Understanding the Experience and Outcomes of Students with Disabilities who have 504 Plans

Overview

The Administrator of the Administration for Community Living establishes a priority for a
Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project (DRRP) on Understanding the Experience and
Outcomes of Students With Disabilities who have 504 Plans. The DRRP must contribute to the
outcome of optimizing positive school experiences and outcomes among students with
disabilities who have 504 plans (kindergarten through 12th grade), including those with the
greatest support needs. The target population of students with 504 plans may include students
who also have Individualized Education Plans under the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act. Research conducted by this DRRP must address school experiences and outcomes among
students with disabilities who have 504 plans. These student experiences and outcomes include
but are not limited to: access to extracurricular activities; relationships with peers, teachers,
school professionals, and parents or guardians; student assessments; and student agency, safety,
and social emotional learning. To contribute to the optimization of positive school experiences
and outcomes among students with 504 plans, the DRRP must--

a. Conduct research in one or more of the following priority areas, focusing on students
with 504 plans as a group, or students with 504 plans in specific disability or
demographic subpopulations:

i. Technology to improve school experiences and outcomes among students with disabilities who have 504 plans;

ii. Individual and environmental factors associated with school experiences and outcomes among students with disabilities who have 504 plans;

iii. Interventions, including any strategy, practice, program, policy, or tool--designed to improve school experiences and outcomes among students with disabilities who have 504 plans;

iv. Effects of government policies and programs on school experiences and outcomes among students with disabilities who have 504 plans;

v. Effects of school policies and practices on the school experiences and outcomes among students with disabilities who have 504 plans.

b. Focus its research on a specific stage(s) of research. If the DRRP is to conduct research
that can be categorized under more than one stage, including research that progresses from
one stage to another, those stages must be clearly specified and justified. These stages:
exploration and discovery, intervention development, intervention efficacy, and scale-up
evaluation, are defined in this funding opportunity announcement. Applicants must justify
the need and rationale for research at the proposed stage or stages and describe fully an
appropriate methodology or methodologies for the proposed research.

c. Conduct knowledge translation activities (i.e., utilization, dissemination) to facilitate
stakeholder use of the knowledge, interventions, programs, policies, technologies, or
products that result from the research activities conducted under paragraph (a) of this
priority. Stakeholders may include but are not limited to students who have 504 plans, family
members, school personnel, and policymakers.
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d. Involve students with disabilities who have 504 plans and other key stakeholder groups in
the design and conduct of research activities carried out under paragraph (a) of this priority,
to maximize the relevance and usability of the knowledge, interventions, programs, policies,
technologies, or products to be developed. Such involvement is consistent with Executive
Order 14091, Section 5: Delivering Equitable Outcomes in Partnership with Underserved
Communities.

e. Demonstrate, in its original application, that students with disabilities who have 504 plans
and are from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds will be included in study samples in
sufficient numbers to generate knowledge and products that are relevant to the racial and
ethnic diversity of the population students with 504 plans. The DRRP must describe and
justify, in its original application, the racial and ethnic distribution of students with 504
plans who will participate in the proposed research activities.

Foreign entities are not eligible to compete for, or receive, awards made under this
announcement.
 

Award information: 
Expected Number of Awards: 1
Length of Project Period: 60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods

Due Date for Letter Of Intent:  05/30/2023
Applicants are requested, but not required, to submit a letter of intent to apply for this funding
opportunity.