This was a description of the program we’d cultivated in Goochland County with the Goochland Education Foundation to support deeper learning with 21st century skills by providing a local grant program to support project-based learning at the 2019 Virginia School Boards Association conference.
The program leaned into our prior work with G21 plans and my professional development for teachers around project-based learning. The participation of the Education Foundation allowed a big incentive for teachers with the opportunity to get grant funding to fuel their projects with students.
I have to credit our superintendent, Dr. Raley, for coming up with the idea to provide grant funding, which he did the first year out of our general budget before the GEF became involved, which got the ball rolling.
The program is still in practice today (2026).