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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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.

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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.