IV,1.a: Standards for Grant Applications

Develop guiding standards for grant application transparency that can be applied across programs.

Other Information:

Every grant program is different, but all should be subject to transparency principles. ED has set a new standard for end-to-end transparency over the last year. We posted initial and approved applications for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and School Improvement Fund, peer reviewer comments, as well as the scores for Race to the Top applications. These programs invited state-level participants, so the number of applications is relatively low. Over the next few months, the Department will begin two different but equally high-profile ARRA competitions - the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) and the revamped Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). We expect over 3000 applications for the Investing in Innovation Fund and this large number of applications will require the Department to evaluate and use a different approach to achieve transparency on this scale. After gaining experience applying transparency principles to these diverse programs, the Department will develop a consistent set of standards to implement across all grant programs, and communicate best practices to aid in effective execution of those standards. Our timeline is as follows. o April – develop transparency policy for i3 o May-June – develop transparency policy for TIF o September – publish competition results for both i3 and TIF o Oct – Dec 2010 – develop ED guiding standards and procedures for competitive grant transparency, provide examples of Best Practices representing the range of approaches for achieving transparency for different types of grants

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

Content