2024 Call to Effective Action

Grant Details & Requirements

• Grantee Requirements

  All grantees are required to:

  • Provide tutoring services to students in grades PK-12 during the school day in SY 2024-25, in reading and/or mathematics;
  • Track tutoring program implementation, dosage, and student participation over the course of the grant term;
  • Secure data sharing agreements as needed – in partnership with an experienced research team, where applicable – to facilitate research on the program’s impact on student outcomes; and
  • Engage in research activities and/or a program evaluation to assess the impact of the tutoring program model on student outcomes.

• Eligible Applicants

  Eligible applicants for all grantee types include:

  • Tutoring providers (nonprofit and for-profit).
  • Public school districts; public charter schools and charter management organizations.
  • Colleges and universities.
  • Support organizations (nonprofit and for-profit), such as education intermediaries, and citywide collaboratives.

• Innovation Grant

  Accelerate’s Innovation Grant, with an allocation of up to $150,000, targets scalable tutoring models looking to establish preliminary evidence of program impact, with eligibility open to organizations providing personalized instruction in reading and/or math for the 2024-25 school year, along with a commitment  to assess the program through research and evaluation, focused on the conditions for high-fidelity implementation yielding initial evidence of program impact on student outcomes.

  • GRANT AMOUNT
    • Up to $150,000
  • GRANT PURPOSE
    • Available to scalable tutoring models that do not yet have preliminary evidence of impact on student outcomes. The research generated through this grant will be foundational, providing evidence on the conditions under which tutoring models may be implemented with fidelity and initial, correlational evidence on the potential effect of their tutoring model on student outcomes. Accelerate will provide guidance, feedback, and technical assistance on data collection and analysis to develop initial evidence of a model’s potential impact.
  • ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
    • Prior evidence of program impact is not necessary, but Accelerate does request that an applicant can demonstrate that the program model has been at least initially successfully fielded under real-world implementation conditions; the existing program model design should be fully documented with a basis in the prevailing evidence about program design and implementation.
    • Third-party research partner is not required for a grant; grantee can conduct research internally, or Accelerate can recommend a research partner.
  • ADDITIONAL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
    • Letter of commitment from district to support an implementation study beginning in the Fall 2024 semester.
    • Preference given to providers that have established, prior relationships with district(s) and/or schools who support an implementation study.
    • Preference given to providers who previously have implemented some or all elements of the proposed model as a pilot or otherwise.
  • GRANT TIMELINE
    • Grant start date will be July 1, 2024 and end June 30, 2025.
    • Program implementation must begin during the Fall semester, 2024.
    • Grantees will be expected to submit research findings and final reports by June 2025.

• Promise Grant

  Accelerate’s Promise Grant, with an allocation of up to $250,000, targets scalable, established tutoring models with prior evidence of program impact on student outcomes, aiming to enhance program implementation fidelity and expand the evidence base through rigorous methodologies for program impact. (Please note that awarded funds under this grant type can be used to support non-research expenses; Accelerate would support the cost of the resulting research project through other funding mechanisms.).

  • GRANT AMOUNT
    • Up to $250,000
  • GRANT PURPOSE
    • Available to scalable, established tutoring models that have prior evidence suggesting positive effects on student outcomes. The purpose of these grants is to support high fidelity in program implementation and to further develop the model’s evidence base through a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) or Quasi-Experimental Design (QED), such as a regression discontinuity (RD) design.
    • Accelerate will support grantees in conducting an evaluation of a program’s impact using the most rigorous methodology feasible, prioritizing the use of random assignment.
  • ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
    • Grantees must have prior evidence of tutoring program impact based on correlational, QED, or RCT evidence that relies on research designs such as regression discontinuity (RD), panel difference-in-differences/event study, or propensity score matched comparison).
    • Accelerate to approve an external research partner or facilitate a research match.
  • ADDITIONAL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
    • Letter of commitment from district to support an RCT or QED (as specified above).
    • Preference given to providers that have established prior relationships with district(s) and/or school(s) where they plan to conduct an RCT or QED, especially where data has been exchanged previously.
    • An interview with key members of the strategic and implementation team.
  • GRANT TIMELINE
    • Grant start date will be July 1, 2024 and end December 31, 2025.
    • Program implementation must begin during the Fall semester, 2024 or Spring semester, 2025.
    • Grantees will be expected to submit research findings and final reports by December 31, 2025.

