MNEA members awarded NEA Foundation Grants

The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) accepts grant applications year round. In March of 2007, 44 grants were approved in two categories—Student Achievement Grants for collaborative efforts to develop projects that lead to academic achievement for students and Learning & Leadership Grants, which support efforts to engage in high-quality professional development to improve student success.

Of the 44 grants awarded, two were awarded to Missourians—Laurel Maslowski, Judith Webb and Kaori Meckel. They took the "Think Big" challenge and were granted the funds for their projects. See project descriptions below.

For more information about NFIE grants, visit http://www.nfie.org.

Laurel Maslowski, North Kansas City High School, North Kansas City
$2,000 Learning & Leadership Grant
Ms. Maslowski spends two months teaching in a secondary school in Moshi, Tanzania to model best practices for teachers there. To provide content on African decolonization for her own school's curriculum; Ms. Maslowski gathers materials and interviews community members about Tanzania's recent independence movement. She shares her experience through classroom lectures, assemblies, staff development events, national conventions and district press.

Judith Webb, Bingham Middle School, Independence
Kaori Meckel, Pioneer Ridge Middle School, Independence
$5,000 Learning & Leadership Grant
Teachers and education support professionals participate in study groups to learn how to better support students at risk of dropping out of school. Ms. Webb, Ms. Meckel and their colleagues study how to build stronger personal relationships with students within small learning communities. The study groups also discuss professional texts, mentor each other and share information from conferences to develop specific intervention strategies that meet the academic and social needs of their middle school students.