Education Funding

Winners in Latest ‘i3' Round to Split $150 Million

By Michele McNeil — November 13, 2012 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Twenty winners are slated to share $150 million in prize money from the third round of the federal Investing in Innovation competition, the U.S. Department of Education announced last week.

Eight won “validation” awards of up to $15 million each, and the remaining 12 won “development” awards of up to $3 million.

The department chose not to award any grants in the largest “scale up” category, where the grants were each worth up to $25 million. Department officials said in a frequently-asked-questions document about the awards that they wanted a larger portfolio of grantees, and awarding a large $25 million grant would have eaten up a big portion of the award money.

The i3 contest, which was born out of the 2009 economic-stimulus package passed by Congress, aims to find innovative ideas and bring them to scale. School districts, groups of schools, and their nonprofit partners competed in the three categories, which varied based on how much evidence of past success an idea had. The scale-up category requires the strongest track record of success; the development category requires less evidence but a lot of promise.

Now the only thing standing between the winners and their money is securing matching funds from the private sector. Development award winners must secure a 15 percent match, and validation winners a 20 percent match. In the past, securing matching grants—and keeping that money—has proved quite challenging for some i3 winners.

Applicants have until Dec. 7 to secure their matching funds.

The validation winners are: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Jobs for the Future, LEED Sacramento, National Writing Project, New Leaders Inc., New Teacher Center, Texas A&M University, and WestEd.

WestEd also won a development grant, along with AVID Center, California Association for Bilingual Education, California League of Middle Schools, Central Falls (R.I.) School District, Citizen Schools Inc., Clark County (Nev.) School District, Columbia College Chicago, Intercultural Development Research Association, International Network for Public Schools, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and Virginia Advanced Study Strategies Inc.

A version of this article appeared in the November 15, 2012 edition of Education Week as Latest ‘i3' Winners Split $150 Million

Events

Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Interactive See How Much School Funding Trump Is Holding Back From Your State
The administration is holding back nearly $7 billion for English learners, after-school programs, professional development, and more.
1 min read
Image of money symbol made of sand filtering slowly through an hour glass.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Funding Trump Tells States He's Holding Back $6.8 Billion for Schools
Schools nationwide won't see funding earmarked for English learners, migrant students, professional development, and more.
4 min read
063025 Trump AP BS
President Donald Trump walks to an event in the East Room of the White House on June 26, 2025. On June 30, his administration informed state education departments it won't send out nearly $6.8 billion in education funding on July 1 as required by law.
Mark Shiefelbein/AP
Education Funding Education Department Restores COVID Funds For Schools—With Some Caveats
All state education agencies and school districts now have until March 2026 to finish spending COVID aid.
4 min read
Image of funding stream faucets and a hand controlling the flow.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding Trump May Soon Defy Congress and Cut $5 Billion More From Schools
Funding for migrant education, English-learner services, professional development, and after-school programming is at risk.
10 min read
Image of a slow-drip funding stream coming from a faucet.
gheatza/iStock/Getty