• Adoption Grant

  Accelerate’s Adoption Grant, with an allocation of up to $350,000, targets scalable, established tutoring models with prior evidence of program impact on student outcomes, with the primary aim of supporting program implementation fidelity and scalability through a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) in new districts – to represent a sizable expansion of program delivery – or in school settings, to student populations, or with other well-considered adaptations not previously covered by the grantees’ evidence of program impact. (Please note that awarded funds under this grant type can be used to support non-research expenses; Accelerate would support the cost of the resulting research project through other funding mechanisms.)

  • GRANT AMOUNT
    • Up to $350,000
  • GRANT PURPOSE
    • Available to scalable, established tutoring models that have prior evidence of program impact suggesting positive causal effects on student outcomes. The purpose of these grants is to support program implementation with fidelity to the tutoring program’s scalability through a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) in a new district and/or school(s) setting beyond those in which grantees have prior evidence of program impact. The resulting studies would be either direct replication studies that can bolster claims of generalizability across contexts and can answer additional research questions, or rigorous studies of thoughtful program adaptations to determine whether a program model can be successfully delivered under different conditions and still produce comparable impacts on student achievement as observed in prior rigorous program evaluations.
    • Accelerate will support grantees in conducting an evaluation of a program’s impact using the most rigorous methodology feasible, prioritizing the use of random assignment.
  • ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
    • Grantees must have prior evidence of tutoring program impact based on a well-designed randomized control trial (RCT) or regression discontinuity (RD) design, but also on the potential scalability (i.e., external validity) of the tutoring model by implementing an RCT in a new district (or school) setting.
    • Grantees are expected to conduct RCT design (sample of 350-400 students) in a new district or school setting.
    • Accelerate to approve the research partner or facilitate a research match.
  • ADDITIONAL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
    • Letter of commitment from district to support an RCT
    • Preference given to providers that have established, prior relationships with committed district(s) where they plan to do RCT, especially where data has been exchanged previously.
    • An interview with key members of the strategic and implementation team.
  • GRANT TIMELINE
    • Grant start date will be July 1, 2024 and end December 31, 2025.
    • RCT implementation preference for the full year beginning in the Fall semester, 2024; allowances may be made for RCTs beginning in Spring semester, 2025 or for single-semester long projects based on program design and prior evidence of impact.
    • Grantees will be expected to submit research findings and final reports by December 2025.

• Priority Areas

  While a wide variety of applications will be supported, Accelerate is particularly interested in identifying high-potential projects in the following areas:

  URGENT
  Tier III Interventions: Utilizing tutoring as a Tier III intervention for students within Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) frameworks.

  HQIM Curricular Alignment: Aligning tutoring content with high-quality instructional materials (HQIM).

  Early Literacy/Foundational Literacy Skill: Tutoring program design focuses explicitly on building students’ early literacy and foundational literacy skills.

  CRITICAL
  Tier II Interventions: Utilizing tutoring as a Tier II intervention for students within Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) frameworks.

  Specific Learner Profiles: Intentionally designing tutoring models for particular learner profiles (e.g., multi language learners, students with disabilities, students in rural settings).

  Secondary Math: Tutoring program design focuses explicitly on building students’ secondary math skills.

  PRIORITY
  Tech-Enabled and Hybrid Tutoring: Utilizing technology to deliver individualized instruction to reduce cost and address implementation barriers to tutoring.

  Outcomes Based Contracting: Are currently engaged in an Outcomes Based Contract (OBC) or willing to consider an OBC with partnering districts.

  Sustainability beyond ESSER: Leveraging resources that already exist (e.g., time within the school schedule, human capital) as drivers of cost-effectiveness such as tutor sourcing, and scheduling.

• Timeline & Application Submission

  Grant awards will be made in May 2024, and early applications are encouraged. To apply:

  Submit a full application by clicking on the button below. Applicants should complete all sections in the online application, with included attachments.

  PRIORITY DEADLINE: Applications received by the March 1, 2024 priority deadline will be reviewed early and provided feedback. Priority deadline applicants will have the opportunity to revise and/or submit additional information based upon the initial feedback.

  REGULAR DEADLINE: March 15, 2024

  Select Promise and Adoption grant applicants will be invited for an interview.