Projects We’ve Funded

As of Spring 2021, we have supported the professional learning of over 408 Bay Area teachers as part of 83 funded projects.

Year Awarded

Level

Subject

County

Search

PBL Pilot: Empowering Oakland

West Oakland Middle School, Oakland This team of middle school teachers plans to implement Project Based Learning (PBL) at our school. The team will attend trainings with the Buck Institutes and PBL Works to better understand how to design and implement a PBL curriculum. By expanding their knowledge of pedagogy and working across disciplines, these […]

Know Better, Do Better – The Science of Reading

Longwood Elementary, Hayward Burbank Elementary, Hayward Schafer Park Elementary, Hayward This team of primary grade teachers strives to learn more about evidence-based best practices to support early reading acquisition for all students, including English Learners and students with disabilities. By attending training sessions with a variety of professional development providers like The Reading League, as […]

Indigenous Voices in the Music Classroom

Oakland Unified School District This team of teachers plans to learn more about the musical origins and current practices of its schools’ indigenous communities and grow its curriculum and practice. The first year, the team will learn from local culture bearers and leaders. The second year the team intends to work with these community partners […]

Literacy GLADiators

This team plans to empower their emerging multi-lingual students and teachers with powerful literacy instruction through neurology-based and culturally responsive language acquisition strategies.

Integrated Learning for Equity

This team will increase their learning and leadership skills with Arts Integration and Culturally Responsive Teaching in order to support growth and learning with colleagues throughout their district.

Facing History’s Professional Learning Community for Ethnic Studies

This team from across the Bay Area will launch a professional learning community focused on learning and growing in the area of Ethnic Studies.

Building a Community of Literacy Leaders

This team of teachers plans to level up their existing Literacy Inquiry Group by attending literacy and EL trainings and partner with experts.

Berkeley High School World Language Makeover

This team’s goal is to modernize their World Language Department by training in teaching strategies that focus on communication and meeting the national standards created by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL).

Amplifying Student Voice: Developing Teachers to Support East Oakland’s Young Writers

This team will regularly meet with the Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP) coaches to design a project-based, action-oriented, writing curriculum that integrates expository, persuasive, and narrative writing into standards based social studies and science units.

Revving Up for Dual Immersion

This team of teachers at a newly Dual Immersion (DI) school will focus on teacher preparedness as their school transitions to be a DI program.

Increasing Access to AP Curriculum for Language Learners

This team of teachers aims to support the unique literacy needs of English Language Learners taking Advanced Placement classes by engaging English Language Development (ELD) experts. San Lorenzo High School, San Lorenzo

Deepening Mathematical Practices and Improving Student Access to College Math

This team of six high school math teachers with a 100% English Learner population at their school are seeking to improve college math readiness in their school community.

Revolutionizing How Students Engage With Climate Change Education

These four high school teachers will develop climate change units through four disciplines (life science, earth science, chemistry, and physics).

Project Based Learning to Improve Equity in Learning

Five middle school teachers endeavor to learn the skills for, gain exposure to, and create a sustainable culture for project-based learning at their school.

Cycle of Inquiry Committee Looking Closely

This team of six middle and high school teachers will systematically consider their students’ learning, with a structure of collegial discussion focused on data. As teachers, classroom time occurs rapidly with little time to think deeply.

Spanish Teacher Professional Learning Community

The team of six elementary-level Spanish Dual Language teachers are pursuing professional development in second language acquisition.

Be GLAD

The team of four elementary school professionals identified the need to create and maintain an embedded ELD program that is woven throughout their curriculum in order to support their 52%-ELL student population.

Transformational Teacher Mentoring

The team of five high school teachers and one middle school teacher at four schools across the Bay Area are part of the Trellis Mentor Fellowship, through which they have all made a five-year commitment to mentoring new teachers.

Project Based Learning with a Maker Mindset

The team of four elementary school teachers will pilot a Project Based Learning (PBL)/Maker-Centered program.

Interdisciplinary Real World Challenges

The team of four middle school teachers will work collaboratively on Project-Based Learning (PBL) techniques to address two pressing student needs: increase student readiness for Algebra 1 and improve English/Language Arts writing skills across subject areas.

Improving Mathematical Literacy: School Wide, TK – 12

The team of five teachers, spanning elementary through high school, will engage in a two-year study around best practices to improve mathematical literacy.

Reading Lab Sites

The team of three elementary school teachers will conduct “job-embedded” professional development in the form of lab-sites (action research in the classroom during the course of an entire lesson) to help increase the effectiveness of classroom Reading Workshops.

October 4, 2021	LOI Opens for 2022 Grant Cycle
November 14, 2021 at 5:00 pm	LOI Closes for 2022 Grant Cycle
mid-December 2021	Applications Invited from Select LOIs

Keep In Touch

Sign up for occasional email updates from the LIGHT Awards program. We’ll let you know about approaching deadlines, provide application tips, and share what our grantees are doing.

get updates by email