Institute of Education Sciences Launches 2014 Grant Competitions

The United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has launched its fiscal year 2014 grant competitions.

Held by the institute's National Center for Education Research (NCER), five competitions will award funding in education research, education research training, education research and development centers, statistical and research methodology in education, and "partnerships and collaborations focused on problems of practice or policy," according to information released by IES.

The Education Research Competition will provide funds for projects looking into "cognition and student learning, early learning programs and policies, education technology, effective teachers and effective teaching, English learners, improving education systems...mathematics and science education, postsecondary and adult education, reading and writing, and social and behavioral context for academic learning," according to information in the Federal Register.

Topics for the Education Research Training Competition include:

  • Predoctoral interdisciplinary research training;
  • Methods training for education researchers; and
  • Training in education research use and practice.

The Education Research and Development Centers Competition will award funds for research into developmental education assessment and instruction and knowledge utilization.

The Statistical Research Methodology in Education Competition is seeking proposals on the topics of statistical and research methodology and early career statistical and research methodology.

Topics for the Partnerships and Collaborations Focused on Problems of Practice or Policy Competition include:

  • Researcher-practitioner partnerships in education research;
  • Continuous improvement in education research; and
  • Evaluation of state and local education programs and policies.

Size of the grants will be dependant on the availability of funds, which are awaiting congressional appropriation, and the scope of the winning proposals. The number of winning proposals will be determined by the quality of applications and the availability of funds. Other constraints on the number of awards include:

  • Only five or fewer grants will be awarded for the topic of predoctoral interdisciplinary research training as they are so large;
  • The knowledge utilization and developmental education assessment and instruction topics will each feature only one winner because NCER "only intends to establish one center for each topic," according to information in the Federal Register; and
  • Only four grants will be awarded for the continuous improvement in education research topic as this is its first time in competition.

Application packages will become available June 6, and the deadline for submitting them is September 4. Anyone with "the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research" is eligible to apply, according to information released by IES.

For more information, or to download a request for application, visit ies.ed.gov.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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