Award Details

The LIGHT Awards Program supports teachers by making grants for teacher-selected professional learning.  Grant award details include:

• The LIGHT Awards makes grants of $20,000 or $30,000 over two years.
• Grants are made in payments of $10,000 or $20,000 in the first year, and $10,000 in the second.
• The grant award must be expended during the two-year grant period.
• Grants are announced and distributed annually in the late spring to allow for summer planning or attendance at summer training experiences.
• Grant implementation must start by the beginning of the next school year after which the grant is received.

The following are requirements of LIGHT Awards grantees:

• Participation in an annual gathering of awardees.
• Participation in an alumni network.
• Submission of annual narrative and financial reporting on project progress, learnings, challenges, and expenditures.

Stipends are available in recognition of the hard work of team members:

• Stipends are not provided as compensation for hours worked.
• Teams are welcome to include stipends in their budgets as long as the terms of their employment allows for the receipt of stipends.  Principals will need to sign off on the stipends in their support letters.
• Stipends are limited to a maximum of $1000 per team member per school year during the course of the grant period and can be paid at the end of each of the two school years during the course of the grant period.
• Stipends must be equally distributed amongst all team members.