Melissa Harper's Profile

We are cognizant of the need to
balance our interest in innovation with the importance of research-
based evidence, and welcome comments on how best to achieve the proper
balance.

Development grants would provide funding to support new, high-
potential, and relatively untested practices, strategies, or programs
whose efficacy should be systematically studied. An applicant would
have to provide evidence that the proposed practice, strategy, or
program, or one similar to it, has been attempted previously, albeit on
a limited scale or in a limited setting, and yielded promising results
that suggest that more formal and systematic study is warranted. An
applicant must provide a rationale for the proposed practice, strategy,
or program that is based on research findings or reasonable hypotheses,
including related research or theories in education and other sectors.
Thus, proposals for Development grants would not need to provide the
same level of evidence to support the proposed project that would be
required for Validation or Scale-up grants.
We also propose that an applicant for a Validation grant estimate
the number of students to be served by the project,

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and provide evidence of its ability to implement and appropriately
evaluate the proposed project and, if positive results are obtained,
its capacity (e.g., in terms of qualified personnel, financial
resources, management capacity) to further develop and bring the
project to a larger scale directly or through partners either during or
following the end of the grant period. As noted earlier, we recognize
that LEAs are not typically responsible for taking to scale their
practices, strategies, or programs. Applicants can and should partner
with others to disseminate and take to scale their effective practices,
strategies, and programs.
To summarize, in terms of the evidence required to support the
proposed practice, strategy, or program, the major differences between
Scale-up, Validation, and Development grants are (see Table 1): (1) The
strength of the research; (2) the significance of the effect; and (3)
the magnitude of the effect.

Development grants

Development grants

Innovations That Support Effective
Teachers and School Leaders

Absolute priority 1 is intended to support projects that
promote practices, strategies, or programs to increase the number and
percentage of effective teachers and school leaders, or help reduce the
inequities in the distribution of effective teachers and school
leaders.

the Department would provide funding to support
practices, strategies, or programs that increase the number or
percentages of highly effective teachers and school leaders or reduce
the number or percentages of ineffective teachers and school leader

Limited English
Proficient Students

improve teacher and school leader
effectiveness in one or more rural LEAs.

An applicant must state in its application
whether it is applying for a Scale-up, Validation, or Development
grant. An applicant may not submit an application for the same proposed
project under more than one type of grant. An applicant will be
considered for an award only for the type of grant for which it
applies.

To be eligible for an award, an applicant
must demonstrate that it has established one or more partnerships with
an entity or organization in the private sector, which may include
philanthropic organizations, and that the entity or organization in the
private sector will provide matching funds in order to help bring
project results to scale. An applicant must obtain matching funds or
in-kind donations equal to at least 20 percent of its grant award.

An applicant receiving funds under this program must
comply with the requirements of any evaluation of the program conducted
by the Department.

Finally, an applicant receiving funds
under this program must make broadly available through formal (e.g.,
peer-reviewed journals) or informal (e.g., newsletters) mechanisms, and
in print or electronically, the results of any evaluations it conducts
of its funded activities

Consortium of schools means two or more public elementary or
secondary schools acting collaboratively for the purpose of applying
for and implementing an Investing in Innovation Fund grant jointly with
an eligible nonprofit organization.
Nonprofit organization means an entity that meets the definition of
``nonprofit'' under 34 CFR 77.1(c), or an institution of higher
education as defined by section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of
1965, as amended.

Highly effective teacher means a teacher whose students achieve
high rates (e.g., more than one grade level in an academic year) of
student growth. Applicants may supplement this definition as they see
fit so long as teacher effectiveness is judged, in significant measure,
by student growth.

High-need student means a student at risk of educational failure,
or otherwise in need of special assistance and support, such as
students who are living in poverty, who are far below grade level, who
are over-age and under-credited, who have left school before receiving
a regular high school diploma, who are at risk of not graduating with a
regular high school diploma on time,

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who are homeless, who are in foster care, who have been incarcerated,
who have disabilities, or who are limited English proficient.

Student achievement means, at a minimum--
(a) For tested grades and subjects: A student's score on the
State's assessments under section 1111(b)(3) of the ESEA and may also
include other measures of learning, as appropriate, such as those
described in paragraph (b) of this definition.
(b) For non-tested grades and subjects: An alternative academic
measure of student learning and performance (e.g., performance on
interim assessments or on other classroom-based assessments; rates at
which students are on track to graduate from high school; percentage of
students enrolled and achieving at successful levels in Advanced
Placement, pre-Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or
dual-enrollment courses).
Student growth means the change in student achievement data for an
individual student between two or more points in time. Growth may be
measured by a variety of approaches, but any approach used must be
statistically rigorous and based on student achievement data, and may
also include other measures of student learning in order to increase
the construct validity and generalizability of the information.

The proposed selection criteria are intended to ensure that
applicants--regardless of grant type--can demonstrate that they have
the experience and capacity to expand or develop practices, strategies,
or programs that will have a positive impact on improving student
achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing
dropout rates, or increasing high school graduation rates.

3. Development Grants

The Secretary believes that the proposed priorities, requirements,
definitions, and selection criteria would not impose significant costs
on eligible LEAs, nonprofit organizations, or other entities that would
receive assistance through the Investing in Innovation Fund. The
Secretary also believes that the benefits of implementing the proposals
contained in this notice outweigh any associated costs.

Thus, eligible applicants should propose
activities that they will be able to sustain without funding from the
program and, thus, in essence, should include in their project plan the
specific steps they will take for sustained implementation of the
proposed project.