Special Education Research Grants Program

IES seeks to improve the quality of education and opportunities for all children and students with disabilities or who are at risk for disabilities. The National Center for Special Education Research has 11 long-term programs of research (topics) that cover support and interventions for children from birth to the transition from high school; families of students with disabilities; and professional development for teachers and other instructional personnel.

Special Education Research Grants

Topics:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Cognition and Student Learning in Special Education
• Early Intervention and Early Learning in Special Education
• Families of Children with Disabilities
• Professional Development for Teachers and Other School-Based Service Providers
• Reading, Writing, and Language Development
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
• Social and Behavioral Outcomes to Support Learning
• Special Education Policy, Finance, and Systems
• Special Topics
• Technology for Special Education
• Transition Outcomes for Secondary Students with Disabilities

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IES Research Goal Structure

Goals:

• Exploration projects identify malleable factors associated with student education outcomes and/or the factors and conditions that mediate or moderate these relationships.
• Development and Innovation projects develop new interventions and the further development of existing interventions that are intended to produce beneficial impacts on student education outcomes when implemented in authentic education settings.
• Efficacy and Replication projects evaluate fully-developed education interventions to determine whether they produce a beneficial impact on student education outcomes when they are implemented under ideal or routine conditions by the end user in authentic education settings.
• Effectiveness projects evaluate education interventions with prior evidence of efficacy to determine whether they produce a beneficial impact on student education outcomes when they are implemented by the end user under routine conditions in authentic education settings.
• Measurement projects develop new assessments or refine existing assessments, or validate existing assessments for specific purposes, contexts, and populations, that are intended to be used in an authentic education setting to improve child or student outcomes and/or support special education or early intervention research.

Related Links

The National Center for Education Research offers research grants in 11 different topics related to education from early childhood and K-12, to postsecondary and beyond.

Education Research Grants Program

Related Publications

Summaries of NCSER-funded Research

A Compendium of Social-Behavioral Research Funded by NCER and NCSER: 2002–2013

A Compendium of Math and Science Research Funded by NCER and NCSER: 2002–2013

Special Education Research Programs

• Special Education Research
• Special Education Research and Development Centers
• Research Training Programs in Special Education
• Low-Cost, Short-Duration Evaluations
• Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice in Special Education
• Small Business Innovation Research
• NCER Education Research