2013-2014 SCORE Projects

The purpose of the SCORE grants is to encourage early career members and their local associations to collaborate and create opportunities for community service or school projects that are substantive and meaningful. More than 100 ideas were awarded during 2013-2014 to build visible foundations for deeper relationships with students, families and communities.

Please see below the list of 2013-2014 projects that were awarded grants. They are listed by category, though it’s clear so many projects cross lines into various categories.

Categories


Literacy/Reading

  • GCMS #5, Gibson City EA, electronic book club with AP English students, community members, parents and other students.
  • LaGrange School District #105, LaGrange South #105 EA, family book club where students receive a free book to read with their family and then hold a celebration with skits, a meal, discussion and other activities.
  • Glen Ellyn #41, Glen Ellyn Elementary #41 EA, sets up two special ELL nights for students and their parents at the school. Transportation, interpreters and childcare will be provided. Local resource center will be present.
  • Decatur #61, Decatur EA, provide chairs, pillows, reading mats and other items to the Phoenix Academy, a school with a high minority population that struggles with literacy and does not currently have a library.
  • Naperville CUSD 203, Naperville Unit EA, money to start a mother/daughter book and Zumba club for ELL (specifically Spanish) students and parents.
  • CUSD #200, Wheaton-Warrenville EA, develop and establish a music club called CLEF (Children Learning English Fluency) that would increase the fluency of at-risk students through the singing of classic children’s songs.
  • Troy 30C, Troy EA, fund family reading nights to be hosted at school and focus on teaching parents how to address reading comprehension strategies.
  • Yorkville #115, Yorkville EA, the middle school reading specialists will partner with Heritage Woods Assisted Living Community to start the Books Build Bridges program between the school and the center.
  • North Shore School District #112, NSSED faculty, an after-school buddy book club for students with and without disabilities.
  • AlWood #225, AlWood EA, support for Reading Nights where parents and community would come to two reading nights a year with students to do games and celebrate reading.
  • CUSD #201, Westmont Teachers Association, fund multiple specialized reading events where students and parents are invited to read for pleasure.
  • Naperville #203, Naperville Unit EA, funding for a Reading Round Up book program for dual language students.
  • North Boone #200, North Boone EA, will fund “Summer Reading Success” to allow three of the district’s elementary schools to be open for eight weeks during the summer so students would have access to school library materials, story time and other programs.
  • Medinah School District #11, Medinah EA, would create literacy bags because for some students, school is the only access to a library. Bags would provide interactive activities for students to share with their families based on reading and literacy skills.

