This is a Press Release from the U.S. Department of Education.
As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing work to address academic recovery, including supporting student success in math and reading, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) today announced $277 million in new grant awards to advance educational equity and innovation through the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant program. State-administered test scores from the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years show some early signs of rebounding from the major disruptions of the pandemic, but not enough are back to pre-pandemic levels—and the recovery has been uneven—with the students most impacted still furthest behind. We have a long way to go, especially for communities and students who have been exposed to longstanding inequality. These new grant awards can help us get there with $90.3 million for STEM, $87.2 million for social emotional well-being, including student engagement, and $76.5 million for projects in rural areas.
“This $277 million in grant awards from the Biden-Harris Administration will fund some of the nation’s most promising efforts to raise the bar for academic recovery, excellence, and equity in education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “I am especially excited to have the Department of Education support innovative efforts across the country to enhance literacy, math, and STEM instruction broadly in underserved communities and set the stage for young people to succeed, as well as learn how to address real-world problems in today’s most cutting-edge fields. All of this year’s grantees are pioneering exciting, evidence-based strategies to close opportunity gaps and provide young people with the engaging and impactful learning experiences they deserve so that they can achieve at high levels.”
The EIR programs help create, implement, replicate, and expand entrepreneurial, evidence-based innovations to improve outcomes for historically underserved learners and to rigorously evaluate such innovations. The EIR grants have been awarded to 45 grantees to advance educational innovation, research, and develop new solutions to addressing persistent educational opportunity gaps for students who have been historically underserved.
These awards are announced as the Department celebrates the one-year anniversary of the YOU Belong in STEM initiative, which supports the implementation and scaling of equitable, high-quality STEM education for all students from PreK to higher education—regardless of background—to prepare them for 21st century career readiness and global competitiveness.
“Diversity is the strength of our nation; it fuels innovation and progress. In celebration of the YOU Belong in STEM anniversary, the Department is pleased to support these new EIR grantees that advance our goal to create a more inclusive STEM community, while also supporting student success in math and reading,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten. “As the Department continues to advance equity and innovation, we invite everyone to join us in celebrating the YOU Belong in STEM anniversary and the positive impact these EIR grantees will have on shaping the future of education.”
The 2023 cohort of EIR grantees represents a wide range of innovative approaches that Raise the Bar and advance academic excellence, student engagement, social and emotional development and well-being, and create pathways for global engagement for schools across the nation—including more than $100 million in grants for strategies designed to support success in math and reading. For example:
- The Concord Consortium’s project will employ a strategy to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) education to expand access to AI programs in math and literacy for students underrepresented in the computing field, including African American and Hispanic students, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, living in remote rural areas, or in under-resourced schools, as well as develop teachers’ competency for implementing AI in math program.
- The Education Development Center will launch a project titled “Math for All: Expanding Professional Learning to Improve Mathematics Outcomes for Students in High-Need Schools” to develop the capacity of teacher leaders to make high-quality math instruction accessible to all students. The project will be implemented across Illinois, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York.
- WestEd through their Mid-phase grant will serve schools throughout the Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and Utah regions. The project will meet the critical needs for both disciplinary literacy and foundational reading skills in high-need 8th and 9th graders by leveraging two evidence-based interventions—the Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy curriculum and through modernizing texts, streamlining the curriculum, and integrating foundational reading skills.
- Unbounded Learning, Inc. will launch their Reading Reimagined project to provide professional learning to grades 2-5 teachers. The project covers foundational literacy, language variation and style shifting, lesson plans, and job-embedded coaching to prepare teachers to provide differentiated instruction designed to help students “style shift” to General American English (GAE). This grantee has partnered with the University of California-Irvine and the American Institutes for Research.
- The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will focus its PRISM (Patterns for Reaching and Impacting Students in Math) project to improve math outcomes for high-need students through the creation and testing of strategies to enhance the adoption and use of its Patterns framework, a comprehensive professional learning program designed to improve math outcomes, particularly for high-need students.
Since day one, and through historic investments like the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to help every school accelerate academic achievement, open safely for in-person instruction, and build communities where all students feel they belong. Today’s announcement builds on these extensive investments in K-12 schools to accelerate academic success nationwide.
