The Orange County Education Foundation (OCEF) Fund for Innovative Teaching provides at least six grants to support creative instruction in Orange County Public Schools, Grymes Memorial School and at the Locust Grove Campus of Germanna Community College. The grants are awarded each spring to teachers who have proposed lessons that they will implement during the subsequent school year.

The Fund was established by the OCEF Board in 2010 and the first “teacher innovation grants” (TIGs) were awarded in the spring of 2011.

Donate to Fund for Innovative Teaching

At least one grant of up to $250 is awarded to at least one teacher in each of the following clusters: pre-School to grade 2; grades 3-5; grades 6-8; grades 9-12; and the Locust Grove Campus of Germanna Community College. At least one “judges choice” grant is awarded to an additional teacher in one or more of the clusters. Applications will require a brief one-page description of the proposed project, including:

• An explanation of how the project will support student achievement;
• A description of how the program will be assessed; and
• And itemized list of the cost of materials to be used as part of the proposed project.

A call for applications is issued around the end of the 2nd semester of each school year. Awards are made before the end of the school year. Awardees must document that they hold contracts for the academic year following the issuance of their grants. Upon completion of their projects, grant recipients submit a brief project evaluation which shall include:

• A summary of the projects success; and
• an expense report
  .

2021 Grant Award Winners

During 2020 and 2021, our OC teachers had to find new ways to engage and educate our OC students. So many of the TIGs focused on doing exactly that! Each teacher noted the work they were doing to bring students back into the classroom and to provide new ways to provide effective “In person Instruction” employing the new Visible Learning System developed and adopted by Dr. Snead and the OC school administration. Here are the grant winners:

• Second Grade: Kristen Jordan UES: Gardening with Birds and Bees!
• Third-Grade: Brittany Shifflett OES: Fossil dig for Third Grade
• Middle School: Kathy Hogsten/Jennifer Hudsont-Foskett PHMS: Reading Plays
• High School: Rebeca Kennon: Cosmetology Program
• Judges Choice: Kristen Boudreau PHMS: Nature Journaling and Studies