Community partnerships

  • Decatur #61, Decatur EA, partnership between the Phoenix Academy/Special education Alternative Placement students and “Caring Black Men,” a group of professional community volunteers, to set up a dress for success and mentoring day.
  • Community District 300, LEAD #300, money to host an appreciation luncheon, completely planned and arranged by co-op students, for local employers who let students work for them through the course of the year.
  • Community USD #200, Wheaton-Warrenville EA, plan to provide school supplies to all school-aged children during a holiday share program at a local church.
  • Collinsville CUSD#10, Collinsville EA, where a group of educators will decorate a tree at the community’s Festival of Trees to commemorate two young, newly-married coworkers who died of cancer within a short time of each other. The money raised through the event will go to Charities for Children and Tote Me Home charity.
  • Fisher CUSD #1, Fisher EA, funding to start a Community Outreach Committee to assess where Fisher students’ help with service projects will best be used, recruitment drives for the program, shirts, transportation and other items.
  • Bloomington #187, Bloomington EA, help funding the Lunch Buddy program with Illinois Wesleyan University’s track and cross-country teams.
  • Decatur #51, Decatur EA, partner with the DOVE organization, which supports women and their children through crisis situations, to fill 100 Christmas stockings with age appropriate items.
  • Brookwood #167, Glenwood EA, partnership with the Male Parent Advisory Committee to offer scholarships for the Indiana Dunes Frog in the Bog Program for select students who are at highest risk and need.
  • Litchfield CUSD #12, Litchfield EA, to provide funding for The Underground, a safe place to gather after school to receive homework help and healthy socialization.
  • Springfield #186, Springfield EA, to pair students from a community not keen on police officers with police officers to come spend time with the students and to purchase certain items for them, coats, shoes, flashcards, etc.
  • District #23, Prospect Heights EA, start a program where her third grade bilingual students would travel to a local nursing home to celebrate holidays with residents rather than have holiday parties.
  • Center School District #66, Center Cass EA, sets up a PBIS program where students get a chance to make blankets as a reward and then those blankets are sent to a local nursing home and nursery.
  • Indian Prairie CUSD #204, Indian Prairie EA, helps fund the Cowlishaw Cares service project program for students in fourth and fifth grades that pairs them with a variety of local social service agencies.
  • Rockford #205, Rockford EA, will fund a hands-on outreach program based on Rockford history for third grade students presented by the Midway Village Museum staff.
  • Maywood #89, Maywood EA, will fund a charter program at a grade school from the National Beta Club, a youth organization that awards academic achievement and promotes service and leadership.
  • Homewood-Flossmoor #233, Homewood-Flossmoor EA, would help cover the cost of the “You Are A Star” program, a partnership between the high school’s Friends of Rachel club and the Glenwood Academy for Disadvantaged Youth to create a movie-star day.
  • Springfield #186, Springfield EA, form a partnership between the alternative school and a community partner with a 15-passenger van to transport working parents and students to community service-based projects around the city.
  • Grayslake #127, Grayslake High School EA, would start a program where community members were invited to school to present programs on a variety of interests including how to get involved in a cause you care about, how to use art for social change, how to lobby Congress, etc.
  • Mundelein High School, Mundelein HS EA, combines the Spanish Heritage language teacher, social studies teachers, guidance counselors, Mundelein High School and Mustangs DOORS to start a “future selves” curricular intervention program.
  • Indian Prairie CUSD #204, Indian Prairie EA, will help fund service learning projects within the community, including going to two assisted living facilities, volunteering at Feed My Starving Children and Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, among other projects.

Arts

  • Forest Part District #91, Forest Park Teachers Association, a plan to integrate students with IEPs into the general student guitar program and to record performances and take field trips, etc.
  • Du Quoin CUSD #3, Du Quoin EA, funding to expand the Art on Main art show, which is held in businesses along Main Street that mixes art from students pre-K-12 with professional artists.
  • Galesburg CUSD#205, Galesburg EA, money to start a ukulele program where students would learn songs and give concerts and performances in the community.
  • Decatur #61, Decatur EA, a program to take impoverished students from the Old King’s Orchard after school program on their first trip to an arts performance in Champaign and to dinner at a sophisticated restaurant.
  • Stockton #206, Stockton Teachers Association, to purchase instruments to lend to band members to provide lessons for members of the local community to participate in and perform with the Stockton Community Band.
  • LeRoy #2, LeRoy EA, Fine Art Technology event once a semester where students would invite community members, family and friends to share digital art they’ve created on iPads.
  • Elgin U-46, Elgin Teachers Association, funds a plan to recruit from populations that are underrepresented in the music department and provide them with instruments to play.
  • Lexington CUSD #7, Lexington EA, school/community partnership that will turn the town’s former blacksmith shop into a fine arts center to include open mic nights and parent/child collaborative arts nights.
  • Park Ridge-Niles #64, Park Ridge EA, host at school a local favorite musician who utilizes word play and movement during a family concert.
  • North Shore #112, North Shore EA, funding for Roots Fest, a chance for students to learn about multiple cultures through music, art and drama.
  • LeRoy #2, LeRoy EA, will fund community drum circles to connect parents and community members with the music classroom.
  • Glenview #34, Glenview EA, will help fund a music program in the schools.
  • Elgin U-46, Elgin Teachers Association, will help fund Flux Magazine, a teen-generated art and literacy magazine that includes training workshops, special projects and events that promotes acceptance and leadership.

