Discovery Research K-12 (STEM focus)

The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program seeks to enable significant advances in student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines. Projects funded under this solicitation begin with a research question or hypothesis about how to improve preK-12 STEM learning and teaching and then develop, implement, and study effects of innovative educational resources, models, or technologies. DR K-12 invites proposals that meet a variety of educational needs, from those that address immediate challenges facing preK-12 STEM education to those that anticipate the future when expectations, roles and resources are likely to be aligned in different ways. DR K-12 especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10-15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to support learning. 

Project goals, designs, and working strategies should be informed by prior research and practical experience drawn from all relevant disciplines and they should focus on concepts and skills that are central to STEM disciplines. Tthe DR K-12 program has the more focused goal of fostering the creation of a new generation of resources, models, and tools that take full advantage of the capabilities of information and communications technologies to enhance the education of K-12 learners. The DR K-12 program accepts proposals for exploratory projects, full research and development projects, and synthesis projects, as well as for conferences and workshops related to the mission of the program.


Amount: Varies


Date due: Letter of Intent (11/05/10); Full proposal (01/06/11)


For more information, click here.

Climate Literacy

The goal of this funding opportunity is to support K-12 education projects that advance inquiry-based Earth System Science learning and stewardship directly tied to the school curriculum, with a particular interest in increasing climate literacy. To address this goal, this solicitation will support service-learning and professional development projects related to NOAA's mission in the areas of ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, weather and climate sciences and stewardship. A successful project will catalyze change in K-12 education at the state, regional and national level through development of new programs and/or revision of existing programs to improve the environmental literacy of K-12 teachers and their students. A successful project will also leverage NOAA assets, although use of non- NOAA assets is also encouraged. The target audiences for this funding opportunity are K-12 students, pre- and in-service teachers, and providers of pre-service teacher education and in-service teacher professional development. There is a special interest in projects that address reaching groups traditionally underserved and/or underrepresented in Earth System science. One group that has been identified as underserved is elementary level teachers and students. This funding opportunity has two priorities, which are equal in their importance for funding. Priority 1 is for innovative proof-of-concept projects that are one to two years in duration, for a total minimum request of $200,000 and a total maximum request of $500,000. Priority 2 is for full-scale implementation of educational projects that are three to five years in duration, for a total minimum request of $500,001 and a total maximum request of $1,500,000.

Amount: Varies (see priorities noted above)

Date due: January 12, 2011

For more information, click here.

Office of Naval Research STEM initiative for K-12 & Higher Education

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) mission is to: foster an interest in, knowledge of, and study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics nationwide to ensure an educated and well-prepared workforce, which meets the naval and national competitive needs. In support of this mission, the following five goals have been identified:

• Inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. [Grades K-10]
• Engage students in STEM-related hands-on learning activities using Navy content. [Grades 3-12]
• Educate students to be well-prepared for employment in STEM disciplines in the Navy or in supporting academic institutions or the Naval contractor community. [Higher Education]
• Employ, retain and develop Naval STEM professionals. [Higher Education, Professional Development, Faculty]
• Collaborate across Naval STEM programs to maximize benefits to participants and the Navy.

The purpose of this announcement is to receive proposals in support of the Office of Naval Research’s mission of scientific outreach and education in working to develop the next generation of scientists capable of providing support to the continued development of critical technologies in support of the Department of Defense.

Amount: $200,000/year for 3 years

Date due: September 30, 2011

For more information, click here.

Update on IES research priorities

From -- Inside School Research

The Institute of Education Sciences published a proposed list of research priorities yesterday. (Thanks to Jim Kohlmoos of the Knowledge Alliance for alerting me to the Federal Register notice making the announcement.)

If you've been following the media reports on IES Director John Easton's talks and interviews, you have a pretty good idea what those priorities are. IES is placing a big emphasis, for instance, on the idea that "effective education research must be informed by the interests and needs of education practitioners and policymakers."

