Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Innovation and Early Learning Programs: Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program Expansion Grants Assistance Listing Number 84.411A | ED GRANTS 050624 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 050624 001

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program Expansion Grants (Assistance Listing Number 84.411A) is a discretionary U.S. Department of Education grant competition meant to help proven, evidence-based education innovations reach many more students, especially students with high needs. EIR is authorized under section 4611 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and is built around the idea that the field should not only design promising solutions to persistent education problems, but also test them rigorously and then expand the ones that demonstrate meaningful results. In this specific competition, the Department is only inviting applications for the Expansion tier (not Early-phase or Mid-phase), meaning it is focused on scaling up interventions that already have strong supporting evidence and are ready to be implemented at a much larger scale while being evaluated again to confirm the results hold up over time and across contexts.

At a high level, the EIR program funds projects that create, develop, implement, replicate, or bring to scale entrepreneurial and field-initiated innovations that improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students, along with a strong expectation that grantees will conduct rigorous evaluations. The program is intentionally structured in tiers (Early-phase, Mid-phase, Expansion) that link the size of the award to the strength of the existing evidence behind the intervention. Expansion grants sit at the top of that structure: they are intended for approaches that have already shown sizable, statistically significant positive impacts in at least one population and setting (for example, through a prior Mid-phase grant or another effort that meets similar evidence standards). The goal of the Expansion tier is twofold: first, to determine whether those strong impacts can be reproduced at a larger scale and sustained over time; and second, to identify the conditions under which the program works best (for example, which student groups, grade levels, school environments, staffing models, or implementation supports are most closely associated with stronger outcomes).

Because this is an Expansion-only notice, applicants should expect that the bar for evidence is high and that the proposed work is less about inventing something new and more about scaling what has already been shown to work. The notice also emphasizes that Expansion projects are encouraged to implement at the national level (as defined in the notice), reflecting the program’s broader purpose of expanding validated solutions to serve substantially higher numbers of students. Alongside implementation, the rigorous evaluation component is central: Expansion awards support both the delivery of the program at scale and the kind of research design and data collection needed to credibly test whether the effects replicate and persist.

Eligibility is broad but specific. Entities that may apply include a local educational agency (LEA), a state educational agency (SEA), the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), a consortium of SEAs or LEAs, or a nonprofit organization as defined in the notice. The competition also allows partnership applications where an LEA, SEA, BIE, or consortium applies in partnership with a nonprofit organization, a business, an educational service agency, or an institution of higher education (IHE). The notice goes into detail on how nonprofits can document nonprofit status under 34 CFR 75.51, such as providing IRS 501(c)(3) documentation, certification from a state authority, or incorporation documents showing nonprofit status. It also clarifies how certain IHE-related entities may participate: an IHE can be a formal partner on an eligible applicant’s proposal, and certain IHEs or affiliated organizations may be eligible if they meet nonprofit requirements (for example, a private nonprofit IHE, or a public IHE that holds 501(c)(3) status). A public IHE without 501(c)(3) status does not qualify as a nonprofit for purposes of applying on its own.

The notice also explains how an applicant can qualify as a rural applicant for EIR. To be considered rural, the applicant must meet two conditions: (1) the applicant must be an eligible entity connected to an LEA with a qualifying NCES urban-centric locale code (32, 33, 41, 42, or 43), such as a qualifying LEA, a consortium of such LEAs, or a nonprofit/educational service agency partnering with such an LEA (and in one option, a qualifying grantee partnering with an SEA); and (2) a majority of the schools served by the project must also be designated with one of those locale codes (or a combination of them). The notice points applicants to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) district and school search tools as the recommended way to verify locale codes for districts and schools included in the proposed service area.

From the competition logistics provided in the source data, this opportunity is listed as ED GRANTS 050624 001, categorized as a discretionary grant in the education funding activity category. The closing date listed is July 5, 2024. The maximum award amount (ceiling) is $15,000,000, and the Department expects to make about four awards. Eligible applicant types shown in the source data include independent school districts, federally recognized Native American tribal governments (which aligns with the BIE-related eligibility in the longer notice), and 501(c)(3) nonprofits other than institutions of higher education, along with other eligible entities as described in the formal notice.

Finally, the description repeatedly stresses that the text provided is only a synopsis and that the controlling requirements are in the official Federal Register application notice. Applicants are directed to consult that notice for the complete details on priorities, required application components, submission instructions, performance measures, and program contacts. It also points to the Department’s Revised Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs (published December 7, 2022) for standardized directions on how to obtain and submit an application package and comply with Department-wide discretionary grant application procedures.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Innovation and Early Learning Programs: Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program Expansion Grants Assistance Listing Number 84.411A" 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 2024-05-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-05. (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 $15,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Independent school districts, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others.

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