Grantee Presentations and Papers

Exploring EIR Dissemination Strategies

This public-facing webinar provides a framework for thinking about the different strategies and purposes of dissemination, how the audience might vary based on the purpose, some methods or avenues for dissemination and the relationship with the EIR open licensing requirements. After outlining an overarching framework, a panel of EIR grantees provided targeted examples from their projects.

Recording: https://youtu.be/wJN7hyjgSh4

Slides: PDF

Rural Career Pathways White Paper
The United States Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant program supports several grantees exploring innovative rural career pathways for students, navigating complex approaches to employment opportunities. This area warrants additional attention. Rural career pathways offer students a clear progression from an area of interest to exact coursework requirements for high school graduation and then to subsequent employment or postsecondary enrollment. enrollment. These students are provided with an opportunity to obtain a set of skills, experiences, or credentials that can result in employment in their current rural area if they choose. This paper addresses three areas related to rural career pathways: (1) components of successful career pathways, (2) factors that set rural schools apart and support a place-based approach, and (3) current promising interventions for rural career pathways.

High-Need Student Resources
The EIR program makes serving high-need students a priority for all projects. The projects are multifaceted, serving somewhat different populations and ages.
- EIR Grantees Serving High-Need Students panel discussion
  View this conversation with EIR grantees serving high-need students. During this webinar, the panelists describe how they designed their programs to meet the needs of different student populations and how their program might work in other settings or with other students.
  Recording
  Slides
- Implementing Innovations for Students with Disabilities webinar
  This webinar offers a resource combining the knowledge of high-leverage practices, expert panelists’ experiences and understanding of current EIR program offerings, along with a brief review of completed EIR-funded projects. The webinar will shine a light on the ways that EIR can serve to connect students with disabilities to innovation with appropriate adaptations and modifications.
  Recording
  Slides
- Findings from Projects with a Focus on Serving Students With Disabilities cross-project summary
  This cross-project summary presents four case studies of completed Investing in Innovation (i3) projects that utilize high-leverage practices for working with students with disabilities. i3 and EIR grantees have developed innovative programs designed or adapted to serve students with disabilities by addressing student challenges. Examining the successes and possibilities from these programs can help researchers and practitioners better understand how to impact student outcomes with increased precision. PDF

From Planning to Piloting: Setting Up Your EIR Grant for Success
Hear from a panel of EIR grantees who discussed the successes and challenges of their planning and/or pilot years and how they overcame challenges such as recruitment issues, hiring implementation staff, data collection, project management, and pivoting when necessary. Slides

Covid-19: A Look at How EIR-Funded Projects Are Supporting SEL Needs of Students and Teachers and Mediating Learning Gaps
Covid-19 has significantly impacted our world in numerous ways. In 2021, two EIR competitive preference priorities were issued to address the impact of Covid and promote equity in Pre-K-12 education. This webinar is a first look at what a few of these grantees have been working on over the past year. Presentations and conversation with the grantees focus on how they are conceptualizing their work, how they are addressing Covid recovery, and how they believe their innovation will make an impact. Addressing Covid recovery can include a focus on learning gaps in student education or the social and emotional needs of students and teachers. Both areas of interest have been substantially impacted by routine changes related to Covid safety procedures. Slides

Connecting Theory to SEL Practice: A Conversation to Understand How Practitioners Tailor Local SEL Initiatives and Interventions | Presentation
In this interactive conservation, we bring together a panel of SEL experts, current EIR grantees who are leading innovation in the SEL domain, and attendees to explore existing SEL theoretical frameworks and whether they provide the flexibility necessary to contextualize SEL interventions and programs so researchers and practitioners can equitably assess what works for whom, why, and in what context in education. By engaging in a peer discussion about how SEL-related theories connect with SEL practices, attendees will share the role of theory in their work, learn about the challenges their counterparts face when determining how practitioners utilize SEL theoretical frameworks in their practice, and deepen their understanding of how to leverage theory in practice to improve implementation strategies and measurement tools in the field.

