The Academic Opportunity Fund provides educators and schools with the resources they need to bridge opportunity gaps and create a level playing field for all students.
We prioritize grants that expand access to resources, opportunities, and support for students from marginalized and underserved communities.
*Curricular and technology requests must be run through the district prior to approval and grant awarding.
Providing opportunities for BVSD students, from tutoring to software to transportation expenses, reduces the economic barriers to academic success.
The first grant cycle for the 2024-25 school year is under review.
During the pandemic, the Monarch High School library sat unused. Books sat dusty and uncatalogued and, perhaps more importantly, went out of date. Things got worse when the Marshall Fire struck—the Monarch community was disproportionally affected, and many books that students checked out were lost in the fire. As schools resumed in-person learning, Katherine Croasdale set to work fixing the library.
Jessica, a literacy interventionist at Alicia Sanchez Elementary School, wanted to level the playing field for emerging bilingual students. With a grant from Impact on Education she built a Reading Club to provide these students with opportunities to grow as readers.
Starting in 1986, with an initiative to empower educators through mini-grants, we’ve continued to evolve our grant program to meet the ever-changing needs of schools and students. This evolution is a testament to our dedication to creating opportunity for students and leveling the educational playing field.
In 2019, BVSD was working to roll out a new phonics-based curriculum in elementary schools and begin screening Kindergarten students to identify those at risk for dyslexia, but they lacked the funds to quickly train all educators.
Impact on Education, in partnership with Boulder Valley Kids Identified with Dyslexia (BVKID), stepped in to fund professional development and training for 46 BVSD interventionists and classroom educators.
The training took place in the summer of 2020 and meant that during the 2020-21 school year, every school in BVSD had at least one interventionist who was trained in the Orton Gillingham approach to better support students. In 2021, IOE also supplemented BVSD’s educator training, but we are pleased to share that over the summer of 2022, BVSD made their biggest investment to date for this critical training opportunity by funding 85 elementary educators to participate in the training.
Our Board of Directors plays an important role in our work to engage students and empower educators across the Boulder Valley School District. Four new Board Members – Bob Gaddis, Dr. Bianca Gallegos, Emily Mears and David Stewart – will support this work and further our mission.
Globalization and the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a new world of work that has only been exacerbated by AI, gig work and technological leaps. To succeed, students need flexible skills that will allow them to shift and grow in an ever-changing economy. Experts say in order to succeed, students need to start thinking about the world of work far earlier than previous generations. This is why we provide students access to an after-school program, the Career Readiness Academy, that embraces this fluid approach to career preparation. This year the program will be offered to 10th graders at Boulder High, Broomfield High and Centaurus High, and parts of the curriculum will also be available to students at Arapahoe Ridge.
info@impactoneducation.org
303.524.3865
Impact on Education
721 Front Street, Suite A
Louisville, CO 80027
Tax ID #84-0943046
