INVESTING IN INNOVATION (i3) SUMMARY OF 2015 i3 HIGHEST-RATED APPLICATIONS (HRAs)

INVESTING IN INNOVATION (i3)SUMMARY OF 2015 i3 HIGHEST-RATED APPLICATIONS (HRAs)

“As a nation, we expend tremendous time, capital and talent into finding the next great business idea, but too often we overlook the important innovations happening in our own schools, in our own communities. But what if we prized the ingenuity and creativity of our teachers and schools the same way we do for entrepreneurs and start-ups?”

–Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education

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i3 is a Department of Education signature grant program focused on seeding and scaling innovations in K–12 public education. i3 rewards applicants for the rigor of evidence that supports their application—the more rigorous the research, the larger the award; early-stage innovations do not require evidence of effectiveness and receive commensurately smaller grants.

Through five competitions from 2010 to 2015, i3 has awarded $1.2 billion in grants to 143 grantees out of 4,300 applications. These grantees have secured over $200 million in private sector matching funds. This year, the Department received more than 400 applications for the 2015 i3 competition.

The Department awards three types of grants, from greatest amount of funding available to least:  “Scale-up grants,” “Validation grants,” and “Development grants.”  This “tiered” structure enables i3 to support programs at various phases of growth—from early-stage efforts to organizations with a national reach.

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i3 IS THE DEPARTMENT’S LEADING PROGRAM FOCUSED ON INNOVATION AND EVIDENCE

THE 13 2015 i3 HRAs WILL SUPPORT STUDENTS ACROSS 18 STATES Competition Organization Implementati

on LocationsScale-up Children’s Literacy Initiative CO, FL, NJ, TXScale-up National Math and Science Initiative CA, GA, IL,

MI, ND, OH, TX, Scale-up New Teacher Center CA, CO, FL, NYValidation Columbus State Community College OHValidation The Curators of the University of Missouri MOValidation Jacksonville State University AL, AR, UTDevelopment The After-School Corporation NYDevelopment Association of Alaska School Boards AKDevelopment Center for Supportive Schools NCDevelopment Desoto Independent School District TXDevelopment McREL International CODevelopment Metropolitan-Nashville Public Schools TNDevelopment New Visions for Public Schools, Inc. NY

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THE 13 2015 i3 HRAs WILL SERVE ~300,000 STUDENTS WITH OVER $110M IN FEDERAL FUNDING There are 13 HRAs for the 2015 competition. These 13 organizations were

selected from over 400 applications and, assuming they meet their required private-sector match, will receive a total investment of over $113 million in federal funds.

Approximately 300,000 students will be served by these 13 projects.

All three of the Scale-up projects are previous i3 Validation grant recipients that are now significantly expanding the impact of their evidence-based approaches. The three highest-rated Scale-up applicants are:

Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI): CLI supports early literacy to ensure that students are reading on grade level by 3rd grade—a key indicator of their long-term success. This award will allow CLI to serve an additional 49,500 students in Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and Texas.

National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI): NMSI will partner with 40 schools to increase the number of students taking and earning qualifying scores on Advanced Placement math, science, and English exams, enabling them to reach an additional 60,000 students.

New Teacher Center: The New Teacher Center partners with educators to improve student reading and mathematics learning by improving the instructional practice of teachers, improving teacher retention, developing teacher leaders, and disseminating of best practices. This project will enable them to serve an additional 117,000  students and over 1,800 teachers.

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THE 13 2015 i3 HRAs ADDRESS A RANGE OF STUDENT NEEDS, INCLUDING RESHAPING STUDENTS’ HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCES

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Absolute Priority # of Development

HRAs

# of Validation HRAs

# of Scale-up HRAs

High School Redesign N/A 1 –Non-Cognitive Factors 1 N/A N/ARural: High School Redesign N/A 1 –Rural: Non-Cognitive Factors 2 N/A N/AStandards & Assessments

N/A 1 –

STEM Education 3 N/A 1Teachers & Principals – – 2Utilizing Technology 1 N/A N/ATotal 7 3 3Key: N/A = Priority not available in grant category; “–” = HRA not included in that priority

APPENDIX A:Developmen

tValidation Scale-up Total

Local Educational Agency

2 0 0 2

Nonprofit with consortium of schools

1 0 0 1

Nonprofit with Local Educational Agency

4 3 3 10

Total 7 3 3 13

HRAs BY COMPETITION AND APPLICANT TYPE

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HRAs BY ABSOLUTE PRIORITY AND FUNDING

APPENDIX B:Priority Development Validation Scale-up Total

High School Redesign N/A 10,000 – 10,000 Non-Cognitive Factors 2,500 N/A N/A 2,500 Standards & Assessments N/A 25,500 – 25,500

STEM Education 2,910 N/A 60,000 62,910 Rural 3,300 20,000 – 23,300 Teachers & Principals N/A N/A 166,492 166,492 Utilizing Technology 5,000 N/A N/A 5,000 Total 13,710 55,500 226,492 295,702

TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDENTS SERVED BY COMPETITION AND ABSOLUTE PRIORITY

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TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDENTS SERVED BY COMPETITION AND APPLICANT TYPEOrganization Type Development Validation Scale-Up Total

Local Educational Agency

2,010 – – 2,010

Nonprofit with consortium of schools

1,800 – – 1,800

Nonprofit with LEA 9,900 55,500 226,492 291,892 Total 3,710 55,500 226,492 295,702 Key: N/A = Priority not available in grant category; “–” = HRA not included in that

priority