INVESTING IN INNOVATION FUND (I3) - VALIDATION GRANTS

Grant Name:Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) – Validation Grants
Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Division: Office of Innovation and Improvement
Deadline: Notice of Intent to Apply is due May 23, 2013; Application deadline is July 2, 2013.

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.

A key focus of the Administration in FY 2013 is on early learning, and the Secretary encourages applicants to propose projects that incorporate high-quality early learning components aligned with the early learning, elementary and secondary education systems in participating schools, and help ensure that all children, especially those from low-income families, enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

Under this program, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will award three types of grants: Scale-up grants, Validation grants and Development grants. This funding profile highlights the Validation grants competition. Be sure to review the profile page specific to each grant type and download the program notice for additional information.

Scale-up grants provide funding to scale up practices for which there is strong evidence that the proposed activities 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. (Deadline: July 2, 2013)

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)

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 efforts 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. (Deadline: July 2, 2013)

All applicants for Validation grants must implement practices targeting high-need students, and show moderate evidence of effectiveness for the proposed strategy. Additionally, this solicitation provides five absolute priorities and three competitive preference priorities. Absolute priorities are required to apply. Only applications that meet one of these absolute priorities will be considered; each constitutes its own funding category. These absolute priorities include:

• Improving the Effectiveness Teachers or Principals. This priority provides funding to support projects that develop models designed to increase teacher retention and effectiveness, or extend highly effective teachers’ reach to serve more students.
• Improving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. This priority provides funding to support projects that (a) implement new methods and resources for recruiting individuals with content expertise in STEM subject areas into teaching; and/or (b) increase the high-quality preparation of, or professional development for, teachers or other educators in STEM subjects.
• Improving Academic Outcomes for English Learners (ELs). This priority provides funding to support projects that increase the number and proportion of ELs successfully completing courses in core academic subjects by developing, implementing and evaluating new instructional approaches and tools that are sensitive to the language demands necessary to access challenging content, including technology-based tools.
• Effective Use of Technology. This priority provides funding to support projects that (a) provide students and teachers with access to learning materials and experiences that they otherwise would not have access; (b) develop new methods and resources for teacher preparation or professional development that increase teachers’ abilities to utilize technology to enhance their knowledge and skills; and/or (c) integrate technology with the implementation of rigorous college-and career-ready standards to increase student achievement, student engagement and teacher efficacy.
• Serving Rural Communities. This priority provides funding to support projects addressing any of the absolute priorities previously mentioned under which the majority of students to be served are enrolled in rural local educational agencies.

This solicitation also provides three competitive preference priorities. Though not required, applicants who wish to address any or all of these priorities may receive additional points towards their final application. These competitive preference priorities include:

• Improving Cost-Effectiveness and Productivity (zero or one point). Under this priority, up to one additional point will be awarded to applications proposing projects that (a) substantially improve student outcomes without increasing per-student costs; (b) maintain student outcomes while substantially decreasing per-student costs; or (c) improve student outcomes while substantially decreasing student costs.
• Enabling Broad Adoption of Effective Practices (zero or two points). Under this priority, up to two points will be awarded to applications proposing projects that enable broad adoption of effective practices.
• Supporting Novice i3 Applicants (zero or one point). Under this priority, up to one additional point will be given to applicants that have never directly received a grant under this program.

In the FY 2013 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 student academic achievement. In addition, PBS TeacherLine, E-learning for Educators and Teacher's Domain have helped make significant improvement in developing high-quality teachers, another i3 proposed program requirement.

This year's competition places an added emphasis on technology with the addition of Absolute Priority 4: 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 for high-need 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 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 10 percent of its grant award.

Anticipated funding:

The U.S. Department of Education estimates that there is $134,500,000 available for this program. These estimated available funds are for all three types of grants under the i3 program (Scale-Up, Validation and Development). Scale-Up grants will be for up to $20,000,000, Validation grants will be for up to $12,000,000, and Development grants will be for up to $3,000,000. Up to two Scale-Up grants, up to eight Validation grants and up to 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:
Validation grants Program Notice
Scale-Up grants Program Notice
Development grants Program Notice
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