ABSTRACT
All grant proposals expect a statement of need, although it may not be stated directly as a question in the grant application. The need may or may not be financial; it may also be a need to solve a problem or a need to address an opportunity. Some applications will want teacher to prove economic need by requesting the percentage of students in teacher's school who come from families with incomes limited enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch rates. Susick Elementary students have acceptable improvement and achievement averages on the Michigan Education Assessment Program tests that are given to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders every year. Our biggest challenge is narrowing the gap in student achievement between our highest and lowest performing students. In fact, this grant program's application didn't even ask for a school's free or reduced-price lunch percentage. This grant application excerpt shows that sometimes the need isn't about the students at all.
