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Editor's Notes

• #4: The purpose of the Investing in Innovation program is to expand the implementation of and investment in, innovative practices that are demonstrated to have an impact on improving student achievement or student growth for high-need students. Funded proposals can serve as models of best practices and the high-quality evaluation data obtained from the grants will enable the program to contribute to the field of practice by publicly sharing successful interventions, and by supporting the replication of promising projects grounded in credible evaluation strategies. The anticipated impact for grants implemented with fidelity will result in promising outcomes, practices and strategies, cost effective scaling, and improved student outcome.
• #5: As a condition of the cooperative agreement that all FY2011 i3 grants have been structured around, a detailed management plan must be developed. The purpose of developing such a plan is to support the grantees in implementing its i3 project. As you are all aware, cooperative agreements should have been reviewed and signed by ED by March 30, 2012. The management plans are due 60 days after signing the cooperative agreement. In addition, we are asking that grantees take the information provided in the management plans and place it into an excel spreadsheet for future import into an electronic grants management system. This will be covered later on in the presentation. While this may seem like a lot to ask, it is helpful to remember that the i3 program is under a high level of scrutiny given the large funding amounts and the potential impact that i3 projects may have on the field. Therefore it is important that grantees and the program office begin this partnership with a clear set of expectations.
• #6: A management plan is a comprehensive plan for the program that clearly specifies intended objectives of the proposed project. The plan enables the grantee to achieve the objectives of the project on time and within budget, and includes clearly defined responsibilities, timelines, and milestones for accomplishing project tasks, as well as tasks related to the sustainability and scalability of the proposed project. Program plans serve as a tool through which grantees must first articulate a theory or strategy of change. They provide all invested parties with a clear understanding of what the project aims to achieve and how. The process requires grantees to move from the generalities that may have been expressed in the application to the specific details needed for implementation. With this information in hand and careful monitoring strategies, grantees are better able to identify gaps and potential roadblocks to success. Once the theory of change has been outlined, grantees will need to be able to identify a clear starting point. It may be helpful to conduct a readiness assessment of the organization and the proposed implementation sites. Where does the data suggest that the organization stands? Is the organization in the planning phase, research and development phase, is a management team in place that will position the organization to achieve the intended result? Are partners and other key stakeholders clear on their responsibilities? What are the first steps need to be taken in order to move this initiative from a great idea to a strategy for change?
• #7: Plans will be used as a tool to facilitate the change process. They will enable grantees to define and track progress on stated outcomes and goals. The plan will create opportunities for dialogue around best practices, knowledge management, risk assessment and technical assistance that may be needed. Information gathered will be used to strengthen project objectives, performance measures, and evaluation plans with an eye toward assessing impact across the program.
• #8: The Department intends to utilize an electronic grants management platform that will enable the program office to move beyond the limitations of the current standards for data collection (Annual Reports and Performance Monitoring). Annual Reports only allow for a retrospective view of grantee performance. This compliance driven reporting doesn’t allow for the rich data collection required to inform practice, guide policy, or drive change. Performance monitoring begins to move the data collection process forward in a manner that encourages the grantee and the program office to be accountable for actions that have occurred. Utilizing this form of data collection asks that we think about what was done well, and not so well. The goal is to use the information collected from both the annual reports and performance monitoring for the purpose of continuous improvement. Data can be collected that looks at project level strengths and weaknesses, garnering insight into the interventions and supports needed throughout implementation in order to strengthen the project and ultimately achieve impact. Within the intended platform we can collect this information from emails, monthly calls, annual reports, technical assistance notes, and site visits. The system allows for us to synthesize the information and look at the data from multiple perspectives (tracking individual grantee progress, conducting program-level analysis, and creating risk reports).
• #10: When we think about how to structure a management plan we need to remember that even the best plan is but a guide. Remember, it is not a set path and does not have to dictate every grant decision. The process of driving change is most effective when one considers that it is necessary to plan, implement, monitor, and revise repeatedly. As we begin to move toward the use of the online grants management platform, the strategies outlined in the management plan will need to be mapped to an excel document. When working within the excel environment, data will be organized according to objectives, which look at what the project aims to do or accomplish in order to support the overall goal of the program. The next level consists of strategies, which are the major initiatives or components of the intervention that are required to move the grant forward. The final level looks at activities. The activities should drive the strategies--they are the day to day pieces that once completed should signal that the grant is on track to achieve stated outcomes and goals. When crafting your management plan, the responses you provided to the selection criteria in your funded application should help you to readily identify the objectives, practices and/or strategies, as well as the activities. The Departments expectation is that when you take the time to truly explore what you have written, that you are able to identify a clear path to accomplishing your goals. That begins with developing strong project objectives.
• #11: Successful implementation depends upon the ability to evaluate impact on the process of change. Project Objectives should be: RELEVANT: The project objectives should be aligned to the overall goals of the program and to the proposed strategies; APPLICABLE: The project objectives should relate to the specific activities that are being conducted through the project; FOCUSED: The project objectives should identify one or two constructs of importance (e.g. build capacity, increase accessibility, enhance quality), but not so many that measurement becomes cumbersome; and MEASURABLE: The project objectives should include constructs that are conceptually measurable through data collection strategies that are feasible to implement.
• #12: As you move through the different phases of project implementation the activities are going to drive the strategies, as we mentioned earlier. Each grant should begin with a planning or design phase and allow for each subsequent phase to be built upon the progress made throughout the grant. Within each phase, grantees should highlight milestones and/or benchmarks that will serve as indicators of progress. These clearly defined measures must be monitored on an ongoing basis. This will make it easier to determine when adjustments or changes need to be made to the intervention.
