About the i3 Grant
From the US Department of Education
The next decade will hold many challenges and possibilities for the Niswonger Foundation. Leading the way into our future is our ‘Investing in Innovation' grant that we received from the U.S. Department of Education in August, 2010. In the blink of an eye, we saw the opportunity to accelerate our existing 10 year plan for school partnerships into 4 years.
This five-year grant, totaling 21 million dollars, is being used to fund the work of the Northeast Tennessee College and Career Ready Consortium. This Consortium serves approximately 26,100 high school students in 29 high schools.
The work of the College and Career Ready Consortium is being overseen by an Advisory Committee. The membership of this committee is as follows: Scott M. Niswonger, Niswonger Foundation; Linda Irwin, Niswonger Foundation; Scott Benson, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Denise Brown, Unicoi County Schools; Dr. Lori Campbell, Walter State Community College; Cory Curl, Tennessee Department of Education; Dr. Richard Kitzmiller, Kingsport City Schools; Dr. Vicki Kirk, Greene County Schools; Dr. Gary Lilly, Bristol City Schools; Dr. Nancy Moody, Tusculum College; Brad Smith, State Consortium on Reform in Education; and Dr. Linda Stroud, Greeneville City Schools.
The goals of the Consortium are to ensure all students, especially students from under-represented populations, graduate from high school prepared for college or a career; and to improve the likelihood that students successfully complete college.
Six Strategies for Reaching Our Goals
- Expand dual enrollment programs;
- Increase Advanced Placement (AP) courses;
- Increase distance learning courses;
- Increase online learning courses;
- Establish a coordinating body (the Consortium) that will determine the courses to be offered through the strategies outlined above; and
- Provide additional college and career counseling resources to every high school student in the region.
A decade ago, we started with a dream of improving K-12 education as a means to better prepare the children of our region for the 21st Century. It is gratifying to see the results of that work recognized nationally. This U.S. Department of Education grant not only points to our current record of success, but also emphasizes the tremendous potential that expanding these programs will have on improving the quality of education in Northeast Tennessee.
Only 49 school districts, nonprofit education organizations and institutions of higher education across the U.S. were selected from nearly 1,700 applicants. To receive a share of the available $650 million in available i3 grants, the winning applicants had to secure a commitment for a 20 percent private sector match. Specifically, over the next five years, the Foundation will receive $17,751,044 from Federal funds and $3,550,209 from philanthropic funds raised by the Niswonger Foundation from foundations across the country. We are honored to report that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rural School and Community Trust, and JP Morgan Foundation became partners with the Niswonger Foundation by providing our private sector match. The quality and reputation of our partners serves to further reinforce our goals and expectations for this project.
The U.S. Department of Education selected the 49 finalists based on recommendations from independent peer review panels. Grants were awarded in three categories: up to $50 million per “scale-up” grant for programs with strong records of success; up to $30 million per “validation” grant for growing programs with emerging evidence of success; and up to $5 million per “development” grant for promising ideas. Winning applicants will serve 42 states and 2 territories with more than half the grants serving students with disabilities and limited English proficiency, and 37 percent serving rural school districts. The Niswonger Foundation received the only i3 grant in Tennessee and was one of only 15 recipients, nationally, in the “validation” category.
A major focus of the grant selection was the ability for the proposed projects to be replicated successfully in other areas. The Foundation’s proposal was viewed as meeting this competitive preference. While 37 percent of the winners intend to serve rural school districts, an article in Education Week, (August 11, 2010) comments that there is some question about what those intentions mean. Quoting Robert Mahaffey, spokesperson for the Arlington, Virginia based Rural School and Community Trust, the Education Week article states “In one clear example of a winning rural project, the Greeneville, Tenn.–based Niswonger Foundation plans to use its winning validation grant to partner with 15 school districts in Appalachia to increase college readiness.”
Our 15 School Districts and the Directors of Schools
- Bristol City: Dr. Gary Lilly
- Carter County: Dr. Shirley Ellis
- Cocke County: Manney Moore
- Elizabethton City: Edwin Alexander
- Greene County: Dr. Vicki Kirk
- Greeneville City: Dr. Lyle Ailshie
- Hamblen County: Dr. Dale Lynch
- Hancock County: Mike Antrican
- Hawkins County: Charlotte Britton
- Johnson City: Dr. Richard Bales
- Johnson County: Morris Woodring
- Kingsport City: Dr. Richard Kitzmiller
- Sullivan County: Dr. Jubal Yenni
- Unicoi County: Denise Brown
- Washington County: Ron Dykes
The Niswonger Foundation has an established “track record” of previous partnerships with all 15 of these school districts. Considering the demands of today’s economy, the Consortium will specifically focus attention on curricular offerings in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics; advanced career and technical education; and upper-level foreign language courses. The Consortium’s cohesive approach to scaling up rigorous coursework has the potential to become a model for the nation.
“A decade ago, we started with a dream of improving K-12 education as a means to better prepare the children of our region for the 21st Century. It is gratifying to see the results of that work recognized nationally. This U.S. Department of Education grant not only points to our current record of success, but also emphasizes the tremendous potential that expanding these programs will have on improving the quality of education in Northeast Tennessee.”
Scott M. Niswonger
President and Founder
REGIONAL AND STATE-WIDE INITIATIVES and PARTNERSHIPS
- State Department of Education – Tennessee Teacher of the Year
- Tennessee School Boards Association – Prospective Superintendent's Academy
- Tennessee School Boards Association - On-line Training
- Tennessee Principals Association – Professional Development Initiative
- Tennessee State Board of Education – eLearning Initiative
- Tusculum College – Early Childhood Special Education Program
School Partnership Program
About the Partnership Program
The Partnership Program provides schools with the resources and expertise they need to become successful. The focus is on schools facing economic challenges, leadership needs or low student performance. Services include consulting, performance audits, strategic planning, staff development, program implementation, assessment and follow-up activities. By helping schools develop and maintain strong academic programs, the Foundation seeks to enhance the educational opportunities of all children.
Under the direction of Linda Irwin, each partnership project is tailored to the particular school and community in which it is located. These unique projects range from reading/language arts and math and science to instrumental music and career technical education.
