Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program—Early-Phase Grants

Overview

<p>Purpose of Program: The EIR program, established under section 4611 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended (ESEA), provides funding to create, develop, implement, replicate, or take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based (as defined in this notice), field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment for highneed students and to rigorously evaluate such innovations. The EIR program is designed to generate and validate solutions to persistent education challenges and to support the expansion of those solutions to serve substantially higher numbers of students.</p> <p>The central design element of the EIR program is its multitier structure that links the amount of funding an applicant may receive to the quality of the evidence supporting the efficacy of the proposed project, with the expectation that projects that build this evidence will advance through EIR’s grant tiers: ‘‘Early-phase,’’ ‘‘Mid-phase,’’ and ‘‘Expansion.’’ ‘‘Early-phase,’’ ‘‘Mid-phase,’’ and ‘‘Expansion’’ grants differ in terms of the level of prior evidence of effectiveness required for consideration for funding, the expectations regarding the kind of evidence and information funded projects should produce, the level of scale funded projects should reach, and, consequently, the amount of funding available to support each type of project.</p> <p>Early-phase grants must demonstrate a rationale. Early-phase grants provide funding for the development, implementation, and feasibility testing of a program, which prior research suggests has promise, for the purpose of determining whether the program can successfully improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students. Early-phase grants are not intended simply to implement established practices in additional locations or address needs that are unique to one particular context. The goal is to determine whether and in what ways relatively new practices can improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students.</p> <p>The FY 2022 Early-phase competition includes four absolute priorities and two competitive preference priorities. All Early-phase applicants must address Absolute Priority 1. Early-phase applicants are also required to address one of the other three absolute priorities. Applicants have the option of<br>addressing one or both competitive preference priorities and may opt to do so regardless of the absolute priority they select.</p> <p><strong>Absolute Priority 1—Demonstrates a Rationale establishes the evidence requirement for this tier of grants.</strong> All Early-phase applicants must submit prior evidence of effectiveness that demonstrates a rationale.</p> <p><strong>Absolute Priority 2—Field-Initiated Innovations—General.</strong> Projects that are designed to create, develop, implement, replicate, or take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students.</p> <p><strong>Absolute Priority 3—Field-Initiated Innovations—Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities: STEM. </strong>Intended to support innovations to improve student achievement and attainment in the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) education field</p> <p><strong>Absolute Priority 4—Field-Initiated Innovations—Meeting Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs</strong>. <em></em>Intended to promote high-quality social and emotional learning projects. </p> <p><strong>Competitive Preference Priority 1</strong> is intended to encourage applicants to propose projects that promote equity and adequacy in educational opportunity and outcomes.</p> <p><strong>Competitive Preference Priority 2</strong> reflects the Administration’s ongoing commitment to addressing the impact of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID–19) on Pre-K- grade 12 education. COVID– 19 has caused unprecedented disruption in schools across the country and drawn renewed attention to the ongoing challenges for underserved students.</p>