Search the grant forecast for fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding opportunities and information from the Department of Education.

Funding opportunities in this issue include those from the Office of Effective Educator Development Programs, Office of Program and Grantee Support Services programs, Office of Indian Education programs and Rural, Insular, and Native Achievement Programs.

Happy April,

Spring has sprung here in the D.C. area as the cherry blossoms were out in full force last month. I don’t know about you, but spring always makes me feel a renewed sense of energy.

As we head down the final stretch of the school year, our next newsletters will be focused on social-emotional learning and the mental health of students and staff. I know it’s been a challenging year, two years really, and we have all been stretched to continue to provide high quality academic, social-emotional, and mental health support to our students and staff. We decided that the needs of these two groups, students and school personnel, deserved their own newsletter to highlight resources most important for each of them. For the April edition, we are looking at the needs of students by highlighting the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety, which is focused on helping state educational agencies and local educational agencies (LEAs) implement social emotional evidence-based practices.

One of the highlighted resources is Instructional Practices That Integrate Equity-Centered Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning. Other resources of note in this month’s edition are Centering Student Voice in Social and Emotional Learning: Strategies for Lasting Change, and Managing Mental Wellness: Tools for Yourself, Your Students, and Your Classroom.

It has become clear that mental health is a priority for both Congress and this administration, as Secretary Cardona has identified it as part of his priority areas for pandemic response. And in the FY 22 Appropriation Act we have additional funds for both a School-Based Mental Health grant competition and Mental Health Service Providers Professional Demonstration Grant Program. Look for more information on these grant competitions in the upcoming month. As I write this, the Department released the FY 23 budget, which also requests continued resources for social-emotional and mental health supports for schools.

I want to highlight a specific section in this newsletter with information on supporting Afghan student evacuees and other newcomers. We have three new resources to support the range of needs, including the social emotional health, of our newcomer population.

Continued thanks for all you do every day on behalf of students, school personnel and families.

Ruth Ryder

The purpose of the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety (CISELSS) is to provide technical assistance to state and local educational agencies in the implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL) evidence-based programs and practices. The vision of CISELSS is that when all children are educated in places of equity, safety, and learning, and when they receive the integrated academic, social, and emotional supports that meet their individual needs, they can achieve their greatest potential in K–12 education, as well as in college, career, and life.

CISELSS engaged in a needs sensing effort that included interviews, surveys, and small group conversations with researchers, service providers, and practitioners at every level of K–12 education. The goal was to understand the most urgent and important needs of the field. CISELSS published a brief that summarized five key themes that guide the center and its technical assistance plan. These five themes are equity, integration, alignment and coherence, data-driven cycles of improvement, and sustainable implementation.

Like other federally funded technical assistance centers, CISELSS conceptualizes technical assistance across three tiers:  general, targeted, and intensive. Learn about each tier on the center’s website.

Featured CISELSS Resources include the following:

• Restorative Practices Guide. CISELSS published The Toolkit Before the Toolkit: Centering Adaptive and Relational Elements of Restorative Practices for Implementation Success, a comprehensive guide on the adaptive, relational, and structural elements of restorative practices that support effective and sustainable whole-school implementation of restorative practices.
• Educator Practices to Promote Student SEL. In collaboration with partners, CISELSS developed an update to Dr. Nicholas Yoder’s brief on 10 key educator practices that promote SEL competencies in young people. This update, Instructional Practices That Integrate Equity-Centered Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning, includes clearer language on how equity can be centered in these practices and offers vivid scenarios to illustrate the practices.

• Integrating Social and Emotional Learning Throughout the School System: A Compendium of Resources for District Leaders. This compendium, authored by Angela Ward and Katie Buckley, provides resources for district leaders who seek to implement evidence-based supports to ensure SEL is fully integrated into the educational experience of their students, families, staff, and community. This includes exploring the inclusivity and equitability of discipline practices. While targeted to the district level, many of these resources may be useful to school leaders as well.
• CISELSS will publish several new resources in the coming months, including an audiocast on restorative practices, a case story on its work on alignment and coherence with the Ohio Department of Education, and a guide on reimagining school safety.

