Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) - Development Grants
Grant Name: Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) - Development Grants
Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Division: Office of Innovation and Improvement
Deadline: Pre-applications were due April 26, 2013. Only entities that submitted a top-rated pre-application will be eligible to submit a full application.
Description: The purpose of i3 is to provide competitive grants to applicants with a record of improving student achievement in order to expand the implementation of, and investment in, innovative practices that are demonstrated to have an impact on:
- Improving student achievement or student growth.
- Closing achievement gaps.
- Decreasing dropout rates.
- Increasing high school graduation rates.
- Increasing college enrollment and completion rates.
Under this program, the U.S. Department of Education will award three types of grants: Scale-up grants, Validation grants and Development grants. This funding profile highlights the Development grants solicitation.
Development grants provide funding to support high-potential and relatively untested practices, strategies or programs whose efficacy should be systematically studied. An applicant must provide evidence that the proposed practice, strategy or program, or one similar to it, has been attempted previously, on a limited scale or in a limited setting, and yielded promising results that suggest that more formal and systematic study is warranted. (Deadline: April 26, 2013)
Scale-up grants provide funding to scale up practices, strategies or programs for which there is strong evidence that the proposed practice, strategy or program will have a statistically significant effect on improving student achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and completion rates. (New solicitation expected for spring 2013)
Validation grants provide funding to support practices, strategies or programs that show promise, but for which there is currently only moderate evidence that the proposed practice, strategy or program will have a statistically significant effect on improving student achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates or increasing college enrollment and completion rates. (New solicitation expected for spring 2013)
All Development projects must implement practices, strategies or programs for high-need students. This competition includes eight absolute priorities. Only applications that meet one of these priorities will be considered; each of the eight absolute priorities constitutes its own funding category. Each applicant must choose one of the eight priorities and one of the subparts under the chosen priority to address in its pre-application. The Secretary intends to award grants under each absolute priority for which applications of sufficient quality are submitted. The absolute priorities are:
- Improving the Effectiveness of Teachers or Principals. This priority provides funding to support practices, strategies or programs that are (a) designed to increase the equitable access to effective teachers or principals for low-income and high-need students; and/or (b) extend highly effective teachers' reach to serve more students. This may include strategies such as new course designs, staffing models, technology platforms or new opportunities for collaboration.
- Improving Low-Performing Schools. This priority will support projects focused on (a) recruiting, developing or retaining highly effective staff to work in low-performing schools; and/or (b) implementing programs, supports, or other strategies that improve students' non-cognitive abilities and enhance student engagement in learning.
- Improving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. This priority provides funding to support projects that redesign STEM course content and instructional practices to engage students and increase student achievement.
- Improving Academic Outcomes for Students with Disabilities. This priority provides funding to support practices, strategies or programs which (a) design and implement teacher evaluation systems that define and measure effectiveness of special education teachers and related services providers; and/or (b) design and implement strategies that improve student achievement for students with disabilities in inclusive settings.
- Improving Academic Outcomes for English Learners (ELs). This priority provides funding to support practices, strategies or programs that align and implement curriculum and instruction in grades six through 12 for language development and content courses to provide sufficient exposure to, engagement in, and acquisition of academic language and literacy practices necessary for preparing ELs to be college and career ready.
- Improving Parent and Family Engagement. This priority provides funding to support projects that (a) develop and implement initiatives which train parents and families in the skills and strategies that will support their students in improving academic outcomes; and/or (b) develop tools or practices that provide students and parents with improved, ongoing access to and use of data and other information about students' progress and performance.
- Effective Use of Technology. This priority provides funding to support strategies, practices or programs that (a) provide access to learning experience which are personalized, adaptive and self-improving in order to optimize the delivery of instruction to learners with a variety of learning needs; and/or (b) develop and implement technology-enabled strategies for teaching and learning concepts and content that are difficult to teach using traditional approaches, such as models and simulations, collaborative virtual environments or "serious games".
