Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program - Mid-Phase Grants

Overview

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, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment for high need 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 more students.

The central design element of the EIR program is its multi-tier 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.

Mid-phase grants are supported by moderate evidence (as defined in this notice). Mid-phase grants provide funding for the implementation and rigorous evaluation of a program, which has been successfully implemented under an Early-phase grant or other similar effort, such as developing and testing an innovative education practice at a local level, for the purpose of measuring the program’s impact and cost-effectiveness.

In FY 2023, the Department is particularly interested in projects that propose services and activities that help to not only recover from the COVID–19 pandemic but reimagine schools and transform our education system. The FY 2023 Mid-phase competition includes five absolute priorities and one competitive preference priority. All Mid-phase applicants must address Absolute Priority 1. Mid-phase applicants are also required to address one of the other four absolute priorities (applicants may not submit under more than one of the other four absolute priorities). Applicants have the option of addressing the competitive preference priority and may opt to do so regardless of the absolute priority they select.

Absolute Priority 1 - Moderate Evidence: Establishes the evidence requirement for this tier of grants. All Mid-phase applicants must submit prior evidence of effectiveness that meets the moderate evidence standard. 

Absolute Priority 2 - Field-Initiated Innovations – General: Gives applicants the option to propose projects that are field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment. 

Absolute Priority 3 - Field-Initiated Innovations - Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities: Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) is intended to support innovations to improve student achievement and attainment in the STEM education field, consistent with efforts to ensure our Nation’s economic competitiveness by improving and expanding STEM learning and engagement. 

Absolute Priority 4 - Field-Initiated Innovations - Meeting Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs: Intended to promote high-quality projects that support student well-being. 

Absolute Priority 5 - Field-Initiated Innovations - Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities: intended to identify and scale up models to elevate and strengthen the educator workforce in ways that prioritize innovation in recruiting and retaining educators in supporting high-need students. 

Competitive Preference Priority - Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities: Implementers and Partners. Intended to encourage applicants to propose projects that involve (as applicants or partners) entities underrepresented in the program’s portfolio of grants.

• IHE can only apply in partnership with LEA, SEA, or BIE. 
• Under section 4611(d) of the ESEA, each grant recipient must provide, from Federal, State, local, or private sources, an amount equal to 10 percent of funds provided under the grant, which may be provided in cash or through in-kind contributions, to carry out activities supported by the grant.

• Estimated Number of Awards: 8-15. 
• We will not make an award exceeding $8,000,000 for a project period of 60 months. The maximum award amount a grantee may receive under these three competitions (Expansion (84.411A), Mid-phase (84.411B), and Early-phase (84.411C), taken together, is $15,000,000.