DoDEA Grants Support K–12 School Programs

“The very first thing that applicants must provide is a needs assessment,” says Jennifer Dailey-Perkins, DoDEA grant program manager. “What is it that you need, and how have you determined that you have this need?”

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To begin understanding what schools need, the organization first considers what skills will help modern learners when they leave the K–12 environment. “We’re looking at things that we know are nationally in need but that would also benefit the Department of Defense,” Facon says.

The grants focus not only on schools’ needs but also on their interests, she continues. “For a number of years, school districts came to us really wanting to focus their efforts on science, technology, engineering and math. That was certainly an area we were looking at within DoDEA that we wanted also to support.”

Several DoDEA grants now support K–12 esports as part of a broader STEM focus. There are also grants that support the implementation or advancement of world language studies in K–12 schools.

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Because the organization offers a variety of grants that can apply to different age groups — some may support the foundation of high school programs while others focus on elementary students — a school district may be awarded numerous different DoDEA grants over the years.

Facon acknowledges that there are many schools, like Florida’s Escambia Public Schools, that have been awarded multiple DoDEA grants. “They are school districts that have a high concentration of military-connected students and that also have a great need,” she says.

“Military bases don’t usually just pop up, and our eligibility is contained to those school districts that are near military installations, so you will have some of the same folks receiving awards,” Dailey-Perkins adds.

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Funding Successful and Sustainable K–12 Initiatives

Each DoDEA grant has a five-year time frame. “We allow for the first year to be a planning year, and we found it’s actually what they need to level-set,” Facon says. “They have that year to get ready to implement the program, then the work happens over a period of four years.”

Each awarded grant comes with terms and conditions that outline not only performance reporting but also financial reporting requirements for the school district. Additionally, each grant comes with a monitoring plan that is active for the entire five-year period. “The monitoring plan is very individualized for the grant, but at the lowest level of oversight, we meet with them at least three times a year and talk about the success of the implementation,” Dailey-Perkins says.

Beyond this timeline, however, a vital goal of the DoDEA grants is to create programs in K–12 schools that are sustainable beyond the five-year cycle.

“We really want to make sure that we set up grantees for sustainability, so that once the funding has ended, the projects can not only be sustained but also grow and be a model for other districts,” says Dailey-Perkins.

To this end, the DoDEA sets up professional development as part of the grant process. It also has a community of practice for schools where “they really can speak to what has worked with their districts and see models throughout the nation of successful funded activities that they can take back to their district,” she adds.

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