North Carolina Superintendent Mark
Johnson announced Thursday that the Department of Public Instruction is now
accepting grant applications for the new $400,000 Coding and Mobile App
Development competitive grant program. The program will fund up to $40,000 per
school to develop industry partnerships to design and implement computer
science, coding, and mobile app development programs for middle school and high
school students.
“This is a great opportunity for
schools to partner with technology companies and design innovative programs
that will excite students and point them toward careers in tech, a sector that
includes careers that require everything from a high school diploma to a
master’s degree,” Johnson said. “I thank
the General Assembly for making this program a priority and I am looking
forward to reviewing the applications this fall and seeing the programs in
action in the spring.”
The deadline for schools to submit applications is Oct. 15. School
districts and charter schools can use grant funds to purchase equipment,
digital materials, and for other purposes, including teacher professional
development. Applications and instructions are available at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/cte/.
By law, grant recipients will
represent a diverse pool of North Carolina’s public schools. The budget the
General Assembly passed in June gives the superintendent of public instruction the
responsibility to choose which entities will receive the grants and instructs
the superintendent to ensure diversity in “geographic location, the positive
impact on the community of industry partnerships, and the size of the student
population served by the recipient….”
For this grant cycle, recipients
will be identified this fall and schools will implement their programs during
spring semester 2018. In succeeding years, recipients will be chosen in the
summer and programs will be implemented in the fall.
For more information, contact NCDPI Communications at 919-807-3450.
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