The U.S. Department of Education is accepting applications for its 2025 Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program Expansion Grants.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Education
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/14/2025
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The purpose of the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program is to provide funding to create, develop, implement, replicate, or scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations that improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students, and to rigorously evaluate such innovations.
The FY 2025 Expansion competition prioritizes projects that tackle persistent challenges in education through the absolute priority on Promoting Evidence-Based Literacy, aligned with national efforts to improve literacy achievement nationwide. Projects that directly benefit all students, but especially high-need students, through effective literacy instruction, aligned to the science of reading, are strongly encouraged. By focusing on literacy— the foundation of all learning, the Department aims to support scalable solutions that address one of the most urgent academic needs facing schools today.
Priorities
- Absolute Priority: For FY 2025 and any subsequent year in which they make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, this priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), they consider only applications that meet this priority.
- Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2025 and any subsequent year in which they make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, these priorities are competitive preference priorities.
Funding Information
- Estimated Available Funds: $253,000,000.
- Maximum Award: They will not make an award exceeding $15,000,000 for a project period of 60 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- An LEA;
- An SEA;
- The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE);
- A consortium of SEAs or LEAs;
- A nonprofit organization; and
- An LEA, an SEA, the BIE, or a consortium described in clause
- in partnership with—
- A nonprofit organization;
- A business;
- An educational service agency; or
- An IHE.
To qualify as a rural applicant under the EIR program, an applicant must meet both of the following requirements:
The applicant is—
- An LEA with an urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary;
- A consortium of such LEAs; independent evaluation and submit the final evaluation to the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), which is administered by the Institute of Education Sciences.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
