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 School Choice and Improvement Programs.

Wishing everyone a great back to school season!

Happy August!

I hope you all had a good summer break. It has been a very busy summer here for us, running grant competitions and getting formula awards out. In addition, we have some new faces here in OESE leadership. While upcoming newsletters will highlight each of them in-depth, for now please welcome:

• Adam Schott: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs
• Swati Adarkar: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Early Learning
• Bernadine Futrell, Ph.D.: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Equity and Discretionary Grants and Support Services
• Danny Carlson: Chief of Staff

I’m excited to announce that the Department’s FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan was published on July 8. The Plan details the Department’s strategic goals and objectives over the next four years and also provides an overview of our FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goals. It can be found at ED Strategic Plans and Annual Reports. 

We were also excited about the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) on June 25. The Act provides much-needed support for safe and healthy students, including support for mental health services. BSCA includes $1 billion for activities under Title IV-A, section 4108 for supporting safe and healthy students. These funds will be distributed to states, and states will award grants on a competitive basis to high-need local educational agencies (LEAs). There is $50 million in additional support for the Title IV-B, 21st Century Community Learning Center program, with the direction to increase support for the implementation of evidence-based practices intended to increase attendance and engagement of students in middle grades and high school community learning centers. We are working to get these funds to states as soon as possible. 

In addition, BSCA provides $1 billion for two discretionary grant programs designed to increase the number of mental health providers in schools.  Notices inviting applications for the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant and the Mental Health Services Professional Development Grant will be available in early fall. Information about these programs as they currently exist can be found at Safe & Supportive Schools - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Given we are preparing for schools to re-open for another school year, our theme this month is “Back to School.” We highlight our Student Engagement and Attendance Center, which includes important resources to help engage students and address chronic absenteeism and truancy. Because of the challenges of the last three years, starting the school year with a system in place to support students and families to be engaged (or re-engaged) with their school is critical.

Speaking of “Back to School,” the Best Practices Clearinghouse website has a new interactive map Best Practices Clearinghouse - Interactive Map (ed.gov). Take a minute to check it out.

With that, I wish you all a healthy and productive start to the new school year.

Ruth Ryder

The Student Engagement and Attendance Center (SEAC) supports state education agencies (SEAs) and LEAs to reduce chronic absenteeism and increase student engagement. SEAC seeks to identify and disseminate evidence-based practices and research and to create opportunities for expert-guided, peer-to-peer learning and sharing of knowledge.

During the 2021-2022 school year, SEAC established a reengagement learning series for state teams and LEAs, organized into three topical strands: integrating chronic absenteeism into multitiered systems of support; moving toward authentic family and youth engagement; and addressing truancy using restorative, multitiered approaches. To learn more about the learning series, please contact Dani Filo-Jones (dfilo-jones@insightpolicyresearch.com) or Jenny Scala (jscala@air.org).

Additionally, SEAC hosted peer-to-peer exchanges for state teams to collaborate on strategies to address chronic absenteeism, including strategies for engaging and supporting students with disabilities, designing trauma sensitive schools, and integrating social-emotional support into school environments.   

Resources created and published by SEAC include:

• Promising Practices Brief: Improving Student Engagement (2020)
• Technical Assistance Needs Assessment (2020)
• SEA Reflection Tool and LEA Reflection Tool (2021)

For more information about SEAC, visit the SEAC webpage, email seacenter@insightpolicyresearch.com, or contact program officers Bryan Keohane at Bryan.Keohane@ed.gov and Elisabeth Lembo at Elisabeth.Lembo@ed.gov.

Meet Department staff member, Liz Lembo

Learn more about Liz Lembo, an education program specialist, who works with SEAC through her role in the Office of Program and Grantee Support Services.

How long have you been at the Department?

• I've been at the Department for just under two years. Last year, I served as a Leadership for Educational Equity Fellow in Rural, Insular, and Native Achievement Programs, and I’ve been working with Program and Grantee Support Services since Sept. 2021.

