Improving Pandemic Recovery Efforts in Education Agencies

Overview

<p>Through the National Center for Education Research (NCER), the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) provides support for programs of research in areas of demonstrated national need. The Institute’s research grant programs are designed to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all learners. Through the Improving Pandemic Recovery Efforts in Education Agencies grant program, NCER seeks to establish two research networks, with one examining recovery activities in prekindergarten through grade 12 and the other examining recovery activities in community colleges.</p> <p><span style="font-size:1em">In FY 2022, IES established the Improving Pandemic Recovery Efforts in Education Agencies (Improving Pandemic Recovery) grant program to support research to counteract instructional and learning loss encountered by many learners during the COVID-19 pandemic; identify, explore, and evaluate state and local programs and policies designed to accelerate learning and recovery of those learners; and provide evidence to state and local agencies to improve learner engagement, reengagement and achievement through recovery activities. IES is particularly interested in supporting research that addresses learning acceleration and recovery for underrepresented student subgroups that were disproportionately affected by COVID-19.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:1em">Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address one of the following topics:</span></p> <p><em><span>Pre-K through Grade 12 Recovery Research Network</span></em>, which includes:</p> <ul> <li>Network Lead</li> <li>Research Teams</li> </ul> <p><em><span>Community College Recover Research Network</span></em>, which includes:</p> <ul> <li>Network Lead</li> <li>Research Teams</li> </ul> <p>Under the Improving Pandemic Recovery grants program, IES intends to establish two research networks. The Prekindergarten through Grade 12 Recovery Research Network will examine recovery activities in prekindergarten through grade 12 and the Community College Recovery Research Network will examine recovery activities in community colleges. Each network will consist of a Network Lead and several projects that carry out research on recovery (Research Teams). Each Research Team will include at least one education agency (defined as state and local agencies involved in PreK-12 education and community college systems) and its research will focus on the learners and student subgroups being served by that agency and the recovery activities the learners are engaged in. The specific research questions addressed by each Research Team should be determined by the education agencies taking part in the project. The Network Leads will coordinate activities across the Research Teams and provide national leadership on learning acceleration and recovery from pandemic-induced learning loss, sharing findings from the network with education agencies across the US.</p>