Institute of International Education: WISE Awards
The World Innovation Summit on Education (WISE) Awards are designed to identify, showcase, and promote innovative educational projects from around the world. Under the theme Transforming Education, the 2012 WISE Awards will recognize six projects for their concrete, positive impact upon society. Maximum award: $20,000 and access to international exposure. Eligibility: WISE invites project holders in any sector and at any level of education to submit applications that demonstrate the quality and impact of their activities in accordance with the criteria stated in the regulations. Deadline: May 31, 2012.

EPA: Sense of Wonder Contest
To honor the late preservationist and ecologist Rachel Carson, the EPA, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., are holding a photo, essay, and poetry contest "that best expresses the Sense of Wonder that you feel for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes." In her book The Sense of Wonder (written in the 1950s and published in a magazine in 1956), Carson used lyrical passages about the beauty of nature and the joys of helping children develop a sense of wonder and love of nature. Maximum award: publication on the websites of EPA Aging Initiative, Generations United, and Rachel Carson Council, Inc. Eligibility: entries must be joint projects involving a person under age 18 and a person age 50 or older. Deadline: June 1, 2012.

Lois Lenski Covey Foundation: Grants for Books
The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation annually awards grants for purchasing books published for young people preschool through grade 8 to libraries or organizations that serve economically or socially at-risk children, have limited book budgets, and demonstrate real need. Maximum award: $3,000, specifically for book purchases. Eligibility: public libraries, school libraries, and non-traditional libraries operated by 501(c)3 agencies. Deadline: June 15, 2012.

MetLife/NASSP: Breakthrough Schools
The National Association of Secondary School Principals and the MetLife Foundation are calling for entries in the search for the nation's top Breakthrough Schools. Applicants should be high-achieving middle or high schools, or schools that are making dramatic improvements in student achievement, whose best practices and outstanding results can inform other schools as they further their own improvement efforts. Honorees will be chosen based upon documented success in implementing strategies aligned with the three core areas of NASSP's Breaking Ranks II publication: collaborative leadership; personalization; and curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Maximum award: $5,000 recognition in the association's monthly magazine, Principal Leadership. Eligibility: high-achieving middle and high schools with 40 percent or more students eligible for free and reduced priced meals. Deadline: June 30, 2012.

NSTA: New Science Teacher Academy
The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy Foundation is a professional development initiative created to promote quality science teaching, enhance teacher confidence and classroom excellence, and improve teacher content knowledge. Maximum award: program expenses. Eligibility: middle or high school science teachers entering their second or third year of teaching, working a schedule with 51 percent of their classes in science. Deadline: July 1, 2012.

AAPT: Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment for the Support of Physics Teaching
The American Association of Physics Teachers Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment for the Support of Physics Teaching was established to support special activities in the area of physics teaching. Activities can include but are not limited to the development and distribution of innovative apparatuses for physics teaching; traveling exhibits of apparatuses; and local workshops. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: AAPT members. Deadline: July 1, 2012.

Dow Jones News Fund: National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year
The Dow Jones News Fund National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Program identifies outstanding high school journalism teachers who have done exemplary work in the previous academic year. Maximum award: The winning teacher addresses the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, American Society of News Editors, and college journalism educators. He or she also receives a laptop, travel and lodging expenses, a per diem for substitute teacher fees, and writes a quarterly column for the Fund's newspaper, Adviser Update. The winner will also attend a seminar at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. A senior student at the winning teacher's school will receive a $1,000 scholarship to study journalism based on his or her performance in a writing contest held at his or her school. Eligibility: teachers with at least three years' experience teaching journalism. Deadline: July 1, 2012.

ASCD: Outstanding Young Educator Award
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development is seeking nominations for its Outstanding Young Educator Award, which recognizes a teacher under the age of 40 who demonstrates excellence in his or her profession, a positive impact on students, creativity in the classroom, and leadership in his or her school or district. Maximum award: $10,000; ASCD institutional membership. Eligibility: full-time K-12 teachers under age 40; self-nominations accepted. Deadline: August 1, 2012.


NAIS: Challenge 20/20 Partnership
The National Association of Independent Schools invites schools to participate in Challenge 20/20, a program that brings together one school from the United States and one school from outside of the United States. Teacher-student teams from both schools work together throughout the fall 2012 school semester to come up with a solution to a global problem. Challenge 20/20 is based on Jean Francois Rischard's book, High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them. Maximum award: international cooperation and collaboration between youth. Eligibility: all U.S. schools, elementary and secondary, public or private. Deadline: August 17, 2012.

P. Buckley Moss Foundation: Grants for Incorporation of the Arts
The P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children's Education makes grants for new or evolving programs that integrate the arts into educational programming. The purpose is to aid and support teachers who wish to establish an effective learning tool using the arts in teaching children who learn differently. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: programs for children K-12. Deadline: September 30, 2012.

Humane Society of the United States: Education Mini-grant
The Humane Society of the United States is now accepting applications for the 2012 Humane Education Mini-Grant, designed to fund innovative humane education opportunities in K-12 classrooms. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: all certified K-12 teachers in the U.S. Deadline: November 30, 2012.

Mickelson/ExxonMobil: 2013 Teachers Academy
The Mickelson ExxonMobil 2013 Teachers Academy offers a program designed to provide third- through fifth-grade teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to motivate students to pursue careers in science and math. Maximum award: all expenses paid five-day program in July 2013. Eligibility: third- through fifth-grade teachers from all over the United States. Deadline: October 31, 2013.

NCTM: Improving Students' Understanding of Geometry Grants
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Improving Students' Understanding of Geometry grant is to develop activities that will enable students to better appreciate and understand some aspect of geometry that is consistent with the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics of NCTM. The project should include applications of geometry to, for example, art, literature, music, architecture, nature, or some other relevant area and may integrate the use of technology into the teaching of geometry. Proposals must address the following: geometry content, the appropriateness of the application, the link between the Geometry Standard and the project's activities, and the anticipated impact on students' learning. Maximum award: $4,000. Eligibility: teachers preK-8 who are NCTM members as of October 15, 2012 or teach at a school with a preK-8 NCTM school membership as of October 15, 2012. Deadline: November 9, 2012.