What do you most enjoy about working at the Department?

• I most enjoy working with and learning from colleagues and grantees each day. I onboarded during COVID, and it’s felt very rewarding to have had the opportunity to dive right into work with others to help ED’s stakeholders respond to the pandemic, such as through the implementation of the American Rescue Plan.

What’s one thing you’d like to see happen at SEAC in the next year?

• Over the next year, I'd like to see SEAC continue to foster partnerships with other technical assistance providers to respond to states’ most urgent needs in the areas of student attendance and engagement. As a former teacher, I feel that authentic student engagement in the classroom is essential to advancing equity, and it’s been exciting to see the creative ways that SEAC, along with its various partners, are spotlighting this topic at a systems level.

Six things to know about COVID-19 vaccinations for children

For the best protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone six months and older and boosters for everyone five years and older, if eligible. Read more on the CDC’s post, 6 Things to Know about COVID-19 Vaccination for Children, which provides information for parents and caregivers of children ages six months and older.

In addition, read this letter from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education about access to COVID-19 vaccines for all children six months of age and older. It features resources to help early care and education programs connect families with trusted medical providers, distribute accurate and easy-to-read vaccine information, and partner with community health care providers to host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

Learn about the award winning series, “Molly of Denali”

“Molly of Denali,” a Peabody-award winning PBS KIDS series, prepares children to interact with informational text in school and beyond. Molly is produced by WGBH under a grant to the Center for Public Broadcasting as part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, funded by the Department. The Ready To Learn Initiative brings educational television and digital media resources to children ages 2-8 and aims to promote early science and literacy learning. Two research studies, quantifying the impact of Molly of Denali resources on children’s learning outcomes, were commissioned as part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, with funding from the Department.

Molly is the first nationally distributed children’s series in the U.S. to feature an Alaska Native lead character and that showcases a diverse, rural Alaskan community. For more information about Molly of Denali, please visit the PBS Molly of Denali resources page. For more information about the Department’s Ready to Learn Program, please visit this page.

Maintenance of Equity requirements

Maintenance of Equity (MOEquity) requirements were enacted for the first time in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. These requirements safeguard school districts and schools that serve a large share of students from low-income backgrounds against experiencing a disproportionate reduction in funding in FY 2022 and FY 2023 (i.e., school years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023). These requirements also ensure that school districts serving the largest shares of students from low-income backgrounds do not receive a decrease in state funding below their FY 2019 level. Although data on state-level maintenance of equity is already publicly available, there is not publicly available data for LEA-level maintenance of equity. On June 8, the Department published a Notice of Final Requirements for SEAs to publish information regarding how LEAs are maintaining fiscal and staffing equity in their high-poverty schools. For more information, please visit the Department’s maintenance of equity page.

Best Practices Clearinghouse

The Best Practices Clearinghouse has launched a new interactive map that presents a state-by-state view of Clearinghouse resources in the Resource Library. This new feature allows users to see resources submitted by stakeholders in each state and national organization. The map also links to state plans and state links to LEA plans for the use of American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ARP ESSER), where available. You can also find archived and upcoming events on the Clearinghouse’s events page. The Department welcomes lessons learned and best practices from the field for consideration for the Clearinghouse, including those with an educational equity focus. Send submissions via email to Bestpracticesclearinghouse@ed.gov. Please find additional submission information in the Federal Register notice. 

Ideas for creating a positive teaching and learning environment in your school

Read three tips on planning professional development in this blog post by Dr. Aaron Butler, Director of the Region 9 Comprehensive Center.

New video collection on student and trauma-informed practice

As we launch a new school year, many educators and students are still recovering from the social and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Partners frequently request resources to help students manage trauma and build resilience. In response to this need, REL West has assembled a free video collection, Addressing Trauma and Fostering Resilience, where experts provide actionable strategies for understanding youth behaviors and employing trauma-informed practices. 

