The Social Publishers Foundation announced today that it has selected the inaugural grant of the new Rowell Collaborative Action Research fund. The first grant is for a project in Fremont, California. The project involves collaboration between a School Counselor-in-Training, a high school Career & College Specialist, and an English Language Specialist in organizing and providing a high school to community college transition program. The project is focused on providing participating high-school seniors with knowledge and skills that will help them thrive in their educational experience once they move on to community college. The program also will provide information on the steps required for early registration in community colleges and on financial aid applications. Seven guidance lessons and workshops will be provided to participating students along with four Community College Application Labs (CCLBs), including one financial aid session for students and their parents.
According to SPF President and award donor Lonnie Rowell, the Collaborative Action Research Grant was established to “encourage the building of knowledge democracies in schools and communities.” Rowell sees the grant as contributing to what Gerald J. Pine (1934-2009), former dean of the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, called “a renaissance within educational research.” As Dr. Pine put it, “collaborative action research liberates teachers to assume leadership roles as constructors of knowledge and agents of change in helping schools to become centers of inquiry.”
The first Rowell Collaborative Action Research Grant awardee can be viewed at:
Grantee Research Outcome: High School to Community College – Preparing For Transition