2019 Call for Peer Reviewers

CALL FOR PEER REVIEWERS WITH K-12 EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion Grants U.S. Department of Education

The Administration has received funding for the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program for FY 2019. In the FY 2019 EIR grant competition, we seek to support: 1) innovative K-12 education projects that have the potential to increase student achievement and attainment, particularly among high-need students; and 2) the expansion (or scaling) of education practices that have evidence of effectiveness.

In support of this competition, we now seek individuals who can participate in review panels that will help us to select grant award winners, to provide written analysis and scoring of submitted grant applications, and to provide constructive written feedback to applicants.

Who Would Be Successful Peer Reviewers of EIR Grant Applications?

• Persons who are school principals or other school leaders (such as curriculum coordinators or coaching specialists), teachers, district leaders, foundation officers, university faculty (who work with schools), researchers, evaluators, professional development providers, or other individuals who have significant and current K-12 education experience.
• Persons who have administrative, project management, or some other leadership experience which helps them to bridge their understanding of what happens in the classroom with what it takes to implement, sustain, and grow new educational programs.
• Persons who have wide-ranging experience, and who can discriminate across a variety of K-12 areas to identify the ideas that are most promising vs. those which are commonplace or less likely to be effective.
• Persons who have direct K-12 experience and expertise in at least two of the following content areas:

  Rural Education	STEM/Computer Science	School Climate	Standards and Assessments
  Postsecondary Access/Preparation	Data Driven Instruction	School Leadership/Principal Effectiveness	Social Emotional Learning
  Dropout Prevention and Re-engagement	English Learners	School Turnaround	Teacher Preparation
  Character & Civic Education	Professional Development	Early Learning	Education Technology (including Distance Ed)
  School Choice	Vocational Education	Program Evaluation	Parent/Family Engagement

• Persons who are excellent writers, good critical thinkers, and committed to completing assigned tasks in a professional and timely manner.

Instructions to Apply to Become a Peer Reviewer

• To be considered, please send a copy of your resume (maximum of 5 pages) to EIRpeerreview@ed.gov.

and

• If you are selected by EIR to participate, you must also register and submit your resume in G5 (www.g5.gov), though you can also do this step now. For support with this process, it is recommended that you consult the PowerPoint instructions. If you need additional help, you may contact the G5 helpdesk at edcaps.user@ed.gov or call 1-888-336-8930. G5 will require you to submit your resume in a PDF format only.
• When the G5 system prompts you for your areas of specialization, select all that are applicable to you, but please ensure you select each of the aforementioned content areas for which you have expertise: for example, “Rural Education,” “STEM,” etc.

Please note that submitting your resume and/or registering in G5 does not guarantee that you will be selected as a reviewer.

What to Include in Your Resume (maximum of 5 pages)

In addition to sharing highlights of your career history and your current experience working in relevant areas of K-12 education, please share the following (if applicable):

• Indicators of any relevant knowledge/experience in leading or overseeing program innovation, scaling of effective practices, and program dissemination.
• Indicators of any relevant experience working in rural education.
• Whether you have previously been a Department of Education peer reviewer, including serving as a peer reviewer for the EIR predecessor, the Investing in Innovation (i3) program; whether you have worked on a funded i3 or EIR grant project; or whether you have served as a project director or staff person on another recent Department of Education grant.

Responsibilities/Payment

• The reviews will take place over 3-4 consecutive weeks starting in late spring (specific dates TBD). If you are selected, you will be contacted to confirm availability for the specific dates.
• You will be expected:
  1. to participate in a one-hour orientation webinar;
  2. to read, review, and evaluate approximately 10-12 full length applications;
  3. to participate in approximately three to four panel discussion conference calls (each several hours in length);
  4. to complete written evaluations of applications based on the selection criteria; and
  5. to make revisions of your reviews following the panel discussion. All reviews will be submitted in the Department’s online G5 system.
• Payment will be $200 per application (approximately $2,000-$2,400 total) after successful completion of all required tasks.

Reviewer Selection

Reviewers who are selected to participate will be contacted by the EIR team or its contractor and asked for additional contact information, availability, and potential conflicts of interest. Those not selected will remain in the EIR reviewer pool for future competitions.

Conflict of Interest

You are not eligible to be a reviewer if you will be applying to the competition, if you will be involved in the preparation of a grant application, or if you would stand to benefit from an application that were to receive funding in this new competition. You are eligible, however, if you are a current or past EIR or i3 grantee and are not submitting a new application under the EIR competition.

Program Information

For more information about the EIR Program, go to: https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/innovation-early-learning/education-innovation-and-research-eir/

Please direct all questions to the EIR Peer Review inbox at EIRpeerreview@ed.gov.