If you would like to receive technical assistance or collaborate with CISELSS team members, they can be reached at selcenter@wested.org.

Meet Department Staff Member Bryan Williams 

Learn more about Bryan Williams, Director of the Office of Safe and Supportive Schools.

How long have you been at the Department?

• I began working at the Department in 1995.

What do you most enjoy about working at the Department?

• Knowing that we are making a positive difference in the lives of students in ways both big and small.

What is one thing you’d like to see happen for the CISELSS TA Center in the next year?

• I would like to see the center continue to create effective tools and resources that increase the capacity of schools to support social and emotional learning.

Isolation and Quarantine in Early Care and Education Programs

This resource by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helps those who work in early care and education better understand isolation and quarantine and make decisions about children returning to the program.

CDC Guidance and Keeping Schools Safely Open

The CDC issued updated guidance that will help keep schools safely open while allowing for educators and parents to get back to focusing on what is most important: our students' futures. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona shared that, as of February 2022, 99 percent of schools are safely open for in-person learning, which he attributes to the hard work and partnership of school communities — particularly parents, educators, district leaders, and school staff. To read the Secretary’s statement in its entirety, visit this website. Learn about the new CDC guidance on this website.

Centering Student Voice in Social and Emotional Learning: Strategies for Lasting Change

This brief, developed by the Region 8 Comprehensive Center and the Michigan Department of Education, provides strategies for educators to center student voices in social and emotional learning. The brief affirms that when educators and students partner to amplify student voices, they not only improve instruction, but they also transform their schools and communities for the better.

How Can Social and Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Practices Help Us Right Now? Risks and Recommendations

This blog post by the Region 9 Comprehensive Center describes three lessons learned from districts integrating SEL and trauma-informed practices to transform learning environments into places of healing. District leaders from Georgia, Tennessee and Alaska offered lessons learned for the systems and structures necessary for coherently integrating social, emotional, academic, and behavioral supports to foster success for all students. Strategies include starting with equity at the center, prioritizing adult well-being, and finding an entry point to build a shared vision for school communities.

Resources Related to Teacher Shortages and Strengthening the Workforce

This blog post by the Region 9 Comprehensive Center offers resources related to teacher shortages and strengthening the educator workforce. These resources are intended to support school districts in improving teacher working conditions and strengthening the educator workforce for the new hiring season.

American Rescue Plan Discussion Starter for District Teams

This tool by the Region 17 Comprehensive Center is intended to assist school district teams to engage in meaningful and productive conversations about how to use federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to address students’ academic and social-emotional needs.

Establishing Teams for Networked Improvement Communities

The Region 5 Comprehensive Center, along with state leaders in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, has been working to develop and implement Networked Improvement Communities (NIC) to inform improvement initiatives with an organized approach. The NIC process can be a powerful approach for solving a problem of practice, introducing new initiatives, or revising currently existing practices in education. This blog provides an overview of step 2 in the 8-step NIC process, “Initiating the NIC Team.” Facilitator resources can be found on the NIC website.

Managing Mental Wellness: Tools for Yourself, Your Students, and Your Classroom

This toolkit by the Collaborative Action for Family Engagement center at MAEC is designed for teachers, their students, and the classroom. It offers strategies to manage mental wellness personally and at school. The toolkit provides activities to support students’ social and emotional learning and well-being and provides step-by-step tools to respond to students in times of crisis. Each section includes tools that teachers can directly apply to their own experiences.

Social Emotional and Behavioral Support

The Department funds several technical assistance centers to provide content expertise and resources to effectively address state and local needs and assist with the implementation of federal programs that support students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs. This resource page on the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) website provides tools for education providers and families to support students’ and their own social, emotional, and behavioral well-being.

School Mental Health Practice Guide and Toolkit

The Region 14 Comprehensive Center, in collaboration with the Texas Education Agency, the South-Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, education service centers, the Texas Statewide Mental Health Task Force, and other stakeholders, have developed the Texas School Mental Health Practice Guide and Toolkit. The purpose of this toolkit is to help LEAs plan and provide a comprehensive school mental health system and provide information, considerations, resources, and tools for schools. This toolkit helps schools plan interventions, services, and supports for the Safe and Supportive School Program. Various resources and tools can be accessed in the toolkit library.

