IRA Esther Zolt Academic Research Grant

This grant, established in memory of Esther Zolt, a life-long elementary classroom teacher, may be given annually for a research study on the classroom implementation of In2Books or an e-Pals project and the Common Core State Standards that inspires others to improve teaching and learning in innovative ways.

Amount: $2,500

Date due: November 15, 2012

For more information, click here.

Advancing Informal STEM Learning (NSF)

The Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) solicitation invites investigators to propose ideas, concepts, models,and other opportunities for learning and learning environments that will capture the creative and innovative potential of informal STEM learning for the future, and potentially forge new connections across all STEM learning communities.  


Leveraging new and emerging technologies, STEM learning can now be located and situated wherever the learner is and customized to meet the learner's educational needs. New interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships for informal
learning among academia, industry, and government can greatly advance our nation's goals to produce a scientifically and technologically literate population and workforce.


Amount: Varies


Date due: January 14, 2013


For more information, click here.

U.S. -- Australia Virtual Environmental Partnership

The Youth Programs Division, Office of Citizen Exchanges, of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces an open competition for the new U.S.-Australia Virtual Environmental Partnership under the Global Connections and Exchange Program. Applicant organizations will identify their own partner organization in Australia. Bi-national teams will work together on joint projects to investigate and develop solutions to local, regional, or global environmental water resource issues by using online tools, videoconferencing, virtual workshops, and other advanced methods of communication. Through this exchange, participants will achieve competency in the chosen topic, expand their vision of the world, and gain perspectives that will help them succeed in the international arena. 

Amount: $100,000

Date due: June 4, 2012

For more information, click here.

Research & Evaluation on Education in Science & Engineering

The Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program seeks to advance research at the frontiers of STEM learning and education, and to provide the foundational knowledge necessary to improve STEM learning and education in current and emerging learning contexts, both formal and informal, from childhood through adulthood, for all groups, and from before school through to graduate school and beyond into the workforce. The goals of the REESE program are: (1) to catalyze discovery and innovation at the frontiers of STEM learning and education; (2) to stimulate the field to produce high quality and robust research results through the progress of theory, method, and human resources; and (3) to coordinate and transform advances in education and learning research. In coordination with the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) and Research on Disabilities Education (RDE) programs, REESE supports research on broadening participation in STEM education. REESE pursues its mission by developing an interdisciplinary research portfolio focusing on core scientific questions about STEM learning; it welcomes Fostering Interdisciplinary Research on Education (FIRE) projects, previously called for in a separate solicitation. REESE places particular importance upon the involvement of young investigators in the projects, at doctoral, postdoctoral, and early career stages, as well as the involvement of STEM disciplinary experts. Research questions related to educational research methodology and measurement are also central to REESE activities. 

Amount: Varies

Date due: July 17, 2012

For more information, click here.

Target Early Childhood Reading & Arts and Culture Grants

Every year, the Target Store Grant program provides grants to K-12 schools and other nonprofit organizations working to provide reading and arts programs for children and youth.  Target Early Childhood Reading Grants are awarded to schools, libraries, and nonprofit organizations to support programs such as afterschool reading events and weekend book clubs. Grants are intended to help foster a love of reading and encourage children, preschool through third grade, to read with their families.

Target Arts and Culture in Schools Grants are intended to enhance classroom curricula by bringing music, dance, drama, and visual arts programs into the classroom. These grants are designed to help bring performers to schools so children can experience the arts and learn new forms of self-expression. Eligible programs include in-school performances, artist in residency programs, and workshops in schools.

Amount: $2,000

Date due: April 30, 2012

For more information, click here.

Investing in Innovation

The Investing in Innovation Fund, established under section 14007 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provides funding to support (1) local educational agencies (LEAs), and (2) nonprofit organizations in partnership with (a) one or more LEAs or (b) a consortium of schools. The purpose of this program is to provide competitive grants to applicants with a record of improving student achievement and attainment in order to expand the implementation of, and investment in, innovative practices that are demonstrated to have an impact on improving student achievement or student growth (as defined in this notice), closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and completion rates.

Date due: Pre-applications are due April 9, 2012

For more information, click here.

Oregon Parks Foundation Grants

The Oregon Parks Foundation Fund, administered by the Oregon Community Foundation, supports nonprofit organizations and public agencies throughout the state that address outdoor recreational issues. Grants are provided to community, district, county, and regional level organizations for the acquisition, preservation, and improvement of land and other property for public parks and recreational areas. Community outdoor recreation and education programs are also supported.

Amount: $1,500 - $5,000

Date due: April 15, 2012

For more information, click here.

Target Early Childhood & Arts & Culture

The Target Local Store Grants support nonprofit organizations in the communities where the company's stores are located. (There are currently stores in every state with the exception of Vermont.) Arts, Culture + Design in Schools grants support programs that enhance students’ classroom curriculum by bringing the arts and cultural experiences to schools, such as in-school performances, artist in residency programs, and workshops in schools. Early Childhood Reading grants support programs that foster a love of reading and encourage young children, preschool through third grade, to read together with their families.

Amount: $2,000

Date due: April 1, 2012

For more information, click here.

