Twenty-six nonprofit groups, school districts, and universities are on track to win a slice of the nearly $130 million Investing in Innovation grant fund, a federal initiative intended to help scale up promising education ideas with a strong research base.
The high-rated applicants will have to secure private matching funds by Dec. 10 to claim their “i3" grants—something all previous winners have been able to do, although it hasn’t always been easy.
For the first time in three years, the U.S. Department of Education named a winner in the “scale up” competition, which provides the largest grants—worth up to $20 million—to big proposals with a proven record of success. The winner: North Carolina New Schools, which helps train teachers and principals.
Those on the list for lesser grant amounts include the research organization WestEd, based in San Francisco; the Neighborhood Charter School in Atlanta; the Montgomery County, N.C., schools; and Ohio State University.
