Gov. Nathan Deal today announced 18 grant award winners for the Innovation Fund, a competitive grant program that provides funding to local education authorities and schools to further advance student achievement in Georgia. 

"The Innovation Fund Grant is an opportunity to fuel the innovative ideas of Georgia’s education leaders and students throughout the state,” said Deal. “I am confident this funding will give schools and education groups a greater opportunity to develop methods to ensure that every Georgia student is given the tools necessary for academic achievement."

The programs are aligned with the following priority areas: applied learning with a focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education; development and replication of blended learning school models; birth to age eight language and literacy development; and teacher and leader development for high-need schools. 

Grantees will evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and submit their findings to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. The state will use these findings to determine best practices in each of the priority areas.

The grant award winners and their respective programs are listed below:

Planning Grants
Planning grants will provide each winner between $5,000 to $10,000 over one year to research and develop an innovative education program aligned with one of the Innovation Fund priority areas.

Baldwin County School District
Read Baldwin County

Clarke County School District
Coaching for Innovation in P-3 Language & Literacy

Charles R. Drew Charter School
21CLM: Promoting School Innovation and Success throughout Georgia 

Elm Street Elementary
STEAM in 3D- Dream, Design, DO!

Greenwood Learning Center/Rome Transitional Academy
Building STEAM

Houston County Schools
Read to Lead

Liberty Tech
Every Student, Every Day: Applied Service Learning

North Heights Elementary
Growing Up Green

Screven County Elementary School
School and Family Ties

Tattnall County Board of Education
Lead-Read-Succeed: Developing Teachers and Leaders to Achieve Student Literacy Mastery

Telfair County Schools
Tiny Trojans Early Literacy Program

West End Elementary
SusTEAMability: Sustaining Pollinators

Implementation Grants
Implementation grants will provide each winner between $600,000 and $700,000 over two years to pilot an innovative education program aligned with one of the Innovation Fund priority areas.

Cobb County School District
KickStART Cobb: Using the Power of Arts Integration to Fuel Early Language and Literacy Development

Whitfield County Schools
Beyond the Classroom

Scaling Grants
Scaling grants will provide each winner between $250,000 and $700,000 over two years to scale a successful existing program to serve more students, teachers or leaders.

Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School
CREATE (Collaboration and Reflection to Enhance Atlanta Teacher Effectiveness)

Carroll County School System
Full STEAM Ahead

Gwinnett County Public Schools
Gear-Up for Graduation!

Thomas County School System
Scaling of Blended Learning to Thomas County Central High School

Descriptions of the winning proposals are attached below. 

About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund invests in public education entities that aggressively 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 competitive grant competition created under Georgia’s Race to the Top (RT3) Plan. To continue the Innovation Fund’s work beyond RT3, Governor Deal appropriated state funding for Fiscal Years (FY) 2015, 2016, and 2017. Since its inception, the Innovation Fund has invested $32 million of state and federal funding through 84 grants to 55 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 STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) applied learning, blended learning, and birth to age eight language and literacy development.  More information about the Innovation Fund can be found on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement website.

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