Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences

Sponsor: DOEd: Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
Solicitation Title: Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences
Event Type: Limited Submission
Funding Amount: Pathways Training Program: 5 years, $1,560,000
Postdoctoral Training Program: 5 Years, $800,000
Methods Training Program: 3 Years, $800,000
Sponsor Deadline: Thursday, August 20, 2020
Solicitation Link: https://ies.ed.gov/funding/ncer_rfas/training.asp
Solicitation Number: 84.305B

Overview

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) provides scientific evidence to improve education practice and policy and shares that evidence in a way that can be used by educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public. Within IES, the National Center for Education Research (NCER) supports research focused on practices and policies that improve education outcomes and access to education opportunities for all learners from early childhood through adulthood, particularly those at risk of failure. The specific purpose of IES-supported training programs is to further the training of education researchers, including state and local education agency staff. In doing so, IES aims to increase the quality, accessibility, use, and relevance of education research. In this Request for Applications (RFA), NCER invites applications for training projects that will contribute to its Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences (Research Training). For FY 2021, IES is accepting applications for training under three programs: <ul> <li>Pathways to the Education Sciences (Pathways Training Program)</li> <li>Postdoctoral Research Training in the Education Sciences (Postdoctoral Training Program)</li> <li>Methods Training Program for Education Researchers (Methods Training Program)</li> </ul> <div>IES training programs prepare individuals to conduct rigorous education research supported by IES across its research competitions, advance knowledge within the field, and address issues important to education policymakers and practitioners. As part of the programs, IES supports</div> <ul> <li>Training that adopts new approaches to find and mentor students and researchers from diverse backgrounds to encourage their entry into and success in education research careers</li> <li>Training that includes new ideas, approaches, and perspectives to address long-standing education issues</li> <li>Training that helps researchers, including state and local education agency research staff, acquire skills necessary to obtain, evaluate and generate evidence needed for policy and programmatic decisions</li> </ul> All applications for the FY 2021 Research Training Programs are expected to provide training that supports researchers’ understanding of and ability to use the new IES-wide Standards for Excellence in Education Research (SEER), as appropriate, when carrying out education research. SEER principles include pre-registering studies; making research findings, methods, and data available to others; identifying core intervention components; documenting intervention implementation to inform use in other settings; analyzing costs; focusing on outcomes meaningful to learners’ success; facilitating generalization of study findings; and conducting research in a way that informs the future scaling of interventions. Additional information about the SEER standards is available on the IES website (<a href="https://ies.ed.gov/seer.asp">https://ies.ed.gov/seer.asp</a>).

Solicitation Limitations: An institution may submit only one application to the Pathways Training Program. An institution may submit multiple applications to the Postdoctoral Training Program or Methods Training Program only if the applications are substantively different from one another and do not include any core trainers (for Postdoctoral Training Programs) or key personnel (for Methods Training Programs) that are also on another application to the same program. The Pathways to the Education Sciences Research Training Program requires a minority-serving institution (MSI) to be the applicant or be included as a partner institution. Therefore, the applicant institution must supply the principal investigator (PI) and must be one of the following: • A minority-serving institution (MSI) located in the territorial United States that confers bachelor’s or master’s degrees in academic fields relevant to education • An academic institution located in the territorial United States that confers bachelor’s or master’s degrees in academic fields relevant to education and that partners with an eligible MSI An academic institution may host no more than one IES-supported Pathways Training Program at a time.2 This restriction applies to both applicants and their partner institutions. Applications under the Postdoctoral Training Program must be an academic institution located in the United States and its territories that confers doctoral degrees in fields relevant to education. The organization/institution submitting the application may hold more than one Postdoctoral Training Program award from IES and may submit more than one Postdoctoral Training Program application as long as each actual or proposed training program has a different training focus and no overlap of core trainers (PI, Co-PI, and other mentors). Applications under the Methods Training program must be located in the territorial United States and have the ability and capacity to conduct training in scientific research methods are eligible to apply. An applying institution may hold more than one award from IES and may submit more than one application as long as each actual or proposed training program addresses a different issue and includes a different set of key personnel. Other Information:Your application must be directed to one of the following training programs listed below and meet the requirements set out for each program as described in Part II to be sent forward for scientific peer review. The Pathways Training Program funds training programs at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and institutions of higher education that partner with MSIs. These programs are open to all students and are designed to provide upper-level undergraduate students, recent graduates, and/or master’s students with education research experience and professional development in order to prepare these students to pursue doctoral study in the education sciences or in fields relevant to education research. The program places special emphasis on recruiting students from underrepresented groups, including racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, economically disadvantaged students, veterans, and students with disabilities. The Postdoctoral Training Program funds programs to prepare researchers with a doctoral degree to conduct high-quality education research that advances knowledge within the field of education sciences and addresses issues important to education leaders and practitioners. These researchers are expected to learn how to conduct independent research, take on leadership positions within research teams, work directly with practitioners and policymakers, and clearly communicate their findings to multiple audiences. The Methods Training Program funds programs to help current education researchers, including state and local education agency research staff, maintain and upgrade their research and analysis skills in order to conduct rigorous and relevant education research. A Letter of Intent is due June 11, 2020. The LOI is non-binding and optional but strongly recommended. If you submit an LOI, a program officer will contact you regarding your proposed research.

Last Updated: 05/29/2020

RODA ID: 1047