- Serving Rural Communities. This priority supports projects that address one of the other seven absolute priorities where the majority of students served are enrolled in rural local educational agencies.
In the FY13 solicitation, the Department has made several changes to this year's competition. These include accelerating the identification of promising solutions to pressing challenges in K-12 public education, supporting the evaluation of such solutions and developing new approaches to scaling effective practices to serve more students. To achieve these goals, a new set of priorities, definitions and requirements have been established to help guide potential applicants. Review the Notice of Final Priorities for more specific details.
Fit for public broadcasting: i3 is a chance for public broadcasters to establish themselves as an integral partner in education reform, an effort that will pay off as the federal government invests money in education. i3 provides an opportunity to show your local school districts which public broadcasting projects advance education reform goals, and how public broadcasting can bring success to millions of children. For example, PBS and the Ready to Learn Partnership have developed fully researched, engaging educational television and online content that have been proven to improve the literacy skills of children between the ages of two and eight. This improvement goes to the proposed i3 requirement that applicants have demonstrated success in significantly increasing academic achievement for all students. In addition, PBS TeacherLine, E-learning for Educators and Teacher's Domain have helped make significant improvement in developing highly-effective teachers, another i3 proposed program requirement.
This year's competition places an added emphasis on technology with the addition of Absolute Priority 7: Effective Use of Technology, which supports the use of technology as a means to enhance the learning experience for all students. Public media stations have particular expertise in this field and would make excellent partners for i3 projects.
In 2010, WGBH was a partner on an i3 application that was named one of the highest-rated non-winning applications. You can learn more about their experience with i3 by listening to the Grant Center conference call from December 2010.
Eligibility:
All eligible applicants must implement practices, strategies or programs designed to improve student achievement for high-need K-12 students. Entities eligible to apply for i3 grants include an LEA and a partnership between a nonprofit organization and one or more LEAs or a consortium of schools. To be eligible for an award, an eligible applicant must:
- Have significantly closed the achievement gaps between economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with limited English proficiency or students with disabilities, or have demonstrated success in significantly increasing student academic achievement for all groups of students described above.
- Have made significant improvements in other areas, such as graduation rates or increased recruitment and placement of high-quality teachers and principals, as demonstrated with meaningful data.
- Demonstrate that it has established one or more partnerships with the private sector, which may include philanthropic organizations, and that the private sector will provide matching funds in order to help bring results to scale.
- In the case of an eligible applicant that includes a nonprofit organization, provide in the application the names of the LEAs with which the nonprofit organization will partner, or the names of the schools in the consortium with which it will partner.
An eligible applicant must demonstrate that it has established one or more partnerships with an entity or organization in the private sector, which will provide matching funds equal to at least 15 percent of its grant award.
Anticipated funding:
The U.S. Department of Education has requested $150,000,000 for the i3 program in FY13. The actual level of funding depends on final congressional action. These estimated available funds are for all three types of grants under the i3 program (Scale-up, Validation and Development). Under this request, Scale-up grants would be for up to $20,000,000, Validation grants would be for up to $12,000,000 and Development grants would be for up to $3,000,000 each. Up to two Scale-up grants, between four and eight Validation grants, and between 10 and 20 Development grants will be awarded. The project period for all grants is 36 to 60 months.
How to apply:
Applications must be submitted at Grants.gov. Applicants must maintain an active registration in the Central Contractor Registry. Online submission requires registration, a process that usually takes three to five business days but can take as long as four weeks. Be sure to visit Grants.gov and begin registering well in advance of the deadline.
Resources:
Development grants Program Notice
Scale-up grants Program Notice
Validation grants Program Notice
Program Website
Information about pre-application meetings and webinars hosted by the U.S. Department of Education will be posted on the program website.
2012 awards
Frequently Asked Questions
Resources from the Grant Center's December 2010 conference call discussing major U.S. Department of Education grant programs, including i3
Resources from the Grant Center's March 2010 webinar discussing the i3 program
