Each year, Heartland AEA districts are eligible to apply for one mini-grant to support their English Learners, as well their families and educators, in any of the following Title III allowable funding areas:

• Projects/Planning/Supplementary Resources to Support Attainment of Language and Core Content

• English Learner-Specific Professional Learning

• English Learner Family & Community Engagement

The amount of funding is determined by the number of English Learners and needs and number of enrolled English Learners in each school district.

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Districts follow five key steps to participate in the Title IIII mini-grant process:

1. Review the Heartland AEA Title III/ESSA Mini-Grant Proposal and Reporting Guidelines.

2. Submit a Heartland AEA Title III Mini-Grant Electronic Proposal.

3. Implement mini-grant (if approved).

4. Share mini-grant experiences with ESOL Network colleagues at the end of the school year in May.

5. Submit a Heartland AEA Title III Mini-Grant Electronic Summative Report.

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In the 2023-24 school year, there were 26 Heartland AEA Mini-Grant Recipients representing all regions of Heartland AEA.

In alphabetical order:

Adair Casey- Guthrie Center, Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, Ames, Ankeny

Bondurant--Farrar, Boone

Carlisle, Carroll, Colfax-Mingo, Coon Rapids-Bayard

Dallas Center-Grimes

Gilbert

Indianola

Knoxville

Madrid

Nevada, Newton, Norwalk

Perry

Saydel, Southeast Polk

United, Urbandale

Waukee, West Des Moines, Winterset, Woodward-Granger

In 2023-24, districts requested the following types of mini-grants to support their work with English Learners, their families, and educators:

24 Supplementary Resources/Projects to Support Attainment of Language and Core Content:

• Adair Casey-Guthrie Center, Ames, Ankeny, Bondurant-Farrar, Boone, Carlisle, Carroll, Colfax-Mingo, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Dallas Center-Grimes, Gilbert, Knoxville, Madrid, Nevada, Newton, Norwalk, Perry, Saydel, Southeast Polk, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines, Winterset, Woodward Granger

12 English Learner-Specific Professional Learning:

• Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, Ames, Ankeny, Boone, Colfax-Mingo, Dallas Center-Grimes, Gilbert, Indianola, Newton, Norwalk, Perry, West Des Moines

4 English Learner Family & Community Engagement

• Ames, Bondurant-Farrar, Southeast Polk, United

To support equitable access to content and to support language development, Title III funds have supported:

• The purchase of supplementary materials for Newcomers
• Supplementary materials to scaffold access to core content
• Curriculum projects
• Language Instruction Educational Programs improvement projects

Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

To promote English Learner-specific professional learning, districts have participated in the following types of mini-grants to hone the expertise of educators serving English Learners:

• National conferences such as TESOL International Convention & Expo, TESOL Elevate, and MIDTESOL and NAELPA.
• Workshops such as Be GLAD and Center for Applied Linguistics Learning Opportunities
• Online courses from English Learner Portal
• Book Studies
• Building-based collaboration and co-planning initiatives

Photo by Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages

In addition, districts receive mini-grants to enhance family and community engagement initiatives including:

• Partnerships with local libraries
• Community field trips specific to English Learners to support language and academic development, and build connectedness to community
• English Learner-specific family events
• Family mentor projects
• Future Ready initiatives
• Adult ESL courses

Photo by Kadyn Pierce on Unsplash

Gilbert CSD identifies solutions to needs related to English Learners and ways to support their learning.

Ames CSD increased supplementary resources to support EL instruction and created opportunities for teacher professional development to support English Learners.

Resources for EL Teachers and Grade-level content classrooms was a focus of supplementary materials targeted in Carlisle's mini-grant project.

Norwalk CSD invested in books and supplementary materials to create more reading opportunities in classrooms with English Learners. The EL Teachers also created toolboxes with resources for their Kindergarten and First Grade classrooms. Translation earbuds were also purchased to support English language access for parents taking English classes in the district.