"To this end," the priorities list reads, "the Institute will encourage close partnerships between researchers and practitioners in the conceptualization, planning, and conduct of research and evaluation." Indeed, that kind of collaborative focus is already embedded in some of the research grants the institute has given out this year.

The priorities also reflect the new director's interest in: looking beyond student achievement and studying "the behaviors, skills, and dispositions that support learning in school and later success in life"; learning how to generate higher-order thinking in students; developing "innovative approaches" to improve education outcomes; developing a better understanding of the educational processes through which policies and programs affect students; and studying the context of schooling.

When it comes to study methods, the priorities reiterate the institute's long-standing commitment to "rigorous scientific methods." But they also say "the work of the institute will include a variety of research and statistical methods" and that the IES will work to ensure that the methods used are appropriate to the questions being asked.

These priorities aren't yet set in stone. The institute will accept comments from the public until Sept. 7. The National Board for Education Sciences, which advises the institute, has to weigh in on them, too. That's likely to happen in the fall when the newly reconstituted board convenes.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education

The U.S. Department of Education announces the release of the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE). The Comprehensive Program supports innovative grants and cooperative agreements to improve postsecondary education. It supports reforms, innovations, and significant improvements of postsecondary education that respond to problems of national significance and serve as national models.

Invitational Priorities:

1. Centers of excellence for teacher preparation as described in section 242 of the HEA.

2. University sustainability initiatives as described in section 881 of HEA.

3. Rural development initiatives for rural-serving colleges and universities as described in section 861 of HEA.

4. Initiatives to assist highly qualified minorities and women to acquire doctoral degrees in fields where they are underrepresented as described in section 807 of HEA.

5. Modeling and simulation programs as described in section 891 of HEA.

6. Higher education consortia to design and offer interdisciplinary programs that focus on poverty and human capability as described in section 74(a)(11) of HEA.

7. Innovative postsecondary models to improve college matriculation and graduation rates, including activities to facilitate transfer of credits between institutions of higher education, alignment of curricula on a state or multi-state level between high schools and colleges and between two-year and four-year postsecondary programs, dual enrollment and articulation agreements and partnerships between high schools and community colleges, and partnerships between K-12 organizations and colleges for college pathway programs.

8. Activities to develop or enhance educational partnerships and cross-cultural cooperation between postsecondary educational institutions in the United States and similar institutions in Haiti.

Amount: $750,000

Date due: July 29, 2010

For more information, click here.

PGE Foundation Grants supporting Education

The PGE Foundation is committed to improving the quality of life in Oregon by awarding grants in the areas of education, healthy families, and arts and culture. In the education category, the Foundation supports a wide range of programs, from preschool through college. In the healthy families category, the focus is on organizations that work to promote services in all areas of health, including hunger, mental health, homelessness, domestic violence, health care, etc. In the arts and culture category, the Foundation strives to educate all ages through the support of arts curriculum development as well as a variety of cultural performances.

Amount: $2,500 - $10,000

Date due: The remaining 2010 deadlines for letters of inquiry are July 13 and November 16.

For more information, click here.

National Council on Teacher Quality

The National Council on Teacher Quality is issuing a call for proposals for the second biennial research competition. This competition culminates in a national conference in March 2011 in Washington, D.C., when finalists will defend their paper before some of the nation's top teacher quality scholars. The 2009 jury included Jane Hannaway, Eric Hanushek, Susan Moore Johnsonand Michael Podgursky.

In the 2011 competition, NCTQ is seeking topics to increase knowledge of the impact of collective bargaining agreements, school board policies and state laws on teacher quality and student achievement. NCTQ's TR³ database (www.nctq.org/tr3) can serve as a core resource for the selected research pursuit, but its use is not a prerequisite for the competition. Scholars of any experience level are eligible, although NCTQ is particularly interested in attracting new scholars from a variety of fields, intent on investigating untapped topics.

