EIR Grantastic!

Strong Team, Strong Implementation: Getting Started

In this episode, Dr. Erum Nadeem discusses essential strategies for grant readiness, focusing on the importance of strong teams, community asset mapping, and ensuring buy-in for sustainable interventions. The conversation emphasizes the relational aspects of grant work, the need for clear communication, and the value of understanding community strengths to effectively implement and sustain grant programs.

Educator Well-Being: Step Into It

In this episode, host Amy Detgen discusses the RISE program, which focuses on enhancing educator well-being through social-emotional skill development and increasing resiliency. Guests Essie Hengeveld and Sarah DiGiacomo share insights on the importance of self-care for educators, the challenges faced in implementing well-being initiatives, and future research opportunities to further explore the impact of improving educator well-being.

Educator Well-Being: Shifting the Ecosystem

Dr. Julia Mahfouz and Amy Detgen explore the systemic changes needed in schools to support teacher well-being. They discuss the importance of principal support, innovative approaches like job crafting and mindfulness, and how to measure the impact of well-being initiatives. 
 
Here are a few additional resources from Dr. Mahfouz:
Principals’ Social and Emotional Competence: A Key Factor for Creating Caring Schools
CREATE: Creating Resilience for Educators, Administrators, and Teachers
CASEL: Build Foundational Support and Plan

Scaling & Sustainability: Building Capacity Within Their Structures

Tom DeWire (EdScale, LLC) and Margaret Troyer from the STARI program discusses her team's approach to sustaining and scaling a literacy intervention for middle and high school students who are reading below grade level. The program focuses on engaging students with age-appropriate texts and discussion-based interventions. The program is designed for scalability from the beginning, addressing problems of practice, student engagement, and end-user needs. They also leverage existing coaching structures and provide online professional learning to build local capacity.

Scaling & Sustainability: Equipping Partners for Sustainability

In this episode, Tom DeWire interviews Jen Foster from the eMints National Center, a grantee of the Education, Innovation, and Research (EIR) program. They discuss eMints' instructional model, the evidence of its effectiveness, and the importance of understanding adult learners as keys to strong sustainability. They also explore the role of external evaluators in driving results and the impact of proactive classroom management on student behavior. The episode concludes with practical takeaways for educators.

Recruitment: A Wide Net

In this conversation, Jessica Navarro, the Director of Partnerships for MIPLAN, discusses the importance of building relationships and maintaining connections in the recruitment process. She emphasizes the need to cast a wide reach and tap into different networks to recruit successfully.

Recruitment: In Their Shoes

Joanna Garner, executive director of the Center for Educational Partnerships at Old Dominion University, shares her insights on recruitment strategies for her EIR project. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the work from multiple perspectives and taking proactive approaches to anticipatable challenges.

Recruitment: Building Those Relationships

June Mark and Julie Zeringue talk with Patrice Williams about their experiences with recruitment for their EIR grant project. They discuss how they implemented relationship-driven and context-aware strategies when recruiting participants for their project.

Here to Help

Long-time EIR Program Officer Debora Southwell joins the podcast to share her perspective on ways in which grant projects can plan for and execute smooth transitions when onboarding new team members.

Effective Reflective Onboarding

Current EIR grantee Alisha Haller continues her conversation with Shalika. They discuss the importance of consistency in communication and workflow integration when onboarding new team members