Through its National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) supports a program of field-initiated research to foster solutions to pressing problems faced by students with or at risk for disabilities, their families, and education systems.
NCSER’s Special Education Research Grants program supports both basic and applied research that builds scientific knowledge and theory of teaching, learning, and organizing education systems; yields outcomes and products that are useful to learners and the educators and education institutions that serve them; and informs stakeholders about the cost and practical benefits and effects of programs, practices, and policies on relevant outcomes for learners across the lifespan (ESRA, § 112.1).
Due to funding limitations, NCSER has limited resources available for new research grants in FY 2025. To accommodate these limited resources and address a critical need in special education research, NCSER is restricting the focus of the FY 2025 Request for Applications (RFA) to research on Education Systems. For fiscal year 2025, NCSER is only accepting applications that focus on Education Systems and are submitted to the Education Systems topic. The Education Systems topic supports research designed to improve the structure and function of education systems at the school, district, state, or national level to better meet the needs of learners with or at risk for disabilities.
