In all of the hoopla over the new draft guidelines for “Race to the Top” funds, you may have missed the request for proposals posted today for the U.S. Department of Education’s statewide longitudinal data system grants program.
The department is offering a fourth round of grants of up to $9 million each to help states build data systems that allow them to track students’ academic progress over time, and as they move from school.
And the department should have plenty of money to give out. Remember, this program got a $250 million boost in the federal stimulus package. And see my colleague Michele McNeil’s story today on the importance the Obama administration is placing on state’s data-gathering efforts.
All states and districts are eligible. Twenty-seven states won grants in the last round of funding, which took place in March, up from 12 states and the District of Columbia the time before, almost two years earlier.
You can find the full RFP on the Web site for the Institute of Education Sciences. The deadline for applying to November 19.
UPDATE: Actually, the awards range from $2 million to $20 million over three years, according to the RFP. It also says that IES expects the average award to states to be about $10 million---not the—not the $9 million figure that I took off the IES Web site.