In June 2010 the jury will select up to 12 semi-finalists, who will be awarded $5,000 to develop their proposals into full papers. After the papers are submitted, in January 2011 the jury will select the best five to eight papers for presentation at the national conference.

Finalists will each receive an all expenses paid trip to D.C. to present their paper. The first prize winner will receive $10,000 and the second prize winner will receive $5,000. All other finalists will receive $1,000. In addition, NCTQ and jury members will endorse the papers for publication in leading academic journals.

Proposals are due midnight EST, June 10.

For more information, click here.

Science Education Partnership Award

National Center for Research Resources encourages applications to its Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program for the development and evaluation of innovative research education programs to improve PreK-12 research career opportunities and the community's understanding of the health science advances supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded clinical and basic research. SEPA encourages dynamic partnerships between biomedical and clinical researchers and PreK-12 teachers and schools and other interested organizations. Particular importance will be given to applications that target PreK-12 and/or ISE/media topics that may not be addressed by existing curriculum, community-based or ISE/media activities.

Amount: $250,000

Date due: June 22, 2010

For more information, click here.

Canada Outreach Grant

The Canada K-12 Outreach Grant is designed to encourage and support training and resource development that benefit K-12 teachers who teach about Canada, Canada-U.S. relations, and/or Canada’s role in the international community. The program endeavours to broaden and strengthen awareness and understanding about Canada among students throughout the United States. We strongly encourage programs that include an opportunity for K-12 teachers to travel to Canada.

Institutions must demonstrate their funding support for the program and that they are bringing innovative ideas to the program. This grant is intended for U.S. universities and colleges with a significant track record with K-12 outreach programs.

Amount: $15,000

Date due: June 30, 2010

For more information, click here.

Service Learning Partnership Grant (Teachers & Schools)

With the support of State Farm, Habitat for Humanity International is offering a Service-Learning Partnership Grant program to provide funds for teachers and schools interested in developing and implementing service-learning projects in partnership with their local Habitat affiliate.

For the 20010-11 school year, teachers and local Habitat affiliates can jointly apply for a one-year grant of up to $7,000 to cover educational expenses associated with the service-learning project. Of that, a maximum of $5,000 may be used as support for the local Habitat affiliate. In addition, partnerships can apply for an additional travel scholarship grant of $1,000 for teachers and affiliate staff to attend either the National Service-Learning Conference presented by the National Youth Leadership Council or the Youth Leadership Conference hosted by Habitat for Humanity International.

Amount: $7,000

Date due: May 15, 2010

For more information, click here.

IES Analysis of Longitudinal Data

To promote the use of State and district longitudinal data sets for identifying factors associated with better education outcomes, the Institute of Education Sciences has created the Analysis of Longitudinal Data to Support State and Local Education Reform research topic (Analysis of Longitudinal Data).

Grants provided under the Analysis of Longitudinal Data topic will support researchers in collaboration with State and local education agencies (SEAs and LEAs) to analyze State or district longitudinal data in order to explore the malleable factors¹ (i.e., factors that can be changed by the education system) that may be associated with better education outcomes (e.g., student achievement, high school graduation rates, postsecondary enrollment and completion), as well as mediators and moderators of the relations between these factors and education outcomes.

The long term outcome of this program will be the identification of malleable factors that can contribute to the development of new education interventions, modification of existing ones, and identification of interventions that may deserve more rigorous evaluation. A second outcome will be an increased use of longitudinal data systems by SEAs and LEAs for decision making and an increased capacity through research collaborations to use them.

Amount: Varies depending upon IES Goal

Date due: June 24, 2010; September 16, 2010

For more information, click here.

Migrant Education Family Literacy program

The Migrant Education Even Start (MEES) Family Literacy program is intended to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy of migratory agricultural or fishing families by improving the educational opportunities of these families through the integration of early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program. This program is implemented through cooperative activities that build on high-quality existing community resources to create a new range of educational services for the most-in-need migratory agricultural or fishing families, promote the academic achievement of migratory children and adults, assist migratory children in meeting challenging State content standards and challenging State achievement standards, and use instructional programs based on scientifically based reading research on preventing and overcoming reading difficulties for children and adults. NOTE: Competitive preference priority is for "novice applicants" (those who have not received a migrant education award in the past).

