Program Announcement: National Research and Development Center for the Education of Gifted and Talented Children and Youth CFDA 84.305C

Program Officer:
Dr. Corinne Alfeld
Telephone: (202) 245-8203
Email: Corinne.Alfeld@ed.gov

Dr. Wai-Ying Chow
Email: Wai-Ying.Chow@ed.gov
Telephone: (202) 245-8198

In this announcement, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) invites applications to establish a new National Research and Development Center for the Education of Gifted and Talented Children and Youth. Researchers and practitioners have raised concerns about the practices used to identify gifted and talented students and the disproportionately low participation in these programs among individuals from some economic and racial/ethnic groups. In addition, the field knows little about how gifted and talented programs are implemented in schools, how long students participate and at what level of intensity, and whether these programs are effective in improving students' academic outcomes.

The Institute is launching this R&D Center to address these questions and concerns. Specifically, the Center will conduct a focused program of research that includes the following:

• An exploratory study designed to provide an in-depth analysis of gifted and talented programs serving elementary and/or middle school students in at least two or three states or school districts. The Institute uses the word "programs" to encompass the range of policies, services or activities implemented by state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) and designed to improve outcomes for gifted and talented students. The programs should be selected for their emphasis on helping students develop academic knowledge and skills (as opposed to artistic or other talents), and for their commitment to reaching traditionally underserved students (e.g., students from low-income families; students from small-town or rural communities; students of African American, Hispanic or Latino, or Native American descent; English learners; and/or students with disabilities). The exploratory study will examine program implementation, student participation, and the association between participation and student outcomes.


• An impact evaluation using a design consistent with What Works Clearinghouse standards, with or without reservations (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/), to examine the educational impacts of a gifted and talented program that shows the most promise for improving student outcomes, based on findings from the exploratory study. These outcomes must include academic outcomes (such as learning outcomes in reading, writing, math or science), and may include social/behavioral competencies (such as motivation, goal setting, and/or other measures).


• Leadership and outreach activities designed to engage policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in discussion of strategies and review of evidence on how best to meet the needs of and improve outcomes for gifted and talented students from traditionally underserved groups, and to disseminate the Center's research to the wider public.

The Center will operate for five years, and the work will be divided into two phases. The first phase (Years 1 and 2) will be devoted to the exploratory study. In addition, the Center will develop a detailed evaluation plan for an impact evaluation of a program for gifted and talented students identified from the exploratory study. The Institute will review the evaluation plan and work with the Center to determine next steps for Phase Two.

The second phase (Years 3 through 5) will be devoted to conducting the impact evaluation and continuing the national leadership and outreach activities, including disseminating research findings to policymakers, practitioners, researchers, parents and other stakeholders.

Important Dates and Deadlines

Please note that the competition for this Center will take place in FY 2014 and has an earlier application deadline than the Institute's FY 2015 competitions.

Milestone	Date	Website
Letter of Intent Due	May 29, 2014	https://iesreview.ed.gov/
Application Package Available	May 29, 2014	http://www.grants.gov/
Application Due	By 4:30:00pm Washington DC time on July 22, 2014	http://www.grants.gov/
Applicants Notified	By September 15, 2014	https://iesreview.ed.gov/
Start Date	October 1, 2014

Request for Applications and Application Package

The Request for Applications describe the substantive requirements for research applications, as well as provides information on how to prepare and submit applications electronically through Grants.gov.

National Research and Development Center for the Education of Gifted and Talented Children and Youth (FY 2014) – 84.305C
Application deadline | July 22, 2014
Download, view, & print as a PDF (1.4 MB)
Download, view, & print in MS Word format (213 KB)

The Application Package provides all of the forms that you must complete and submit to apply for the funding opportunities listed on this page. The Application Package will be available on http://www.grants.gov/ by May 29, 2014.

To find the correct downloadable Application Package, you must first search by the CFDA number for your Request for Applications without the alpha suffix. Use 84.305 for this RFA. The search will yield more than one package. Select the package for the competition and deadline to which you are applying. Please note that there may also be an application package for the FY2015 84.305C Competition. You must submit your application for the FY 2014 competition using the FY 2014 84.305C package. See the relevant FY 2014 84.305C Request for Applications for further details.

Need Help?

For general inquires, contact the Institute of Education Sciences. For questions about this special FY 2014 funding opportunity, contact the National Center for Education Research. IES also offers a series of webinars related to research funding opportunities. For more information regarding webinar topics and dates, as well as the registration process, browse here. To view slides from previous webinar sessions, browse here.

For assistance with downloading or submitting your application package through Grants.gov, contact the Grants.gov customer support team at support@grants.gov, http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/about/contact-us.html, or 1-800-518-4726.