High School Equivalency Program

Timeline

Application Closing Date: November 13, 2024.

Federal Register Notice for New Grants

High School Equivalency Program: Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 (Published on August 30, 2024).

FY 2025 Electronic Applications for New Grants

We strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Grants.gov system at www.grants.gov and strongly recommend that you register early and submit early. Applicants are required to follow the Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal Register on December 7, 2022 (87 FR 75045) and available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/07/2022-26554/common-instructions-for-applicants-to-department-of-education-discretionary-grant-programs, which contain information on how to submit an application.

Opportunity Number

The Federal Funding Opportunity Number is: ED-GRANTS-083024-001

Opportunity Title: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Office of Migrant Education (OME): High School Equivalency Program, Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.141A.

FY 2025 Application

2025 HEP Package Application 

2025 HEP and CAMP Application FAQs

FY 2025 Flyer for Notice Inviting Applications (NIA)

FY 2025 HEP NIA Flyer

Pre-Application Webinars

FY 2025 HEP Pre-Application Webinar (recorded)

The Office of Migrant Education has recorded a general pre-application webinar for the 2025 HEP and CAMP competition. To access the webinar, transcript, and presentation slides, please click here: Webinar - Part 1 | Webinar - Part 2 | Transcript | Presentation Slides.

The recorded webinar assists potential applicants to complete their submissions for the 2025 competition. The webinar covers both the HEP and CAMP applications.

Additionally, OME will hold office hours on September 10, 2024. On October 10, 2024, OME will host a pre-application webinar presentation followed by a live office hour question-and-answer (Q & A) session. Both events serve as opportunities for applicants to learn more about the HEP and CAMP competitions and to ask questions. Information on the two events can be found below:

Technical Assistance Resource

Applicants may use resources such as the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance to help describe the extent to which the proposed project demonstrates a rational (as defined in 34 CFR 77.1(c)) and the extent to which the methods of evaluation will, if well-implemented, produce promising evidence (as defined in 34 CFR 77.1(c)).

Contacts

Dylan Hart-Medina
Telephone: (202) 987-1705 or by e-mail: Dylan.Hart-Medina@ed.gov

Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 HEP and CAMP Call for Panel Members: Application Reader and Panel Facilitators – Deadline November 1, 2024

The HEP and CAMP program is accepting resumes from individuals interested in serving as a panel member for the FY 2025 competition. Panel members include the roles of Application Reader and Panel Facilitator.

An Application Reader reviews, assesses, and scores grant applications based on selection criteria established by OME. Application readers will write detailed comments on each section of the application. 

A Panel Facilitator assists OME staff in the panel review by diligently reviewing application reader comments, providing initial feedback, and convening panel discussions.

Availability and Technology Requirements for Application Reader and Panel Facilitator

• Commit between 35-56 hours to complete a review of applications on schedule, during a three-week period.
• Review between 8 to 10 applications assigned to panel and participate in at least five 2-hour conference calls with the assigned panel. 
• Have access to a computer with Internet connectivity for the duration of the competition.
• Be able to utilize the tracked changes and comments features in Microsoft Word and to utilize Microsoft SharePoint to review and provide comments on applications.
• Be able to use Microsoft Teams, including, when needed, the video component of Teams.
• Ability to serve on a panel in January and February 2025.

Application Reader Qualifications

• An earned postsecondary degree from an accredited institution of higher education.
• Demonstrated knowledge of, or professional job experience in, addressing needs of seasonal and migratory farmworkers or other disadvantaged student or adult learner groups.
• Experience in grant-funded project design and management.
• Demonstrated knowledge of, or professional job experience in, principles of educational evaluation. 
• Highly organized, detailed oriented, with excellent communication skills (written and verbal).

Panel Facilitator Qualifications

• Meeting the Required Qualifications of an Application Reader.
• Demonstrated knowledge of U.S. educational practices for high school equivalency and/or postsecondary education institutional practices, preferably for, but not limited to, seasonal and migratory farmworkers or other disadvantaged student groups.
• Demonstrated professional skills in negotiating with differing educational groups or individuals in a professional, timely and efficient manner.
• Demonstrated project management skills including ability to coordinate a team to complete the panel review in a timely manner.

Conflict of Interest

Anyone affiliated with an institution applying for a HEP or CAMP grant is ineligible to participate as an application reader or panel facilitator in that same cycle. Additionally, individuals involved in the preparation of a HEP or CAMP grant application, or would stand to benefit from an application that were to receive funding in a new grant competition, is ineligible to participate as an application reader or panel facilitator in that same cycle.