Supporting Students in Poverty with High-Impact Instructional Strategies Tool Kit

The Supporting Students in Poverty with High-Impact Instructional Strategies Toolkit by the National Comprehensive Center provides teachers, principals, district staff, and state agencies with evidence-based, high-impact strategies and supportive actions that have the potential to decrease the negative impacts of poverty on student achievement. The tool kit identifies five high-impact instructional strategies teachers can implement with the support of their principals. It also includes five recommendations for principals and aligned actions that district or state agency leaders can take to support educators in mitigating the impact of poverty on student achievement outcomes.

Engage Every Student

On July 14, coinciding with National Summer Learning Week, the Department announced the Engage Every Student initiative at an event with students, leaders, and exemplary programs from school districts, cities, and after-school and summer learning programs. This initiative will help communities utilize ARP funds, alongside other state and local funding, to ensure that every child has a spot in a high-quality out-of-school time program. Five coordinating organizations will work with more than 20 allied organizations to provide critical learning and development opportunities year-round (press release and video recap). View a full livestream from the July 14 kickoff event.

Culturally Responsive & Sustaining Pedagogy in Athletics Network Convening

The Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center invites you to register for Culturally Responsive & Sustaining Pedagogy in Athletics Network Convening, scheduled for Aug. 2 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. EST. This event is designed for educators and education stakeholders who lead or support the advancement of educational equity in public preK-12 education systems, in particular, athletic directors, coaches, coaching staff, school administrators, building principals, and parents/caregivers.

Regional Education Laboratory report: English Language Development among American Indian English Learner Students

New Mexico’s Every Student Succeeds Act state plan set the goal for all English learner students to attain English proficiency within five years. American Indian students constituted close to one-fifth of English learner students in New Mexico in the 2015-2016 school year. The REL Southwest English Learners Research Partnership conducted this study to better understand the progress of American Indian English learner students toward English language proficiency.

The study examined two statewide cohorts of American Indian kindergarteners identified as English learner students in New Mexico public schools in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. The study looked at their performance on English language proficiency assessments, reclassification rates as English proficient, and grade-level readiness in English language arts and math. In addition, the study examined whether American Indian English learner students who attended a school with a bilingual multicultural education program (BMEP) for at least four years were more likely than students who never attended such a school to be reclassified as English proficient or meet grade-level standards. New Mexico Public Education Department staff and school district leaders are using the findings to identify ways to support the English language development of American Indian English learner students.

Key findings in the report include:

• Only 18 percent of American Indian students identified as English learner students in kindergarten were reclassified as English proficient within five years. American Indian English learner students who were reclassified as English proficient within five years of entering kindergarten achieved higher scores on the speaking and reading domains the final time they took the English language proficiency assessment (ACCESS for ELLs) than did students who were not reclassified.
• American Indian English learner students who were reclassified as English proficient within five years of initial kindergarten entry were more likely than students who were not reclassified to meet grade-level standards on the state assessments in English language arts and math in grades 3 and 4.

American Indian English learner students who attended a school with a BMEP for at least four years were reclassified as English proficient and met grade-level standards on the New Mexico state assessments in English language arts and math at higher rates than students who never attended a school with a BMEP.

The Office of State and Grantee Relations (SGR) conducts quarterly monitoring reviews with grantees. These reviews focus on the ARP ESSER requirement for LEAs to set aside 20% of their ARP ESSER allocation to address the impact of lost learning time, with a focus on student groups most impacted by the pandemic.

Some common SEA and LEA challenges identified by SGR include:

• Tight time lines for developing applications and making subgrants;
• Additional and different data reporting requirements than typical Federal formula grants;
• Staffing shortages and increased workloads at SEA and LEA levels;
• Procurement issues related to supply chain delays and shortages; and,
• The sheer amount of funds and range of uses was a bit overwhelming for some LEAs.