Amount: $400,000/year

Date due: May 14, 2010

For more information, click here.

Math & Science Partnerships (MSP)

The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program is a major research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. MSP projects are expected to raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce achievement gaps in the mathematics and science performance of diverse student populations. In order to improve the mathematics and science achievement of the Nation's students, MSP projects contribute to what is known in mathematics and science education and serve as models that have a sufficiently strong evidence/research base to improve the mathematics and science education outcomes for all students. NSF's MSP program coordinates its effort with programs of the U.S. Department of Education in the expectation that effective innovations in mathematics and science education will be disseminated into wider practice.

Through this solicitation, NSF seeks to support five types of awards:

• Targeted Partnerships focus on studying and solving teaching and learning issues within a specific grade range or at a critical juncture in education, and/or within a specific disciplinary focus in mathematics or the sciences;
• Institute Partnerships - Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century focus on meeting national needs for teacher leaders/master teachers who have deep knowledge of disciplinary content for teaching and are fully prepared to be school- or district-based intellectual leaders in mathematics or the sciences;
• MSP-Start Partnerships are for awardees new to the MSP program, especially from minority-serving institutions, community colleges and primarily undergraduate institutions, to support the necessary data analysis, project design, evaluation and team building activities needed to develop a full MSP Targeted or Institute Partnership;
• Phase II Partnerships are for prior NSF MSP Partnership awardees to continue implementation on specific innovative areas of their work where evidence of the potential for significant positive impact is clearly documented. The intent is that there will be focused efforts to carry out the necessary research to advance knowledge and understanding in the specific area(s); and
• Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance (RETA) projects (a) study the relationships among MSP activities and student learning using theoretically informed, methodologically rigorous methods; (b) develop and validate instruments of teacher or student knowledge that MSPs and others can use to assess the impact of their work, or (c) provide technical assistance to MSP projects to help them rigorously evaluate their work.

Amount: Varies depending upon type of project

Date due: July 8, 2010

For more information, click here.

Jordan Fundamentals Innovation Grants

A philanthropic project of the Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., the Jordan Fundamentals Grant Program awards a total of $1 million annually to teachers across the United States who motivate and inspire students (grades one through 12) to achieve excellence. The grant program is designed to recognize outstanding teaching and instructional creativity in public schools that serve economically disadvantaged students.

To be eligible, schools must be public schools with at least 50 percent of their student population eligible for free and reduced-fee lunch. All public schools (regular, district, regional, charter, pilot, special, and alternative) in the fifty states and the District of Columbia are eligible to apply for a grant. Private schools are not eligible.

Any activity that a teacher proposes is eligible for funding if it impacts student success. Applicants must develop an educational approach that supports improved student academic achievement and social/emotional/behavioral interventions through student engagement, student teacher relationships, and/or building the capacity of teachers. Applicants are encouraged to involve students in the development of this plan or unit.

Amount: $5,000

Date due: April 30, 2010

For more information, click here.

Fostering Interdisciplinary Research on Education (FIRE)

FIRE is a new strand of the Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program (NSF 09-601) and it is anticipated that after this first competition, FIRE will be incorporated into the REESE solicitation. The FIRE program seeks to facilitate the process by which scholars can cross disciplinary boundaries to acquire the skills and knowledge that would improve their abilities to conduct rigorous research on STEM learning and education.

The primary goal of the strand is to facilitate the development of innovative theoretical, methodological, and analytic approaches to understanding complex STEM education issues of national importance and, by so doing, make progress toward solving them. A secondary goal of the strand is to broaden and deepen the pool of investigators engaged in STEM educational research. In order to address this goal, investigators must pair with a mentoring scientist in a to-be-learned field of interest. Proposals therefore have both a research and a professional development component. Investigators may apply at any point in their post-graduate careers.