New Resource Highlights How States Use American Rescue Plan Funds to Reengage Students through Career and Technical Education

The Department released a new fact sheet highlighting ways states and school districts are using American Rescue Plan funds to reengage students and enhance academic learning by expanding career and technical education (CTE) opportunities. As schools help students address lost instructional time, high-quality CTE programs can be a powerful tool to boost school engagement and on-time graduation. Read the press release for more details. 

Education Funds to Support Afghan Evacuees

The Department recognizes that there is an immediate and urgent need to provide high-quality, culturally responsive education to Afghan newcomers — inclusive of primary, secondary, and English language learning as well as social and emotional learning. In January and February, the Department released two resources on how federal funds can support recently arrived Afghan children and their families, as well children and families from other countries. The first, available on this page, highlights existing federal K–12 resources that can support resettled Afghan students enrolling in public schools. The second resource, available on this site, outlines for state and local homeless coordinators the rights of students who are Afghan evacuees and how they can provide services for these students under the McKinney-Vento Act.

Regional Education Laboratory Resource: Teaching Math to Young Children for Families and Caregivers

Regional Education Laboratory Central Resource: Teaching Math to Young Children for Families and Caregivers

These family and caregiver resources and activities, organized by math topics, such as counting or shapes, include research-based and easy-to-follow steps to help you support your child’s math skills during a typical day.

The activities and resources are organized under five different sections:

Sections 1-2 cover number, shape, pattern, measurement, and data analysis. In these sections the activities and resources support the development of specific math skills.

Sections 3-5 provide activities and resources that can be used to support the development of all math skills more broadly, such as suggestions for ways to include math learning during a typical day or trip to the grocery store (section three).

Check out the “At A Glance” table for a quick overview of the sections and what you will find in each one. To get started you might review each section and think about what areas your child needs more support in. Alternately, you might start in an area that your child is most interested in and build on their engagement with math!

Impact Aid Application Amendments Now Through June 30

If your district completed the FY 23 Impact Aid Program application and needs to make a change, you may do so until June 30. It is a good idea to review your application to ensure that all your federally connected students are reported property in the Impact Aid Grant System.

Additionally, it is now possible to submit an amendment under the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act using certain data from FY 22. Visit our portal for specific instructions.

You can find information about amendments in general by visiting our training page, including a video and user guide to get started right away. If you need assistance, please contact your state analyst (see list on this webpage) or send an email to Impact.Aid@ed.gov.

Impact Aid Webinars

The Impact Aid program offers technical assistance webinars of various topics throughout the program year. Whether you are new to working with Impact Aid or just need a refresher, we have a webinar that will benefit you!

View our webinar schedule page to find our latest offerings. Registration is not required, and sessions are offered through Microsoft Teams, which allows you to join by computer or phone.

If you’d like to review any of the previous Impact Aid Program webinars, the training slides can be found on this webpage.

Email us at Impact.Aid@ed.gov if you have any questions. 

Fiscal Year 2022 Supporting Effective Educator Development Program Competition

On April 4, the Department issued a notice inviting applications for the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program. The competition will award $65 million to increase the number of highly effective educators by supporting the implementation of evidence-based practices that prepare, develop, or enhance the skills of educators. These grants will allow eligible entities to develop, expand, and evaluate practices that can serve as models that can be sustained and disseminated. Applications are due June 3. For more information about this grant opportunity, please contact SEED@ed.gov. 

Message from the Office of Indian Education Director

We are happy to kickoff April as a busy month full of discretionary and formula grant application activity. We are also gearing up for a special time to recognize the Office of Indian Education’s (OIE’s) 50th Anniversary. Please see key application dates below and mark your calendars!

Did you know our office was established by Congress on June 23, 1972? To honor this special milestone, we are excited to host a return of the Student Artist Competition! The competition will align to this year’s annual project directors meeting theme “50 Years of OIE: A Celebration and Call to Action.” Entries are being accepted digitally until April 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Winners in each category will be announced and honored at this year’s virtual anniversary celebration on June 23.

