Post by blackcrowheart on Dec 8, 2005 13:40:51 GMT -5
Request for Proposals (RFP): Research on Civic Education at the High
School Level
Applicants are invited to submit letters of inquiry (LOI’s) no later
than December 15, 2005 at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Released on November 1, 2005
----------
----------
Thanks to generous funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York,
CIRCLE will make grants to support research on civic education at the
high school level.
Goals
CIRCLE funds rigorous research, not advocacy, education, or other forms
of practice. However, all CIRCLE-funded research should be relevant to
and have implications for public policy and/or practice.
In this Request for Proposals (RFP), CIRCLE is seeking research that
will help educators and policymakers to improve civic outcomes for US
students of high-school age (roughly 14-18). “Civic outcomes” include,
but are not limited to:
knowledge of politics, democracy and civil society;
knowledge of social issues;
values such as tolerance, trust, patriotism, concern for others’ rights
and well-being, and efficacy (the belief that one can make a
difference);
skills and habits of deliberating about public issues and participating
in politics and community affairs;
volunteering and membership in voluntary and/or nonprofit groups; and
intentions to vote or to consider careers in public service (in the
government or nonprofit sectors).
CIRCLE is interested in research on interventions and reforms that may
enhance civic outcomes. These interventions and reforms include, but
are not limited to:
programs of civic education and classes on history, democracy, or law;
approaches to the teaching of other disciplines that may have civic
benefits;
co-curricular activities, including student government and student
media;
service-learning;
games and simulations that involve political or civic issues;
student voice or participation in the governance of their schools;
the basic structure of high schools (including their size, focus,
requirements, climate, admissions criteria, or composition);
professional development for teachers, so long as the effects on
students can be assessed; and
after-school or community-based programs, insofar as these have the
potential to reach large numbers of adolescents or to change mainstream
education.
In most CIRCLE-funded research projects, the outcomes will be civic
knowledge, values, skills, or behaviors. However, we are also
interested in research that explores whether being civically engaged
helps academic outcomes or positive adolescent development.
Parameters for Research
CIRCLE welcomes all rigorous methodologies, including qualitative,
normative, and quantitative studies. We have funded, and expect to fund
in the future, genuine field experiments, quasi-experimental designs,
longitudinal studies, cross-sectional surveys, re-analysis of existing
datasets, historical studies, qualitative designs such as
ethnographies, interviews, and case studies, and normative arguments.
CIRCLE welcomes proposals from academics, students (especially PhD
candidates at the dissertation stage), independent scholars,
practitioners, and research nonprofits and firms. CIRCLE also welcomes
proposals from youth of high school age, perhaps working in partnership
with adults. Such youth-led research proposals will be evaluated
separately and not compared directly to proposals from adults.
CIRCLE generally prefers independent studies over projects in which
participants describe and evaluate their own work. CIRCLE will fund
program evaluations only to the extent that they generate significant
findings for other groups. In other words, we will fund research that
uses programs as opportunities to test general hypotheses; we will not
support program evaluations for the purpose of measuring or improving
the performance of particular organizations.
Procedures and Deadlines
Applicants are invited to submit letters of inquiry (LOI’s) no later
than December 15, 2005 at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time. The LOI should
address:
goals and purposes of the proposed research;
relevance to civic outcomes for high-school-age students;
relevance to policy and/or practice;
methodology, with a justification and some details about any proposed
quantitative or qualitative data;
qualifications of the researcher(s);
a timeline;
a proposed set of “deliverables,” such as one or more CIRCLE Working
Papers, scholarly articles, datasets, or policy briefs; and
a preliminary itemized budget with narrative.
CIRCLE staff will make a preliminary selection and then solicit full
proposals from some applicants. We will mail these requests for full
proposals on January 13, 2006. The deadline to return full and final
proposals to us will be Feb. 17, 2006. CIRCLE will then use a
peer-review process to advise us in making our final decisions. The
target date for announcing awards is April 3, 2006. After the
announcement, a period of approximately six weeks is usually necessary
to complete financial arrangements between the University of Maryland
and the grantee and to disburse the first money.
Procedures
CIRCLE seeks to make information as widely available as possible. To
this end, CIRCLE reserves the right to disseminate all data generated
from CIRCLE grants, usually via our website at www.civicyouth.org,
unless the applicant negotiates a specific exception or postponement.
CIRCLE also reserves the right to disseminate research abstracts and
short summaries based on all our grantees’ work. Grantees are normally
invited to provide longer CIRCLE products such as Working Papers and
Fact Sheets.
All public products based in this RFP must acknowledge support from
“Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE (The Center for
Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement).”
Non-itemized overhead or indirect costs are limited to 10% of the
project budget.
The total pool of money available in this RFP is $500,000. CIRCLE has
never chosen to make a grant in excess of $100,000 and is unlikely to
exceed that limit in this competition.
Grants made under this RFP will expire no later than December 30, 2008.
The proposed timeline should indicate that all CIRCLE-funded research
will be complete and all products created by that date, at the latest.
Electronic submissions are preferred. If you choose to send a hard copy
please also send an electronic copy.
Letters of Inquiry should be sent to:
Dionne Williams
dwillia8@umd.edu
CIRCLE
School of Public Policy
2101 Van Munching Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
************************************************************************
PLEASE NOTE CONTACT INFORMATION
Alyssa Macy
Political Director
Center for Civic Participation
1313 SE 5TH Street, Suite 113
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Direct: 612-331-7444
Cell: 612-812-6227
Fax: 612-331-7447
alyssa@ccp.org
Tools for Democracy: www.ccp.org
[This message contained attachments]
School Level
Applicants are invited to submit letters of inquiry (LOI’s) no later
than December 15, 2005 at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Released on November 1, 2005
----------
----------
Thanks to generous funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York,
CIRCLE will make grants to support research on civic education at the
high school level.
