Governor Eric J. Holcomb today announced the recipients of $61 million in grants designed to improve connectivity and increase devices available to students and teachers through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund.

“Indiana’s students, parents and teachers have worked hard to adapt to the challenges COVID-19 has brought to education,” said Gov. Holcomb. “These emergency funds will enable Hoosier students to be more successful with remote learning. Some families will now worry less about internet connectivity, more students will have access to the technology needed at home, and more educators will have the necessary devices to teach remotely.”

Applicants submitted plans that included:

• the purchase of student devices including Chromebooks and iPads
• new or upgraded laptops, MacBooks, Chromebooks, and iPads for teachers
• and mi-fi devices with corresponding subscription plans for families who lack reliable internet connectivity.

These grants will fund a minimum of 68,689 student devices, nearly 2,900 teacher devices, and more than 85,800 connectivity solutions, according to the information provided by applicants.

Grant awardees include 184 traditional school corporations representing 1,366 schools, 64 public charter schools, and 124 non-public schools. There are almost 674,500 students enrolled in schools receiving these grants.

Twelve institutions of higher education will receive more than $11 million. This money will fund specialized training to better support parents and families, students with special needs, English learners, and provide social-emotional learning resources during virtual/remote learning. The initiatives are designed to directly assist K-12 teachers, including targeted professional development opportunities for eLearning, curated curriculum content, and technical assistance in implementing online curriculum. These resources will be made available at no cost to Indiana K-12 teachers.

GEER was established by the federal CARES Act. Traditional public school corporations, public charter schools, accredited non-public schools, higher education institutions, and other education-related entities were eligible to apply. An application could be completed by a single school corporation or a combination of eligible education entities.

The 257 applications received were evaluated by a team from the Indiana Department of Education, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, and the Indiana State Board of Education.

A detailed breakdown of grant recipients is available here.

High Schoolers Can Tutor Younger Students, Earn Credit

by Wendy McNamara, State Representative

A new opportunity is available for high school juniors and seniors to fulfill graduation requirements through tutoring younger students, according to State Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville).

McNamara, a school administrator, said students can experience some form of learning loss over summer break, meaning they do not retain some of the lessons they learned the previous school year, but most are typically able to relearn these lessons quickly. However, because students participated in remote- or e-learning due to COVID-19, a recent NWEA report estimates some children could begin the 2020-2021 school year up to nearly a full grade level behind their peers in some subject areas. To help bridge this gap, McNamara said schools can implement the Indiana Department of Education’s newly developed Indiana Tutoring Fellowship, which will fulfill the Service-Based Learning Experience under Graduation Pathway Requirement #2.

“Particularly this school year, students could face some additional learning loss and need to lean on a tutor,” McNamara said. “There are many Hoosier students who want to pursue a career in education, but have to wait until college to get hands-on experience. This program is an excellent introduction into teaching and I recommend it to any student who may be considering becoming an educator.”

To be eligible to participate in this program, McNamara said students must be a high school junior or senior, maintain at least a 3.0 GPA and be in good behavioral standing. The IDOE recommends tutoring sessions take place virtually, but if students are permitted to meet face-to-face, social distancing must be followed. Tutors will work with students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

McNamara supported the 2017 law creating Indiana’s graduation pathways, which allows students to pursue opportunities that best meet their education and career goals.