# Presentation: 047912

## Grant Writing Workshop for Young Investigators

- Institute of Education Sciences
- U.S. Department of Education

## Getting Started

- Recognize that competing a successful grant application is a process that begins before the initial proposal submission.
- And that preparing a grant application is part of building your program of research.

## “Pre-Application Submission Process”

- Acquire experience taking responsibility for components of research projects (graduate student, postdoctoral fellow)
- Start small
- Smaller projects (e.g., internal grants)
- Lesser roles on external proposals (e.g., co-PI, project manager)
- Demonstrate productivity

## Application Process

- Read the Request for Applications carefully
- Build a good team
- Talk to your Program Officer
- Write a good proposal

## Read the Request for Applications Carefully

## Finding Requests for Applications

- FY 2009 Requests for Applications are available on:
- _[http://ies.ed.gov/funding](http://ies.ed.gov/funding)__ _
- Sign up for the IES Newsflash:
- 			_[http://ies.ed.gov/newsflash/](http://ies.ed.gov/newsflash/)__ _

## http://ies.ed.gov 

## Finding Application Packages

- FY 2009 Application Packages are available on _[www.grants.gov](http://www.grants.gov/)__._

## Identify Appropriate Research Program

- Education Research Grant Program (84.305A)
- Special Education Research Grant Program (84.324A)

## Identify Appropriate Topic within Research Program

## NCER Standing Research Topics

- Reading and Writing
- Mathematics and Science Education
- Cognition and Student Learning
- Social and Behavioral Context for Academic Learning
- Teacher Quality
- Education Leadership
- Education Policy, Finance, and Systems

## NCER Standing Research Topics

- Early Childhood Programs and Policies
- Middle and High School Reform
- Interventions for Struggling Adolescent and Adult Readers and Writers
- Postsecondary Education
- Education Technology

## NCSER Standing Research Topics

- Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education
- Reading, Writing, and Language Development
- Mathematics and Science Education
- Social and Behavioral Outcomes to Support Learning
- Transition Outcomes for Special Education Secondary Students

## NCSER Standing Research Topics

- Cognition and Student Learning in Special Education
- Teacher Quality
- Related Services
- Systemic Interventions and Policies for Special Education
- Autism Spectrum Disorders

## Identify Appropriate Goal

## Identify Appropriate Goal

- Identify/explore programs, practices, or malleable factors associated with better student outcomes
- Develop new education interventions
- Evaluate the efficacy of interventions
- Evaluate the impact of interventions implemented at scale
- Develop and/or validate measurement tools

- Proposing a smaller project often makes sense for junior investigators without long histories of managing research grants.

##    Identification/Exploration Goal

- Identify/explore factors (e.g., malleable child abilities/skills, practices, programs) that are associated with better student learning and achievement outcomes
- Secondary analyses of longitudinal datasets
- Conduct small descriptive studies
- Meta-analyses

## Identification Goal (cont.)

- $100,000 to $350,000 per year total cost (direct + indirect)
- 2 years for secondary data analyses
- Up to 4 years if collecting primary data

## Development Goal

- Develop new interventions (e.g., instructional practices, curricula, teacher professional development)
- Demonstrate the feasibility of the intervention for implementation in an authentic education delivery setting
- Collect pilot data on promise of intervention to achieve intended outcomes

## Development Goal (cont.)

- $150,000 to $500,000 per year (total cost = direct + indirect)
- 1 to 3 years
- Length proposed depends upon amount of prior work completed

## Efficacy and Replication Goal

- Test efficacy of fully developed interventions
- Efficacy = the degree to which an intervention has a net positive impact on the outcomes of interest relative to the program/practice to which it is being compared
- $250,000 to $750,000 per year (total cost)
- Up to 4 years

## Scale-up Evaluation Goal

- Test the impact of interventions implemented at scale
- As implemented by practitioners (i.e., not by researchers)
- Studies using randomized assignment to treatment and comparison conditions are strongly preferred
- $500,000 to $1,200,000 per year (total cost)
- Up to 5 years

## Measurement Goal

- Develop and test assessments or other measurement tools
- $150,000 to $400,000 per year (total cost = direct + indirect)
- Up to 4 years

## Which Goal and Topic are Right for You?

- Choose topic and goal that demonstrate your expertise and skills
- Start to think about which goal is appropriate for the question(s) you want to answer
- Look at the abstracts of projects funded under a research topic
- _[http://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/index.asp](http://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/index.asp)_

## What if My Program is “Between” Goals or Topics?

- PICK ONE!
- Read the Request for Applications
- Break the project down into smaller pieces
- Don’t just go for the largest amount of money
- Aim for a well-crafted project that will deliver what it promises....

