A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Unlike formula grant programs that are broad in scope and provide funding to all entities that meet basic eligibility requirements, with some exceptions competitive grant programs tend to be more narrowly focused. The Department of Education focuses competitive grant programs on the most outstanding applicants, and funds activities that reflect best practice or are most likely to yield significant results. Thus, the Department tends to make awards under competitive grant programs to those institutions, schools, teachers and other eligible applicants whose applications reflect clearest and most promising ideas about how additional funds can be used to improve teaching and learning.

A program's announcement inviting applications for new awards will identify the maximum length of time that the Department will fund a competitive grant awards under that program. Depending upon the requirements of a particular program, the Department generally is allowed to make awards or up to five years. After the initial year for which an award is made, a recipient's entitlement to future year awards depends upon factors such as the availability of appropriations and the degree to which the recipient has been able to demonstrate performance of the plans and activities contained in its approved application.

Awards under competitive grant programs are made only to those relatively few applicants whose applications, including proposed budgets, are found most likely to be successful (although a program's criteria for awards also might include other factors such as the need for geographical distribution of awards). Therefore, while appropriation levels for competitive grant programs generally are much smaller than for formula grant programs, the amount of available program funds distributed o a recipient under a competitive grant program may be much larger than the recipient receives under many formula grant programs.

Of those competitive grant programs identified on the charts, the Department has either announced or plans to announce grant competitions and/or application due dates under the following competitive grant programs:

• Public Charter Schools Program (ESEA, Title X, Part C)
• Star Schools Program (ESEA, Title III, Part B)
• Centers and Services to Meet the Special Needs of Individuals with Disabilities; and Innovation and Development (Research) (IDEA, Parts C and E, combined)
• Training Personnel for Education of Individuals with Disabilities (IDEA Part D
• Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) (HEA, Title X, Part A)
• Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program (Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act)
• Field Initiated Studies (Research) (ERDDIA, Part C)

The Department will announce in the future in the Federal Register and on its Web Site when new grant competitions will be scheduled for awards under other programs that can help to promote excellence and accountability in teaching.

Public Charter Schools Program
(ESEA, Title X, Part C)

This program provides financial assistance for the design and initial implementation of charter schools. Grants are awarded to state educational agencies in states with charter school laws. State educational agencies receiving funds conduct subgrant competitions for eligible applicants that are partnerships between chartering agencies and developers, which may include teachers, administrators and other school staff, parents, and other members of the community in which a charter school will be carried out. If an eligible state educational agency chooses not to participate, or applies and is not successful, the local eligible applicant may apply directly to the Department. Funds may be used for planning and design of the educational program, including efforts needed to ensure the high-quality of teachers and other staff, and for initial implementation of the charter school.

Competition:

Application deadline:	June
Estimated number of awards:	20-25 to states; hundreds more through state subgrants
Estimated range of awards:	$250,000 to $4,000,000 (states); $25,000 to $250,000 (other applicants)

John Fiegel
Public Charter Schools Program
School Improvement Programs
600 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20202-6140
Phone: (202) 260-2671
e-mail: john.fiegel@ed.gov

Star Schools Program
(ESEA, Title III, Part B)

The Star Schools Program supports telecommunications partnerships to provide telecommunications equipment and programming to underserved students, including those living in rural and urban areas. Through support from the Star Schools Program, more than 50,000 teachers along with a host of administrators, parents, and policy makers have participated in staff development and community awareness activities produced via satellite, compressed video technology, fiber optics, videodisc, and microcomputer-based networks. Eligible partnerships may take the form of either: (1) A public agency or corporation established for the purpose of developing and operating telecommunications networks to enhance educational opportunities; or (2) a partnership that includes three or more of the following, at least one of which must be an agency as described in (a) or (b): (a) a local educational agency with a significant number of elementary and secondary schools that are eligible for assistance under ESEA Title I funds, or elementary and secondary schools operated or funded for Indian children by the Department of the Interior; (b) a state educational agency; (c) an adult or family education program; (d) an institution of higher education or state higher education agency; (e) a teacher training center or academy; (f) a public or private agency with experience or expertise in the planning and operation of telecommunications networks or a public broadcasting entity; or (g) a public or private elementary or secondary school.