Some common successes include:

• Some SEAs were able to use their administrative and state reserve funds to provide additional staff and contractor support, especially around providing technical assistance and monitoring oversight;
• Many SEAs were able to use the development and implementation of their ARP ESSER initiatives as an opportunity to break down silos in the SEA and increase interactions with LEAs;
• Many SEAs were able to increase the amount of technical assistance to LEAs as ongoing support during implementation;
• Some SEAs were able to improve their grants management systems to better serve the LEAs in for the initial applications and ongoing support; and,
• Some SEAs were able to improve their data systems, with the goal to have more detailed data to make better determinations of disproportionate impact and provide better information for ongoing improvement.

More information is available on the Department website under Monitoring Update and Quarterly Reviews.

Message from the Office of Indian Education Director

On June 23, the Office of Indian Education (OIE) recognized the 50th Anniversary of the Indian Education Act of 1972, which established both OIE and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. Senior Advisor James Lane spoke to 240+ attendees and provided celebratory remarks recognizing program office milestones and accomplishments.

On June 30, the Department conducted Tribal Consultation on the development of priorities for ED’s FY 2024 budget. The purpose of the consultation was to receive meaningful input and ensure that Tribal leader views inform budget priority development. The consultation advanced the Department’s commitment to uphold the federal trust responsibility as described in Executive Order 13175.

We encourage you to stay connected to our work via our webpage and follow us on Twitter @OIEIndianEd for routine updates!

Promise Neighborhoods program fiscal year 2022 competition

On June 29, the Department issued a notice inviting applications for the Promise Neighborhoods (PN) program. The PN program provides funding for grants to significantly improve the academic and developmental outcomes of children living in the most distressed communities of the United States, including ensuring school readiness, high school graduation, and access to a community-based continuum of high-quality services. This year’s competition focuses particularly on improving postsecondary access for students and community violence prevention and intervention. The Department expects to award three five-year grants under this competition. Applications are due Sept. 27. For more information about this grant opportunity, please review our FY 2022 PN Applicant Info webpage or contact Rich Wilson at Richard.Wilson@ed.gov.

Full-service Community Schools program fiscal year 2022 competition

On July 13, the Department issued a notice inviting applications for the Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program. The purpose of FSCS is to provide support for the planning, implementation, and operation of full-service community schools that improve the coordination, integration, accessibility, and effectiveness of services for children and families, particularly children attending high-poverty schools, including high-poverty rural schools. The Department expects to award approximately 40 five-year grants under three absolute priorities: Capacity Building and Development grants (up to $500,000 per year), Multi-Local Educational Agency grants (up to $3,000,000 per year), and FSCS State Scaling grants (up to $15,000,000 per year). Applications are due Sept. 12. For more information about this grant opportunity, please review our FY 2022 FSCS Application and Competition webpage or contact Jane Hodgdon at FSCS@ed.gov.

Rural Education Achievement Program prepares to make fiscal year 2022 Small, Rural School Achievement and Rural and Low-Income School grant awards

The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) team received 4,214 applications from LEAs for the FY 2022 Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) grant program. These awards, totaling $97,500,000, can be used by LEAs to carry out activities authorized under Title I, Part A; Title II, Part A; Title III; Title IV, Part A; and Title IV, Part B. 

In addition to preparing these direct grants to LEAs, the REAP team has made awards to SEAs under the Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program. These SEAs will then subgrant RLIS funds to eligible LEAs within their state. Lastly, the REAP team has also made awards to specially qualified agencies (SQAs) in the State of Alaska under the RLIS-SQA grant program. 

REAP award funds are available to grantees for a total of 27 months. A grantee may use funds only for obligations it makes during the grant performance period. A grantee then has an additional 120 days to liquidate the award. For more information about REAP grant performance periods, please review the chart below and the REAP Grant Performance Periods FAQs document. 

To access FY 22 SRSA funds, each grantee LEA must have a unique entity identifier (UEI) that is registered and active in SAM.gov. If your LEA already has a UEI, it must also ensure that its registration status is listed as “active” in SAM.gov. For additional information about UEIs and to learn how to reactivate an expired UEI registration, please view our UEI Support Guide for SRSA grantees.