Payment

Payment will be $195 per application with an average of 8-10 applications reviewed per person.

Reviewer Application and Selection Process – Resumes Due by November 1, 2024

• Register in G6, at G6-Portal (ed.gov) and upload your most up to date resume into G6.
• Send your most up to date resume to OESEPeerReviewRecruitment@ed.gov . The subject line of the email should refer to HEP and CAMP and the desired position.
• If a competition is held, application readers and panel facilitators will be selected based on several factors, including each person's program-specific expertise, the number of applications to be reviewed, and the diversity and availability of prospective reviewers.
• If you are selected, you will be contacted by the OME team and/or OME Contractor and asked for additional contact information, availability, and potential conflicts of interest. Those not selected will remain in the pool for future competitions.
• The Department of Education (ED) solicits reviewers without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age, or disability. ED will provide reasonable accommodations for an individual with a disability, so that the individual is able to participate in the review process.

Eligibility and Recruitment

To successfully recruit eligible HEP/CAMP students, recruiters focus on key actions: informing, identifying, screening, and selecting. Creating a Recruitment Plan will provide strategic direction and an agreed upon focus for your program’s recruitment activities and goals. Providing good customer service is also critical to your efforts because referrals by former and current HEP/CAMP students serve among your most valuable recruitment tools.

Be strategic and thoughtful about recruiting efforts by establishing a documented recruitment plan. Elements to include in your program's plan include:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Legislation

• 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965
• The Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008)

Regulations

• Program Regulations are found at 34 CFR 206.
• Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) also apply.

HEP Eligibility Guidance

• Non-Regulatory Guidance on HEP and CAMP Recruitment and Eligibility
• Non-Regulatory Guidance on Allowable Services to HEP and CAMP Students

Annual Performance Reporting allows programs to determine the overall effectiveness in meeting program goals and objectives, including performance measures 1 and 2 (formerly known as GPRAs 1 and 2) and efficiency targets.

Program evaluation allows programs to: 1) provide data on performance measures 1 and 2 and efficiency targets; 2) determine at what level of quality program activities are being implemented; and 3) identify strengths and weaknesses in program implementation and program effectiveness through tools such as exit interviews, surveys, observations, recruitment, counseling, or tutoring logs, and research analyses (finding correlations between practices and results). Program evaluation is both formative and summative, allowing for the use of annual performance results that may lead to recommendations for changes in programming.

Resources

• 2024 APR Forms and Instructions: Cover Sheet and Data Form | Instructions
• 2024 APR Webinar: Transcript Part 1 | Transcript Part 2 | Presentation Slides | Pre-Submission Checklist
• 2024 Foundations of Evaluation Webinar from the HEP and CAMP ADM: Recording
• 2023 APR Technical Assistance Video on Persisters: Transcript | Recording | Presentation Slides
• 2022 Evaluation Webinar: Transcript | Recording | Presentation Slides

• Mentoring Initiative (MI) – The purpose of the MI is to establish mentor-mentee relationships between experienced High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) directors and directors who are new to HEP and CAMP grant management.

  
  New directors are directors who have been serving in their roles for three or fewer years. Mentors are seasoned directors who provide guidance and support to mentees. Mentors ensure that mentees have a strong understanding of federal program guidelines and performance objectives and coach mentees toward continued success.

  The MI is funded and managed through the OME’s technical assistance (TA) contract. HEP and CAMP Subject Matter Experts coordinate this initiative. Participation is optional and voluntary but strongly recommended for new directors.

  Mentors and mentees may submit requests for travel to each other’s institutions of higher education or non-profit organizations to learn more about each other’s programs. Travel is funded through the TA contract.

• The National High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) Association is dedicated to ensuring that migrant and farmworker youths have access to earning GEDs and postsecondary education opportunities. The National HEP-CAMP Association Web Page provides general information about the HEP and CAMP programs as well as links to individual directors of HEP and CAMP programs across the country.
• National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) – The U.S. Department of Labor is the only national information source on the demographics and working and living conditions of U.S. farmworkers. Since the NAWS began surveying farmworkers in 1988, it has collected information from over 25,000 workers. The survey samples all crop farmworkers in three cycles each year in order to capture the seasonality of the work. The NAWS locates and samples workers at their work sites, avoiding the well-publicized undercount of this difficult-to-find population. During the initial contact, arrangements are made to interview the respondent at home or at another convenient location.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Survey (NASS), Census of Agriculture – The census of agriculture is a complete accounting of United States agricultural production. It is the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the Nation. The census includes as a farm every place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold or normally would have been sold during the census year. The census of agriculture is taken every five years covering the years ending in “2”; and “7.”