Additionally, the OIE is inviting all of our Title VI (A) Formula and Discretionary program “graduates” or participants to submit a 120 word or less summary of how the Indian Education grant helped you achieve your cultural, college, and/or career goals and dreams.

Don’t forget to connect with us via our webpage and follow us on Twitter @OIEIndianEd for routine updates!

Indian Education Formula Grant Updates

The FY 22–23 OIE Formula Grant Electronic Application System for Indian Education (EASIE) is now open, as noted in the Federal Register.

Important Dates

1. EASIE Part I Deadline: Friday, March 11
2. EASIE Part II Open: Monday, April 4
3. EASIE Part II Deadline: Friday, May 13

All deadlines are at 11:59 p.m. (ET).

FY 22 EASIE Support

EASIE Part I webinar recordings from Feb. 8 and 22 can be found on the EASIE communities of practice (CoP) website. The Partner Support Center (PSC) is available for EASIE questions between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., ET except on federal holidays. Please visit the EASIE CoP site to access all EASIE FY 22-23 related information. As always, monitor your email boxes for communication from OIE.EASIE@ed.gov or easie@edlistservs.org.

Discretionary Grants Update

The Department issued a notice inviting applications for the Native Youth Community Projects competition. The purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance to projects that develop, test, and demonstrate the effectiveness of services and programs to improve the educational opportunities and achievements of Indian students in preschool, and elementary and secondary schools. The due date for application submission is April 19. Find more information on our webpage.

This year's OIE Discretionary Grants Project Directors Meeting will be held virtually from Tuesday, May 10 to Thursday, May 12. The OIE Discretionary Team is busy securing exciting keynotes, developing informative breakout sessions, and designing engaging networking opportunities. We hope this year's meeting will be a dynamic experience for our entire team!

Talk about TA! Take a look at the chart below of just some of the technical assistance opportunities we offer for our discretionary grant programs!  Monthly talking circles, monthly office hours, special TA webinars for annual performance report preparation, high-needs coaching sessions, and targeted TA sessions are all recorded and posted on OIE’s website for future reference. 

Equity Assistance Centers Fiscal Year 2022 Competition Announcement

On Feb. 15, the Department issued a notice inviting applications for the Equity Assistance Centers (EACs). EACs are funded by the Department to provide technical assistance and training, upon request, in the areas of race, sex, national origin, and religion to public school districts and other responsible governmental agencies to promote equitable education opportunities. The centers work in the areas of civil rights, equity, and school reform. This assistance helps schools and communities ensure that equitable education opportunities are available and accessible to all children.

The Department will provide up to $6.5 million in FY 22 funds for four new grants, with an estimated first-year grant award of up to $1,700,000 per grantee. Grants are awarded for a period of five years, with continuation funding anticipated for four additional years. 

Applications are due on May 16.

Guidance Regarding Within-District Allocations Under Title I, Part A

In February, the Department released new guidance titled Within-District Allocations Under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended. This nonregulatory guidance discusses provisions that govern within-district allocations under Title I, Part A (Title I) and accompanying regulations. It first addresses required and authorized reservations of Title I LEAs and then outlines how an LEA, with the Title I funds that remain after the reservations, identifies eligible Title I school attendance areas and allocates Title I funds to public schools.

Please send any questions on this guidance to oese.titlei-a@ed.gov.

Fiscal Year 2022 Small, Rural School Achievement Grant Application Deadline Approaching

The deadline for eligible small, rural school achievement (SRSA) LEAs to apply for the fiscal year 2022 SRSA grant is April 15. The primary contact of each SRSA-eligible LEA received an application link in an email from no-reply.survey@max.gov on Feb. 9. You can check who is listed as the primary and secondary contact for your LEA by viewing the FY 2022 Master Eligibility Spreadsheet. If you need to update your LEA’s primary and/or secondary contact, please send corrections to REAP@ed.gov. The application takes no more than 30 minutes, and often applicants are able to apply in under 10 minutes. The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) team encourages all SRSA-eligible LEAs who have not already applied to do so before the deadline.