Regional school district could earn UI grant

MOSCOW — A North Idaho school district, yet to be determined, could have the opportunity to work with the University of Idaho on professional development.

University of Idaho researchers will team with six school districts throughout the state to improve student achievement and classroom instruction, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the State Board of Education.

The grant award is part of the first year of a three-year school improvement initiative that aims to help districts strengthen curriculum and instruction, improve educator effectiveness and use data-driven practices to support students, teachers, administrators and school boards.

The Support, Opportunity, Achievement, Revitalization (SOAR) project will investigate and implement district-level improvements at one district in each of the state’s six regions and represents an opportunity to work with school districts holistically for long-term success.

“The spirit of the grant is to help school districts and I think that’s key,” said Kathy Canfield-Davis, associate professor and Leadership and Counseling department chair in UI’s College of Education. “We feel honored to provide this service for the future of Idaho’s youth.”

Canfield-Davis and College of Education assistant professor Davin J. Carr-Chellman in Moscow will partner with Boise State University on some aspects of the project.

The six participating school districts will be selected in the coming weeks.

Needs assessments for each district will be completed as part of the grant, which will be followed by the development and implementation of comprehensive improvement plans for important success indicators, including rates of graduation, attendance, teacher retention and course completion.

Improvement plans for the participating districts may include academic support systems, job-embedded professional development, networking, mentoring and/or coaching and using data to drive system-wide decision making. Another goal of the SOAR grant is to facilitate dialogue among districts that are experiencing similar challenges via a collaboration and discourse that can take place both virtually and face to face.

Updates on the individual improvement plans will be reported to the State Board of Education to help determine if successful measures taken on as part of the grant can be implemented in other districts throughout the state.