by the current economy and the need to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to become self-supporting and to enable them to make critical decisions regarding personal finances. In year three of the Financial Literacy Pilot Program 10 school districts will continue implementation of their projects. This continuation grant is designed to support district teams and program activities to engage students in financial literacy education as designed in the FY13 planning year. This includes project evaluation and participation in an overall program evaluation. The following components are asked for in a response to this continuation grant: A. Updated contact information B. Description of the FY14 implementation progress, outcomes, and planning process C. The FY15 implementation plan The implementation plan is the focus of this continuation grant and will include, at a minimum: 1. A description and syllabus for the proposed program to be taught in the 2014-15 school year; 2. A description of the professional development (PD) to be provided to support teachers to implement the program; 3. scale-up plans; and 4. A timeline for implementation efforts. D. A project evaluation The overall goal for the financial literacy program, inclusive of all participating districts, is to positively impact student knowledge and skill relative to financial literacy and mathematics standards. The Department has contracted with the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (UMDI) to serve as the single, statewide evaluator to conduct evaluation activities associated with the grant. Each project (district) is required to contribute data to support this program evaluation. This includes a review and analysis of each project s local project assessment/data sources and involves the administration of a financial literacy assessment across all districts. E. Required meetings Grant recipients will be required to attend two financial literacy grant program events: a webinar in mid-october and a progress/sharing meeting in April. F. FY15 Budget information 1
Section A. Updated contact information Please provide updated contact information for those who will constitute the financial literacy team. District: School: Partners: CONTACT INFORMATION* Position Name Mailing Address *Principal/Assistant Principal or Dept. Chair *Math teacher Telephone Number Email Address Role in the program *Teacher: Business, Economics, Social Studies, Consumer Science, etc. Guidance Counselor Additional school staff member * Representative from Local Community Partner Local Higher Ed Institution Professor/ Instructor District level Administrator Other *Required. Please insert additional rows if needed. 2
Section B. Description of the FY14 Implementation progress, outcomes, and planning process. Briefly describe the implementation process the district financial literacy team completed in FY14, and the major accomplishments and products. Section C. The FY15 implementation plan Present the financial literacy course and related project elements the district financial literacy team designed and the proposed implementation plan. Highlight how the course and related project elements will be engaging to students, provide opportunities for real-life applications of math and financial literacy standards, and, if applicable, the use of technology tools, digital media, and online resources. 1. Describe and/or present the syllabus and related elements. Please note that the design of the financial literacy project is expected to meet these criteria: be part of a credit-bearing course with appropriate rigor at the high school level; contain a minimum of 25 hours of classroom instruction (or equivalent of online instruction); align to standards that address the following topics: o understanding and applying algebraic functions, exponents, and using formulas in spreadsheets (refer to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Mathematics and the Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards and Expectations, especially page 14; refer to Additional Information) o financial decision making, income, buying goods and services, saving, using credit, investing, and protecting and insuring (National Standards for Financial Literacy, see Additional Information); o social studies/economics standards are applicable and may also be included. Include a student project, reality fair or similar experience for the students that demonstrates applications of math and financial literacy standards in the context of personal financial situations. Include in the syllabus or description: The grade levels the project is designed for; Whether the course and related project elements are required or elective; Which department has the primary responsibility for the project; and Alignment to standards. Please fill out the table below to note the number of students that are anticipated to participate in your project. As a reminder, in order to evaluate the program s impact, a sufficient number of students need to participate and student demographics should include groups of students from a range of socio-economic levels, English language proficiency and students at various achievement levels.. The table below indicates minimum guidelines. Number of Students to be Served Student population in grades 9-12 Minimum number of students participants <600 60 600-1500 90 >1500 120 3