Amount: $400,000 (across two years)

Date due: May 20, 2010

For more information, click here.

William T Grant Foundation Evidence-based Research Grant

Through this RFP, the William T Grant Foundation supports empirical, theory-building studies of what affects policymakers’ and practitioners’ acquisition, interpretation, and use of research evidence. They are interested in policy and practice directly relevant to youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States. Areas of focus can include education, juvenile justice, child welfare, health, family support, employment, and youth programs.

Amount: $100,000 - $600,000 (across 2 - 3 years)

Date due: May 6, 2010

For more information, click here.

Arts in Education Model Development

The Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) Program supports the enhancement, expansion, documentation, evaluation, and dissemination of innovative, cohesive models that are based on research and have demonstrated that they effectively--(1) Integrate standards-based arts education into the core elementary and middle school curriculum; (2) strengthen standards-based arts instruction in these grades; and (3) improve students' academic performance, including their skills in creating, performing, and responding to the arts. Projects funded through the AEMDD Program are intended to increase the amount of nationally available information on effective models for arts education that integrate the arts with standards-based education programs.

Amount: $250,000

Date due: March 16, 2010

For more information, click here.

Innovative Technology Experiences for Students & Teachers

The Innovative Technology Experiences for Students & Teachers (ITEST) program responds to current concerns and projections about the growing demand for professionals and information technology workers in the U.S. and seeks solutions to help ensure the breadth and depth of the STEM workforce. ITEST supports research studies to address questions about how to find solutions. It also supports the development, implementation, testing, and scale-up of implementation models. A large variety of possible approaches to improving the STEM workforce and to building student's capacity to participate in it may be implemented and studied. ITEST projects may include students or teachers, kindergarten through high school age, and any area of the STEM workforce. Projects that explore cyberlearning, specifically learning with cyberinfrastructure tools such as networked computing and communications technologies in K-12 settings, are of special interest.

This program is interested in addressing such questions as: What does it take to effectively interest and prepare students to participate in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce of the future? What are the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students need in order to participate productively in the changing STEM workforce and be innovators, particularly in STEM-related networked computing and information and communication technology (ICT) areas? How do they acquire them? How can the Nation’s burgeoning cyberinfrastructure be harnessed as a tool for STEM learning in classrooms and informal learning environments? What will ensure that the nation has the capacity it needs to participate in transformative, innovative STEM advances? How can we assess and predict inclination to participate in the STEM fields and how can we measure and study impact of various models to encourage that participation?

Research projects enrich the understanding of issues related to enlarging the STEM workforce. Research projects may conduct efficacy and effectiveness studies of intervention models, conduct longitudinal studies of efforts to engage students in the STEM areas, develop instruments to assess engagement, persistence, and other relevant constructs of student motivation, or conduct studies to identify predictors of student inclination to pursue STEM career trajectories. The program is especially interested in projects that target students from groups that are underserved and underrepresented in STEM and ICT-intensive careers, including those residing in rural and economically disadvantaged communities.Strategies projects design, implement, and evaluate models for classroom, after-school, summer, virtual, and/or year-round learning experiences for students and/or teachers. The strategies are intended to encourage students’ readiness for, and their interest and participation in, the STEM workforce of the future. Strategies project proposals must describe the anticipated contribution to the research knowledge base about STEM career preparation in addition to immediate impacts on participants.

Amount: $300,000 - $5m

Date due: April 7, 2010

For more information, click here.

NASA GCCE grant released

The Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) project extends the results of NASA’s Earth Science Program to the education community by sponsoring unique and stimulating opportunities for global climate and Earth system science education. The goals of the GCCE project are to use NASA’s unique contributions to climate and Earth system science to:

• Goal 1: improve the teaching and learning about global climate change in elementary and secondary schools, on college campuses, and through lifelong learning;
• Goal 2: increase the number of people, particularly high school and undergraduate students,using NASA Earth observation data, Earth system models, and/or simulations to investigate and analyze global climate change issues;
• Goal 3: increase the number of undergraduate students prepared for employment and/or to enter graduate school in technical fields relevant to global climate change.

