The purpose of the Special Education Research Grants Program (ALN 84.324A) is to foster solutions to pressing problems faced by students with or at risk for disabilities, their families, and education systems. IES intends for this program to: (1) develop new approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment, as well as encourage the rethinking of education finance, policies, and systems-level programs that support students with disabilities from birth through postsecondary education; and (2) build the evidence base necessary to better assess, intervene, and support learners with disabilities to improve their education and post-school outcomes.
IES seeks applications that will significantly improve education programs, policies, and practices and that have the potential to lead to marked improvements in outcomes for students with disabilities. Although NCSER-funded researchers have made many advances in the past decade, students with disabilities continue to lag behind their peers without disabilities on nearly all education and post-school outcome measures. Researchers should clearly articulate how and why their research will change the status quo in ways that can lead to advancement in teaching, learning, and/or education systems and why results will be important to disseminate to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.
