ED issues notice of Investing in Innovation fund

The Department of Education (ED) has released details about the proposed priorities, requirements, and selection criteria for the $650 million Investing in Innovation, or i3, fund. The Secretary of Education (Secretary) may use these requirements for competitions of the i3 fund in fiscal year 2010 and subsequent years. The i3 fund, established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), distributes funding to provide competitive grants to local education authorities to expand the implementation of innovative practices that are demonstrated to have a positive impact on student achievement for high-need students and to close achievement gaps. The grants will allow applicants to work in partnership with the private sector. Funds will be awarded in three categories: scale up grants that focus on programs and practices that show strong evidence of improving student achievement; validation grants that target existing programs; and development grants that support new practices. Comments are due by November 9, 2009.

74 Fed. Reg. 52, 214 (Oct. 9, 2009)