Motorola Mobility Empowerment Grants

The Motorola Mobility Foundation's Empowerment Grants program supports the development of digital, social, and mobile technology applications that will make a positive change in nonprofit organizations, communities, and schools by broadening a stakeholder group, enhancing the skills of constituents, and encouraging the development of new innovations. Funded programs must serve communities in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, or Texas or be an online or national program. Applicants must demonstrate the ways that digital technology can be used to further the following funding priorities: education, health and wellness, arts and culture, or community.

Amount: $25,000

Date due: March 23, 2012

For more information, click here.

Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program

The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program supports overseas projects in training, research, and curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies for groups of teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common endeavor. Short-term projects may include seminars, curriculum development, or group research or study. Long-term projects support advanced overseas intensive language projects, which give advanced language students the opportunity to study languages overseas.

Amount: $125,000

Date due: April 23, 2012

For more information, click here.

Motorola Solutions Innovation Generation (STEM)

The Motorola Solutions Foundation's Innovation Generation program is designed to inspire students to learn about science and generate interest in science-related careers.

Innovation Generation funding equips students with the skills essential to both their lives today and their future success. By making the complex concepts behind math and science real and relevant, students look at their world differently through strengthened problem-solving skills. The Motorola Solutions Foundation accomplishes this through grant-making, engaging employee volunteers, building networks among science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) leaders and conducting research.

Amount: $60,000 (local); $250,000 (national)

Date due: March 23, 2012

For more information, click here.

NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The Noyce Scholarship Track provides funds to institutions of higher education to support scholarships, stipends, and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors and post-baccalaureate students holding STEM degrees who earn a teaching credential and commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts.

The NSF Teaching Fellowship/Master Teaching Fellowship Trackprovides funding to support STEM professionals who enroll as NSF Teaching Fellows in master's degree programs leading to teacher certification by providing academic courses, professional development, and salary supplements while they are fulfilling a four-year teaching commitment in a high-need school district. This track also supports the development of NSF Master Teaching Fellows by providing professional development and salary supplements for exemplary mathematics and science teachers to become Master Teachers in high-need school districts. Each track supports Capacity Building Projects to develop the capacity for institutions to provide innovative teacher preparation programs to enable increasing numbers of STEM majors and STEM professionals to become effective K-12 mathematics and science teachers and to develop the capacity to prepare Master science and mathematics teachers.

Amount: Varies

Date due: February 27, 2012 (Letter of Intent); March 26, 2012 (Proposal)

For more information, click here.

NSF Computing Education for the 21st Century

The Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21) program aims to build a robust computing research community, a computationally competent 21st century workforce, and a computationally empowered citizenry. In this undertaking, there are three interrelated challenges: the significant underproduction of degrees needed for the computing and computing-related workforce, the longstanding underrepresentation of many segments of our population, and the lack of a presence of computing in K-12. Innovation in information technology (IT) has driven economic growth, underlies many of our recent scientific advances, and ensures our national security; it is not surprising then that predicted IT job growth is very strong. Yet students are not majoring in computing in sufficient numbers. This shortfall is exacerbated by the longstanding underrepresentation of women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and indigenous peoples in computing.

Unlike many of the other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines, computing has not developed a robust research base on the teaching and learning of its fundamental concepts and skills. That research base must be built and it must be used in providing all students with rigorous academic curricula that cover computational concepts and skills, and the breadth of application and potential of computing. Providing access to rigorous, academic computing in K-12 will require an unprecedented effort to develop curriculum and materials and to prepare teachers.CE21 thus supports efforts in three tracks:

Computing Education Research (CER) proposals will aim to develop a research base for computing education. Projects may conduct basic research on the teaching and learning of computational competencies; they may design, develop, test, validate, and refine materials, measurement tools, and methods for teaching in specific contexts; and/or they may implement promising small-scale interventions in order to study their efficacy with particular groups. Efforts can focus on computational thinking as taught in computing courses or infused across the curriculum, they can target students or their teachers in informal or formal educational settings, or they can address any level within the K-16 pipeline, from elementary school through high school and college.

CS 10K proposals will aim to develop the knowledge base and partnerships needed to catalyze the CS 10K Project. The CS 10K Project aims to have rigorous, academic curricula incorporated into computing courses in 10,000 high schools, taught by 10,000 well-trained teachers. CS 10K proposals can address a wide range of needed activities, including the development of course materials, pedagogy, and methods courses, as well as professional development and ongoing support for teachers, approaches to scaling, best practices for increasing the participation of students from underrepresented groups, and strategies for building K-12, university, and community partnerships.

Broadening Participation (BP) proposals will aim to develop and assess novel interventions that contribute to our knowledge base on the effective teaching and learning of computing for students from the underrepresented groups: women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and indigenous peoples. Proposed interventions should be designed to engage and retain students from these groups and, at the same time, to increase their knowledge of computational thinking concepts and skills.

Proposers are encouraged to leverage the resources provided by the existing BPC-A Alliances and to develop interventions that, if proven successful, could be implemented within a BPC-A Alliance. For additional information on the Alliances, see http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503593&org=NSF. In aggregate, CE21 projects will contribute to our understanding of how diverse student populations are engaged and retained in computing, learn its fundamental concepts, and develop computational competencies that position them to contribute to an increasingly computationally empowered workforce.

Amount: $200,000 - $10m

Date due: April 9, 2012

For more information, click here.