ALN 84.327R_Development Innovative Tech Tools_Approaches_Improve Outcomes_Individuals w Disabilities
hello welcome to the information session for interested applicants for the 2023 development of innovative technology tools or approaches to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities Grant competition funded by the office of special education programs in the office of special education and rehabilitative services at the U.S Department of Education I am Tina Diamond a project officer at OSEP and the manager for this competition this competition has been assigned assistance listing number 84.327 R I'd like to go over some caveats before diving into this presentation first the intent is to provide guidance and the information contained in this presentation provides a general summary of the information contained in the notice inviting applications and the application package therefore it's imperative that all prospective applicants read the entire notice application package and any additional relevant information such as the newly updated common instructions for applicants published on December 7th of 2022. in addition applicants are encouraged to listen to a more General webinar entitled "Applying for Office of Special Education programs Discretionary Grants for an Orientation to the Application Process" the webinar can be found at osepideasthatwork.org the same location that houses the link to this recording
today I'll cover the following areas the purpose of the osep technology program absolute priority and purpose statements key terms application requirements additional pertinent information and general requirements award information and eligible applicants and the selection criteria first the purpose of the osep technology program is to improve results for children with disabilities by 1) promoting the development demonstration and use of technology 2) supporting the educational activities designed to be of educational value in the classroom 3) providing support for captioning and video description that is appropriate for use in the classroom and 4) providing accessible educational materials to children with disabilities in a timely manner this notice includes two absolute priorities the purposes of this presentation will focus on absolute priority two: field initiated projects to develop Innovative technology for individuals with disabilities. The department intends to fund at least one project under each absolute priority the department will consider only applications that meet either absolute Priority One or absolute priority two if an application does not respond to one of the priorities it will not be considered for funding applicants May apply under both absolute priorities but must submit separate applications applicants must clearly identify in their application if the proposed project addresses absolute Priority One or absolute priority two there are a few key terms for this priority that I'd like to highlight first evidence-based means at a minimum evidence that demonstrates a rationale where a key project component is included in the Project's logic model is informed by research or evaluation findings that suggest the project component is likely to improve relevant outcomes. Please be aware of the application timelines. This notice was published in the Federal Register on February 13 2023 applications are due via grants.gov no later than 11 59 and 59 seconds PM Eastern Time on April 14 2023 we highly advise to not wait until the last date to submit your application in order to avoid any possible technical difficulties on either end. For fiscal year 2023 we plan to support two
absolute priorities this presentation will cover absolute priority two, field initiated projects to develop Innovative technology for individuals with disabilities the purpose of this priority is to fund field-initiated projects to develop accessible Innovative technology to increase outcomes for individuals with disabilities receiving early intervention under part C of IDEA or special education under Part B of IDEA including those with the highest support needs over the past 45 years OSEP has supported technology development demonstration and utilization within special education to improve transfer of Technology from research to practice to increase accessibility of technology to the broadest range of individuals with disabilities to demonstrate the use of technology to parents and Educators and to expand the use of technology to support communication and educational engagement for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities the rapid pace of Technology Innovation coupled with increased understanding of best practices in instructional design cognitive science and brain research has resulted in a need for continuous development of innovative technology to support all Learners including those with disabilities to increase equity and access to technology and to solve persistent problems experienced by individuals with disabilities OSEP will fund field initiated projects to develop Innovative technology for individuals with disabilities that are consistent with the secretary's supplemental priorities which were published in the Federal Register on December 10th of 2021. the purpose of the field initiated projects is to develop is to develop Innovative technology based on evidence that the technology would be beneficial to the Target population to be considered for this grant opportunity applicants must propose projects to develop Innovative technology to accomplish at least one of the following four outcomes outcome option one increased student-centered learning approaches that leverage technology to address learner variability and increased provision of high quality learning content applications or tools that take into account race ethnicity culture language and disability to address students social emotional mental health or academic needs outcome option two increased engagement for individuals with disabilities and where appropriate families of individuals with disabilities in educational functional or supplemental activities that extend learning time or increase Independence outcome option number three increased use of technology to enable evidence-based approaches to personalized learning for students with disabilities in the classroom or support supplemental activities that extend learning time and increase student and where appropriate parent engagement and finally option four increase use of technology to expand the number and proportion of underserved students with disabilities who enroll in post-secondary Readiness education programs which may include strategies related to college or technical school preparation awareness application selection advising counseling and enrollment in this section I will cover the application requirements for the significant section of the narrative to be considered for funding under this priority applicants must respond to the application requirements under significance which are describe how the Innovative technology proposed for development by the project will accomplish at least one of the four required outcomes Two: maximize the academic social and functional skills of individuals with disabilities and improve their access to evidence-based learning experiences and three address each of the selection criteria for the significance section next I will cover the requirements for the quality of project design and services section of the narratives in this section applicants will demonstrate how the proposed project will one, ensure at equal access and treatment for members of groups that have traditionally been underrepresented based on race color national origin gender age or disability to meet this requirement the applicant must describe how it will identify the needs of the target population and ensure that the Innovative technology proposed for development will meet the needs of the target population. Two, utilize and refine a design process that moves the Innovative technology from idea to implementation. In the quality of project design and services section the applicant must also demonstrate how the proposed project will develop and refine the vision plan and Innovation to achieve the intended project outcomes to meet this requirement the applicant must provide measurable intended project outcomes and in appendix A a logic model um by which the proposed project will achieve its intended outcomes that depicts at a