Education Innovation and Research (EIR)

Education Innovation and Research (EIR) sits in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and funds evidence-based K-12 innovations for high-need students. Authorized under ESEA section 4611, it is built to move ideas from early pilots to broader replication and scale, with three tiers that map to the maturity of the evidence: Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion. In FY2025, awards ranged from $750,000 to $3.4 million in the first year, and 24 grants totaling $256 million were announced in January 2026. Eligibility is centered on public and nonprofit education providers: local educational agencies, state educational agencies, the Bureau of Indian Education, and nonprofit organizations may lead, while for-profit firms are excluded as lead applicants and are mainly relevant as partners. The program also reserves at least 25% of funding for majority-rural communities, and FY2025 data show 65% of dollars going to rural applicants. That combination makes EIR a sizeable federal route for evidence-backed interventions, especially when a district, state agency, or nonprofit can already show preliminary outcomes and a plan to expand them. What sets EIR apart is its emphasis on evidence progression rather than one-off pilots. The Department uses it to back interventions that can be tested in real schools, strengthened with data, and then moved into broader adoption. As of May 26, 2026, no FY2026 competition had been announced, so applicants watching the next cycle needed to track OESE updates rather than treat it as a standing open call.

No upcoming rounds verified. Cadence: Annual.