**CALL FOR PEER REVIEWERS – Comprehensive Literacy State Development Program**

**FY 2020 U.S. Department of Education Discretionary Grant Competition**

Deadline:  April 3, 2020

**CONTEXT:**The purpose of the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) program is to award competitive grants to advance literacy skills, including pre- literacy skills, reading, and writing, for children from birth through grade 12, with an emphasis on disadvantaged children, including children living in poverty, English learners, and children with disabilities.

Eligible grant recipients are SEAs, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  

**WHO:** The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) seeks peer reviewers with demonstrated experience in the following professions: school-based language arts teachers, reading and literacy specialists, Birth through kindergarten developmental and/or education professionals, Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade (PK-12) teachers and administrators, program evaluators, and PK-12 education consultants.  The Department seeks reviewers with experience implementing high quality literacy activities.  The Department is also seeking reviewers with knowledge of high needs communities and the challenges faced by students and their families.  The Department considers reviewers without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age or disability.

**WHAT:** The Department will offer peer reviewers and panel facilitators an honorarium.  Peer reviewers will independently read, score, and provide written comments for grant applications submitted to the Department under the CLSD program.  These reviews will be used to recommend applications for funding.  Copies of the reviewers’ comments will be shared with respective applicants following the review; however, personally identifiable information will be redacted.   Reviewers must adhere to the requirements listed in this Call for Peer Reviewers. 

**REQUIREMENTS:**

· Availability:  Each reviewer will need to dedicate approximately 120 hours of time for reading, scoring, developing comments, and discussing assigned applications over a two-week period, likely during early June 2020.   Reviewers must also participate in one of the Department’s webinar-based technical assistance sessions to prepare for the review.  These webinars are tentatively scheduled for mid-May 2020 (subject to change).

· Tools:  Each reviewer must have access to the Internet, a phone, a printer and be proficient with interacting within the web environment.  The review will be conducted in a combination of online and face-to-face meetings.

· Quality of review:  Each reviewer must provide detailed, objective, constructive, and timely written reviews for each assigned application in a fast-moving environment. 

· Review Schedule:  Once the review schedule is finalized, each reviewer must commit to the schedule in writing.  Reviewers who are unable to commit to the agreed upon schedule during the competition will be dismissed.

**CONFLICT OF INTEREST ISSUES:**

You have a conflict of interest and may not serve as a reviewer if:

· An application will be submitted for this competition in which you will benefit financially from grant funds (if awarded). 

· An application will be submitted for this competition in which your spouse will benefit financially from grant funds (if awarded). 

· You will be participating in the development of an application.

You have a conflict of interest, but one that does not necessarily disqualify you from reviewing, if:

· You are affiliated with an organization plans to submit an application, but you will not benefit financially from that application. 

· Your spouse is affiliated with an organization that plans to submit an application, but he or she will not benefit financially from that application. 

· An applicant names you as a consultant in an application without your prior knowledge. 

· A situation exists that may be perceived as a conflict, such as reviewing proposals from your region of the country, reviewing proposals in which a family member (other than your spouse) stands to benefit financially, reviewing proposals from an organization or individual with whom you are negotiating employment, etc. 

**TO APPLY:**  Send an updated resume, in **Word or PDF** format, to CLSD@ed.gov no later than April 3, 2020.  Please include the following in the subject line of your e-mail: "2020 CLSD Peer Review".  Your resume should include: 

· Full Name 

· Education (list all college degrees, with dates of degrees, institutions, and majors must be listed) 

· All professional position titles, descriptions, and dates in chronological order beginning with, or going back to, your first position after receiving your B.A. or B.S.

· A detailed description of your current organizational affiliation (s) and position title. 

We will not review resumes that do not include information about the applicant’s current work status and/or location.  

· Telephone numbers (work, home, and fax [if applicable]) 

· Cell, home and work telephone numbers, and mailing addresses 

· Preferred E-mail address

Please note:  If you are retired, please make it clear when you retired, and that you are retired at present, and list all consulting positions or other relevant positions you have held since retirement.  There is no need to emphasize grant writing or grant reviewing experience.  Please provide a full description of your professional work experience and substantive professional experience that are relevant to this type of work.  We are interested in all work you have accomplished involving elementary and secondary education, literacy, technology, and performance-based measurements and outcomes.

Reasonable Accommodation Policy:  The Department’s policy is to provide reasonable accommodation for volunteers, part-time employees, student interns, detailees, and temporary employees who are qualified individuals with disabilities, unless doing so poses an undue hardship.  After a candidate is notified of his or her appointment as a reviewer, it is the reviewer’s responsibility to inform the Department in a timely manner of any disability that would require a need for reasonable accommodations in order to perform the duties of the position.

If you have any questions about resume requirements or conflict of interest issues, please contact Cindy Savage at cindy.savage@ed.gov or Jennifer Brianas at jennifer.brianas@ed.gov.   

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