CFDA 84.325K Competition Webinar - Recorded April 1, 2020 - YouTube

Welcome to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education

Programs Applicant Orientation for 84.325K - Interdisciplinary Preparation for

Personnel Serving Children with Disabilities Who Have High Intensity

Needs. My name is Sunyoung Ahn, and I'm the competition manager for Focus Area A,

Early Childhood, and my name is LaTisha Putney, competition manager for Focus

Area B, School Age and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This

information that we are about to present is for guidance only and the information

has been summarized due to the logistics of the webinar. Please read the entire

notice inviting applications, the instructions, and all other related

statutes, regulations, and references. Also, for additional information related to

submitting an application, please review the recorded webinar titled "Applying for

the Office of Special Education Programs Discretionary Grants" The Purpose of the

Interdisciplinary Preparation and Special Education Early Intervention and

Related Services for Personnel Serving Children with Disabilities Who Have High

Intensity Needs priority is to increase the number and improve the quality of

personnel who are fully credentialed to serve children including infants,

toddlers, and youth with disabilities who have high-intensity needs, especially in

areas of chronic personnel shortages. The 325K priorities for fiscal

year 2020 is funded at 1 million dollars from the $1,000,000 we anticipate

funding four awards across Focus Area A Early Childhood and Focus Area B School

Age. Eligible applicants for this competition are Institutions of Higher

Education with degree programs at the Masters, Education Specialist, or Clinical

Doctorate levels, and Private Nonprofit Organizations whose charge is to prepare

personnel at the Masters, Education Specialist, or Clinical

Doctorate level. Educational interpreters programs are not required to submit an

interdisciplinary application however they are encouraged to do so. In addition

Educational Interpreters programs can submit an application at the Bachelors

level. Applicants may use up to the first 12 months of the performance period and

up to $100,000 dollars of the first budget period for planning.

Scholars are those who are enrolled in a graduate degree program that leads to

certification, licensure, or an endorsement to serve IDEA eligible

children with disabilities. Scholars come from two or more graduate degree

programs such as special education or early intervention and one or more

related service or two or more related services. Scholars are expected to

complete shared coursework, group assignments, and coordinated field

experiences. Lastly scholars must be able to fulfill

service obligation requirements. The application package contains the Dear

Applicant letter, the notice inviting application, the Federal Register notice,

and the grants.gov system submission procedures and tips for applicants, the

priority description, and selection criteria, general information and

required forms. Please see the link listed on the PowerPoint slide for the

required forms. The Federal Register notice contains the deadline, the

deadline for this year is May 29th at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

The requirements in this priority are the programmatic requirements, the assurances,

the focus areas, and the 10% matching which can be cash or in-kind. The 10%

matching requirement is a newly added report

to this year's competition. A 325K application is funded up to $250,000 per

year for five years. Over five years sixty-five percent or more of the of the

award must be used for scholar support. Applicants proposing to use year one for

program development must ensure that 65% of the total award minus

funds allocated for program development will be used for scholars

support. To the maximum extent possible OSEP encourages matching support be used

towards scholarship support. All applications will be reviewed using the

following selection criteria and point system. Significant to the project 10

points, Quality of project services 45 points, Quality of project evaluation 25

points, and Quality of project personnel management plan and resources 20 points,

for a total of 100 points. In addition to these four areas there are two

competitive preference priorities in this competition.

The first competitive preference priority is for 2 to 5 points based on

the applicants proposed amount of cash or in-kind matching support for each

year of the grant. Please note that this is in addition to the required 10

percent matching support. Two competitive preference points will be given for 20

percent matching of the total grant amount, three points for 30 percent,

four points for 40 percent, and five points for 50 percent. Competitive

preference priority two is for zero or seven points for novice applicants, that

is projects proposed by applicants that have not had an active grant or been

included through membership in an active grant under this competition

84.325K at any point in the preceding five fiscal years 2015 through

2019.

Now I will provide a brief overview of each section of the selection criteria.

Significance of the project is for zeros to ten points. In this section the

secretary considers the two following factors. The extent to which the proposed

project will prepare personnel for fields that have demonstrated shortages,

and the magnitude of the outcomes likely to be attained by the proposed project,

especially in the areas of teaching and child achievement. Quality of project

services houses the bulk of the potential points and zero to forty five,

with five sub factors. Quality of project evaluation is for zero to twenty five

points with four sub factors, and finally the Quality of project personnel

management plan and resources section is for 0 to 20 points with six sub factors.

Please review each section carefully to ensure that you are addressing each sub

factor in its entirety. To summarize there is a total of one hundred points that

are possible and they are divided between the four areas I just described,

plus there are the competitive preference points that you can receive

for a novice applicant or for the matching support of 20% or more of the

total grant amount. For further information and any questions you can

contact myself Sunyoung Ahn for Focus Area A - Early Childhood or LaTisha Putney for

Focus Area B - School Age or HBCUs. We thank you so much for your for your interest

in 84.325K and we look forward to receiving your application.