Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program: Early-Phase Grants CFDA Number 84.411C | ED GRANTS 072920 003

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 072920 003

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program Early-Phase Grants opportunity (CFDA 84.411C; Funding Opportunity Number ED GRANTS 072920 003) is a discretionary U.S. Department of Education grant competition designed to help educators and their partners create and test promising, evidence-based innovations that aim to improve student achievement and educational attainment for high-need students. The program is rooted in section 4611 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended, and it is built around a practical idea: support new or relatively new approaches that look promising, require grantees to evaluate them rigorously and independently, and then use those results to inform broader adoption and improvement across the field.

A defining feature of EIR is its multi-tier evidence structure, which ties the size and purpose of grants to how much credible evidence already exists behind the proposed approach. Over time, projects are expected to build evidence and potentially move through tiers from Early-phase to Mid-phase and, in other years, to Expansion. For the FY 2020 cycle described here, the Department planned to award Early-phase and Mid-phase grants (with Early-phase being the entry tier for innovations backed by limited evidence). Early-phase grants are meant to fund the development, initial implementation, and feasibility testing of a program or practice that prior research suggests could work, but that still needs stronger proof and clearer lessons about how well it can be implemented in real school settings. A key point is that these grants are not meant for simply rolling out well-established practices in a few more places, or for one-off solutions tailored to a single local context. The emphasis is on field-initiated innovation with the potential to matter beyond one site, paired with learning-oriented evaluation that helps determine whether the approach improves outcomes for high-need students and under what conditions.

The opportunity also stresses that every funded project must generate usable knowledge for the broader education community. EIR requires independent evaluations, which is intended to increase the overall supply of trustworthy information about what works, for which students, and in which contexts. In practice, that means applicants must be ready to build evaluation into the project design from the start, not as an afterthought. The Department frames this as a way to both strengthen individual projects through feedback and contribute to national learning so other schools, districts, and policymakers can benefit from what grantees discover, including insights about implementation fidelity and cost structures that can become barriers when trying to scale.

Eligible applicants are fairly broad and include local educational agencies (LEAs), state educational agencies (SEAs), the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), consortia of SEAs or LEAs, and nonprofit organizations. The program also allows an LEA, SEA, BIE, or eligible consortium to apply in partnership with a nonprofit organization, a business, an educational service agency, or an institution of higher education (IHE). While IHEs can participate as partners, an IHE generally is not the stand-alone lead applicant unless it can qualify as a nonprofit (for example, by having 501(c)(3) status). The notice spells out how nonprofits can document their status under 34 CFR 75.51, including IRS recognition under 501(c)(3), state certifications, incorporation documents establishing nonprofit status, or documentation via a parent organization with an affiliate statement.

The announcement includes specific guidance for entities seeking to qualify as rural applicants under EIR. To be considered rural, the applicant must meet a two-part test: first, the applicant must be an eligible type of organization tied to rural LEAs (for example, an LEA or consortium of LEAs with certain NCES urban-centric locale codes, or a nonprofit/educational service agency partnered with such an LEA), and second, a majority of the schools served must also fall within the specified locale codes (32, 33, 41, 42, or 43). Applicants are directed to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) district and school search tools to verify locale codes for districts and schools.

From the competition logistics provided, the opportunity had an original closing date of September 10, 2020, and lists an award ceiling of $12,000,000. The synopsis repeatedly emphasizes that it is not a substitute for the official Federal Register notice, and applicants are expected to rely on the published application notice for the full requirements, including priorities, pre-application and application rules, performance measures, submission instructions, and program contacts. It also points applicants to the Department of Education Common Instructions for Applicants to Discretionary Grant Programs (published February 13, 2019) for standard submission and procedural requirements.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program: Early-Phase Grants CFDA Number 84.411C" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.411.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-07-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-09-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $12,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

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