Description

The Learning Beyond the Bell competitive grant opportunity funds are provided through the Iowa Department of Education’s portion from the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (APR ESSER) Fund to address state-level educational efforts. The purpose of this project is to build, evaluate, enrich and/or sustain evidence-based before-and after-school programming for schools with the most intense needs in Iowa. Anticipated results include increases in attendance rates, achievement in identified content area(s) of need (mathematics or literacy), and student engagement or connectedness. An additional outcome is to decrease identified achievement gaps.

*Eligibility Requirements*

To realize the benefits of before- and after-school programming, students need to regularly attend the program, receive explicit academic instruction during their time in the program, and have access to high-quality staff. In addition, barriers to access need to be considered such as cost, availability, transportation, accessibility, and aligning programs. Therefore, to take part in this grant opportunity, specific requirements must be met.

All schools are eligible to apply, and are encouraged to partner with community organizations to implement the purpose of this grant. Schools that have the following designations will be given priority.

-Any school designated as Comprehensive School in Need of Improvement (CSI);
-Any school designated as Extended Comprehensive School in Need of Improvement (E-CSI);
-Any school designated as Targeted School in Need of Improvement (TSI) or Extended Targeted School in Need of Improvement (E-TSI) located within a district that also has one or more schools designated as either CSI or E-CSI.