ALE Accelerating Unfinished Learning Grant
Contact Information
The Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) Accelerating Unfinished Learning Grant opened during winter 2022 to provide funding to supplement ALE apportionment; based on identified costs necessary to implement this model and achieve desired outcomes. This grant encourages accelerated learning recovery through academic and social emotional screening, individualizing a response via ALE, and providing funding for school districts that would otherwise be financially disincentivized to offer ALE. This will reduce the impact of retaking entire courses, create an opportunity to keep students enrolled at their neighborhood schools, and get students back on track with their peers in an accelerated timeline.
Many students have unfinished learning and exacerbated social emotional needs due to the COVID pandemic. Universal screening can identify a student’s unique academic or social emotional needs, and ALE can address those needs through individualization and acceleration. However, many districts face a variety of barriers to providing individualized scheduling and learning plans due to scheduling constraints and funding formula disparities, thus forcing students to retake entire courses or transfer out of district.
Grant Application
This grant is available to public school districts, charter schools, and tribal compact schools in Washington State.
The goal is to screen and address the individualized and identified learning gaps of students resulting from the effects of the pandemic. However, the proposals that OSPI will review in this round of applications must specifically support activities outside and beyond the scheduled school day or calendar. These may include but are not limited to extending the day, school week, or school year.
Selection Process
- Each application will be reviewed in three categories: Equity Considerations, Project Design, and Budget and Impact. A complete description of the scoring criteria is available in the Application Scoring Rubric.
- The total available grant funding is $500,000. There is no minimum or maximum budget for individual applicants, but proposals will be closely reviewed in the context of the learning that may be achieved and the impact on students.