Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Education Innovation and Research Program: Early-phase Grants CFDA Number 84.411C | ED GRANTS 041918 003

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 041918 003

The Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program Early-phase Grants (CFDA 84.411C) is a discretionary grant competition run by the U.S. Department of Education to support new, entrepreneurial education ideas that aim to improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students. The core purpose is not just to try promising approaches, but to build credible evidence about what works, for whom it works, and under what conditions. In practice, EIR is meant to help the field move beyond isolated pilots by funding innovations that can be developed carefully, tested, improved through real-world implementation, and then positioned for broader replication or scaling if results are strong.

A defining feature of EIR is its multi-tier design, which ties the size of an award and the expectations for scaling to the strength of evidence behind the proposed innovation. The program is structured so that projects can theoretically progress through three tiers: Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion. Early-phase is for newer practices that have promise but only limited supporting evidence; Mid-phase and Expansion are for interventions backed by increasingly rigorous prior research and intended for broader growth across more schools or districts. This particular opportunity is specifically for Early-phase grants only, while separate Federal Register notices cover the Mid-phase and Expansion competitions.

Early-phase grants are intended to fund the development, initial implementation, and feasibility testing of an innovation that prior research suggests could be effective, but that still needs stronger proof. Applicants must be able to present a clear rationale for why the approach should improve outcomes (as defined in the official notice), but they are not expected to have the kind of extensive, high-quality causal evidence that would be required for higher EIR tiers. Importantly, the Department emphasizes that Early-phase projects are not meant to simply spread an already-established program to additional sites or to fund a one-off solution that only makes sense in a single local context. The expectation is that the work will produce learning and evidence that other educators and systems could potentially use, adapt, and build on.

Another major requirement is that every funded EIR project must generate information about its effectiveness through an independent evaluation. For Early-phase grants, the evaluation is expected to use an experimental or quasi-experimental design (as defined in the notice) capable of testing whether the innovation can improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students. While Early-phase is an earlier step in the evidence-building pipeline, applicants are encouraged to design studies that could potentially reach the program’s “moderate evidence” threshold over time. The Department also indicates an intent to provide evaluation technical assistance, including requests for updated, comprehensive evaluation plans and encouraging grantees to revise those plans at least annually as implementation evolves, as long as changes remain consistent with the approved scope and objectives.

The program’s overall approach encourages continuous improvement and iterative development rather than locking grantees into a fixed model from day one. The notice highlights practical questions grantees should address during Early-phase work, such as how feasible it is for others to implement the innovation, what implementation barriers show up in real settings, how cost and implementation fidelity might affect results, and how early indicators can be used to refine the program. The underlying idea is that strengthening the design and delivery of an innovation before a full-scale effectiveness study increases the chances that later evaluations test a well-formed, realistically implementable approach.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and local governments; independent school districts; special district governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) organizations that are not higher education institutions); for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and other entities as clarified in the official eligibility information. This breadth reflects EIR’s intention to attract field-initiated ideas from across the education ecosystem, not just traditional school system applicants, while still maintaining the central focus on improving outcomes for high-need students.

Key administrative details from the opportunity include a funding opportunity number of ED GRANTS 041918 003, with applications made available April 23, 2018. The Department strongly encouraged (but did not require) a notice of intent to apply by May 9, 2018 via an online form, mainly to help streamline the peer review process and to identify which absolute priority an applicant planned to address. The application deadline for transmittal was June 5, 2018. The award ceiling listed for Early-phase grants was $4,000,000, and the Department anticipated making about 16 awards under this competition.

Finally, the notice repeatedly stresses that the synopsis is not a substitute for the official Federal Register application notice. Applicants were directed to follow the Department’s Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs (published February 12, 2018, 83 FR 6003) for submission requirements, addresses, and other procedural rules, and to consult the full Federal Register notice for the exact priorities, eligibility definitions, performance measures, and program contacts. The practical takeaway is that EIR Early-phase funding is meant for organizations with a promising, testable idea and a serious plan to evaluate it independently, learn from implementation, and contribute useful evidence back to the broader education field.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Education Innovation and Research 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 Apr 19, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 05, 2018 Applications Available April 23, 2018. Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply May 9, 2018. Notice of Intent to Apply 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 applicantaposs intent to submit an application by completing a web-based form. When completing this form, applicants will provide (1) the applicant organizationaposs name and address and (2) the absolute priority the applicant intends to address. Applicants may access this form online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/68R7WHZ. Applicants that do not complete this form may still submit an application. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications June 5, 2018.. (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 $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 16 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, 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, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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