One8 Democratic Knowledge Project Grant Application

SY2027-28 DKP Launch Grant Application

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Welcome and thank you for your interest in the DKP Launch grant program supporting implementation of the DKP's grade 8 curriculum, Civic Engagement in Our Democracy. Funding and support for school grants to participate in the grant program is provided by the One8 Foundation.

Feel free to reach out to Chad Ajig at the Civic & History Inquiry Partnership (CHIP) at [email protected] with any questions.

Application Instructions

Please review the program overview & FAQs.
This application is open to schools that are:

applying to use DKP's Civic Engagement in Our Democracy in grade 8, and
public schools in Massachusetts serving at least 10 students in grade 8

Competitive preference will be given to schools with the following criteria:

schools in districts serving >15% students from low income backgrounds
districts participating in at least one other One8 grant program (e.g., PLTW, ST Math, OSE)

Please note: All social studies educators who teach 8th grade students in civics at applying schools must participate in the cohort.

Complete one application per school. Even if there are multiple schools from a district applying, the questions in the application ask for school-specific responses. While some responses for each school application may reflect district priorities, practices, and policies, school specific information needs to be incorporated into each question's response.

Submit all applications by January 21, 2027, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Progress on the application can be saved - it does not need to be completed in one sitting.

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The DKP Launch team is offering several informational events over the fall and winter. See here for more on opportunities to learn about the grant, experience the curriculum, and hear from teachers and leaders in the program.

Important Dates

January 21, 2027

Grant application due by 11:59 p.m. ET.

February 1-5, 2027

School interviews (45 minutes, conducted via Zoom)

March 9, 2027

Award notification

April 14, 2027 - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at Four Points by Sheraton, Norwood, MA

Cohort Kickoff Convening for selected applicants

Participating educators will be required to attend a 3-day professional learning institute in either July 2027 or September 2027

Programming Expectations

A competitive application will include a plan to meet the following program expectations during the grant as well as a clear plan to sustain the program after grant funding ends.

Curriculum adoption

Adopt Civic Engagement in Our Democracy (DKP's grade 8 curriculum) according to program rollout requirements. See Implementation Plan section for details.
Ensure all grade 8 students and all grade 8 social studies teachers in the school use the curriculum beginning in year 1 of the grant (2027-28).

Staffing and professional learning

Form a Champion team to support program implementation. See the Grant Program Leadership section for more information.
All teachers and champion leaders complete all required professional learning as defined in the Grant Program Leadership and Budget sections of this application.

Partnership with DKP Launch

Work with DKP Launch school support, including hosting 1-2 visits per year.
Host site visits with DKP Launch and One8 if requested.
Administer teacher and student surveys and course assessments.

Sustainability

Pay a $300 annual program fee for continued access to DKP Launch support and events, beginning in year 1 of the grant program.
Plan to fund implementation of the curricula after the grant ends, such as onboarding new teachers and buying consumable materials.

About grant funding: Grants offset the cost of launching Civic Engagement in Our Democracy in your school. Awards pay for professional learning and school support directly and are not paid to schools. Award amounts vary by school size, mainly the number of teachers in professional learning, and cover three years of professional learning and school support and five years of community programming and evaluation data reporting. Estimates are calculated in the application and refined based on interviews.

School Information

1) Please select your district and school.

District

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School

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2) Please provide the name and contact information of the primary school grant contact.

Primary Grant Contact First name

Primary Grant Contact Last name

Title/role

Email Address

Please use your school email.

Phone Number

3) Please provide the name and contact information of the superintendent and principal.

Note: If the grant is awarded, the Superintendent and Principal will be required to sign the cohort participation and grant agreement.

Superintendent Contact Information

superintendent First name

superintendent last name

superintendent Email Address

Principal Contact Information

principal First name

principal last name

principal Email Address

Grant Program Leadership

4) Please identify district-level and school-level “champions”. In this context, a champion is someone who will become knowledgeable about the DKP Launch program and grant requirements, as well as someone who is committed to high-quality implementation and excited to lead the work. Both the school and district champions are required to attend the Cohort Kickoff Convening on April 14, 2027.

Opportunities to become knowledgeable about DKP Launch include:

reviewing...
this grant application
DKP website and Civic Engagement in Our Democracy curriculum portal
grant program one pager and FAQ document
attending a grant info session or other informational event
participating in the grant selection interview and Cohort Kickoff Convening
attending the Summer or September Institute
meeting with members of the DKP Launch team

District Champion

The district champion is a district leader (e.g., Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum Director, CAO) who leads DKP Launch implementation at the district level, often across schools if the district has multiple schools in the grant cohort.

