Research Grants is sponsored by American Educational Research Association (AERA) Grants Program. This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Professional Development Courses Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Minority Dissertation Fellowship Program AERA Fellowship Program on the Study of Deeper Learning Funded Dissertation Grants Virtual Research Learning Center Call for Research Grant Proposals AERA Grants Program Seeks Proposals for Research Grants With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Grants Program seeks proposals for Research Grants.

The AERA Grants Program provides Research Grants to faculty at institutions of higher education, postdoctoral researchers, and other doctoral level scholars. The aim of the program is to advance fundamental knowledge of relevance to STEM education policy, foster significant science using education data, and build research capacity in education and learning.

The program supports highly competitive studies using rigorous quantitative methods to examine large-scale, education-related data. Since 1991, this AERA Program has been vital to both research and training at early career stages. The Grants Program encourages the use of major datasets from multiple and wide-ranging sources.

It emphasizes the advanced statistical analysis of data sets from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other federal agencies. The program also supports studies using large-scale international data systems (e.g., PISA, PIRLS, or TIMMS) that benefit from U.S. federal government support.

In addition, statewide longitudinal administrative data systems (SLDS), other data systems (e.g., school district level), or national studies (e.g., ABCD Study) supported by or enhanced through federal grants are also eligible for consideration. Federal or state administrative information that further expands the analytic capacity of the research is appropriate for inclusion.

The thrust of the analysis needs to have strong intellectual merit and show potential for broad impact, inclusive of being generalizable to a national, state, or population or subgroups within the sample that the dataset represents.

The Grants Program is open to field-initiated research and welcomes proposals that: Support fundamental research using extant data and quantitative methods on STEM learning and learning environments; Cultivate rigorous scientific research using big data and data linkages, with an emphasis on large administrative federal datasets, state longitudinal data systems (SLDS), and local record systems; Promote the use and study of machine learning and artificial intelligence in STEM research; or Undertake replication research of major findings or major studies using large-scale, federally supported or enhanced data.

The Grants Program encourages proposals across the life span and contexts of education and learning of relevance to STEM policy and practice.

The research may focus on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to such issues as student achievement in STEM, analysis of STEM education policies, contextual factors in education, educational participation and persistence (pre-kindergarten through graduate school), early childhood education and development, postsecondary education, and the STEM workforce and transitions.

Research Grants are available for faculty at institutions of higher education, postdoctoral researchers, and other doctoral level scholars.

Proposals are encouraged from the full range of education research fields and other fields and disciplines engaged in education-related research, including economics, political science, psychology, sociology, demography, statistics, public policy, psychometrics, and discipline-based education research (DBER). Applicants for this one-year or two-year, non-renewable award must have received their doctoral degree at the start of the award.

Applicants may be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents. Non-U.S. citizens affiliated with a U.S. university or institution are also eligible to apply. Researchers who have previously received Research Grants through the AERA Grants Program (as a PI or CoPI) may not apply for a Research Grant.

However, applicants who have received an AERA Dissertation Grant are eligible to apply for a Research Grant. Dissertation Grant recipients must complete the Dissertation Grant before applying for a Research Grant. The research project must include the analysis of large-scale data.

The data set can originate from one or multiple sources, including (1) federal data bases, (2) federally supported national studies, (3) international data sets supported by federal funds, or (4) statewide longitudinal administrative data systems (SLDS), school district-level data, postsecondary level information systems enhanced through federal grants, or (5) local data funded by federal resources..

Although the emphasis is on large-scale education data sets and systems, other social science and health-related databases that can advance knowledge about education and learning are eligible for consideration.

Many national data resources, including important longitudinal data sets, have been developed or funded by NCES, NSF, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Institutes of Health, or other federal agencies. International datasets such as PISA, PIAAC, TIMMS, and others are supported. If international data sets are used, the study must include U.S. education.

NCES has enhanced and improved SLDS through grants to nearly every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and America Samoa. This federal investment has produced state-level data from pre-K to grade 12, through higher education, and into the workforce. Many SLDS are available for analysis and can be used to address salient issues in education research or linked with other data sets.

