Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA): English Language Acquisition State Grants: National Professional Development Program, Assistance Listing Number 84.365Z

Background
The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is issuing a notice inviting applications for the National Professional Development (NPD) program, Assistance Listing Number 84.365Z. The purpose of the grants to be awarded under this competition is to increase the number of bilingual and multilingual teachers supporting English learners (ELs). The NPD program, specifically the pre-service component of NPD, is uniquely positioned to support the Department’s goals by helping to ensure that ELs have access to well-prepared educators and by quickly growing the number of qualified bilingual and multilingual educators needed to expand the availability of bilingual programs.

Grant Details
Under the NPD program, grants will be awarded to public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education (IHEs) and public and private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with State educational agencies (SEAs) and/or local educational agencies (LEAs) to implement pre-service and in-service professional development activities intended to improve instruction for English learners (ELs) and assist education personnel working with ELs to meet high professional standards. The pre-service component of NPD is designed to support projects that recruit bilingual or multilingual teacher candidates through evidence-based strategies such as dual enrollment, early college, Career and Technical Education programs, teacher residencies, and grow-your-own (GYO) strategies. Projects are encouraged to diversify the teacher workforce by recruiting students from low-income backgrounds, including those who live in rural areas or who are first-generation candidates.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education (IHEs), or public or private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with LEAs or SEAs. There are no specific cost sharing or matching requirements for this program. The program uses a training indirect cost rate which limits indirect cost reimbursement to an entity’s actual indirect costs or eight percent of a modified total direct cost base, whichever amount is less. There are no program-specific limitations on administrative expenses. The number of awards per single entity will be limited to one per DUNS or UEI number.

Period of Performance
The project period for grants awarded under this program is 60 months.

Grant Value
$8,400,000 is estimated as available funds for this grant opportunity. The estimated range of awards is $600,000-$700,000 with a maximum award of $700,000 per year. It is estimated that 12 awards will be granted.