Orchard Elementary Case

Orchard Middle School has applied for a grant from the ABC Foundation to receive $16,504. The funds would be used to expand the Read to Succeed! program. The proposal established positive credibility by identifying the staff responsible for the implementation of the program by naming the three staff, their roles in the program, and their credentials. The proposal also included a lengthy description of the program the school wishes to purchase. The school has credibility since it is a Title 1 school. The Statement of Need was brief, but did state the need by giving the number of students who would benefit from the program. I would have liked to have seen the breakdown of how many of the 59 students were in each disability category. Since the school is a Title 1 school, it demonstrates that the majority of students attending the school are from lower-income families and there is a need to provide additional programing outside of the regular school curriculum to help at risk students.

The objectives and methods component are easily understood. The school is capable of running this program and the objectives and implementation state it would allow for learning to be in a least restrictive environment by the ability of scanning and reading the text books and other classroom materials from the computer. I would like more information on how each of the 59 students would access the program since there are only five computers and lab packs requested in the proposal. Does the school have other computers for the students to access the program or will they have to take turns? If the students have to take turns, will there be special time during the school day to have access to the special computers or would they have to make arrangements to stay afterschool? This issue could prove the objective addressing the least restrictive environment false. The time frame seems a little short, however since the first phase is 12 weeks long it will allow ample time for training and testing before it begins. The proposal's methods to implement this program are adequate. The program is cost effective since new staff would not have to be hired to implement the program and it appears there is no long term funding needed to keep the program afloat.