(9/19/07) Research grant opportunity from the PTA

Research Grants - Call for Proposals
The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) invites grant
proposals for original research and
writing on the organization?s policies concerning the education and/
or welfare of children in the
United States. PTA will award two (2) fellowships for research
grants of $5,000 each.
For more than a century, PTA has provided families with support,
information, and resources
focused on the health and education of children. Founded in 1897 in
Washington DC as the
National Congress of Mothers, PTA was created to meet a profound
challenge: to improve the lives
of all children. Over the past 110 years, PTA has played a central
role in ensuring kindergarten
classes are available to all children and creating child labor laws,
hot lunch programs, a juvenile
justice system, and mandatory immunizations for children.
Fellows will produce original scholarly research which may appear in
dissertation, journal article,
book, or book chapter. Topics may cover a wide range of policy-
related issues that include but are
not limited to: student achievement and assessment; student and
parental attitudes; parent
involvement; contextual factors (individual, curricular, and school
related) in education; educational
participation and persistence (kindergarten through career entry);
at-risk students; early childhood
education; school finance; support for public education; child
health; child welfare; the role of mass
media; and child advocacy.
The primary source for fellows? research will be PTA?s archives held
at the PTA headquarters in
Chicago, Illinois and at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
However, fellows will be provided with
digital copies of all minutes for meetings of the Board of Directors
and minutes of all national
conventions from 1897 through 2006 and convention proceedings from
1925 through 1973, the
period in which such records were kept. Further, fellows will be
provided with digital copies of all
issues of the PTA magazine (currently published under the name Our
Children) from 1906 through
2006. Travel to Chicago is not required and may not be necessary.
PTA?s policy actions are governed by resolutions adopted by the
membership at its annual national
convention, as well as positions taken by the Board of Directors.
National PTA Resolutions and
Position Statements are official documents outlining the opinion,
will, or intent of the association to
address national problems, situations, or concerns that affect
children and youth and require
national action to seek resolution on the issue. Since 1897, PTA has
adopted nearly 1,000
resolutions and position statements on a wide variety of national
education, health, and safety
issues. These resolutions and position statements are detailed
within the official minutes of each
convention and meeting of the Board.
Deliverables
Fellows will be required to submit brief (maximum 3 pages) progress
reports in June and
December 2008. Publication of research is not required during the
fellowship period, however
fellows are asked to provide PTA with a copy of any publication
resulting from research conducted
as a result of the grant. PTA, in consultation and coordination with
the fellow, may publish the
piece or excerpts in the PTA magazine, on its website, in other PTA
publications, or in coordination
with a third-party. Fellows will give credit to the grant program in
any publication resulting from
research conducted as a result of the grant.
Doctoral Candidates
Applicants may be doctoral candidates at an accredited graduate
school within the United States.
Fellowships may be used to finance the research and writing of
applicant?s dissertation. The
fellowships are not intended to finance the completion of doctoral
coursework. All such applicants
must document that they will have completed all pre-dissertation
requirements by January 1, 2008.
Applicants must additionally provide a substantive letter of support
from applicant's faculty
dissertation advisor that includes an indication of the student's
current progress toward the degree
and expected date of completion.
Application Requirements
All applications for grants must include:
1. PTA Fellowship Cover Sheet. Provide requested contact information
and an abstract of your
proposed research and writing (maximum 250 words). Cover sheets may
be downloaded at
_http://www.pta.org/fellowship_ (http://www.pta.org/fellowship) .
2. Research proposal (limited to 4 single-spaced pages, 12 point
font, 1? margins, single-sided)
that addressed the following:
a. Policy issue and its importance
b. Why you believe PTA?s history affected this policy issue
c. Brief review of relevant research/policy literature
d. Intended form of written research (dissertation, journal article,
book, or book chapter)
and goal for publication date
3. Personal statement explaining your interest in the social context
within which policies were
developed concerning the education and/or welfare of children in the
U.S.
4. Current curriculum vitae. Include your educational history,
employment history, a list of
scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships you have received or
for which you have applied,
a list of honors and awards, and a list of your publications and
presentations.
5. Doctoral candidates must additionally provide
a. Information about the completion of your pre-dissertation
requirements and the work
plan for your dissertation, and
b. A letter of support from your faculty dissertation advisor that
includes an indication of
your current progress toward the degree and expected date of
completion.
Application Submission
One hard copy of all required materials must be submitted and
received by Friday, November 16,
2007. Electronic submission will not be accepted. Letters of
reference for doctoral students should
be included with the application materials and sent as a package.
Incomplete applications will not
be considered. Contact Todd Haiken (phone 202.289.6790 or email
_thaiken@pta.org_ (mailto:thaiken@pta.org) ) if you have
questions regarding the application or submission process.
Applications should be sent to:
Todd Haiken
Office of Programs and Public Policy
National PTA
1400 L Street, NW ? Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Awardees will be notified by December 21, 2007.
PTA