FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Funding Opportunities to Evaluate Education Programs and Policies
Empirical Education is pleased to distribute information U.S. Department of Education funding opportunities aimed at evaluating education programs and policies. To read a full description of the funding opportunities, go to: http://ies.ed.gov/funding and scroll down to the "Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs" tab.
Overview of Funding Opportunity
The Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) has an over-arching priority to contribute to improved academic achievement for all students, and particularly for those whose education prospects are hindered by inadequate education services and conditions associated with poverty, race/ethnicity, limited English proficiency, disability, and family circumstance. In conducting research of education outcomes, the Institute concentrates on conditions within the control of the of the education system, with the aim of identifying, developing, and validating effective education programs, practices, policies, and approaches, as well as understanding the factors that influence variation in their effectiveness such as implementation.
Through the Institute’s National Center for Education Research (NCER), the department supports rigorous research that contributes to the solution of significant education problems in the United States. NCER has released the FY 2009 Request for Application for a new research program Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs and Policies (84.305E). Making rigorous evaluation of programs a standard education practice will enable educations to improve specific programs and ultimately lead to higher quality education programs in general. This initiative provides support for rigorous evaluations of state or local education programs or policies implemented by State or local education agencies, by funding research projects that yield unbiased estimates of the degree to which an intervention has an impact on the outcomes of interest in relation to the program or practice to which it is being compared.
Designs for rigorous evaluations include regression discontinuity, random assignment coupled with a staggered roll-out, random assignment coupled with variation in treatment conditions, and interrupted time series designs.
Program Schedule
Letter of Intent to Submit a Proposal (recommended, but not required)...................................................August 4, 2008
Application Package Available........................August 4, 2008
Application Deadline...................................October 2, 2008
Earliest Anticipated Start Date..........................July 1, 2009
Award Funding
Typical awards for research projects will be $500,000 to $1,200,000 per year. Funds must not be used to support the implementation of the intervention (e.g. purchase curriculum, provide salary support for teachers).
Research Funding Webinars
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) will host a series of webinars in late July/early August related to research funding opportunities at the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and the National Center for Education Research (NCER).
Four types of webinars are planned:
- Overview of the Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs and Policies Program
- Overview of IES Education Research Training Grants
- Grant Writing Workshop for Development Projects (Goal 2)
- Grant Writing Workshop for Young Investigators
For more information, visit the IES website (http://ies.ed.gov/funding/webinars/) or contact:
Chonita Milner-Vaughn
Optimal Solutions Group, LLC
8100 Professional Place, Suite 312
Hyattsville, MD 20785
Telephone: 301-306-1170
E-mail: cmilner-vaughn@optimalsolutionsgroup.com
Contact Empirical Education
If you are interested in applying for the Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs and Policies Research Grants, and you would like to partner with a seasoned educational research company, please contact Denis Newman at (650) 328-1734 ext. 112 or by email at dnewman@empiricaleducation.com.