Competition:

Application deadline:	May 9, 1997
Estimated number of awards:	7 general projects and 1 dissemination project
Estimated range of awards:	$2,000,000 General Projects; $500,000 Dissemination Project

Jean Tolliver
Star Schools
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
555 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20208-5645
Phone: (202) 219-2116
e-mail: jtollive@inet.ed.gov

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Centers and Services to Meet the Special Needs of Individuals with Disabilities; and Innovation and Development (Research)
IDEA, Parts C and E, combined

The Centers and Services program (IDEA, Part C) includes a number of grant competitions that, together, support activities in a variety of areas. Depending on the competition, awards are made to support demonstration, research, training, dissemination and other activities (including, depending upon the application, professional development for teachers and other staff) designed to support persons with disabilities across the educational spectrum. Different competitions support activities that focus on, among other things: early intervention, special education, and related services for children who are deaf or blind; infants, toddlers and other preschool children; children with severe disabilities, including deaf-blindness, children and youth with severe emotional disturbances; model programs of postsecondary, vocational, technical, continuing, or adult education (with a minimum of funding for projects that serve the deaf); and education and transitional services for persons in transition from secondary school to postsecondary environments. The statute identifies the entities that are eligible to apply for each competition.

This Innovation and Development (Research) program (IDEA, Part E) supports projects to advance and improve the knowledge base and to improve the practice of professionals, parents and others providing early intervention, special education, and related services, including professionals in regular education environments, to provide children with disabilities effective instruction and enable them to learn successfully. Funds also support research and related activities, surveys, or demonstrations relating to physical education or recreation, including therapeutic recreation, for children with disabilities.

Competition:

An Urban Center on Implementing Inclusive Education for Children with Severe Disabilities as part of Systemic Education Reform Efforts (proposed priority) A requirement of this priority will be to provide training and technical assistance in the adoption, use and maintenance of inclusive education practices involving access to the general education curriculum in urban settings via direct technical assistance as well as distance learning and other innovative methods.

Application deadline:	To be announced
Estimated number of awards:	To be announced

For the IDEA, Part C program: Jane M. Williams Research to Practice Division Office of Special Education Programs Room 4616, Switzer Building 330 C Street, SW Washington, DC 20202 Phone: (202) 205-8294 e-mail: jane_williams@ed.gov

For the IDEA, Part E program: Scott Brown Research to Practice Division Office of Special Education Programs Room 3522, Switzer Building 330 C Street, SW Washington, DC 20202 Phone: (202) 205-8117 e-mail: scott.brown@ed.gov

Training Personnel for Education of Individuals with Disabilities
(IDEA Part D)

The program supports grants for personnel training to increase the quality and quantity of personnel available to serve infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities, and their families. State education agencies, institutions of higher education, and other appropriate nonprofit agencies and organizations are eligible to apply.

Competitions:

Center to Promote the Access to and Participation by Minority Institutions in Discretionary Programs Authorized Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (proposed priority). The purpose of this priority is to support a national center to promote the participation of minority institutions in personnel preparation competitions authorized by IDEA and to promote the professional development capacity of minority entities.

Application deadline:	To be announced
Estimated number of awards:	To be announced

An Academy: Linking Teacher Education to Advances in Research (proposed priority) Under this priority, applicants are required to design an approach, consistent with principles of effective professional development, for linking teacher education programs to recent advances in research on teaching reading to children with learning disabilities, using technology to enhance educational results for children with disabilities, and using positive behavioral supports to teach children with disabilities who exhibit challenging behaviors.

Application deadline:	To be announced
Estimated number of awards:	To be announced

Developing a National Plan for Training Personnel to Teach Blind and Low-Vision Children (Proposed Priority) Under this priority, the applicant is required to conduct a systemic and systematic needs assessment of the personnel shortage in this area and design a comprehensive approach for preparing capable and qualified personnel to education blind and low vision students.

Application deadline:	To be announced
Estimated number of awards:	To be announced

Ray Miner
Research to Practice Division
Office of Special Education Programs
Room 4611, Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20202
Phone: (202) 205-9805
e-mail: ray.miner@ed.gov

HIGHER EDUCATION

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
(HEA, Title X, Part A)

The Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) provides financial support for nationally significant activities that are designed to enhance the quality of education in the nation's institutions of higher education. The scope of activities that the Department may support is quite broad. It includes: encouragement of reform, innovation, and improvement in postsecondary (including graduate) education programs; creation of institutions and programs that promote new paths to career and professional training; promotion of use of technology; design and implementation of cost-effective methods of instruction and operation. In particular, FIPSE has funded a number of activities that focus on improving the quality of K-12 teaching, including: projects to (1) train teachers to assume ever-expanding educational and social responsibilities; (2) strengthen the skills of elementary school teachers in math and science, and of teachers at all levels to incorporate math and science into an interdisciplinary curriculum; (3) develop School-College partnerships that encourage colleges to share resources with schools in order to strengthen the training of both prospective and current K-12 teachers; and (4) explore new pathways into the teaching profession.