Books for students

  • Elgin U-46, District U-46 Transportation Union, help funding the Book Bus program, a program started by ESPs that collects books and distributes them to kids who need them.
  • Robinson CUSD#2, Robinson CUTEA, funding to the Crawford County Imagination Library, which provides books to more than 200 local children.
  • Rich Township #227, Rich Township EA, money for association to donate books to local libraries and establishment of the Rich High School Readers, an after school reading program.
  • Pope County #1, Pope County EA, help in funding the school library, which has been updated by community donations, and now needs updates to its book selections.
  • Oregon #220, Oregon EA, has a summer reading program for low-income students that provides self-selected, on-level books for students over the summer and this would expand the program.
  • McLean #5, UFEA, provides books for classroom collections for new teachers to help encourage reluctant readers, develop a literacy group, a Pinterest board, and develop a partnership with both ISU faculty and the Promise Council.

Mentoring programs

  • Elverado CUSD #196, Elverado EA, to start a mentoring program where high school upperclassmen trained in peer tutoring teach weekly classes to freshmen.
  • Naperville CUSD 203, Naperville Unity EA, to develop a boys leadership program to develop character in young leaders by participating in service projects and meeting with community leaders.
  • Oregon #220, Oregon EA, money for the Hawks Take Flight program, which is an intervention program for students that need extra support or have circumstances outside of school that interfere with freshman year success.
  • Springfield #186, Springfield EA, A summer learning academy/internship program for a group of students at an alternative school to help keep them on track over the course of the summer.
  • Sherrard CUSD #200, Sherrard EA, develop a mentorship program between middle school students with emotional and behavioral issues and members of the Augustana football team.
  • Flossmoor 161, Flossmoor EA, will start the Real Men Read program that will bring men who value education into the school to read to and mentor boys on the importance of reading and working at reading.

Outdoors

  • Armstrong Township HS Dist. #225, Armstrong EA, A butterfly garden at the grade school that is designed, planted and maintained by local high school students and the PTA.
  • Oak Lawn-North Palos, North Palos #117, seed money for a Build Our Kids’ Success program, a before school physical activity program.
  • Carterville #5, Carterville #5 EA, building a fitness trail outside the middle school for students and all community members in Carterville. The equipment was purchased and never installed.
  • Naperville #203, Naperville EA, students would create an organic vegetable garden with the help of family and community and provide the food grown there to a local food pantry.
  • Galesburg #205, Galesburg EA, to create a running area for students and community members to use on the school’s 12 acres of open land.
  • Red Hill #10, Red Hill EA, will help implement a school gardening program in the grade school, partner with the local FFA and Farm Bureau and conduct minicamps about food, its production and healthy eating.
  • Freeport #145, Freeport EA, will help expand a pilot program that started in the spring of 2013 where high school students started a vegetable farm and hope to expand to a fruit farm, too. Shareholders purchase food from the farm.
  • North Boone #200, North Boone EA, the FFA and FFA alumni would like to help the high school create a large scale adopt-a-highway type program.
  • Dunlap CUSD, Dunlap EA, Build an outdoor classroom for learning outside and learning about nature.

