Investing in Innovation Fund

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Department of Education's final priorities and the grant application for the $650 million Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). The fund, which is part of the historic $5 billion investment in school reform in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will support the development of path-breaking new ideas, the validation of approaches that have demonstrated promise, and the scale-up of the nation's most successful and proven education innovations.

Individual school districts or groups of districts can apply for the i3 grants, and entrepreneurial nonprofits can join with school districts or a consortium of schools to submit applications. To qualify for the competitive grants, applicants will need to address one of the four areas that are driving the Obama administration's school reform agenda: supporting effective teachers and principals; improving the use of data to accelerate student achievement; complementing the implementation of standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and careers; and turning around persistently low-performing schools.

Applications will be due in mid-May and grants will be awarded in September. In the coming weeks, officials from the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement will hold informational workshops in Atlanta, Baltimore and Denver that will be web-accessible. President Obama has proposed an additional $500 million of the i3 program in his fiscal 2011 budget.

Applications available here: http://www.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html