Competition:

FIPSE's current Comprehensive Program priorities are: 1. Access, Retention and Completion; 2. Improving Campus Climate for Learning; 3. Making More Productive Use of Resources to Improve Teaching and Learning; 4. Improving School-College Collaboration; 5. Curricular and Pedagogical Reform; 6. Faculty Development; and 8. Dissemination of Successful Innovations. However , the public is invited to submit proposals for other activities they believe also are important to the improvement of Postsecondary education.

Application deadline:	October, 1997
Estimated number of awards:	70

NOTE: Guidance for the next round of applications (FY 1998) for the Comprehensive Program are expected to be available in approximately August, 1997. Preliminary proposals will be due in October, 1997, and full proposals will be due in mid-March, 1998. Awards will be made by June 30, 1998.

Brian Lekander
Office of Postsecondary Education
600 Independence Ave., SW
Room 3100, ROB-3
Washington, DC 20202-5175
Phone: (202) 708-5750
e-mail: brian.lekander@ed.gov

OTHER PROGRAMS

Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program (Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act)

The program is intended to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and other countries by offering qualified American educators opportunities to participate in short-term seminars abroad during the summer. The program provides opportunities for K-12 social studies teachers, administrators and state and school district curriculum specialists with responsibility for curriculum development in social studies, and for undergraduate faculty members from postsecondary institutions whose professional activities primarily include teaching undergraduate courses in the humanities, social sciences, or international affairs. Upon their return, participants are expected to share their broadened knowledge and experiences with students, colleagues, members of civic and professional organizations and the public in their home communities.

Competition:

A new competition is planned, but not yet announced, for awards to individual elementary and secondary school teachers and colleges and university faculty. No awards would be made to states or schools. The program does not intend to establish priorities.

Application deadline:	Late October, 1997 (projected)
Estimated number of awards:	130

Linda Byrd-Johnson
Center for International Education
Office of Postsecondary Education
600 Independence Ave., SW
Room 600 Portals Building
Washington, DC 20202
Phone: (202) 401-9775
e mail: linda.byrd-johnson@ed.gov

Field Initiated Studies (Research)
(ERDDIA, Part C)

LEARNING MORE ABOUT NEW COMPETITIONS

Those interested in learning more about these competitions, and obtaining application packages may call or write the program Department of Education program contacts who are identified in the following program descriptions. In addition, the Department publishes notices in the Federal Register that announce each of the program competitions, and provide specific information about the competition such as how to obtain an application package, the estimated number and size of awards, and the date when completed application must be received. The Federal Register also contains notices of any program rules that apply to the competitions.

Those having access to the Internet may obtain copies of recent Federal Register grant announcements through the Department of Education's web site.

For some competitive grant programs, the Department also establishes "absolute priorities." While program statutes may allow the use of funds for activities in a broad range of areas, the Department sometimes establishes absolute priorities, after giving the public an opportunity to comment on the "proposed" priority, to limit the applications it will review to those that address particular activities. The program application notice identifies whether the Department has established a funding priority for the competition, and in what part of the Federal Register the public can find the priority if it is not published in the application notice. Federal Register documents that contain recent priority notices also may be accessed through the Department's web site under Federal Register Regulations, Priorities and Other Rules.

In addition, those wanting more information on any of these competitive grant programs, when competitions plan to be scheduled, application due dates, and any special requirements of these programs, may contact the individual identified in the following program descriptions.

NOTE: Those having access to the Internet can obtain this information -- and other information available through the Department of Education's Home Page -- through different access methods:

World Wide Web	http://www.ed.gov/
Gopher (service discontinued)	gopher.ed.gov or select North America-->USA-->General-->U.S. Department of Education from the All/Other Gophers menu on your system
FTP (service discontinued)	ftp.ed.gov (log on anonymous)
Telnet	No public telnet access is available. You must either have an appropriate WWW, Gopher, or FTP client at your site or be able to telnet to a public access client elsewhere.

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[PART A - Formula Grant Programs]

[PART C - Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers]