Accelerating Digital Equity School Fund
The Accelerating Digital Equity (ADE) School Fund provides funds to DPS schools to support initiatives related to increasing digital equity.
This spring, the ADE School Fund allocated $170,000 toward 28 projects that address digital equity in remote learning. This initiative is made possible by community member contributions to DPS Foundation’s Accelerating Digital Equity (ADE) campaign. Please click here to learn more about the ADE campaign and the many ways you can continue to support our DPS community.
Spring 2021 ADE School Fund Winners
Tools for Success, Bethesda Elementary School
$8,000
This project will provide headphones, styluses, and other materials to support students’ online learning needs.
Ramtastic Support Project, Burton Elementary
$2,500
This project will provide headphones for students.
Lakeview Lions, Building Resilience Through Strong Connections and Improved Emotional Intelligence, Lakeview School
6,800
Funding for this project will support (1) social emotional learning (SEL) experiences for students to develop skills in the areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision making and life skills, and (2) trauma Informed and Social Emotional Learning Educator Professional Development and Coaching.
“Huh? What?” Hearing is Not an Option, Headphones Help with Success, Holt Elementary Language Academy
$5,000
This project will provide headphones with noise-cancelling microphones for students.
Every Voice Heard, Lakewood Elementary School
$5,000
This project will provide headphones with microphones for students.
Latin American Studies Course Design Support Materials, Early College, Jordan & Durham Performance Learning Center
$400
This project will provide three copies of A History of Latin American 9th Edition by Benjamin Keen (Author), Keith Haynes (Author) for use in developing an online course in Latin American Studies for Ignite Online Academy.
Employee Empowerment - Offered By Project-Passport, Eno Valley Elementary
$2,500
This project provides virtual retreat experiences for teachers and staff on Wellness Wednesdays. Sessions will involve several interactive topics led by Life Discovery Expert and Wellness Professional Sabriya Dobbins. Participants will:
1) manage and take control of their stress, especially in schools during Covid-19
2) cope well in the face of change, fear, and uncertainty
3) develop and maintain a positive relationship with time management
4) stay motivated and inspired in the work they are doing for the students
5) gain more tools in providing engaging virtual offerings to students through experiencing the retreat themselves
6) build deeper connections over an insightful cooking experience
Listening to Learning, Eno Valley Elementary School
$2,500
This project will provide noise-cancelling over the ear headphones with microphones for students.
Burton Parent Mentor Partnership (PMP), Burton Elementary School
$5,000
This project will support the development of a parent cohort of 25 parents. The Student Services Team will work with the parent cohort to enhance meaningful encounters and education, provide incentives, and address parent needs such as prevention services, emergency financial assistance, and any other barriers in the home.
“Backstage at Club”: Virtual Learning in the Arts for the Club Community, Club Blvd. Elementary
$10,000
This project will support a virtual performing and visual arts speaker series for the entire Club Blvd. community. "Backstage at Club" will provide an innovative way for students and families to gain social-emotional supports that promote remote learning success while building an increased sense of community. Additional opportunities through the series will build digital literacy as students engage in pre-session work, master classes, and reflection activities. The series will promote inclusivity while targeting historically marginalized students—artists will come from diverse backgrounds with an emphasis on Black and Latinx representation, and all activities will include Spanish interpretation and translation services.
Enhancing Digital Instruction in CTE, DPS Career & Technical Education (CTE) Teachers
$10,000
This school team will use their project funds to purchase The Digital Learning Playbook; Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting, a guide for each CTE teacher to use individually. The CTE Instructional Team will utilize the playbook through district PLC discussions and PD sessions as well as individual coaching sessions with teachers.
In addition, the CTE Team will purchase GoPro cameras for each school to utilize for first person visualization of hands-on activities.
Accelerating Digital Equity for Latinx Students at Hillside, Hillside High School
$7,000
With these funds, Hillside will create a student-driven mentorship program for Latinx students. Latinx 11th and 12th grader mentors, who are comfortable with virtual learning and Hillside’s school culture, will work with 9th grader mentees weekly to provide social emotional as well as technical support. Mentors will help mentees with organization skills, digital learning tools, and check in on their emotional well-being. This program will help strengthen students’ peer networks and provide opportunities to improve digital literacy and leadership skills.
AHEADphones, Lowe’s Grove Magnet Middle School
$2,500
This project will provide noise-cancelling headphones for students.
Improving Digital Engagement, Northern High School
$8,000
The Northern Equity Team will use these funds to provide students with access to resources such as second monitors, lap desks, noise-canceling headphones, styluses, mice, and printers. It will also cover the cost of a school-level program subscription to support student engagement.
“Mindfulness in the Midst of Emotional Crisis and Challenge,” R.N. Harris Integrated Arts/Core Knowledge Magnet School
$3,500
Funds for this project will support R.N. Harris’s Y.O.G.A. for Youth classes by expanding the offering from two to three weekly Y.O.G.A. for Youth classes – one class each for grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5. Funds will also cover the cost of hiring a Y.O.G.A. for Youth teacher assistant to assist the Y.O.G.A. for Youth lead teacher for each class.
Lion Learning: Every Child, Every Where, Glenn Elementary School
$5,000
This project will provide noise-cancelling headphones with microphones for students. It will also provide styluses and cover the cost of Seesaw licenses.
