HOW BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $277M IN EDUCATION INNOVATION & RESEARCH GRANTS.... (875 hits)
For Immediate Release From USDE!
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $277 Million In Education Innovation and Research Grants to Help Address Academic Recovery
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 https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-disc... 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 https://www.ed.gov/stem, 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
U.S. Department of Education Announces Winners of the $1 Million Future Finder Challenge to Support Adult Learners
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced today that Gladeo https://www.gladeo.org/, a minority- and women-owned public benefit corporation based in Los Angeles, California, has been selected as the grand-prize winner of the Future Finder Challenge https://www.futurefinderchallenge.com/, a $1 million challenge to reimagine career navigation for adult learners. Workbay https://www.workbay.net/, a woman-owned business based in Franklin, Tennessee, has been selected as the runner-up.
Both recipients of earlier funding as finalists, the Gladeo team will receive an additional $500,000 and the Workbay team will receive an additional $250,000 to support the continued development and deployment of their digital career navigation tools. These awards recognize that Gladeo's and Workbay's innovative solutions have demonstrated compelling evidence of their potential to support adult learners in developing the skills and knowledge to pursue their career interests. Throughout the remainder of 2023 and into 2024, the Future Finder Challenge will support the winning teams as they further refine and implement their digital career navigation tools across the adult education ecosystem.
While education remains vital to career success, it is often no longer enough to access high-quality jobs that pay well. Delivering digital career navigation tools to adult learners will be critical to unlocking the full economic potential of the CHIPS and Science Act https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/s... the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/s... and the Inflation Reduction Act https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/s... and to transforming the lives of millions of Americans with foundational skill needs.
"By centering the experience and unique needs of adult learners, the Future Finder Challenge has accelerated the development and deployment of urgently needed solutions to build a more equitable future," said Dr. Amy Loyd, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. "Gladeo's and Workbay's digital tools represent the forefront of technology innovation in adult education, and I'm thrilled that the adult learners we serve will benefit from their use as they build a brighter future for themselves, their families, and their communities."
Grand-prize winner Gladeo utilizes research-based design to help adult learners build skills and confidence for quality careers. Its multilingual interventions include digitized informational interviews, personalized resource recommendations, and an integrated program finder. Gladeo provides learners with career information through inclusive video storytelling and helps them identify trustworthy education and skill-building programs. Gladeo has built successful regional partnerships with workforce agencies and education providers to ensure that learners can access the resources they need to thrive.
Runner-up Workbay offers job seekers a community-specific mobile app and web-based platform that connects them to local resources as well as videos, learning content, and job postings. Workbay links recruitment with skill-building programs to help learners identify and successfully pursue local careers of interest. Throughout the Future Finder Challenge, Workbay focused on expanding its platform to support adults currently and formerly incarcerated and worked with people who are incarcerated to test and refine its solution.
Thank you Sister Agnes Levine for this on time posting of what Biden is doing for Education Innovation and Research Grants to Help Address Academic Recovery. I learned alot in this post.