The data set(s) of interest must be available for analysis at the time of application. Use of public or restricted-data files is permissible. Prior to receiving funding, applicants must provide documentation that they have permission to use the data for the research project.

Grantees are required to share data or data-related products produced under this award, to enhance and broaden the impact of the award. AERA provides grantees with training and guidance on how grantees should archive data from their funded project.

Publications in an AERA journal, will require article-related data, code, and related artifacts to be located in an accessible archive established for AERA journals at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan.

Publications in a journal without any such data-archiving arrangement, will be expected to do so at ICPSR and featured in a dedicated data collection in the American Educational Research Association Data Repository. Awardees with access to data under restricted access provisions are expected to archive a detailed specification of the data set so that others can request the same data under the same or similar restricted conditions.

Awards for Research Grants are up to $25,000 for 1-year projects, or up to $35,000 for 2-year projects. In accordance with AERA's agreement with the funding agencies, institutions may not charge indirect costs or overhead on these awards.

The funds can be used for research-related expenses such as course buyout, summer salary, travel to secure data enclaves or scholarly conferences, books, computer equipment, and other expenses directly related to conducting this research. As part of the proposal, applicants provide a budget that outlines anticipated research-related expenses.

In addition to the funding, grantees will be paired with a Governing Board member who will monitor grantees’ progress and potentially advise on their research. Applicants are encouraged to view the informational recorded webinar to learn more about the AERA Grants Program and discuss the application process. AERA is flexible on research project start dates, depending on what is best for the applicant.

The earliest date a grant may start is approximately three months following the application deadline. Alternatively, an award start date several months or more after that may be requested. Research Grantees may not accept concurrent grant or fellowship awards from another agency, foundation, institution or the like for the same project that is funded by the AERA Grants Program.

If the awardee is offered more than one major grant or fellowship for the same project for the same time period, in order to accept the AERA Grants Program Research Grant, the other award(s) must be declined.

If the applicant is employed by a contractor of NCES, NSF, other federal agency, state agency, or other entity that provides the dataset proposed for the project, the research project must not be considered part of the applicant's work responsibilities. An additional letter from the applicant's employer is required as part of the application submission, stating that the research project is separate from the applicant's job duties.

This letter must be sent electronically by the deadline to grantsprogram@aera. net . Research Grantees will be required to submit a brief (3-6 pages) progress report midway through the grant period.

A final report will be submitted at the end of the grant period. The final report consists of an extended project abstract (3-6 pages) and a statement of research dissemination and communication activities and plans (1-3 pages). Also, it is expected that a research manuscript in a journal-ready format will be submitted.

Grantees may produce research reports, research policy briefs, and presentations at professional meetings related to this research. Materials should be submitted electronically to grantsprogram@aera. net .

All reporting requirements and deadlines are outlined in the award letter. Grantees will receive three-quarters of the award at the beginning of the grant period and one-quarter upon approval of the final report. Grants are awarded through the grantee’s institution.

In accordance with AERA's agreement with NSF, institutions cannot charge overhead or indirect costs to administer the grant funds. Considerations in the Development of the Proposal Applicants are strongly encouraged to read Estimating Causal Effects: Using Experimental and Observational Designs , by Barbara Schneider, Martin Carnoy, Jeremy Kilpatrick, William H. Schmidt, and Richard J.

Shavelson prior to submitting a grant proposal. Selection bias is a recurring issue during the review process and should be addressed in the proposal. Applicants should choose research topics that can be supported by the samples and variables contained in the proposed data set(s).

Applicants should also be familiar with the User Guides and/or Manuals (e.g., use of design weights and design effects) of the specific data sets. Applicants should be familiar with statistical methods and available computer programs that allow for sophisticated analyses of the selected data. Applicants should explicitly address the curricular content when it applies.

The proposed topic must have education policy relevance, and the models to be tested must include predictor variables that are manipulable (e.g., course work in mathematics, instructional practices used by teachers, parental involvement). Studies focusing on STEM education policy are strongly encouraged.