Talking Points: two-way communication with all families, Lowe’s Grove Middle School
$5,000
Funds for this project will be used to purchase a year-long subscription to Talking Points, a centralized parent engagement platform with translation in 100+ languages for schools and districts to build stronger communication, community, and engagement between staff, families, and students.
Headsets to Head off Learning Loss, Neal Middle School
$6,000
Funding will be used to purchase USB compatible headsets for students.
Pearsontown PAAC Minecraft: Education Edition and Social-Emotional Learning Content to Students, Pearsontown PAAC (Parents of African American Children)
$5,000
This project will provide social-emotional learning opportunities to Pearsontown students through Minecraft: Education Edition. Funds will be used for 1) purchasing computer hardware with the goal of addressing gaps in access 2) licensing for Minecraft: Education Edition and the associated Social-Emotional Learning content pack 3) IT and server support for the project 4) an allotment to pay educators to host PAAC events to show students how to build and interact in the virtual space of Minecraft while connected on a server running the Minecraft application.
Hustling to Reach Club Families, Club Blvd Elementary
$2,000
Club Blvd will use these funds to pay for one year of service with Hustle, a 2-way Peer to Peer communication tool, to pilot a 2-way family communication system that will allow the school to not only share information regularly with all families, but also to receive, track and respond to feedback, questions, needs and concerns on a regular basis with all 305 individual families at the school.
SOS - Supported/Successful Online Schooling, George Watts
$5,000
Funds for this project will provide students with:
1. Zoom meeting at a convenient time for the parent (ex.- after hours, weekend) w/teacher, support staff (ESL,EC,etc), translator (when needed)
2. Success coaches
3. Success coaches will meet with students a minimum of 1 time per week and communicate with their families (using a translator when needed) at least once per week. They will ensure that the student is attending Zoom classes, working independently and turning in work.
4. Success coaches will communicate with students’ classroom teachers on a weekly basis and pass any important information to the family.
5. Success coach will offer/oversee tutoring sessions/and or help get counseling set up as needed for students
Local History, Civic Literacy, and Online PBL Professional Development, Lucas Middle School
$5,000
Funding will provide PBL professional development to guide teachers into helping students understand the importance and relevance of their coursework. Teachers will learn to explicitly teach students how to find the information that will guide their projects. The project will occur over the course of about 5 days virtually. The sequences of sessions will be the following:
1. Teaching with historical artifacts
2. Combining historical thinking and inquiry-based practices
3. Civic literacy
4. Lateral reading
5. Planning for PBL
Comunidad, Durham School of the Arts
$17,700
Engagement of Latinx students and families has been a particular challenge that existed before the pandemic and has been exacerbated during remote learning. These project funds will establish a student, family, and educator partnership at DSA specifically focused on providing a more equitable education for Latinx students during and after remote learning. The partnership team will be made up of students, family members, and educators who will come together to identify barriers to an equitable and excellent education for Latinx students and to make recommendations to the School Improvement Team and school administration for changes. This team will become an essential and ongoing part of how DSA operates, nurturing relationships between the school and community well beyond this immediate need. Part of the funds for this project will provide stipends to family members and students for participation, as well as hire LatinxEd to facilitate and provide professional development.
Keep Calm and Sign on: Creating Focus and Space to Learn at Home, Sherwood Githens Middle School
$2,500
Funding will be used to purchase noise-cancelling headphones and headsets with microphones, as well as laptop desks for students.
Parent Resource Center, Brogden Middle School
$7,500
Funding for this project will support the creation of a Parent Resource Center and a digital literacy workshop series at Brogden. Funds will be used to purchase materials and resources for the center as well as the curriculum development (Spanish and English), food, and parent incentives.
Technical support/Digital Literacy (Parent Liaison), Eno Valley Elementary
$15,000
These funds will be used to hire a parent liaison, who will use their role to focus on connecting with hard to reach families, helping parents with troubleshooting remote learning, and/or making home visits when more intense support is needed. This will assist with increasing student and family engagement with online learning.
Learning and Caring Takes Place Virtually, City of Medicine Academy
$11,000
Learning and Caring Takes Place Virtually Anywhere @ CMA is a multi-faceted triangular project focused on three interconnected areas where needs were identified for this project. 1: Cybrary - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion collection development, 2. Student-led Mentoring/Peer-Tutoring Program (STEAM: Student Tutors Educating & Advising Mentors), and 3. Virtual Science Fair. Funds will be used to support these initiatives with the goal of enhancing student social-emotional learning and increasing family engagement in online learning.
Soaring Eagle Guest Artist Series, R.N. Harris Elementary
$4,600
As part of R.N. Harris’s Wellness Wednesdays, funds for this project will be used to virtually host at least one guest artist per month via the Durham Arts Council CAPS program. Each selected artist will give 50-90 minute presentations to the student body. This program will be provided with live Spanish interpretation and center artists of color, providing social emotional learning support to students.
For questions about the ADE School fund, please email Logan Barcus, School Partnerships & Evaluation Manager, at logan@bullcityschools.org.
You can also find resources like volunteers, support with online learning and more at the HOPE Network: www.dpsfhopenetwork.org.