Winners of the second round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant Program were announced Thursday, with 23 winners selected from a pool of 587 applicants. For this round of the competition, $150 million was available to applicants who are able to secure a private match for a portion of their grant total, ranging from 5 – 15% depending on the type of grant requested (scale-up, validation, or developing). Exact award amounts are heavily dependent on the evidence presented by the applicant on past successes, with awards topping out at $25 million.
Nearly one-third of the grant money is expected to go to proposals that identified STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) as an absolute priority, and another sizeable portion to programs aimed at rural communities. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in the press release announcing the winners, commented that “This round of i3 grantees is poised to have a real impact in areas of critical need, including STEM education and rural communities, on projects ranging from early-childhood interventions to school turnaround models that will prepare more students for college and career.”
All applications were peer reviewed and given numeric ratings, but the Department of Education “did not simply select the 23 highest-ranking applications from the full list.” Rather, each applicant was placed into a category based upon each “absolute” priority and the type of grant sought. Applicants were then ranked within each category to ensure a balance of projects across all priority areas.
Of the winners, five school districts snagged funding for their proposals: Aspire Public Schools (CA), Baltimore City Public Schools (MD), Boston Public Schools (MA), Del Norte Unified School District (CA), and the Oakland Unified School District (CA). Other winners include the Success for All Foundation, a second time winner, and Old Dominion University, the only applicant to win in the scale-up grant category.
To read more, please visit http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/
**Core Education, LLC is proud to have collaborated with Baltimore City Public Schools on their successful i3 grant application. For more information on our grant writing services, please visit http://www.CoreEducationLLC.com/grants.php
