Grant addresses education issues

FROM IDS REPORTS

The United States Department of Education launched the 2013 Investing in Innovation competition that offers $150 million in grants to help students become more successful in college.

“Over the past three years, we have seen a lot of promising projects from the field,” U.S. Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Jim Shelton said in a press release. “At the same time, we need to continue to build a broad and deep portfolio of solutions that address persistent challenges in education, particularly for disadvantaged students.”

The competition was launched at the end of March with a pre-application
deadline April 26.

It is broken into three categories: development, validation and scale-up. These are then broken into further sub-categories, such as serving rural communities, using technology effectively and improving the effectiveness of teachers or principals.

The competition also encourages educators to build relationships with their communities. Grantees are required to secure private-sector matching funds.

“As we begin the fourth i3 grant competition, we look forward to supporting innovative practices in communities across the country that improve student learning,” Shelton said.

— Sydney Murray