Amount: Varies

Date due: April 28, 2010

For more information, click here.

IES English Language Learner Research

Through its research program on English Language Learners (ELL), the Institute intends to contribute to improvement of academic achievement in reading, writing, mathematics, or science, as well as other school outcomes (e.g., graduation rates, access to postsecondary education) for students who are English language learners by: (1) exploring malleable factors (e.g., children's skills, instructional practices, policies) that are associated with better child outcomes, as well as mediators and moderators of the relations between these factors and child outcomes, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) developing innovative interventions for ELL students (e.g., curriculum, instructional practices, programs, and policies) designed to improve outcomes for ELL students; (3) evaluating fully developed interventions for ELL students through efficacy or replication trials; (4) evaluating the impact of interventions for ELL students that are implemented at scale; and (5) developing, revising, and validating assessments for use with ELL students.

The long-term outcome of this program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., assessments, instructional approaches, programs, and policies) that have been documented to be effective for improving academic outcomes for ELL students.

Amount: $100,000 - $1.2m (3 years)

Date due: June 24, 2010

For more information, click here.

IES Teacher Quality Research (Math & Science)

The general purpose of the Institute's Teacher Quality — Mathematics and Science (Teacher Quality — Math/Science) research program is to identify effective strategies for improving the performance of current classroom teachers in ways that increase student learning and school achievement in mathematics and science. The Institute intends for the Teacher Quality — Math/Science research program to fulfill five goals: (1) exploring the relations between malleable factors (e.g., practices of teachers and other instructional personnel; professional development programs) and student outcomes in mathematics or science, as well as mediators and moderators of the relations between student outcomes and these malleable factors, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) developing innovative programs and practices for teacher professional development that are intended to improve teacher practices and through them student learning and achievement; (3) evaluating the efficacy of teacher professional development programs and practices that are intended to improve teacher practices and through them student learning and achievement; (4) evaluating the effectiveness of teacher professional development programs that are implemented at scale and intended to improve teacher practices and through them student learning and achievement; and (5) developing and validating new assessments or validating existing assessments of teachers of mathematics or science against measures of student achievement.

Under these goals, the Institute supports research on teacher professional development interventions and teacher assessments relevant to (a) teaching mathematics or science from kindergarten through high school and (b) teaching basic skills in mathematics to adults. By "professional development" the Institute refers to in-service training of or tools for current instructional personnel. Long term outcomes of the Teacher Quality — Math/Science program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., in-service programs, assessments) that have been demonstrated to be effective for improving and assessing teacher performance in ways that are linked to increases in student achievement.

Amount: $100,000 - $1.2m (3 years)

Date due: June 24, 2010

For more information, click here.

IES Teacher Quality Research (Reading & Writing)

The general purpose of the Institute's Teacher Quality — Reading and Writing (Teacher Quality - Read/Write) research program is to identify effective strategies for improving the performance of current classroom teachers in ways that increase student learning and school achievement. The Institute intends for the Teacher Quality — Read/Write research program to fulfill five goals: (1) exploring the relations between malleable factors (e.g., practices of teachers and other instructional personnel; professional development programs) and student outcomes in reading or writing, as well as mediators and moderators of the relations between student outcomes and these malleable factors, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) developing innovative programs and practices for teacher professional development that are intended to improve teacher practices and through them student learning and achievement; (3) evaluating the efficacy of teacher professional development programs and practices that are intended to improve teacher practices and through them student learning and achievement; (4) evaluating the effectiveness of teacher professional development programs that are implemented at scale and intended to improve teacher practices and through them student learning and achievement; and (5) developing and validating new assessments or validating existing assessments for teachers of reading or writing against measures of student achievement.

