Early Career Development and Mentoring Program Officer: Dr. Katherine (Katie) Taylor (202-245-6716; ) Purpose The Early Career Development and Mentoring Research Training (Early Career) Program supports grants that prepare researchers to conduct independent rigorous and relevant early intervention and special education research. The intention is to support researchers who are addressing issues that are important to infants, toddlers, children, and youth with or at risk for disabilities, their families, special education practitioners, and policymakers, and whose research contributes to the advancement of knowledge and theory in special education. The program aims to prepare scientists to collaborate with education stakeholders to develop and evaluate new products (e.g., curricula, programs, services, ) and instructional approaches that are grounded in a science of learning, to design and validate , and to address applied research problems in special education or early intervention using sophisticated statistical methods to analyze data. The Institute’s goal is to prepare researchers who are able to conduct the type of research that the Institute funds and to prepare competitive proposals that address relevant special education topics and meet the methodological requirements specified for the Institute's research grant competitions. At the end of the project period, the Early Career Principal Investigator will provide a description of: The training received over the course of the grant including descriptions of all key components discussed in the original application (e.g., research projects, professional development opportunities, opportunities to collaborate with education stakeholders, methodological workshops). A completed research plan, with outcomes and products relevant to the specified research goal (e.g., demonstrated understanding of the relation between and student outcomes for Exploration projects; developed intervention with evidence of and promise for Development grants; evidence of the impact of a fully developed intervention for projects; validated assessment for Measurement projects). accomplishments, such as: Developing a research program that is of use to practitioners and policymakers in the field of early intervention or special education for children with or at risk for disabilities. Submitting a federal research grant to continue research developed with support of the early career award. Advancing research in the field of special education or early intervention research.
Describe the specific issue or problem your work will address, including the overall importance of this issue/problem and how its resolution will contribute to the improvement of student education outcomes. Strong applications will clearly outline the importance of the issue or problem to education stakeholders, such as practitioners and policymakers. Describe the research questions and/or hypotheses, theoretical and empirical rationale for the study, and the practical importance of the research questions. Describe current typical practice and its identified shortcomings in your area of research, and how the results of this work will inform the future development of an intervention or assessment or the future decision to evaluate an intervention. b. Research Plan - The purpose of this section is to describe the research aims and methodology for the proposed research. Please note that although the Research Plan must be included in the proposal, certain aspects on which the Principal Investigator proposes to receive additional training (e.g., research design and data analysis plan) may be described in less detail compared to proposals submitted to the Special Education Research Grants competition. The Institute anticipates that there will be further development of these plans based on the Principal Investigator’s training experiences and guidance from the mentor(s). Requirements: In order to be responsive and sent forward for peer review, applications to the Early Career topic must: Describe the research design, sample, key outcome measures, and data analysis procedures. Measure of students with or at risk for disabilities. The Institute is most interested in student , , , and that support success in school, and the transition from high school to postsecondary education, meaningful employment, or independent living. Recommendations for a Strong Application: Explain how the Career Development Plan will support the development of the research plan as appropriate for your background. Describe the aims of the research project, including, as appropriate, your specific research question(s) and hypotheses that they intend to address. The Institute’s FY 2018 Special Education Research Grants RFA (84.324A) may be helpful as guide for the types of research activities that would be appropriate under your specified research goal. Propose a research plan that is feasible to carry out within the context of an Early Career grant and provide a justification for its feasibility. Research Design Propose a research design that is directly linked to your research questions.
Describe other personnel (if applicable), including their proposed roles, qualifications, and time commitments. Other personnel (e.g., consultants) can be used to provide support on specific aspects of your research plan or to fill gaps in your mentorship and training (e.g., to provide consultation on statistical analyses). These personnel should have unique and specific roles that are different than those served by the mentors. Resources - The purpose of this section is to describe the institutional resources to support the Principal Investigator in successfully completing this project. Requirements: In order to be responsive and sent forward for peer review, applications to the Early Career topic must describe the resources to: Support the Principal Investigator in conducting the proposed project. Recommendations for a Strong Application: Resources to support the Principal Investigator in conducting the project: Describe your institution’s capacity to support career researchers in managing grants and monitoring spending. Describe your institiution’s experience supporting career researchers through training workshops, seminars and/or discussion groups with senior researchers. Describe any facilities (e.g., computers, library, labs) and resources (e.g., packages” or other resources for new faculty) provided by your institution that are relevant for the successful completion of the project. Describe your access to resources available at your mentor’s institution, if different from your own, to support your research, your training, or both. Describe your plans for acquiring any resources that are not currently accessible, will require significant expenditures, and are necessary for the successful completion of the project (e.g., equipment, test materials, curriculum or training materials). Explain how you will have time to conduct your proposed research and accomplish your training plan your other responsibilities as a faculty member. The Institute anticipates that you should allocate a minimum of 20% and maximum of 50% of academic year time to manage your research training project, with the specific amount depending on your course load and other sources of salary funding. Resources to disseminate the results: Describe your resources to carry out your plans to disseminate your results, as described in the required Appendix A. Note any specific personnel, offices, or organizations expected to take part in your dissemination plans and their specific roles.
from Regulations for the Protection of Human Subjects.) If there are no activities involving human subjects planned at any time during the proposed project at any performance site or collaborating institution, you may check “No” and skip to Item 2. Is the Project Exempt from Federal Regulations? If all human subject activities are exempt from Human Subjects regulations, then you may check “Yes.” You are required to answer this question if you answered “yes” to the first question “Are Human Subjects Involved?” If you answer “yes” to the question “Is the Project Exempt from Federal Regulations?” you are required to the appropriate exemption number box or boxes corresponding to one or more of the exemption categories. The six categories of research that qualify for exemption from coverage by the regulations are described on the U.S. Department of Education’s website . Provide an Exempt Research on Human Subjects Narrative at Item 12 of this form (see ). If you answer “no” to the question “Is the Project Exempt from Federal Regulations?” you will be prompted to answer questions the Institutional Review Board (IRB) review. If no, is the IRB review pending? Answer either “Yes” or “No.” If you answer “yes” because the review is pending, then leave the IRB approval date blank. If you answer “no” because the review is not pending, then you are required to enter the latest IRB approval date, if available. Therefore, you should select “No” only if a date is available for IRB approval. Note: IRB Approval may not be pending because you have not begun the IRB process. In this case, an IRB Approval Date will not be available. However, a date must be entered in this field if “No” is selected or the application will be rejected with errors by Grants.gov. Therefore, you should check “Yes” to the question “Is the IRB review pending?” if an IRB Approval Date is not available. If you answer “no” to the question “Is the Project Exempt from Federal Regulations?” provide a Non-Exempt Research on Human Subjects Narrative at Item 12 of this form (see ). Human Subject Assurance Number: Leave this item blank. Item 2 Are Vertebrate Animals Used? whether or not vertebrate animals will be used in this project. Item 3 Is proprietary/privileged information included in the application? Patentable ideas, trade secrets, privileged or confidential commercial or financial information, disclosure of