The new EIR awardees are listed below:
| STATE | FY23 GRANTEE | PROJECT NAME | GRANT TYPE | AWARD |
| AK | University of Alaska Fairbanks | Validated Induction Network Expansion (VINE project) | Expansion | $14,999,998 |
| AL | Alabama State Department of Education – AMSTI | New Virtual Reality Technology to Enhance Students’ Algebra Knowledge and Skills | Early-phase | $3,999,987 |
| AZ | Research Collaboratory at ASU, dba Enterprise Collaboratory | Development and Testing of EYEPlay Inclusion: An Innovative Approach to Providing Professional Development in Drama-Based Instruction to Teachers and Caregivers of High Communication Needs Children | Early-phase | $3,999,999 |
| AZ | County of Maricopa Osborn School District #8 | Nurturing Responsive Connections | Early-phase | $3,999,498 |
| CA | Fresno County Superintendent of Schools | Reading and Writing for College and Career Success: Expanding the Reach of the Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum | Expansion | $14,997,254 |
| CA | WestEd | Reading Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy Learning (RA4ALL) | Mid-phase | $8,000,000 |
| CA | Sonoma State University | Scaling an Innovative STEM+C Education Support Model for Improved Science Learning | Mid-phase | $7,904,722 |
| CA | Mk Level Playing Field Institute (Dba Smash) | SMASH 3.0: Innovations in Programming Strategies that Promote Equity in Computer Science Pathways for Historically Excluded Students | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| CA | Santa Clara County Office of Education | Data Adventures | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| CA | Riverside County Office of Education | Making Connections in Mathematics: Empowering Students by Empowering Teachers (MCM) project | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| CA | Seneca Family of Agencies | Compass Care: A family-focused, peer support model for increasing student engagement and achievement | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| CA | WestEd | Project Pathways: Creating the Pathways to Improve Student Mental Health and Well-Being | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| CO | BSCS Science Learning | Engaging Science Learning with OpenSciEd | Early-phase | $3,999,759 |
| FL | Impact Florida | Game-Based Learning Platform to Enhance Student Science Outcomes | Mid-phase | $7,997,933 |
| FL | School Board of Duval County | Duval IDEAS (Inclusion Diversifies Education for All Students) | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| GA | Martin Luther King Sr Community Resources Collaborative, Inc | Sankofa Chronicles: SEL Curriculum from American Diaspora | Early-phase | $3,997,320 |
| IA | Human Restoration Project | Third Coast Learning Collaborative: Developing an Inquiry-Driven Model of School | Early-phase | $3,995,537 |
| MA | Jobs For The Future, Inc. | Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success (IDEAS) | Expansion | $15,000,000 |
| MA | Education Development Center, Inc. | Math for All: Expanding Professional Learning to Improve Mathematics Outcomes for Students in High-Need Schools | Expansion | $15,000,000 |
| MA | President and Fellows of Harvard College | Scaling a National Model of Reading Engagement (MORE) to Improve First to Fourth-Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension | Mid-phase | $7,992,519 |
| MA | Concord Consortium, Inc. | AI Across the Curriculum for Virtual Schools | Early-phase | $3,999,322 |
| MA | Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention, Inc. | SELECT Schools (Social-Emotional Learning to Address Equity, COVID, and Trauma in Schools) | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| MI | Michigan State University | A culturally responsive project-based learning intervention in secondary science in Alabama and North Carolina | Mid-phase | $7,722,448 |
| MO | The Curators of The University of Missouri Special Trust | Prosocial and Active Learning (PAL) Classrooms 2.0 | Mid-phase | $7,999,969 |
| NC | N.C. Department of Public Instruction | PRISM: Patterns for Reaching and Impacting Students in Math | Mid-phase | $7,868,972 |
| NC | Village of Wisdom, Inc. | That’s Just Good Teaching Program | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| NC | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Strengthening Social-Emotional Learning in High Schools with Integrated Multi-Tiered Mindfulness Programming | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| NJ | Educational Testing Service | Developing Middle Grade Students’ Social Emotional Learning Skill through Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning | Early-phase | $3,999,997 |
| NM | New Mexico Public Education Department | New Mexico Teacher Residencies (NM Residencies) | Mid-phase | $7,772,426 |
| NY | Unbounded Learning, Inc. | Reading Reimagined | Early-phase | $3,964,403 |
| NY | New York Hall of Science | Your Light and Air: Leveraging Civic Science to Advance High Need, Grade 6-8 Students’ Science Learning Through Investigations | Early-phase | $3,996,906 |
| NY | Urban Arts Partnership | Creative Coders: Middle School CS Pathways Through Game Design | Early-phase | $3,999,988 |
| OH | Preschool Promise | Preschool Promise EIR – Conscious Discipline Impact Study | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| OR | University of Oregon Foundation | Meeting Student Social Emotional and Academic Needs Through Technology-Supported Best-Practice in Instruction | Early-phase | $2,884,885 |
| OR | Oregon Research Institute | EmpowerU: Promoting Health-Related SEL Skills Development in High-Needs Populations | Early-phase | $3,995,537 |
| TX | University of Texas Foundation | Transforming the Learning of Science for Second Grade Latinx Students Through Meaningful Interactions using Technology Outside of School (Project MITOS) | Mid-phase | $8,000,000 |
| TX | Region 18 Education Service Center | Middle School Collaborative Language Acquisition Strategies for Success (MS CLASS) | Mid-phase | $7,959,640 |
| TX | University of Texas Foundation | Preparing High-Need Students for Success in Early Science Instruction | Early-phase | $4,000,000 |
| TX | Wood County Ssa/Mineola LSD | Second Step to Enhance Rural Students’ Achievement and Wellbeing | Early-phase | $3,945,003 |
| TX | Region One Education Service Center | Project LIFT! (Linking Innovation Fostering Transition) | Early-phase | $3,999,984 |
| UT | Waterford Institute Inc. | Expanding School Readiness Opportunities in the Rural South The Upstart Rural TASK Force: Taking All to Success in Kindergarten | Expansion | $13,919,547 |
| UT | Cook Center for Human Connection, L3C | Helping Helpers Help: An Integrated Model for Empowering Educators and Parents as Partners in Supporting Student Wellness and Learning | Early-phase | $3,999,999 |
| VA | American Institutes for Research | Scaling and Evaluating the Impact of The Third Quest (TTQ) | Mid-phase | $4,497,728 |
| VA | Rector and Visitors of The University of Virginia | Project ENGAGE: The Impact of CARE for Teachers on Students’ Success | Mid-phase | $7,999,651 |
| VA | American Institutes for Research | Thinking Pro: Accelerating Social, Emotional, and Academic Development in High School ELA Classes | Early-phase | $3,935,583 |
Click here for more information about EIR and the Department’s discretionary grant programs.