## Challenge

- Your challenge is to convince reviewers that you and your team have the skills and experience to implement well what you have proposed.

## Build a Good Team

## How to Build a Team

- Think about the type of expertise that is needed to carry out the project
- Curriculum Development
- Psychometrician
- Statistician/Methodologist
- Consider Goal
- Consider your own training and experience

## How to Build a Team (cont.)

- Demonstrate your productivity
- Include a senior researcher with a strong grant record
- Ensure all team members commit sufficient time to implement competently the proposed research

## Next Steps

- Read the Request for Applications closely one more time and confirm that your idea fits the requirements for a specific Topic (e.g., Read/Write) and Goal
- Then talk to your Program Officer

## Talk to the Program Officer

- Call or email IES program officers early in the process
- IES program staff can provide feedback on:
- research idea
- topic
- goal
- abstracts and draft proposals

## Write a Good Proposal

- (Complete ALL components)

## Preparing the Proposal

- SF 424 Research and Related (R&R) forms including R&R Total Federal and Non-Federal Budget form
- Project Summary/Abstract
- Contents of the Application

## Preparing the Proposal:Contents of Application

- Project Narrative
- Bibliography and References Cited
- Biographical Sketches of Key Project Personnel
- Narrative Budget Justification
- Subaward Budgets

## Preparing the Proposal: Contents of Application

- Appendix A (letters of agreement; tables; figures)
- Appendix B (curriculum materials)
- Additional forms for applicants selected for funding

## Preparing the Proposal: Creating a BudgetGet Help

- Personnel
- Fringe Benefits
- Travel
- Equipment

- Supplies
- Contractual
- Other
- Indirect Costs

## Preparing the Project Narrative

## Project Narrative

- Significance
- Research Plan
- Personnel
- Resources

## Significance

- Read the RFA
- Information required to address significance of project depends on the Research Goal
- Theoretical foundation, and prior empirical support for your proposed work

## Research Plan

- Read the RFA
- Information required of the research plan depends on the Research Goal
- Details are key
- Make sure what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it, is clearly described

## Personnel

- Include short description of role of key personnel in “Personnel” section of narrative
- Use biographical sketches (CVs) to further document expertise and productivity
- Budget narrative can also include information about research assistants and other personnel

## Resources

- Include a section called “Resources”
- Possible resources include:
- Datasets
- Teachers, classrooms, schools
- Computer laboratories
- In Appendix A document access to schools or datasets needed to conduct research project

## A Critical Resource:Relationships with Schools

## Additional Reminders

- Pay attention to what can and cannot be included in the Appendices
- Have a colleague who isn’t involved in the project read a draft

## Reviewers’ Perspectives

- Write clearly and concisely
- Address the points described in RFA
- Organize information in logical sequence
- Label sections and number pages
- Make it easy for reviewers to find and understand the information

## Submitting a Proposal

- All proposals must be submitted electronically to:
- _[http://www.grants.gov](http://www.grants.gov/)_
- By the date and time listed on the Request for Applications
- DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!

## Final Proposal Submission

- On-line forms are complete
- PDFs of proposal contents have been uploaded
- Authorized representative has completed the final step of the electronic process.
- You have received an email acknowledging receipt of your application.

## Final Reminders

## Don’t Forget...

- Start early
- Read the Request for Applications
- Talk with the program officer
- Start the online submission process early

## Remember

- You can’t get funded if you don’t submit an application
- Revise and resubmit is the rule, not the exception
- Persistence (often) pays off

## ies.ed.gov

- elizabeth.albro@ed.gov