minimum the goals activities outputs and intended outcomes of the proposed project in addition the quality of project design and services section applicants must also demonstrate how the proposed project will be based on current research and make use of evidence-based practices to meet this requirement the applicant must describe how the proposed project will incorporate current research and practices in the development of the Innovative technology applicants must also demonstrate how the proposed project will develop a dissemination plan that describes how the applicant will systematically distribute information products and services to varied intended audiences in using a variety of dissemination strategies to promote awareness and use of the Innovative technology and address each of the selection criteria for the project design and services section in this next section I'll cover the requirements for the quality of project evaluation section of the narrative in the narrative section of the application under quality of project evaluation applicants must include an evaluation plan for the project the evaluation plan must articulate formative and summative evaluation questions including important process and evaluation questions these questions should be related to the Project's proposed logic model the evaluation plan must also describe how project outcomes will be measured to answer the evaluation questions and specify the measures and Associated instruments or sources for data appropriate to the evaluation questions and include information regarding reliability and validity of measures where appropriate the evaluation plan must also describe strategies for analyzing data and how data collected as part of the plan will be used to inform and improve the project and to refine the proposed logic model and evaluation plan including subsequent data collection the evaluation plan must also provide a timeline for conducting the evaluation and include staff assignments for completing the plan the timeline must indicate that the data will be available annually for the annual performance report the evaluation plan must dedicate sufficient funds in each budget year to cover the costs of developing or refining the evaluation plan as well as the costs associated with the implementation of the evaluation and finally the evaluation plan must address each of the selection criteria for the evaluation section this next section covers the requirements for the adequacy of resources and quality of project Personnel section of the narrative in the narrative applicants must demonstrate how the proposed project will encourage applications for employment from persons who are members of groups that have traditionally been underrepresented based on race color national origin gender age or disability as appropriate the section the applicant must also demonstrate the proposed key project Personnel consultants and subcontractors have the qualifications and experience to carry out the proposed activities and achieve the Project's intended outcomes applicants must also demonstrate that the applicant and any key Partners have adequate resources to carry out the proposed activities also that the costs are reasonable in relation to the anticipated results and benefits and finally they must address each of the selection criteria in the adequacy of resources and quality of project Personnel section this section will address the requirements for the quality of the management plan the applicant must demonstrate in their narrative how the proposed management plan will ensure that the Project's intended outcomes will be achieved on time and within budget to address this requirement the applicant must describe clearly defined responsibilities for key project Personnel consultants and subcontractors as applicable and timelines and milestones for accomplishing the project tasks key project personnel and any consultants and subcontractors will be allocated they'll have to describe how they will be allocated and how the allocations are appropriate and adequate to achieve the Project's intended outcomes in the management plan the applicant must also demonstrate how the proposed management plan will ensure that the products and resources provided are of high quality they are relevant and useful to recipients they must demonstrate how the project will benefit from diversity of perspectives including those of families Educators researchers and policy makers among others in its development and operation and they must demonstrate how the proposed project will address each of the selection criteria for the management plan section there are some additional requirements that apply to both absolute Priority One and Two please ensure that your application includes in appendix A a Personnel loading chart that includes timelines as applicable to illustrate the management plan described in the narrative applicants must budget for attendance at all meetings and events as outlined in the notice inviting applications if proposed applicants must describe in their application how they will maintain a high quality website with an easy to navigate design that meets government or industry recognized standards for accessibility and includes relevant information about the Project's annual progress towards meeting project outcomes and finally applicants must provide an insurance to assist OSEP with the transfer and dissemination of pertinent resources and products at the end of this award period as appropriate there are two general requirements applicants must make positive efforts to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities and project activities and applicants must involve individuals with disabilities or parents of individuals with disabilities age birth through 26 in planning implementing and evaluating the projects here are some additional details regarding this award. Awards will be cooperative agreements the estimated range of awards is from 450 000 to 500 000 per year the maximum award uh will not exceed five hundred thousand dollars for a single budget period of 12 months we estimate funding for successful applications and the project period can be up to 60 months so who is eligible for this competition the following entities are considered eligible applicants under this competition: State educational agencies, local educational agencies including public charter schools that operate as leas under state law institutions of higher education other public agencies private non-profit organizations freely Associated States and outlying areas Indian tribes or tribal organizations and for-profit organizations please note the formatting and Page limit recommendations a page should be eight and a half by eleven double spacing is preferred in all text in the application narrative including titles headings footnotes quotations reference citations and captions as well as all texts and charts tables figures graphs and screenshots we recommend use of a font that is 12 point or larger in Times New Roman, Courier, Courier New, or Arial we also recommend that you limit the application narrative to no more than 50 pages as part of the process of making funding recommendations external reviewers will judge the quality of the application using five selection Criterion for each section of the narrative the application can receive up to it I'm sorry points are assigned to each section of the narrative and an application can receive up to a total of 100 points the significance and quality of project evaluation sections can receive up to 15 points each the quality of project design and services section can receive up to 30 points and the adequacy of resources and quality of project personnel and the quality of management plan can receive up to 20 points for each section thank you for listening to today's presentation again I'm Tina Diamond in the office of special education programs and I am the contact person for absolute priority two I can be reached via email at Christina c-h-r-i-s-t-i-n-a dot Diamond d-i-a-m-o-n-d at ed.gov
or you can reach out to thegrants.gov support desk via email at support at grants dot gov or by phone 1-800-518-4726 for assistance with your application and submission of that application there's also a grants.gov training available for those who may be applying for a grant for the first time again thank you for your participation and we look forward to receiving your application have a wonderful day
2023-02-20 20:26
