The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is requesting applications for the 2019-20 Governor’s PAsmart Expanding Computer Science and STEM Education Initiative. Up to $20 million in competitive funding is available to support programs with increasing access and improving equity of access to computer science (CS) and STEM education locally and statewide to students of all ages.

Two competitive grant programs are available to eligible applicants, each with a different audience and purpose.

Targeted Grants – Up to $35,000 each

These grants are structured to meet the needs of local education agencies (LEAs) and their schools that currently have limited to no CS/STEM offerings. Grants are intended for LEAs that did not receive a PAsmart Targeted Grant in fiscal year 2018-19. There are two funding options:

• Option 1: LEAs may request funding to send teams of educators and administrators to PDE-designed professional development (see Appendix A), which is aligned to the CSTA standards and the K-12 Computer Science Framework.
• Option 2: LEAs may request funding to support alternative professional learning by an expert STEM/CS institution. The alternative professional learning must incorporate evidence-based approaches and be aligned to the CSTA standards and the K-12 Computer Science Framework.

Prerequisite: All PAsmart Targeted Grant recipients will be required to engage in a 1-day comprehensive planning workshop on SCRIPT, a comprehensive planning tool for computer science education.

Apply: All grant applications must be submitted through eGrants – the PAsmart Grant Request for Application (PDF) offers detailed information on the application process. View the Targeted Grants Application Template before applying to help compile your application information.

Join TransformED, Remake Learning, and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit on December 16 for a full-day grant writing workshop designed specifically for PASmart Targeted Grants. Learn more here.

Advancing Grants – Up to $500,000 each

These grants are designed to support broad, cross-sector partnerships that are using ecosystem or networked approaches to:

• expand access to CS/STEM education and promote inclusion (especially for historically underserved students and communities) through learning experiences such as integrative CS/STEM experiences, standalone CS/STEM courses, out-of-school learning, dual enrollment, industry credentials, work-based learning, internships, and apprenticeships;
• expand and diversify the number of CS/STEM educators at all education levels.

Advancing Grants will support partnerships that operate on a larger scale and provide quality CS/STEM experiences to learners of any age (early childhood, preK-12, postsecondary, and adult learners) as part of a high-level strategic approach to CS/STEM workforce readiness.

Apply: All grant applications must be submitted through eGrants – the PAsmart Grant Request for Application (PDF) offers detailed information on the application process. View the Advancing Grants Application Template before applying to help compile your application information.