The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), as part of its 2015-20 Ready To Learn initiative (“RTL”) funded by the Ready to Learn Television Program of the U.S. Department of Education, intends to contract with up to six public television stations to act as mentors to 25 stations that will be funded by CPB as RTL Station Training & Implementation funds starting in spring 2020. The mentors must have experience creating advanced digital and educational community engagement resources, through the RTL initiative, and must provide assistance to the stations as they implement these resources in low-income communities with children ages two to eight, and their families and caregivers (“the target audience”).
The mentors will work with CPB and PBS to design and facilitate a hands-on training session for the 25 stations. The training will feature key engagement resources, including but not limited to, PBS KIDS Family & Community Learning, Playful Learning for Educators, and out-of-school time camps. After the training, the mentors will assist CPB and PBS in reviewing the stations’ implementation plans and provide them technical support as needed, via email, phone, message boards, or in-person consultation. The mentors’ role is to support CPB and PBS in their goal of improving the stations’ capacities to strengthen early science and literacy learning among the target audience.
The mentors will be funded by the “CPB-PBS RTL Content, Community, and Collaboration: Advancing Children's Learning through Personalized Media Experiences,” which is funded by a grant award from the Ready to Learn Television Program of the U.S. Department of Education (No. U295A100025, CFDA No. 84.295A). The total amount available for up to six mentors is $72,000 and contingent on CPB’s continued receipt of its annual federal appropriations for RTL.
To be eligible, applicants must be contracted by CPB as Community Collaborative for Early Learning & Media (“CC-ELM”) and have extensive experience in the development of any of the following RTL resources:
• PBS KIDS Family & Community Learning;
• Out-of-school-time camps (e.g. Odd Squad Be The Agent Camps, Ruff Ruffman Science Camps, Ready Jet Go Space Camp);
• Playful Learning for Educators; or,
• PBS TeacherLine Courses.