Studies that model achievement test data should clearly define the achievement construct and identify the kinds of items to be used to operationalize the topic of interest. Also, when planning to use existing sub-scales, the applicant should describe why these sub-scales are appropriate and how they will be applied. Existing sub-scales provided by NCES or other agencies may not be appropriate for the proposed construct.

Research Grant Application Guidelines All applications for the AERA Grants Program must be completed using the AERA Apply Portal by 11:59pm Pacific Time onMay 20, 2026 . An applicant may submit only one proposal to the AERA Grants Program for review at any one time.. Please enter the background information requested in the proposal submission portal.

This includes the principal investigator’s contact and background demographic information. Also, enter the proposal title, amount of funding requested, and the start and end dates of the project. Dataset(s) used: Name data set(s) used (e.g., ECLSK, ELS:2002, IPEDS, CCD, AddHealth, SLDS-State, PISA, and so forth).

Proposals must include the analysis of at least one large-scale federal, international, or state, school district, or postsecondary administrative data system. Enter the abstract of your proposed research project (250 words maximum). Contribution to the field Briefly describe the potential contributions this research will make to the field of education (250 words maximum).

You may cut and paste or type into the text box. Discuss how this project relates to your previous work, including your dissertation work. List any previous publications (250 word maximum).

Narrative: Prepare a narrative (limited to 7 single-spaced pages) to include the following: Statement of how this research advances the current state of knowledge in the field, substantively and/or methodologically Theoretical or conceptual framework for the research Brief review of relevant research/policy literature Research questions, hypotheses to be tested Description of methodology including the data set(s) and justification for selecting data file to address research question; any additional or supplemental data sample (e.g., groups used, exclusions to sample, and estimated sample sizes); rationale for variables used; and specification and clarification of variables and analytic techniques Data analysis plan and/or statistical model or formulas, appropriately defined Brief dissemination plan for this research including proposed conferences to present the findings and potential scholarly journals to publish the research Variables list: Provide a categorized list of the variables from the NCES, NSF, or other data set(s) that will be used in this research project.

(2 single-spaced pages maximum) References cited (not part of page limit) Budget . Awards for Research Grants are up to $25,000 for 1-year projects, or up to $35,000 for 2-year projects. There is no specific template for the budget.

It may be a simple 2-column format or a more complex spreadsheet. Note that institutions may not charge overhead on AERA Research Grants. (no page limit) Current other support .

If you currently have support from other sources (foundations, government agencies, institutions, etc.), include a list of any grants or fellowships that the PI and CoPI(s) have been awarded. Include the name of the funding organization, title of project, dates of project, and amount awarded; otherwise enter NONE.

(no page limit) Principal and Co-Principal Investigator curriculum vitae (limited to 2 pages each) that includes: Educational background, including degrees earned and academic program Research and academic employment history Relevant graduate courses in statistics and methodology Relevant publications and presentations Relevant professional affiliations and/or memberships Please combine items 1-6 as one PDF document and upload to the AERA Apply Portal .

Evaluation criteria include the significance of the research question, the contribution beyond the extant scientific literature, the conceptual clarity and potential contribution of the proposal, the strength of the methodological model and proposed statistical analysis, the relevance to an important STEM education policy issue, and the applicant’s relevant research and academic experience.

In preparing proposals, applicants should consider the following questions : What is significant about the proposed research and how does it contribute to what is already known on the issue? How might this project inform STEM education policy? How does the methodology relate specifically to the research question?

Does the applicant know the data set? Does the analytic plan fit the question and the data? The fit or relevance of one’s skill set to the proposed study or how will any material gaps be addressed?

Reviewers are members of the AERA Grants Program Governing Board and/or other senior scholars and researchers whose expertise and background are aligned with the proposal content, method, or topic. Due to the large volume of applications received, the AERA Grants Program is unable to provide individual feedback on unfunded proposals. Contact the AERA Grants Program (grantsprogram@aera.

net) or 202-238-3200 if you have questions regarding the application or submission process. NOTE: All awards are contingent upon AERA's receiving continued federal funding. Visit the AERA Grants Program Website at http://www.

aera. net/grantsprogram . 1430 K Street NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 238-3200 | Fax: (202) 238-3250