Goals
CIRCLE funds rigorous research, not advocacy, education, or other forms
of practice. However, all CIRCLE-funded research should be relevant to
and have implications for public policy and/or practice.
In this Request for Proposals (RFP), CIRCLE is seeking research that
will help educators and policymakers to improve civic outcomes for US
students of high-school age (roughly 14-18). “Civic outcomes” include,
but are not limited to:
knowledge of politics, democracy and civil society;
knowledge of social issues;
values such as tolerance, trust, patriotism, concern for others’ rights
and well-being, and efficacy (the belief that one can make a
difference);
skills and habits of deliberating about public issues and participating
in politics and community affairs;
volunteering and membership in voluntary and/or nonprofit groups; and
intentions to vote or to consider careers in public service (in the
government or nonprofit sectors).
CIRCLE is interested in research on interventions and reforms that may
enhance civic outcomes. These interventions and reforms include, but
are not limited to:
programs of civic education and classes on history, democracy, or law;
approaches to the teaching of other disciplines that may have civic
benefits;
co-curricular activities, including student government and student
media;
service-learning;
games and simulations that involve political or civic issues;
student voice or participation in the governance of their schools;
the basic structure of high schools (including their size, focus,
requirements, climate, admissions criteria, or composition);
professional development for teachers, so long as the effects on
students can be assessed; and
after-school or community-based programs, insofar as these have the
potential to reach large numbers of adolescents or to change mainstream
education.
In most CIRCLE-funded research projects, the outcomes will be civic
knowledge, values, skills, or behaviors. However, we are also
interested in research that explores whether being civically engaged
helps academic outcomes or positive adolescent development.
Parameters for Research
CIRCLE welcomes all rigorous methodologies, including qualitative,
normative, and quantitative studies. We have funded, and expect to fund
in the future, genuine field experiments, quasi-experimental designs,
longitudinal studies, cross-sectional surveys, re-analysis of existing
datasets, historical studies, qualitative designs such as
ethnographies, interviews, and case studies, and normative arguments.
CIRCLE welcomes proposals from academics, students (especially PhD
candidates at the dissertation stage), independent scholars,
practitioners, and research nonprofits and firms. CIRCLE also welcomes
proposals from youth of high school age, perhaps working in partnership
with adults. Such youth-led research proposals will be evaluated
separately and not compared directly to proposals from adults.
CIRCLE generally prefers independent studies over projects in which
participants describe and evaluate their own work. CIRCLE will fund
program evaluations only to the extent that they generate significant
findings for other groups. In other words, we will fund research that
uses programs as opportunities to test general hypotheses; we will not
support program evaluations for the purpose of measuring or improving
the performance of particular organizations.
Procedures and Deadlines
Applicants are invited to submit letters of inquiry (LOI’s) no later
than December 15, 2005 at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time. The LOI should
address:
goals and purposes of the proposed research;
relevance to civic outcomes for high-school-age students;
relevance to policy and/or practice;
methodology, with a justification and some details about any proposed
quantitative or qualitative data;
qualifications of the researcher(s);
a timeline;
a proposed set of “deliverables,” such as one or more CIRCLE Working
Papers, scholarly articles, datasets, or policy briefs; and
a preliminary itemized budget with narrative.
CIRCLE staff will make a preliminary selection and then solicit full
proposals from some applicants. We will mail these requests for full
proposals on January 13, 2006. The deadline to return full and final
proposals to us will be Feb. 17, 2006. CIRCLE will then use a
peer-review process to advise us in making our final decisions. The
target date for announcing awards is April 3, 2006. After the
announcement, a period of approximately six weeks is usually necessary
to complete financial arrangements between the University of Maryland
and the grantee and to disburse the first money.
Procedures
CIRCLE seeks to make information as widely available as possible. To
this end, CIRCLE reserves the right to disseminate all data generated
from CIRCLE grants, usually via our website at www.civicyouth.org,
unless the applicant negotiates a specific exception or postponement.
CIRCLE also reserves the right to disseminate research abstracts and
short summaries based on all our grantees’ work. Grantees are normally
invited to provide longer CIRCLE products such as Working Papers and
Fact Sheets.
All public products based in this RFP must acknowledge support from
“Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE (The Center for
Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement).”
Non-itemized overhead or indirect costs are limited to 10% of the
project budget.
The total pool of money available in this RFP is $500,000. CIRCLE has
never chosen to make a grant in excess of $100,000 and is unlikely to
exceed that limit in this competition.
Grants made under this RFP will expire no later than December 30, 2008.
The proposed timeline should indicate that all CIRCLE-funded research
will be complete and all products created by that date, at the latest.
Electronic submissions are preferred. If you choose to send a hard copy
please also send an electronic copy.
Letters of Inquiry should be sent to:
Dionne Williams
dwillia8@umd.edu
CIRCLE
School of Public Policy
2101 Van Munching Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
************************************************************************
PLEASE NOTE CONTACT INFORMATION
Alyssa Macy
Political Director
Center for Civic Participation
1313 SE 5TH Street, Suite 113
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Direct: 612-331-7444
Cell: 612-812-6227
Fax: 612-331-7447
alyssa@ccp.org
Tools for Democracy: www.ccp.org
[This message contained attachments]