EIR 2023 Cross-Project Summaries (these essays explore lessons learned from some EIR projects that address similar topics):

EIR 2022 Cross-Project Summaries (these essays explore lessons learned from some EIR projects that address similar topics):

Understanding the EIR Open Licensing Requirement Webinar (6/21/2022)
In this webinar, Jessica Ch’ng, U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Education Technology Fellow, presents an overview of the open licensing requirement that applies to all EIR grants made since 2017. The overview is followed by a Q&A with EIR Program Officers and Ms. Ch’ng. This webinar is designed to help grantees:
- understand the open licensing rule
- understand what is and isn’t covered in the rule
- learn how to acquire and apply an open license
- distinguish between different types of open licenses
- understand expectations for the dissemination plan required by the rule
- PPT | Supplemental Quick Facts Sheet | EIR Open Licensing FAQ
- Plan Overview

Promoting Teacher Autonomy, Practice and Knowledge: Lessons Learned from Teacher-Directed Professional Learning Programs
In this webinar, Frederick Brown, Chief Learning Officer/Deputy with Learning Forward, shares promising practices, key research and emerging trends for teacher directed professional development (TDPD), citing international studies and reports from the field. Afterward, we hear from EIR grantees who are implementing TDPD in their EIR projects and learn about the logistics of offering TDPD (recruitment, applications, tracking activity), verifying the quality of the PD, where PD can be most successful and any roadblocks states or districts might need to consider. Through this facilitated discussion, participants learn more about the range in variation and complexities of offering teachers autonomy in their professional learning. Slides
FY 2020 Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Competitions Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ document covers questions related to all three of the EIR competitions and also includes general EIR program information. Please note that the Department may post additional FAQs at a later date. MS Word (59 KB).

FY 2022 EIR Monitoring Webinar
This is a recording from January 19, 2022 that serves as an overview for monitoring activities of the EIR program. PowerPoint | Recording

Aligning the Measures: Looking in Depth at Your Performance Measures and Annual Performance Targets
The Aligning the Measures: Looking In-Depth at Your Performance Measures and Annual Performance Targets webinar was developed to help EIR grantees gain knowledge about the EIR grant management and reporting process in relation to their evaluation. In this webinar, EIR staff explain the terminology and process for refining and improving objectives and measures from your project’s application. Following the overview of the performance measures requirements and submission process, EIR grantees share suggestions and tips when developing and refining their own measures.
- Measurement Plan Template | Slides

Designing and Implementing Social Emotional Learning Programs to Promote Equity
In our white paper, Designing and Implementing SEL Programs to Promote Equity, we illustrate how and why designing, implementing, and evaluating high-quality SEL programs with a lens of equity and inclusion is imperative to realizing the promise of SEL programs in supporting students’ social, emotional, and academic well-being. The Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education has made significant investments in funding equity-focused SEL programs. We highlight five EIR-funded projects and provide resources and approaches for other researchers and practitioners who aim to develop, implement, and evaluate equity-focused SEL programs. Note: Equitable SEL programs are those which aim to promote students’ SEL capacities and skills while advancing educational equity.
- Webinar: Designing and Implementing SEL Programs to Promote Equity | Slides
  This webinar illustrates how and why designing, implementing, and evaluating high-quality SEL programs with a lens of equity and inclusion is imperative to realizing the promise of SEL programs in supporting students’ social, emotional, and academic well-being, and how this lens of equity can help mitigate some of the inequities experienced within the educational system. After sharing findings from the white paper Designing and Implementing Social Emotional Learning Programs to Promote Equity, two EIR grantees share their projects and describe how they designed equity-focused SEL programs. Dr. Kirkland then addresses the core components of equity-centered SEL programs and the need for collaborative practices that frame diversity as an asset.

Webinar: Rediscovering Professional Learning: Creating Engaging and Meaningful Professional Learning in Virtual Settings | Slides
One challenge of the COVID pandemic was shifting in-person professional learning for teachers to an online or virtual setting as many programs were developed for in-person learning. This webinar shares promising practices from two EIR grantee projects which successfully transitioned professional learning to an online format. The facilitator and grantees engage in a discussion on what online/virtual PD can look like, format considerations, and when virtual PD is most effective. The conversation focuses on the core elements of successful and engaging online professional development, the most effective on-line learning formats, such as shifting from full in-person to asynchronous and hybrid learning option, and the unintended positive outcomes of shifting to virtual PD.”