Institute of Education Sciences (IES): Statistical and Research Methodology in Education CFDA Number 84.305D | ED GRANTS 032520 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 032520 001

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), through its National Center for Education Research (NCER), offered this discretionary grant opportunity (CFDA 84.305D) to fund work that strengthens the statistical and research-methodology foundation of education science. The basic idea behind the program is that many important questions in education depend on strong methods: better study designs, better measurement, better analytic strategies, and better ways to draw credible conclusions from complex real-world school settings. NCER positions this competition as part of its broader mission to support research in areas of national need and to produce reliable, valid evidence about education practices that improve learning, academic achievement, and access to opportunities for all learners.

This specific grant line, titled Statistical and Research Methodology in Education, is focused less on testing a particular curriculum or intervention and more on building the tools that make applied education research more rigorous and informative. In practice, that means funding the development and refinement of methodological and statistical approaches that education researchers can use to plan studies, collect higher-quality data, and analyze results in ways that better reflect how education actually works. The opportunity emphasizes creating a wide range of tools that enable applied education scientists to conduct stronger research, which can include new statistical techniques, improved research designs, enhanced measurement approaches, or other methodological innovations that help the field generate clearer and more trustworthy findings.

Eligibility is intentionally broad, reflecting the fact that methodological innovation can come from many corners of the research ecosystem. Applicants include organizations with the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research, spanning public and private institutions of higher education (colleges and universities), nonprofit organizations (including those with and without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (including small businesses), and a variety of government entities. The eligible applicant list also includes state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, and independent school districts, alongside public agencies and other qualified entities. In other words, proposals could come from academic research centers, research firms, school districts with strong research offices, state education agencies, or partnerships among these groups, as long as they can credibly carry out rigorous scientific work.

The synopsis notes that the public-facing description is only a summary and that the authoritative requirements live in the official Federal Register notice. Applicants were directed to consult that official notice for the full set of expectations, including any pre-application steps, detailed application content and formatting rules, submission procedures, performance measures, priorities, and agency contact information. The notice also points applicants to the Department of Education "Common Instructions" for discretionary grant programs (published February 13, 2019; 84 FR 3768), which typically govern shared submission and administrative requirements across many Department of Education competitions, including where and how to submit applications.

Administrative details in the listing identify it as a Department of Education grant competition with funding activity in education, labeled under funding opportunity number ED GRANTS 032520 001. The original closing date shown is July 30, 2020, and the posting indicates a creation date of March 26, 2020. The award ceiling and the expected number of awards are not specified in the provided synopsis, which is another reason applicants are pushed to rely on the Federal Register notice for complete, official parameters.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as an investment in the research infrastructure of education: methods, statistics, and tools that make future studies more credible, more efficient, and more applicable to real educational decisions. Instead of funding a single program implementation, it aims to strengthen the way education research is designed and analyzed so that the evidence produced across the field is more reliable and useful to educators, policymakers, and the public.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Institute of Education Sciences (IES): Statistical and Research Methodology in Education CFDA Number 84.305D" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.305.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-03-26.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-07-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for ED GRANTS 032520 001

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