Science/Technology/Math

  • Salem School District #11, Salem EA, money to fund an after school science program for middle school students that will bring in local science professionals to work with the students.
  • Grayville CUSD #1, Grayville EA, to help the Science Club keep a strong recycling program at the school.
  • Indian Prairie CUSD #204, Indian Prairie EA, to develop a partnership between the middle school and community members who are employed in STEM careers to do classroom projects, field trips, form a STEM Club and a STEM night.
  • Monticello #25, Monticello EA, where a cooking element would be added to the science club and science courses to familiarize students with the science behind cooking.
  • Elgin U-46, Elgin Teachers Association, will focus on partnering parents and teachers at the middle school with Comcast to promote the use of technology among parents and community members who have limited means to purchase a computer and internet service.
  • River Ridge #201, River Ridge Comm. EA, will help fund a program where students use critical thinking skills to build motorized machines using Lego kits.
  • Thornton #205, Faculty Association of District #205, will help fund the Math Matinee, an all-day event at the high school to provide hands-on math activities to all feeder schools.
  • Bellwood 88, Bellwood EA, will provide additional educational math games, resources and raffle prizes for family math nights at the middle school.
  • Argenta-Oreana CUSD #1, Argenta-Oreana EA, would begin an outreach program involving the community in science, environmental issues, pollution, ecology and farming.
  • Yorkville #115, Yorkville EA, fund after school GEMS program (Girls Excelling in Math and Science), which would encourage interest in these fields and collaborate with local businesses for enrichment activities.
  • Herrin CUSD #4, Herrin EA, would create a Math In Real Life website that would host videos, podcasts and blog posts featuring community members sharing how math plays a role in their jobs, along with videos that bring text books to life.

Supplies for special programs

  • Rockton School District #140, Rockton Teachers Association, provides materials for a sensory room for students with significant disabilities, including autism and a plan to involve parents in using it.
  • Yorkville CUSD #1, Yorkville EA, sets up an Operation Safety Day where Yorkville police pair up with students to observe drivers on a nearby road, make drivers aware of violations, etc.
  • Community HS District #155, District #155 Cary Grove EA, building a relationship between the school and the Best Buddies program to develop a swing set structure for special education students constructed by the community.
  • Carbondale Elementary District 95, Carbondale EA, money to transform a courtyard area in a school for reading and meeting, a project to involve parents and others.
  • Effingham #40, Effingham CTA, support for the Blessings in a Backpack program where teachers discretely send struggling students home with food for the weekend.
  • Springfield #186, Springfield EA, provide supplies for a birthday party for students who, because of financial situations, may never have celebrated one with a Birthday in a Bag program.
  • Naperville #203, Naperville Unit EA, iPads for students in the district who have no access to any computer technology at home in an effort to bridge the student achievement gap.
  • Schaumburg #59, Schaumburg EA, Food for Families backpack program which provides healthy food items for 112 students weekly who receive free and reduced lunch.
  • Rockford School District #205, Rockford EA, snow shovel program where students would get gloves and shovels to shovel driveways in the community.
  • Breese #12, Elementary District #12 EA, children in Beckemeyer have no public pool or library during the summer months, so one IEA member has started a free educational summer camp for children 6-12 (older children are encouraged to help) and money would buy books, supplies, educational games for the program.
  • CUSD #201, Westmont Teachers Association, development of a Compass Learning Lab that would allow at-risk students extra academic support in a safe, supervised location, as well as a meal.
  • Plainfield #202, Association of Plainfield Teachers, money for the Creekside Cares backpack program where teachers pack backpacks of food for students in need to take home discretely on the weekend.
  • Ladd #94, Ladd EA, will help fund a pancake breakfast for Ladd Grade School to help raise funds for an electronic marquee sign in front of the school to announce school and community events.
  • AERO Special Ed Co-op, AERO EA, AERO transitions group community outing events.
  • Indian Prairie CUSD #204, Indian Prairie EA, will fund a functioning sensory room to meet a variety of needs of students in the school’s special ed program.
  • Dixon #170, Dixon EA, help institute a Handwriting Without Tears program that helps preschool students prepare for kindergarten and Common Core.
  • Schaumburg #54, Schaumburg EA, will fund the Grab-N-Go breakfast for students whose families cannot provide them with breakfast because the school does not qualify for the free breakfast program due to the low number who qualify for lunches.
  • Springfield #186, Springfield EA, will fund an anti-bullying campaign at a local high school that will include a poetry slam, activities, a balloon release and other activities.
  • Alton CUSD #11, Alton EA, would fund four nights of two-hour sessions where students and their parents could come to a scholarship bonanza with food, guidance and access to computers and scholarship books.
  • Yorkville $115, Yorkville EA, will help fund the foods lab project at the school and the partnerships the program is building with the community to provide charity food and other events.
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