Ideally, this champion will be in a leadership position and have the ability to:

inform common planning time or department meetings
observe teachers
review data
make budgeting and scheduling decisions
hold a cross-school view (if applicable)

District champions will attend:

the Cohort Kickoff Convening (4/14/27)
day 1 of the DKP Summer OR September Institute (in years 1 and 2 of the grant; either the district or school leader must attend)

first name

last name

title/role

email address

phone number

School Champion

The school champion is a school building-based leader (e.g., Principal, Assistant Principal, Department Chair, Team Lead, Curriculum Coach) who leads DKP Launch implementation at the school level and is not participating in the grant program as an implementing teacher. Ideally, this champion will be in a leadership position and have the ability to:

inform common planning time or department meetings
observe teachers
review data
make budgeting and scheduling decisions
hold a cross-school view (if applicable)

District champions will attend:

the Cohort Kickoff Convening (4/14/27)
day 1 of the DKP Summer OR September Institute (in years 1 and 2 of the grant; either the district or school leader must attend)

first name

last name

title/role

email address

phone number

Participating Teacher Information

5) please list the number of grade 8 civics teachers anticipated for the 2027-28 school year.

6) please tell us if any of your civics teachers teach more than one grade. if they do, please let us know what grades they teach.

7) please list the total grade 8 student enrollment for the 2026-27 school year.

Scheduling

8) how much instructional time is currently allocated to social studies in grade 8? please list the minutes per block per week.

9) for the upcoming 2027-28 school year, is your school planning on making any changes to instructional minutes for social studies? if so, please describe the ways instructional minutes will change next year.

Civics Vision and Goals

10) What are your school's goals for student civic learning?

11) How do you anticipate Dkp Launch supporting these goals?

Curriculum Use and Adoption

12) What resources is your school currently using in grade 8 civics? how will adoption of the civic engagement in our democracy curriculum in grade 8 impact current curricular resources?

13) think about your school's culture and context. What about the dkp materials and approach do you and your team anticipate being challenging?

14) Are all eligible middle schools in your district applying to adopt dkp?

YesNo

14b) How were the schools that are applying selected? Are there plans to include additional schools in future years?

15) How familiar are teachers and administrators in your building with the dkp? how were they familiarized and what were their reactions?

16) does your school or district have specific policies or approval processes for adopting a new curriculum? If so, how will you meet these?

17) have you done a social studies curriculum adoption in the last 6 years? if so, what was the process? What worked well and what were the lessons learned?

18) WHAT IS THE AVERAGE TEACHER TURNOVER THAT YOU SEE IN YOUR social studies DEPARTMENT? WHAT IS YOUR PLAN TO ONBOARD AND TRAIN NEW TEACHERS (FOR EXAMPLE, OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS, OUR SCHOOL HAS HAD 1 of our 3 social studies TEACHERS TURN OVER…)?

19) how did you hear about the dkp launch grant opportunity? please select all that apply.

I am a current DKP Launch districtAttended DKP Launch Summer Institute or other DKP-run PL (e.g., Deeper Civic Learning, Past to Present Institute, Civic Learning Institute, DESE Civics Pathways)An educator at another school or districtEmail/outreach by the DKP Launch teamEmail/outreach by the One8 Foundation teamOther

19b) please describe how you heard about the dkp launch grant opportunity.

Implementation Plan

The DKP Launch program includes curriculum adoption requirements.

Adoption of Units 0-6, including the Media Literacy Module, is required in year 1; Story of Civic Self (Unit 7) is added in year 2, and the Elections Module is added in year 3.

20) Please describe any expected deviations from the described implementation requirements or the roles of those on your implementation team and how this will affect your plan.

Budget

Grant funding requests will be calculated based on a building's number of grade 8 civics teachers and their respective professional learning needs. On this page, you will determine which professional learning sequence fits each teacher based on their experience with DKP professional learning. For reference, this Professional Learning Sequences Table outlines what each sequence entails.

All grade 8 social studies teachers in your building must participate in the DKP Launch program beginning in year 1. This should include sub-separate and push-in Special Educators as appropriate. Based on previous experience with DKP professional development, some teachers may follow an abbreviated professional learning sequence, as outlined in the Professional Learning Sequences Table. Please provide the number of teachers in your building who fall into each sequence category.

Please also provide the number of teachers who will require hotel accommodations during the 3-day Summer or September Institute, which will take place within 60 minutes of metro Boston, MA (dates and location to be specified). Program participants will only need to attend 1 of these Institutes and may select the option that works best for their schedules.

