The Stephen P. Robinson Collaboration Grants

Educators across the country have witnessed the incredible changes and challenges schools face in the modern era. We believe independent schools, with their ability to adapt and innovate, are uniquely positioned to find solutions and model new practices. Collaboration with others fosters creativity and goodwill. Schools who collaborate with other organizations are able to accomplish greater goals for themselves and the community.

Grants

The Stephen P. Robinson Collaboration Grants were created to encourage independent schools to form new partnerships with other schools or institutions of higher education. Successful examples have demonstrated efforts that benefit the greater community or region in unique ways. Schools selected for grants will share their results with the SAIS community.

Proposals

SAIS will announce the next iteration of the program at a later date.

Presentation

Recipients of grants will track the life of their project and submit a paper or video to SAIS to be published.

2018 Recipients

Trinity Presbyterian School in Montgomery, AL will partner with Valiant Cross Academy, an all-boys school in Montgomery, to work with Maxwell Air Force base and the Civil Air Patrol to develop students certified in cyber security so they can go forth and serve in defense efforts to protect individual, corporate, and national assets.
Episcopal School of Knoxville in Knoxville, TN will partner with The University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Early Learning Center to create a collaborative gardening project for Kindergarten students and teachers. The two schools will engage in a comparative study of urban vs rural gardening plots and techniques.
Oak Mountain Academy in Carrollton, GA will launch the flagship West Georgia Regional Science fair this spring and begin collaborations with the University of West Georgia, local public schools, and local STEM-related business.
St. Luke’s Episcopal School in Mobile, AL has a goal to create 25 fully functioning, three-dimensional (3D) prosthetic hands to ship to children around the globe. Working with the eNABLE Community Foundation, the school will locate individuals who need a hand and match them with students who are willing to create them at no cost to the recipient.
Clayton-Bradley Academy in Maryville, TN will partner with Maryville College in Maryville, TN, to launch the Summer STEM Training Collaboration to train pre-service teachers in project and problem based learning STEM activities. Classroom teachers will be leading sessions with college professors to allow pre-service teachers to experience PBL projects, learn how to plan lessons, connect to standards, and score mastery.

2017 Recipients

Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, FL, plans the Center for Service Learning Leadership Institute to train educators in the southeast about the latest research and practices for serving learning.
Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC, will collaborate with 10 diverse public/independent/charter high schools in Charlotte to deliver a presentation and summit on the results of a NewGen Peacebuilders program. They will share the results with 250 schools in three states as a model for student leadership and peacebuilding development.
St. Andrew’s School in Savannah, GA, is sponsoring a Teach the Future Fellowship program, an organization of educators from public and independent schools. Through the fellowship, teachers connect with local resources and individuals who can act as facilitators in their classrooms, connecting students with experts in technology and innovation.
Swift School in Roswell, GA, has partnered with the University of West Georgia’s Department of Teaching and Learning to create an authentic profile of students with dyslexia to be used in immersive simulation. The simulation project can be used for live practice, feedback, and reflection for training teachers.
St. George’s Independent School in Memphis, TN, is working with the University of Memphis and the Wolf River Conservancy to help monitor drinking water in the city. The school is creating a real-life water analyzing curriculum for students to experience, learn, and apply environmental sciences.

2016 Recipients

Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, LA, will collaborate with public schools and other community organizations to hold a college fair, bringing colleges to students who may have difficulty traveling to college campuses. A small fair was held in March 2015, and the school plans to expand the fair to include more students, families, schools, and colleges.
Second Baptist School, Houston, TX, will collaborate with Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, Atlanta, GA, to produce a prototype of a sanitation device to be used outside of shelters or organizations that serve populations in need. The purpose is to quickly and easily sanitize hands of citizens who cannot receive necessary hygienic procedures from staying in the shelter. This project presents a challenging problem for students across grade levels to work to create a viable solution in collaboration with one another.
The Dunham School, Baton Rouge, LA, will partner with Louisiana State University (LSU) to complete learning games using Breakout EDU boxes. In this project, LSU preservice teachers will learn effective strategies for teaching critical thinking and implementing technology into a middle school setting. Both LSU preservice teachers and The Dunham School students will be active participants in critical thinking activities that require problem solving and promote teamwork.
The Galloway School, Atlanta, GA, is hosting the BOLD Summit in July 2016. It is a four-day professional development opportunity for educators of color who are looking to further their careers and are actively seeking out leadership opportunities. Through large and small group instructional sessions, lecture, and individual instruction, participants will explore who they are as leaders, leadership styles, areas of personal growth, and how to best present themselves. Through deep dialogue, and evidence-based best practices, educators will leave the BOLD Summit with better understandings of themselves and leadership as an educator of color in independent school settings.
Canterbury School, Greensboro, NC, will hold the Canterbury Summer Science Academy (CSSA), which provides a unique opportunity free of charge to disadvantaged and underrepresented Guilford County public high school students who show a passion for and academic potential in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math subjects and careers. It is a collaborative effort between Canterbury School and NCA&T/UNCG’s Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN). Students work closely with both the Canterbury School lead science teacher and the professors and graduate students of the JSNN, participating in hands-on inquiry-based science, conducting authentic research, and communicating their results in a community forum at the end of their weeklong experience.

2015 Recipients

The Bodine School, Memphis, TN, will provide instruction in Orton-Gillingham (OG) methodology to Teach For America (TFA) teachers in the Memphis public schools.
Carolina Friends School, Durham, NC, will partner with Duke University and Peaceful Schools NC to help Carter Community Charter School become a Peaceful School, a designation that demonstrates training to minimize bullying and aggression and support child-centered learning environments.
McCallie School and Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga, TN, will launch “Consequential Philanthropy,” a course where students will engage with non-profits and government organizations to learn about the problems facing Chattanooga. The students will research and interview organizations they want to support, and disperse funds to those organizations.
The Master’s Academy, Oviedo, FL, will support collaboration among math teachers in their region by establishing Central Florida Math Educators. The group will share best practices through digital communications and hold an annual CFME Collaboration Workshop.
The Westminster Schools and The Lovett School, Atlanta, GA, will launch “Atlanta 2.0: Urban Design Fellowship,” where students from each school will study how the design of Atlanta’s public spaces impacts community development.