Lewis-Burke Associates has provided campus with a report about the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Research (NCER) solicitation, including two competitions related to education innovation and scalable education research and development (R&D). The first being their brand-new Seedlings to Scale grant program, the second being the Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Education Policy and Practice program. Former IES Director Mark Schneider was a champion of an ongoing effort to establish a fifth center within IES that would conduct advanced research projects agency, or ARPA-like, education research activities. While waiting for Congress to authorize this center, Dr. Schneider established the IES Accelerate, Transform and Scale (ATS) Initiative and the Seedlings to Scale program to support more risk informed, innovative, and high reward activities that fit within the existing IES legislative budget and authority. Seedlings to Scale is intended to be a three-stage funding program which will invest in three phases of innovation in products, policies, and processes that will initially start as “seedlings” and grow into scalable solutions. The Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Education Policy and Practice Program will support proposals that create ATS Initiative Hubs that improve education outcomes by creating scalable solutions that work to close achievement gaps. Applications will be due by August 15, 2024 for both of these programs.
June 20, 2024