GEAR UP- Due July 14, 2011

Link to announcement in Federal Register: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-06-14/pdf/2011-14736.pdf

Purpose of Program: The GEAR UP program is a discretionary grant program that provides financial support for academic and related support services that eligible low-income students, including students with disabilities, need to enable them to obtain a secondary school diploma and to prepare for and succeed in postsecondary education.


Priorities: This notice contains two competitive preference priorities and one invitational priority.


Background: The President has set a clear goal for our education system: By 2020, the United States will once again lead the world in college completion. To achieve this goal, the Department has consistently encouraged four key reforms to improve elementary and secondary education—in particular the Department is seeking to: improve the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders and promote equity in the distribution of effective teachers and school leaders; strengthen the use of data to improve teaching and learning;provide high-quality instruction based on rigorous college- and career-ready standards and measure students’ mastery of standards using high-quality assessments aligned with those standards; and turn around the lowes tperforming schools.


The Department views the GEAR UP program as a critical component in the effort to improve the quality of secondary schools so that more students are well prepared for college and careers. In order to more strategically align GEAR UP with these overarching reform strategies for school improvement, the Department is announcing two competitive preference priorities for this competition. The Department also proposes one invitational priority for this competition.


We are using two priorities from the Department’s notice of final supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs, published in the Federal Register on December 15, 2010 (75 FR 78486).


The Department is using Competitive Preference Priority 1—Turning Around Persistently Lowest-Achieving Schools because an essential element in strengthening our education system is dramatic improvement of student performance in each State’s persistently lowest-achieving schools. These schools often require intensive interventions to improve the school culture and climate, strengthen the school staff and instructional program, increase student attendance and enrollment in advanced courses, provide more time for learning, and ensure that social services and community support are available for students in order to raise student achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment rates. In addition, students in these schools can benefit from participating in programs, such as GEAR UP, that offer additional services designed to increase student success.


II. Award Information


Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
Estimated Available Funds: $102,211,000. Contingent upon the availability of funds and the quality of applications, we may make additional awards in FY 2012 from the list of unfunded applicants from this competition.
Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000–$7,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,161,489.


III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: Partnership consisting of (A) one or more local educational agencies (LEA), and (B) one or more degree granting institutions of higher education (IHE). Partnerships may also contain not less than two other community organizations or entities,  such as businesses, professional organizations, State agencies, institutions or agencies sponsoring programs authorized under the Leveraging Educational Assistance