OpportunityTitle: Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Investing in Innovation Fund (I3) Validation Grants CFDA Number 84.411B
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: 1. Providing Innovations that Improve Achievement for High-Need Students: All eligible applicants must implement practices, strategies,   or programs for high-need students (as defined in this notice). (2010 i3 NFP)      2. Eligible Applicants: Entities eligible to apply for i3 grants include: (a) An LEA or (b) a partnership between a nonprofit organization and (1) one or more LEAs or (2) a consortium of schools. An eligible applicant that is a partnership applying under section 14007(a)(1)(B) of the ARRA must designate one of its official partners (as defined in this notice) to serve as the applicant in accordance with the Department&apos;s regulations governing group applications in 34 CFR 75.127 through 75.129. (2010 i3 NFP)      3. Eligibility Requirements: Except as specifically set forth in the Note about Eligibility for an Eligible Applicant that Includes a Nonprofit Organization that follows, to be eligible for an award, an eligible applicant must--      (1)(A) Have significantly closed the achievement gaps between groups of students described in section 1111(b)(2) of the ESEA (economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with limited English proficiency, students with disabilities); or      (B) Have demonstrated success in significantly increasing student academic achievement for all groups of students described in that section;      (2) Have made significant improvements in other areas, such as graduation rates or increased recruitment and placement of high-quality teachers and principals, as demonstrated with meaningful data;      (3) Demonstrate that it has established one or more partnerships with the private sector, which may include philanthropic organizations, and that the private sector will provide matching funds in order to help bring results to scale; and      (4) In the case of an eligible applicant that includes a nonprofit organization, provide in the application the names of the LEAs with which the nonprofit organization will partner, or the names of the schools in the consortium with which it will partner. If an eligible applicant that includes a nonprofit organization intends to partner with additional LEAs or schools that are not named in the application, it must describe in the application the demographic and other characteristics of these LEAs and schools and the process it will use to select them as either official or other partners. An applicant must identify its specific partners before a grant award will be made. (2010 i3 NFP)
Description: Note: Each funding opportunity description is a synopsis of information in the Federal Register application notice. For specific information about eligibility, please see the official application notice. The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.Please review the official application notice for pre-application and application requirements, application submission information, performance measures, priorities and program contact information. Purpose of Program: The Investing in Innovation Fund (i3), 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. These grants will (1) allow eligible entities to expand and develop innovative practices that can serve as models of best practices, (2) support partnerships between eligible entities and the private sector and philanthropic community, and (3) support eligible entities in identifying and documenting best practices that can be shared and taken to scale based on demonstrated success. Under this program, the Department awards three types of grants: ``Scale-up&apos;&apos; grants, ``Validation&apos;&apos; grants, and ``Development&apos;&apos; grants. The three grant types differ in the evidence that an applicant is required to submit in support of its proposed project; the expectations for ``scaling up&apos;&apos; successful projects during or after the grant period, either directly or through partners; and the funding that a successful applicant is eligible to receive. This notice invites applications for Validation grants. The notice inviting applications for Scale-up grants is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. The notice inviting applications for Development grants was published in the Federal Register on February 24, 2012 (77 FR 11087) and is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-24/pdf/2012-4357.pdf. Validation grants provide funding to support practices, strategies, or programs that show promise, but for which there is currently only moderate evidence (as defined in this notice) that the proposed practice, strategy, or program will have a statistically significant effect on improving student achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and completion rates and that, with further study, the effect of implementing the proposed practice, strategy, or program may prove to be substantial and important. Scale-up grants require applicants to have strong evidence (as defined in this notice) to support their proposed project. Applications for Validation grants do not need to have the same level of research evidence to support the proposed project as is required for Scale-up grants. An applicant for a Validation grant may also demonstrate success through an intermediate variable strongly correlated with these outcomes, such as teacher or principal effectiveness. An applicant for a Validation grant must estimate the number of students to be reached by the proposed project and provide evidence of its capacity to reach the proposed number of students during the course of the grant. In addition, an applicant for a Validation grant must provide evidence of its capacity (e.g., qualified personnel, financial resources, management capacity) to scale up to a State or regional level, working directly or through partners either during or following the grant period. We recognize that LEAs are not typically responsible for taking to scale their practices, strategies, or programs in other LEAs and States. However, all applicants, including LEAs, can and should partner with others to disseminate and take to scale their effective practice, strategy, or program.Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.411B (Validation grants).Applications for grants under the i3 program, CFDA number 84.411B (Validation grants), must be submitted electronically using the Governmentwide Grants.gov Apply site at www.Grants.gov. Through this site, you will be able to download a copy of the application package, complete it offline, and then upload and submit your application. You may not email an electronic copy of a grant application to us.You may access the electronic grant applications for i3 program at www.Grants.gov. You must search for the downloadable application package for this competition by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA number&apos;s alpha suffix in your search (i.e., search for 84.411, not 84.411B).
GrantorContactEmailDescription: e-Mail: Program Mailbox
GrantorContactText: Julius Cotton &lt;br/&gt;ED Grants.gov FIND Systems Admin. &lt;br/&gt;Phone 202-245-6140 &lt;br/&gt;julius.cotton@ed.gov &lt;br/&gt;Program Manager: &lt;br/&gt;Carol Lyons &lt;br/&gt;U.S. Department of Education &lt;br/&gt;400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 4W203 &lt;br/&gt;Washington, DC 20202-5930. &lt;br/&gt;FAX: (202) 205-5631. Telephone: (202) 453-7122 or by email: i3@ed.gov.
CloseDateExplanation: Applications Available: March 29, 2012.     Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: April 16, 2012.  We will be able to develop a more efficient process for reviewing grant applications if we know the approximate number of applicants that intend to apply for funding under this competition. Therefore, the Secretary strongly encourages each potential applicant to notify us of the applicant&apos;s intent to submit an application for funding by completing a web-based form. When completing this form, applicants will provide (1) the applicant organization&apos;s name and address, (2) the type of grant for which the applicant intends to apply, (3) the one absolute priority the applicant intends to address, and (4) a maximum of two of the competitive preference priorities the applicant wishes the Department to consider for purposes of earning the competitive preference priority points. Applicants may access this form online at http://go.usa.gov/PVI. Applicants that do not complete this form may still apply for funding. Informational Meetings: The i3 program intends to hold meetings designed to provide technical assistance to interested applicants for all three types of grants. Detailed information regarding these meetings will be provided on the i3 Web site at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 30, 2012.    SUMMARY: On March 27, 2012, the Office of Innovation and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education published in the Federal Register (77 FR 18229) a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year 2012 for the Investing in Innovation (i3) Validation grant competition (March 27 i3 Validation NIA). This notice extends the deadline date and date for intergovernmental review announced in, and corrects an error in the March 27 i3 Validation NIA.    DATES:       Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 30, 2012.      Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 26, 2012.    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:    Deadline Date Extension        In the March 27 i3 Validation NIA the Department announced the 2012 i3 Validation grant competition and indicated that the Deadline for Transmittal of Applications was May 29, 2012. Applicants under this competition are required to use Grants.gov. Since publishing the March 27 i3 Validation NIA, it has come to the Department&apos;s attention that the Grants.gov help desk will be closed in observance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 28--the day before the original Deadline for the Transmittal of Applications that was announced in the March 27 i3 Validation NIA. The Department extends the deadline date for this competition to May 30, 2012 so that applicants will have sufficient access to the Grants.gov help desk to address any technical issues related to application submission that may arise the day before the deadline date. As a result of the change in the deadline date, we are also extending the Date for Intergovernmental Review by one day--to July 26, 2012.