Deadline: Feb. 27 for the 2026-27 school year
Who: California public middle schools or high schools with 400+ students. There are two types of grants: either your whole school, or just you as an individual teacher.
Goal: Improve students’ critical thinking skills. See Mission
Objective: Critical thinking is usually approached as a whole, while the fundamental component skills get little instruction, according to data. The objective of this grant is to measure the long-term effectiveness of instruction that isolates and exercises these fundamental component skills of critical thinking.
Award:
For schools: $24,000 to $36,000 per designated Critical Thinking Coordinator per year, potentially up to 3 years. This covers about 20% of their salary and benefits, but the school may spend it on anything.
For individual teachers: $5,000 for one school year, granted to your school.
Expectations for School Grant:
| • | Dedicate 20% of a certified staff member’s time to serve as Critical Thinking Coordinator (CTC) for the school(s). Depending on the number of students, you may receive multiple grants for multiple CTCs. The CTC will: |
| • | Meet with teachers and departments throughout the year to encourage and coordinate critical thinking lessons. Conduct training as needed. |
| • | Curate critical thinking curriculum and resources for your teachers. |
| • | Create and adapt critical thinking lessons for teachers as needed. |
| • | Teach critical thinking lessons as a guest instructor as needed. |
| • | Administer pre-tests and post-tests provided by us, and gather requested data for research. |
Teachers may interpret and teach critical thinking skills as they see fit. Use of our learning apps is encouraged but not required. If requested, we are available to give remote staff presentations and workshops; not required.
Expectations for Teacher Grant:
| • | Curate and/or develop critical thinking curriculum and resources for your classes. |
| • | Teach critical thinking lessons throughout the school year, at least one per week. They may be integrated with other lessons, but they must include fundamental component skills of critical thinking. Use of our learning apps is encouraged but not required. Essays and discussions requiring critical thinking as a whole are welcome in addition to the component skills. |
| • | Administer pre-tests and post-tests provided by us, and gather requested data for research. |
Reporting:
| • | Meet online with us occasionally throughout the year to discuss plans, data, challenges, and successes. |
| • | Provide general feedback to us on lessons and resources. |
| • | Provide requested data for our research (anonymized raw data). |
Research: We are testing the hypothesis that increasing lessons on the fundamental component skills of critical thinking will cause a long-term improvement in critical thinking in general. We are measuring the collective effect of increased instruction, not the effectiveness of each specific lesson or resource. We will analyze the data, including pre-tests, post-tests, and control groups, and publish our findings.
Eligibility:
Up to three schools/districts will be selected. Public and charter schools only. Your selected Critical Thinking Coordinator(s) should be a strong critical thinker and a persuasive speaker.
Up to three individual teachers will be selected. You should be a strong critical thinker with an interest in curriculum.
Questions: [email protected]
Apply for your School |
Apply as a Teacher |