Under these goals, the Institute supports research on teacher professional development interventions and teacher assessments relevant to (a) teaching reading or writing from kindergarten through high school and (b) teaching basic skills in reading or writing to adults. By "professional development" the Institute refers to in-service training of or tools for current instructional personnel.

Long term outcomes of the Teacher Quality — Read/Write program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., in-service programs, assessments) that have been demonstrated to be effective for improving and assessing teacher performance in ways that are linked to increases in student achievement.

Amount: $100,000 - $1.2 (3 years)

Date due: June 24, 2010

For more information, click here.

Investigator Initiated Grant on Youth Settings

The William T. Grant Foundation supports work to improve the settings of youth between the ages of 8 and 25 in the United States. The foundation supports high-quality research designed to enhance the understanding of how youth settings work, how they affect youth development, and how they can be improved, as well as when, how, and under what conditions research evidence is used in policy and practice that affect youth and how its use can be improved.

Applicants should submit a project that is consistent with the foundation's current research interests; addresses issues that have compelling relevance for theory, policy, and/or practice affecting the settings of youth between the ages of 8 and 25 in the United States; and reflects high standards of evidence and rigorous methods, commensurate with the project's goals.

The foundation's current Action Topic is improving the quality of afterschool programs. The foundation funds studies of how afterschool programs affect youth, research on attempts to improve these programs, and activities meant to strengthen the communication among researchers, policy makers, and practitioners in the afterschool field.

Amount: Varies

Date due: April 6, 2010 (Letter of Inquiry)

For more information, click here.

Global Climate Change Funding Opportunity

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) is releasing a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) soliciting proposals for "Global Climate Change Education (GCCE): Research Experiences, Modeling and Data". The objective of the effort is to extend the results of NASA’s Earth Science Program to the education community by sponsoring unique and stimulating opportunities for global climate and Earth system science education.

GCCE is designed to improve the quality of the Nation’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and enhance students’ and teachers’ literacy about global climate and Earth system change from elementary grades to life-long learners. Each funded proposal is expected to make use of NASA’s unique contributions in climate science to enhance learners' academic experiences and/or to improve educators’ abilities to engage their students. The GCCE project will consider proposals in the following two funding categories:

(1) Funding Category R: Global Climate Change Science Research Experiences for Undergraduate or Community College Students and Pre- or In-Service Teachers including those in nontraditional teacher licensure programs;

(2) Funding Category D/M: Using NASA Earth system data, interactive models and/or simulations to Strengthen Teaching and Learning about Global Climate Change.

Projects may be proposed for durations of up to 3 years. Notices of intent (NOIs) are strongly encouraged and are to be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at http://nspires.nasaprs.com.

The CAN will be released in mid-February.

For more information, click here.

Technology & Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities

The purposes of the Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities program are to: (1) Improve results for children with disabilities by promoting the development, demonstration, and use of technology; (2) support educational media services activities designed to be of educational value in the classroom setting to children with disabilities; and (3) provide support for captioning and video description that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting. Phase 1 projects must develop, refine, and test the feasibility of specific technology-based approaches. Phase 2 projects must subject technology-based approaches to rigorous field-based research to determine their effectiveness.

Amount: Phase 1 ($200,000/year for 2 years); Phase 2 ($300,000/year for 3 years)

Due date: March 19, 2010

For more information, click here.

Digital Media & Learning Competition

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced the Digital Media and Learning Competition, a $2 million open competition for ideas with the potential to transform learning using digital media. The competition seeks designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to build digital media experiences — the learning labs of the 21st century — that help young people interact, share, build, and explore in new and innovative ways.

Awards will be made in two categories: 21st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers. The competition includes three rounds of submissions, with public comment at each stage. The public will also be invited to judge the final candidates, including the selection of People's Choice awards in each category.

Amount: Varies

Date due: The application system opens on January 15, 2010. During this period, applicants are encouraged to seek partnerships with other applicants that may make either or both proposed projects stronger. Preliminary applications are due on January 22, 2010.

For more information, click here.