Year of Pilot Planning/ Impl. 9 th Graders 10 th Graders 11 th Graders 12 th Graders Numbers of Student Participants 2013-14 (actual) 2014-15 (actual) 2015-16 (projected) 2016-17 (projected) 2. Describe the professional development (PD) to be provided to support teachers in implementing the program. Professional development of a minimum of 12 hours should be specifically chosen to support instructional staff and partners with the knowledge, skills and confidence to address the topics covered in the pilot project. Describe the professional development that will be provided, its purpose and include who the participants will be. Be specific about both the content and the type of PD model that you will use (i.e. course, workshop, online training, professional learning community, etc.) 3. Describe plans for scale up of the project to include more sections, students, or participants in the 2015-2016 school years. 4. Provide a timeline for implementation efforts. Use the table below or your own format to demonstrate how the work of this team will be accomplished. Required activities include: a. meeting as a collaborative team (indicate approximate meeting dates in the timeline); b. attending, as a team, the financial literacy grant program webinar and meeting; c. implementing all components of your financial literacy project; and d. anticipated dates and activities related to conducting the project evaluation. Projected Dates 2014-2015 Pilot Second Implementation Year Be sure to include the instructional and evaluation data collection to be done. Activity Objective Projected Personnel Please add rows as needed. 4
Section D. Project evaluation Program evaluation: The overall goal for the financial literacy program, inclusive of all participating districts, is to positively impact student knowledge and skill relative to financial literacy and mathematics standards. To this end, the Department has contracted with the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (UMDI) to serve as the single, statewide evaluator to conduct evaluation activities associated with the grant. The evaluation began early in the 2013 14 school year. Each project (district) is required to contribute data to support this program evaluation. This includes a review and analysis of each project s local project assessment/data sources and involves the administration of a financial literacy assessment across all districts. No action relative to the program assessment is needed for this proposal; the district s awareness of and willingness to participate in the program is all that is needed at this time. Each grantee is expected to cooperate with the following data collection activities: Project Leader Interviews: District and/or school-based project leaders will be interviewed by phone about program activities. Teacher Survey: Participating teachers will complete a web-based survey about professional development, program impacts, and perceptions of program features. Program Materials: Programs will be asked to submit syllabi of courses related to the financial literacy pilot program. Common Pre-Post Student Assessments: During Year 2, grantees will be required to submit the results from a common student assessment that will be supplied to each site and administered to each student participating in the program. Supplemental Data Request: The data request that each district submitted in spring 2014 will be continued. It will include information on program partners and student participants, as well as possibly additional information to be determined. For each participating student, the school will provide the state-assigned student identifier (SASID), pre- and post-score on the common assessment, and the courses and activities in which the student participated. The evaluator will provide a spreadsheet that the site will need to complete and submit with this information. The submission date is to be determined, but is anticipated to be about mid-may of 2015. UMDI will no longer ask projects to report on local, site-specific evaluations. Please fill in the following contact information for the school or district contact for any inquiries related to the evaluation: Name: Title: Phone: Email: The implementation timeline in the prior section also needs to include the anticipated dates and activities related to conducting the project evaluation. Section E. Required meetings Grant recipients will be required to attend two financial literacy grant program events: a webinar in Fall focused on program goals, grant expectations and evaluation processes, and an in-person district progress/sharing meeting in Spring to highlight successes and lessons learned to enhance district efforts. No action relative to the required meeting is needed for this proposal; the district s awareness of and willingness to participate in the meetings is all that is needed at this time. 5
Section F. FY15 Budget information FY 2015 (from award approval through June 30, 2015) Approximately $20,000 is available per school district. When designing the program s proposed budget, please categorize expenditures in the following table: Category Description Amount (Include # of participants and number of hours, if appropriate) Implementation work (overall program costs, materials, evaluation, stipends, etc.) Stipends Substitutes Materials Associated costs for mentoring and technical assistance to support implementation Professional Development Stipends for teachers to participate in external financial literacy PD Substitutes Training supplies Course fees Consultants Travel costs (In-state) Indirect costs for school districts at the ESE rate Student materials for implementation Other GRANT TOTAL Matching/Supplemental Funds from Community Partner(s) (Optional) Third Year of Implementation (2015-2016) Please provide an estimate or qualitative response to the following for planning purposes: Will the costs for the program change in the year 2015-16? If the anticipated costs will be different from the preceding year, please describe the anticipated changes and (scope of) budget differences. In addition to this document, be sure to submit Part I General-Program Unit Signature Page and Part II the Budget Detail Pages for the Current Grant Period (upon approval through June 30, 2015 ONLY). 6