For the first time since the Foundation's inception in 1992, we raised over $1 million dollars for the students, teachers and families in our Cherry Creek Schools community, while providing educational and daily resources to all 55,000 students in the district.
Since our inception, the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation has awarded over $1 million in Educator Initiative Grants and another $7 million in other initiatives to fund the work of our educators who ensure that our students are using the most INNOVATIVE techniques to prepare for an ever-changing world.
Educator Initiative Grants
Educator Initiative Grants (EIG) are awarded to individual classroom teachers or teams of teachers. The grants are designed to encourage, facilitate, recognize and reward creative and INNOVATIVE instructional approaches used in accomplishing program objectives. EIG's are often awarded with the goal of scaling the program throughout the District. Grant requests of up to $1000 are awarded.
The purchase of 3 robots had a "critical impact on underserved populations in STEM such as female students and students of color. . . . These students are empowered to explore their own ideas and designs through the individual agency provided by smaller groups." - John Avery, Liberty Middle School STEM Instructor on his Transportation Grant
District Opportunity Initiatives
Since 1992, the Foundation has funded programs that have contributed to the excellence of the Cherry Creek School District. District-Wide Grants are funded by the Foundation to support the District’s goals of closing the opportunity gap between the highest and lowest-performing students, and preparing students for their future college or career pathways.
Your support to us in the District AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Office has been an amazing blessing and I'm grateful beyond words. . . . These monies will support our tutors to sustain our students . . . and this is greatly appreciated." - Dr. Cassandra Mason, District AVID Coordinator for the Foundation's grant for tutorial support
Professional Development Grants
For the past three years, the Foundation has funded Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) throughout the District. Within schools, PLCs encourage collaboration between teachers (and subsets of teachers) to share ideas, experiences and strategies for helping ALL students succeed. The program, initially implemented as a small pilot through the Office of Professional Learning, was so successful that it will be implemented in all 60 schools in the District by the end of the year, ultimately impacting 3700 teachers and 54,000 students, thanks to the Foundation. The goal is to build collaboration and communities in our schools and among our teachers.
Watch our PLCs in action, click here.
