Institute of Education Sciences (IES): Education Research: Low-Cost, Short-Duration Evaluation of Education Interventions CFDA Number 84.305L | ED GRANTS 092815 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 092815 001

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), within the U.S. Department of Education, announced a FY 2016 discretionary grant competition under CFDA 84.305L titled "Education Research: Low-Cost, Short-Duration Evaluation of Education Interventions." The main goal of this opportunity is to fund rigorous but faster-turnaround studies that help state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) learn whether particular interventions actually improve student outcomes in a meaningful way over a short timeframe, such as within a single semester or one academic year. A key theme running through the notice is speed and practicality: IES is looking for evaluations that can deliver credible results to decision-makers more quickly than traditional multi-year education research, without sacrificing scientific rigor.

The program is designed around evaluations that are both low cost and short duration. "Low cost" is defined largely by the expectation that projects will rely heavily on existing information, especially administrative records or other data that are already collected and readily accessible, rather than expensive new data collection efforts. "Short duration" means the entire project is expected to be completed within two years. The timeline is tight by design: the intervention being studied should be implemented and the primary outcomes should be collected in the first year, while the second year is intended for analyzing results and disseminating findings. Because of this schedule, the interventions proposed for study should be ones that reasonably could show measurable effects quickly and can be evaluated with outcomes that are available without long delays.

IES emphasizes that these evaluations must be rigorous in a way that supports strong causal conclusions. The notice highlights randomized controlled trials and regression discontinuity designs as preferred approaches, and it specifically notes that, when implemented well, these designs should meet What Works Clearinghouse evidence standards without reservations for determining intervention effectiveness. In other words, the grant is not meant for descriptive studies or loose comparisons; it is meant for evaluations that can credibly answer whether an intervention caused improvements in student outcomes.

Another core requirement is the partnership structure. Applications must come from research partnerships that include at least one research institution and at least one SEA or LEA. The partnership selects a single principal investigator from either the research organization or the education agency partner, and that person is responsible for the overall administration of the award. The "research institution" category is broad and can include organizations with the capacity to conduct scientifically valid research, including nonprofit or for-profit entities, public or private agencies, and colleges and universities. On the education agency side, eligible partners include SEAs and LEAs that have primary responsibility for educating students across prekindergarten, K-12, postsecondary, and/or adult education.

A practical boundary in the grant design is that the grant is intended to fund the evaluation, not the intervention itself. The SEA and/or LEA is expected to support implementation of the intervention being evaluated, rather than using grant dollars to launch or pay for the intervention. This reflects the program's emphasis on testing real-world policies or practices that education agencies already believe are promising and are prepared to implement, with the evaluation providing independent, methodologically strong evidence about results.

The notice also clarifies the broader competition landscape within IES. While CFDA 84.305L is run through the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and focuses on general education interventions, IES also announced a parallel competition through the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) for special education interventions under CFDA 84.324L. Applicants were directed to select the appropriate competition based on whether the proposed evaluation focuses on general education or special education interventions.

For submission, applications had to be filed electronically through Grants.gov using the appropriate downloadable application package tied to the CFDA number (84.305L for this competition). The notice stresses that applications cannot be submitted by email and that applicants must use the Grants.gov system to download, complete offline, upload, and submit their application materials. The opportunity information included an original closing date of January 12, 2016, and listed an award ceiling of $250,000, reflecting the program's expectation of relatively modest budgets consistent with the "low-cost" model.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Institute of Education Sciences (IES): Education Research: Low-Cost, Short-Duration Evaluation of Education Interventions CFDA Number 84.305L" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.305.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-28.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-01-12. (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 $250,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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