• #13: As you think about drafting these measures, keep in mind that the steps you take to create strong project objectives will enable the development of performance measures or indicators that determine the extent to which the objectives are being met. Performance measures should describe the level of change that is expected to occur as a result of project activities. You will be asked to complete annual performance reports, in which you will provide information on the overarching i3 program goals (GPRA measures) as well as report on individual project indicators (Performance Measures). Ask yourself: What is going to change as a result of the project? How much change will occur? Who will achieve the change? When do you anticipate the change? It is important to remember to develop outcome measures as opposed to process or activity measures. We ask that grantees look beyond just completing an activity to assessing the value or impact of the activity.
• #15: All FY2011 project directors should have received an email prior to this presentation containing an attachment with an i3 Management Plan example as well as this management plan mapped to an excel document. KIPP is an FY 2010 i3 grantee and they provided us with a good example of how the Department would like the management plans to be organized. This plan provides an introduction, or overview of the project, which includes the main objectives for the year and overall goals.
• #16: Taking a closer look at this plan, the plan is organized by the project objectives, which is the what you are trying to achieve with your grant. Under the first objective the grantee intends to Deepen and expand the pipeline of effective principals. In the four supporting strategies, the grantee addresses how they will achieve the stated objective. The overview provided on page four gives sufficient detail on how the project’s specific activities will be executed and the rationale behind them. As requested in the cooperative agreement, this plan describes the responsible staff and includes a timeline of when these activities will be completed. Page 6 notes the Key Milestones, the intermediate indicators of success, as well as key risks. These indicators are necessary for the grantee and program officers to determine if the project is on track and to determine if technical assistance is needed. When constructing your revised management plans with more detail, grantees should ask themselves and address the following questions: What has to be done? Who is responsible? What is the time frame? Please provide clear start and end dates, but as stated before these are subject to change. What are the risks involved the may impede or delay project progress? How will success be measured? What are the performance measures? Grantees should make sure that the activities support the strategy and the strategies support the overall objective. Grantees should focus on what is feasible for year one, but also think about the overarching goals and objectives for the overall project. The level of detail presented in this example is approximately the level of detail we expect from the grantees.
• #18: When working within the excel environment data will be organized according to the objectives, which look at what the project is trying to achieve; the strategies, which are the practices required to move the grant forward. They are essentially the major components of the intervention; and the activities. The activities should drive the strategies- they are the day to day pieces that once completed should signal that the grant is on track to achieve stated outcomes and goals. Starting from the top left column labeled “level,” there is a dropdown separated out into objective, strategy, then activities, which are further broken down based on the phase of the activity. Please note that the milestone activity may supersede other activities or in other words, occur at any point during the project. The next column refers to codes. We will assign code numbers to each level. Codes are written where 1.0 is an objective, 1.1 would be the strategy, and 1.1.1, 1.1.2, or 1.1.3 are the associated activities. 2.0 would indicate a different objective, then you would follow the same pattern. More clarification is provided on the next slide, regarding this step. The category description provides a brief description of the objective, strategy, or activity. The status column is another dropdown with the options of not begun, in progress, operational, and not planned. So, what is the status of the objective, the strategies, and the activities? The activities’ status should be reflected in the objective and strategy statuses. If the activities are in progress, then the strategy should also be in progress and the objective should be in progress. Note: Operational is defined as complete. Duplicate activities: some activities are in support of multiple strategies. For example, recruiting teachers is a broad activity, and it’s efforts will likely support more than one strategy or objective. We advise grantees to map out their project plans first, and program officers will help grantees to determine the duplicate activities. Not all activities will have indicators (i.e. performance measures), but the outcomes will be what the grantee needs in order to determine if the activity or strategy has been met.
• #19: These codes are necessary for the online grants management platform. This outline format shows how the objectives, strategies, and activities will be coded.
• #20: Grantees can provide as much detail as they wish to the extent that it is helpful to them. The information provided should inform the grantee and the program office of the core strategies and activities required to move the grant forward. It should also help to identify risks and serve as a tool to assess the types of technical assistance needed.
• #21: Now we can take a look at a management plan that has been mapped out into excel. This spreadsheet corresponds to the example management plan that was discussed earlier in the presentation. You should have received this in example in the email sent prior to this webinar. As you are working on your management plans we would like you to participate in an exercise to map out at least 2 objectives with strategies and associated activities in this format. Your program officer will work with you to determine when they would like to have this exercise completed by, and they will provide feedback to you to make sure you are on the right track. The more organization and detail provided in the management plan, the easier it will be to translate it into an excel spreadsheet. Although, some grantees may find that starting with the mapping exercise may provide a clear outline of what to write in the narrative management plan.
• #22: Here is an example of a management plan provided by National Math Science Initiative (NMSI). They have noted their objective, the strategies needed to support that objective, and the activities that need to be accomplished in order for the objective to be achieved. They have provided brief descriptions and have clear start and end dates. These dates may change, but as of now, we would like to get a general idea of the start and end dates. The indicators are performance measures that allow the grantee and program officers to know that an activity has been completed. Please note that not all activities will have indicators.
• #24: While we have offered some preliminary guidance on how the management plans should be constructed, you will work more closely with your program officers in the coming weeks. First, all cooperative agreements should have been signed March 30, 2012. The grantees will be working on Management Plans and Evaluation Plans. Please follow-up with program officers, if you need additional assistance. Participate in mapping exercise- where you will map out at least 2 objectives with strategies and associated activities. Complete Management Plans (60 days after signing cooperative agreement). Complete mapping for management plans- Year 1. Project Director’s Meeting.
• #25: We will now take a few moments to answer any questions you may have had during this presentation. Please use the Q&A feature to submit questions.