i3 Grant Proposal

The California Open Campus Initiative (CAOCI) is a consortia of 16 California school districts that are leveraging time, resources, and opportunity to expand online learning opportunities for California students and teachers with the overarching goal to increase college readiness. Funds are being sought to leverage virtual learning environments to distribute effective teaching and learning resources via the Internet, to support extended online learning opportunities to school districts and students attending consortia schools, to expand access to rigorous, online Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning resources to high-needs students, and to implement college-readiness programs that support student success and increase high school graduation and college entrance rates. The i3 grant request (Validation Level $30 million), proposes to fund the California Open Campus Initiative, providing time and resources to support student success in STEM related courses, develop inquiry-based activities, and collate digital course materials to be distributed online. This work will produce high-quality content that teachers throughout the consortia will bring to their classrooms (both traditional and virtual) and share with peer teachers in an online community of practice. This reform-minded strategy, at the grassroots level, will support teachers in becoming agents of change within their schools, while providing them with access to a powerful online network through which to propagate best practices for STEM educators throughout the consortia. The Riverside Unified School District, the Riverside Virtual School program, and the partners identified within the i3 application are uniquely positioned to serve a wide-range of students across multiple school districts and represents a scalable model for replication throughout the State.

The research and evaluation components of the proposal is supported by the University of Southern California and will produce scientifically-based evidence relating to the impact of program components on multiple student achievement outcomes. It is a model that is built on a strong research base and could be replicated in other states. Due to the “high bar” evaluation demanded of validation level i3 grant application, the USC team has developed a comprehensive research design. In order to qualify as scientific research, the proposal will need to incorporate random assignment and use of control groups. While this will dramatically enhance the validity of findings, it will impact the implementation of curriculum programs in each district. For example, during the Algebra I focus, some Algebra I teachers/students will need to be exposed to one treatment (e.g., ALEKS Math, My Math Lab, I Can Learn, or UCCP content), while other groups are exposed to another intervention or no intervention. For comparison purposes, and to support generalizability, it will be important to have classrooms in each district using each intervention. Obviously this has implications for district programs; hence the potential for resistance. The California Open Campus Initiative represents an innovative effort to build collaboration between districts and expand access to college preparatory classes to home schooled students and students enrolled in under-performing public schools, including those located in rural areas of California.

District Partners.

• Alvord
• Chino Valley
• Conejo Valley
• Covina Valley
• Glendale
• Lake Elsinore
• Los Alamitos
• Mariposa
  
• Merced
• Palm Springs
• Palo Verde
• Pomona
• Riverside
• San Gabriel
• Walnut Valley
• Yucaipa Calimesa

Other Partners:

• University of Southern California
• University of California College Prep
• The College Board
• CK12 Foundation
• Blackboard
• Pearson