Greetings Colleagues, 

Last week, the Institute for Education Sciences released four application packages (RFAs) for the IES grants competition 2023. All four competitions share the same due date of September 8, 2022. The Letter of Intent to IES is due on July 21, 2022. Although the LOI is optional, it triggers contact with the specific program officer for the respective competition. The role of IES program officers differ from those in other USDE programs or NSF in that they don’t manage the proposal reviewer teams and thus, are able to provide greater assistance and consultation to applicants. So, it is highly recommended that you file a letter of intent by the deadline. 

The “Changes in the FY 2023 Request for Applications” are provided below for all four competitions along with links to the full application package.  

--Iwan 

 

Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences 

https://ies.ed.gov/funding/pdf/2023_84305B.pdf 

All applicants and staff involved in application preparation and submission, whether submitting a new application or submitting a revised application, should carefully read all relevant parts of this RFA. Major changes to the FY 2023 RFA for the Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences (ALN 84.305B) competition are listed below and described fully in the relevant sections of the RFA.  

• The Early Career Mentoring Program focuses on supporting exploratory research using a variety of research approaches by faculty employed by minority-serving institutions. The maximum award has been reduced to $400,000 (direct and indirect) to make clear IES interest in smaller scale projects (even below the maximum) that will support researchers’ career development. The PI must have completed a doctoral degree or postdoctoral program no earlier than April 1, 2017 and no later than the start of the award period. The maximum page length for the Training Program Narrative has been increased to 25 pages.  

• The Methods Training Program focuses exclusively on training in applying data science methods within education research.  

 

Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking 

https://ies.ed.gov/funding/pdf/2023_84305S.pdf 

Major changes to the Using Data for Policymaking program (ALN 84.305S) competition in FY 2023 are listed below and described fully in relevant sections of the RFA.  

• Applications must propose research addressing education equity through focusing on understanding and supporting learners affected by opportunity and achievement gaps.  

• The state agency responsible for the education issue, program, or policy to be examined must be included on the application either as the applicant or as a co-applicant receiving a subaward.  

• The Significance Section has two new requirements: (1) identify the key learner subgroups to be focused on and (2) describe the project team’s experience and expertise with the learner subgroups and the issues, problems, programs, and/or policies to be examined.  

• The Research Plan section has one new requirement to describe the project team’s expertise in the design, methods, and analysis proposed.  

• The Data section has one new requirement to describe the project team’s access to, knowledge of, and expertise working with the data to be used.  

• The Decision Making and Dissemination section has one new requirement to describe the project team’s dissemination expertise.  

• Data Management Plans are now required for all applications. Include them in Appendix D. 

 

Special Education Research Grants 

https://ies.ed.gov/funding/pdf/2023_84324A.pdf 

Major changes to the Special Education Research Grants program (ALN 84.324A) competition in FY 2023 are listed below and described fully in relevant sections of the RFA.  

1. Increased emphasis throughout the RFA on addressing the needs of diverse populations of students with disabilities — Educators are serving an increasingly diverse population of students with disabilities who have different levels of access to high quality learning opportunities. Researchers are encouraged to examine questions about the impact of policies, practices, and interventions for different groups of learners with disabilities from different sociodemographic backgrounds and contexts.  

2. Research that reflects the needs of key stakeholders — IES had added language to encourage researchers to describe how they will consider input from learners, educators, and/or other key stakeholders when conceptualizing, designing, and reporting the results of their research, and when considering issues critical for implementation and scaling of interventions.  

3. Cost analysis clarification for Development and Innovation and Initial Efficacy grants —NCSER has provided updated guidance from prior NCSER RFAs for cost analyses that must be proposed for Development and Innovation and Initial Efficacy projects.   

4. New subtypes for Development and Innovation projects — In FY2023 IES intends to support two subtypes of Development and Innovation projects. These are:  

• Development and Pilot – A project that focuses on iteratively developing a new or modifying an existing intervention with a pilot study that tests the promise of the intervention for improving learner outcomes.  

• Pilot Study Only – A project that focuses only on obtaining pilot test data regarding the promise for improving learner outcomes for interventions that are fully developed.  

See the Development and Innovation project type description for project requirements and recommendations.   

 

Research Training Programs in Special Education—Early Career Program 

https://ies.ed.gov/funding/pdf/2023_84324B.pdf 

All applicants and staff involved in proposal preparation and submission, whether submitting a new or revised application, should carefully read all relevant parts of this RFA. Major changes to the Early Career program in FY 2023 are listed below and described fully in relevant sections of the RFA.  

• Eligible programs: NCSER is not competing the Postdoctoral or Methods Training programs in FY 2023. Only the Early Career program will be competed.  

• PI eligibility: NCSER extended the amount of time a PI is eligible to apply for an Early Career award after they complete a doctoral degree or postdoctoral program by 2 years. To be eligible to apply in FY 2023, the PI must have completed a doctoral degree or postdoctoral program no earlier than April 1, 2017 and no later than the start of the award period.  

• Required education settings: NCSER added a requirement related to the education setting that specifies that proposed research must be relevant to education in the United States and must address factors under the control of U.S. education systems. Detailed information about the types of education settings that are appropriate is provided in Part II.   

• Expectations for the research project and career development plan: NCSER clarified expectations around the scope of the research project and the career development plan.  

• Research focused on postsecondary students: NCSER clarified that research on postsecondary students and/or outcomes is allowed under any research topic.  

• Project type recommendations: NCSER added tables to the Recommendations section in Part II specifying recommended information applicants should address in their Significance and Research Plan sections for their selected project type.  

• Research that reflects the needs of key stakeholders: NCSER added language to encourage researchers to describe how they will consider input from learners, educators, and/or other key stakeholders when conceptualizing, designing, and reporting the results of their research, and when considering issues critical for implementation and scaling of interventions.  

• Mentor time commitments: NCSER clarified recommendations for describing mentors’ time commitments. Specifically, NCSER recommends describing time commitments in terms of percent effort over a 12-month calendar year as well as detailing the time they will devote to particular mentoring tasks, including meetings and other activities.   

• Appendix C: NCSER clarified the types of projects that should be included in Appendix C. Specifically, Appendix C must include a summary table of ongoing (and recently completed) projects conducted by the PI that are related to the topic of the proposed Early Career project or use similar methods in addition to those conducted by the mentor(s).