Rutherford County Schools
Governor Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn recently awarded 21 Governor’s Civics Seal mini-grants promoting life-long civic engagement in schools and districts across the state.
Smyrna High School was one of five schools to receive a $10,000 grant. Lee and Schwinn awarded a total of $220,000.
“Teaching civics to our students is a key priority of my administration, and I’m pleased to see this initiative is taking shape,” said Lee. “Thanks to these new resources, we can better prepare our students in the classroom and in life for what it means to be a citizen of this great nation.”
The mini-grants allocate $220,000 to support public schools and districts implementing high-quality civic education programs that result in readiness for college, career, and civic life.
The grants will be used in the 2020-21 school year to fund programs that include: promoting life-long civic engagement by providing access to high-quality, standards-based civics resources; establishing civics programs in rural and urban schools and districts; supporting highly effective educators through civics-based professional development; and preparing schools and districts to earn the Governor’s Civics Seal.
“We are very excited for this great program that aligns with our priorities coming to students and classrooms across the state,” Schwinn said.
“Our Best for All strategic plan calls for providing teachers and students with access to high-quality instructional materials and focusing on supporting the whole child development, including through opportunities to become more civically engaged, and this program will help us do just that.”
Governor’s Civics Seal Mini-Grant recipients were selected through a rigorous and competitive application process.
Districts and schools submitted applications outlining the strengths of their current civics programming. Additionally, applicants presented a proposal to illustrate how the school or district would utilize grant funds to provide high-quality standards-based civics resources, establish civics programming and provide civics-based professional development for teachers.
A committee reviewed and scored all applications with a rubric evaluating qualifications, impact strategies and needs identification.
Mini-grants were awarded to top scoring applicants based on the Governor’s Civics Seal Evaluation Framework.