Please put 0 for any of the below categories that do not apply to you.

21) PLEASE INDICATE THE NUMBER OF TEACHERS who will follow each professional learning sequence based on their experience with dkp professional learning.


New to DKP teachers: # of teachers with no prior DKP experience who will participate in the full PL sequence
Experienced DKP Teachers: # of teachers with DKP experience who will participate in the abbreviated sequence *These teachers have attended DKP-run PL and taught the full curriculum at least once
Accommodations Request: How many teachers and/or champions will require hotel accommodations during the Summer or September Institute (within 60 minutes of metro Boston)?

Note: We will assume that 1 leader will participate in the leader sequence for each school. We will likely extend opportunities for additional school or district leaders to participate in professional learning if they would like, which will be discussed during the grant interview.

Confused? That's okay! Reach out to Chad Ajig ([email protected]) for help.

Budget (Continued)

Funding Request
The tables below contain calculated estimated grant amounts corresponding to the information you filled out on the previous page. If you wish to make adjustments to the amounts, please return to the previous page and edit your estimated teacher professional learning sequences and required hotel accommodations numbers.

Note: The grant opportunity provides implementation supports and professional learning opportunities. Grant funds will not be directly distributed to schools. If awarded a grant, schools will receive the resources, implementation support, and professional learning valued at the calculated amount in the tables below. Please note that participating schools will also be required to contribute a $300 annual program fee that is not included in the grant funds.

Need help thinking through the budget? Get in touch with Chad Ajig ([email protected]).

Cost of teacher and leader professional learning

Budget assumptions

July or September Institute: $345 (per attendee per day)
October, January, and March Workshops: $340 (per teacher per day)
Hotel: $340 (per teacher per night)

Cost of teacher and leader professional learning based on your inputs on the previous page:

	# in Year 1	Year 1 Cost	# in Year 2	Year 2 Cost	# in Year 3	Year 3 Cost
New DKP Launch teachers
Experienced DKP Launch teachers
Leader professional learning
Summer or September Institute Hotels
Total

Total grant request

Estimated sum of yearly totals

22) While grant funding helps to cover expenses associated with adopting the dkp launch curriculum, it does not cover all costs, such as teacher stipends for professional learning, printing of student-facing handouts, substitute coverage, etc.

Please describe your plan for funding these costs.

Finance Contact (the person who will process invoice for $300 annual payment)

First Name

Last Name

Title/role

Email Address

Phone Number

Name of entity

Mailing address of entity

Address line 2

city

Zip Code

State

Interview and Submission

Interview Scheduling

As part of the grant application process, schools may be invited to participate in a 45-minute interview. We are asking all applicants to schedule a tentative interview time now and the team will confirm the interview at latest one week prior to the date and time selected.

We strongly encourage including the primary grant applicant, district champion, school champion, and a teacher representative as possible.

Should your school be selected for a grant, the school and district champions will be required to attend the April 14, 2027, Cohort Kickoff Convening from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Four Points in Norwood, MA. Please tentatively hold this date.

Schedule your team for a grant interview by visiting the A cuity scheduling page.

please confirm that you scheduled a tentative interview using the link above.

Yes! I have scheduled an interview.

Review Programming Expectations

Curriculum adoption

Adopt Civic Engagement in Our Democracy (DKP's grade 8 curriculum) according to program rollout requirements. See Implementation Plan section for details.
Ensure all grade 8 students and all grade 8 social studies teachers in the school use the curriculum beginning in year 1 of the grant (2027-28).

Staffing and professional learning

Form a Champion team to support program implementation. See the Grant Program Leadership section for more information.
All teachers and champion leaders complete all required professional learning as defined in the Grant Program Leadership and Budget sections of this application.

Partnership with DKP Launch

Work with DKP Launch school support, including hosting 1-2 visits per year.
Host site visits with DKP Launch and One8 if requested.
Administer teacher and student surveys and course assessments.

Sustainability

Pay a $300 annual program fee for continued access to DKP Launch support and events, beginning in year 1 of the grant program.
Plan to fund implementation of the curricula after the grant ends, such as onboarding new teachers and buying consumable materials.

please confirm that your implementation plan as outlined in this application meets the following required design elements

Yes! Our implementation plan meets the requirements listed below.

Note: Shortly after submitting the application, the primary grant contact will receive a confirmation email. If they do not see that email within a few hours, please check your junk mail or reach out to [email protected].

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