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Grant Award Procedures

Education Research & Program Evaluation Studies

The Washington Educational Research Association (WERA) sponsors competitive grants (maximum award of $5,000) for studies of educational issues. The purpose of the awards is to support studies that focus on instructional improvement, classroom assessment, educational measurement at both the district and state level, and the evaluation of education programs. Research and evaluation proposals focusing on issues associated with equity or that include partnerships across institutions are particularly encouraged.  The lead investigator must be a current WERA member and have not received a previous WERA grant.  Continuation of previous WERA grants will not be funded.  Studies lasting up to 18 months may be proposed.

Electronic grant applications must be received by WERA’s Executive Secretary with a sent date of no later than February 17, 2025.  

Questions about WERA Grants and final applications should be emailed to: [email protected]

 

 Application Format

Proposals must include a separate cover page and three additional sections as follows.

Cover page:

  • Name, address, telephone number, and e-mail addresses of investigator(s);
  • Title of study and an abstract that provides an overview of the project, its purpose, procedures, expected outcomes, cost, and limitations.

Rationale:

  • Education area to be investigated;
  • Basic intent or reason for undertaking the study;
  • Discussion/statement of the problem/issues;
  • Research hypothesis or questions to be answered; and
  • Anticipated impact on student learning.

Study plan or approach:

  • Population to be studied, target sample, sample size, and sampling procedures;
  • Data analysis methods, responsibility and resources for conducting analysis;
  • Status of and anticipated timeline of Human Subjects, IRB or other research permissions with schools, districts, OSPI, the ERDC, or Community-Based Organization. (If you are not seeking approval, please explain why.)
  • Description of any other contingencies that may prohibit successful completion of the project, such as receipt of data from OSPI or other entities, or securing further funding from other sources, etc…
  • Description of final product; and
  • Study timeline including completion of final report.

Budget: The proposal should include categories for both the grant and sources of other funding as appropriate and in sufficient detail to allow reviewers to see the relationship between the proposed activities and the budget expenditures. See limitations on funded items below.

  • Contractual services (include brief description)
  • Clerical services (include brief description)
  • Printing
  • Travel to conduct research
  • Postage
  • Other (include brief description) 
  • Total budget

The intent of the grants is to fund the actual and direct staff time and materials specific to design, conduct, and analysis of the research project. WERA will not fund expenses which accrue to the researcher, members of the research team or subjects, or the researcher’s institution. Therefore, in general, WERA research grants will not be granted for the following:

  • Items that become the personal possessions of the researcher or research institution, e.g., software or hardware, subscriptions, professional library materials, or research equipment;
  • Costs related to publishing the research;
  • The cost of tuition or training fees, even if it is relevant to the project; or
  • Travel to present the research, although travel related to collection of data may be funded.
  • Work completed prior to the award of the grant.

Proposal Evaluations

Each proposal will be considered by a committee of WERA members who will consider the relevance, worthiness, feasibility, and workability, as well as the likelihood that that research will result in valid and reliable findings. A representative of the Grants Committee may contact the researcher and request more information or make suggestions which would make the grant more likely to meet WERA guidelines. The recommendations of the committee will be submitted to the WERA Board whose decision is final.

Expectations

Successful applicants will be expected to give assurance that:

  1. The project lead has secured IRB approval, or is in the process of securing IRB approval or the approval of your local school district.  If you are not seeking approval, please explain;
  2. The project will be completed as proposed;
  3. Grant monies will be expended as outlined; 
  4. An appropriate final report will be submitted; and
  5. Following the acceptance of the final report by the WERA Board, the investigator(s) will present the findings from the study at a subsequent WERA Conference and submit a paper for publication in the WERA Educational Journal (WEJ).

Download PDF version of the above grant application procedures.