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The $650 million Investing in Innovation Fund (i3), overseen by the U.S. Secretary of Education, provides grants or “academic achievement awards” to reward school districts and nonprofit groups that have demonstrated success in significantly increasing academic achievement for all groups of students and that have a proven track record.  On August 5, 2010 the U.S. Department of Education announced the 49 highest-rated applicants of the national Investing in Innovation competition.  See the Department’s press release.  The Administration's proposed FY11 budget calls for an additional $500 million to expand the i3 grant competition. $150 million of these funds will be set aside for competitive STEM grants for school districts, nonprofits, and other organizations to develop, validate, and scale promising strategies to improve teaching and accelerate student learning in STEM subjects.

Secretary Arne Duncan has underscored the importance of “program evidence [as] a formal eligibility requirement“ for applicants, noting that there will be grant categories based on three levels of program evidence, the largest of which will target programs that are proven, that have capacity and that can be easily replicated to spur education innovation.  Program achievements can include significant improvements in graduation rates, increased recruitment of high-quality teachers and school leaders and/or established effective partnerships with the private sector.  The following winners were announced for each grant category:

• Development Grant - Awards of up to $5 million each; will provide funding to support high-potential and relatively untested practices, strategies, or programs whose efficacy should be systematically studied.

2010 Winners: Advancement Through Opportunity and Knowledge; Bellevue School District; AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation; Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools; American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation; Bay State Reading Institute; Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee; Beaverton School District 48J; Board of Education of the City of New York Office of School of One; Boston Plan for Excellence in the Public Schools Foundation; Plymouth Public Schools; Los Angeles Unified School District; The Studio in a School Association, Inc.; Take Stock in Children; Saint Vrain Valley School District Priority Schools; The Achievement Network; Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools; Search Institute; National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform; School Board of Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Iredell-Statesville-Schools; California Education Round Table Intersegmental Coordinating Committee; New York City Department of Education; the Jefferson County Board of Education; and Forsyth County Schools of Georgia.

• Validation Grant -  Awards of up to $30 million each;  will require moderate evidence and will be aimed at validating and spreading promising practices, strategies and programs to regional scale.

2010 Winners: The Children's Literacy Initiative; The Curators of the University of Missouri - eMINTS National Center, Academic Affairs; George Mason University; ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching); Smithsonian Institution - National Science Resources Center, LASER; New Schools for New Orleans; The New Teacher Project; School District No. 1 of the City and County of Denver; Parents as Teachers National Center; President and Fellows of Harvard College Graduate School of Education; WestEd Teacher Professional Development Program; Johns Hopkins University - Center for Social Organization of Schools; Utah State University - Center for Persons with Disabilities; Council for Opportunity in Education; Niswonger Foundation.

• Scale Up Grant - Awards of up to $50 million each; will require strong evidence and will be aimed at bringing proven programs to national scale.

2010 Winners: Teach for America, Ohio State University, KIPP Foundation, and the Success for All Foundation.

The Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) runs parallel with the Department’s “Race to the Top” state incentive fund to support the four core education reforms that have been outlined in ARRA including:

• Adopting internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
• Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals;
• Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices;
• Turning around lowest-performing schools.

For an overview on ARRA Strategic Framework, including the Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund, see this Department of Education PowerPoint presentation from December 2009. It details the major ARRA education reform programs and their relationships to each other.

Afterschool Opportunities
The i3 Fund provides a significant source of support to invest in quality expanded learning opportunities such as afterschool and summer programs to help increase students’ academic achievement.  The U.S. Department of Education has said that “applicants will receive a competitive preference if their project addresses one or more of the following priorities: improving outcomes for young children; expanding students' access to college and preparing them for success in college; addressing the unique needs of students with disabilities and of limited English proficient students; and serving schools in rural areas.”

It should be noted that two of the winning applicants, the STEM Learning Opportunities Providing Equity (SLOPE) and the Milwaukee Community Literacy Project, have outlined expanded learning initiatives that will be supported by i3 fund.  Read the Afterschool Alliance’s brief analysis of their winning proposals on Afterschool Snack.

About the Award Process

Eligible recipients of this grant include:

(A) a local educational agency (e.g. school district); or (B) a partnership between a nonprofit organization and— (i) one or more local educational agencies; or (ii) a consortium of schools. 

The Department has said that award recipients are required to demonstrate how their programs will be sustainable after their federal grants are completed as well as find a 20 percent cash or in-kind match of their federal award from the private sector by September 8, 2010.  Corporations are encouraged to partner with LEAs & nonprofits to increase the sustainability of proven programs, but cannot apply directly for i3 Funds. 

1,698 applications were submitted and the ultimate decision depended on a number of factors, including responses to the proposed guidance and the lessons learned via the Race to the Top process.  All i3 funds must be obligated by Sept. 30, 2010.   However, pay-out may extend for 4-5 years. See the U.S. Department of Education’s 

I3 Preparation Challenge
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement, Jim Shelton announced that the Department will launch a new online initiative, the i3 Preparation Challenge, in conjunction with the i3 fund.  Citing the need to support school entrepreneurship beyond the capacity of the i3 fund, Assistant Deputy Secretary Shelton said that the i3 Preparation Challenge website will serve as an interactive clearinghouse where school entrepreneurs can submit, rate and peer-review ideas.  The goal of the new venture is provide greater opportunities for collaboration between nonprofits, school entrepreneurs, and funders.

Related Links:

U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation fact sheet. 

Afterschool Alliance’s Comments to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan regarding the Notice of Proposed Priorities for the i3 Fund.