Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program—Expansion Grant

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>‘‘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>Expansion grants are supported by strong evidence for at least one population and setting, and grantees are encouraged to implement at the national level. Expansion grants provide funding for the implementation and rigorous evaluation of a program that has been found to produce sizable,<br>significant impacts under a Mid-phase grant or other effort meeting similar criteria, for the purposes of<strong> (a)</strong> determining whether such impacts can be successfully reproduced and sustained over time; and <strong>(b)</strong> identifying the conditions in which the program is most effective.</p> <p>Expansion projects are expected to scale practices that have prior evidence of effectiveness, in order to improve outcomes for high-need and underserved students. They are also expected to generate important information about an intervention’s effectiveness, such as for whom and in which contexts a practice is most effective, including cost-effectiveness. Expansion projects are uniquely positioned to help answer critical questions about the process of scaling a practice to the national level across geographies. Expansion grantees are encouraged to consider how the cost structure of a practice can change as the intervention scales. Additionally, grantees may want to consider multiple ways to facilitate implementation fidelity without making scaling too onerous.</p> <p>The FY 2022 Expansion grant competition includes two absolute priorities and two competitive preference priorities. Applicants have the option of addressing one or both competitive preference priorities.</p> <p><strong>Absolute Priority 1—Strong Evidence establishes the evidence requirement for this tier of grants.</strong> All Expansion applicants must submit prior evidence of effectiveness that meets the strong evidence standard.</p> <p><strong>Absolute Priority 2—Field-Initiated Innovations—General.</strong> Allows applicants to propose projects that align with the purpose of the EIR program: To create and take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment.</p> <p><strong>Competitive Preference Priority 1— Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities. </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— Addressing the Impact of COVID–19 on Students, Educators, and Faculty </strong>reflects the Administration’s ongoing commitment to addressing the impact of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID–19) on Pre-K–grade 12 education. </p>