AFT Innovation Fund: Ways to support a project

Below are some examples of “types” of projects the Innovation Fund could support, which can help mitigate the stressors brought on by the pandemic for our members, students and their families. Keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list, so definitely feel free to come up with your own ideas!

• Developing trauma-informed curriculum, interventions, and/or trainings around fear of loss, loss, bereavement, and economic hardship as well as their impacts on learning;
• Meeting the needs of students and families during the pandemic, via access to mental and physical health services, and social services, along with academic supports.
• Creating strategies to boost health literacy among all grades, developmental stages and subject areas addressing COVID-19 and teacher/student responsibilities;
• Tailoring key resources and materials for staff, students and families to meet their needs;
• Developing and supporting new instructional models to including distance and asynchronous learning to address students’ learning due to current and likely future social distancing;
• Developing and supporting creative scheduling and novel in-school learning modalities to keep students safe while attending school in-person;
• Rethinking student assessments, prioritizing diagnostics that provide teachers critical information about student learning, without sacrificing precious teaching and learning time for state score cards and competitive accountability schemes;
• Designing performance evaluations in collaboration with educators, incorporating new expectations for traditional, distance and asynchronous teaching and learning; and
• Developing anti-racism curriculum, interventions, and/or trainings for staff, students, and communities.