Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Effective Educator Development (EED) Division: Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive Program Assistance Listing Number 84.374A | ED GRANTS 070921 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 070921 001

The Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education under the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and its Effective Educator Development (EED) Division, is a discretionary grant opportunity listed as Assistance Listing Number 84.374A. The core aim of the program is to help states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and eligible nonprofit organizations build or strengthen systems that improve how educators are supported, developed, evaluated, and compensated, with a strong emphasis on ensuring that high-need schools can attract, retain, and reward effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders. The published funding description is a summary of the official Federal Register notice, and applicants are expected to rely on the Federal Register application notice and the Department of Education "Common Instructions" for the full set of rules, required forms, submission procedures, priorities, and performance measures.

At the center of this opportunity is the expectation that grantees will develop, implement, improve, or expand comprehensive Performance-Based Compensation Systems (PBCS) and/or Human Capital Management Systems (HCMS) for educators. In practical terms, these systems are meant to tie elements of educator compensation, career advancement, recognition, and broader talent-management decisions to evidence of effectiveness. The program specifically highlights educators working in high-need schools and prioritizes approaches that support educators who help raise student growth and academic achievement, while also working to narrow achievement gaps between higher- and lower-performing students. The program is not limited to launching entirely new systems; it also supports improving existing models, expanding them to more schools or roles, and refining the underlying measures and processes so they are more coherent and actionable.

Another important feature of the TSL program is that it allows a portion of grant funds to be used for studying and validating the educator systems being implemented. That includes examining the effectiveness of the compensation or human capital model and, just as importantly, assessing whether the system is fair, high-quality, consistent, and reliable. This emphasis reflects a common challenge in educator evaluation and incentive efforts: a system only works if educators view it as credible and if the underlying measures produce stable, defensible results across schools, grade levels, and student populations. While the synopsis does not spell out the evaluation design requirements, it signals that thoughtful evidence-building and continuous improvement are part of what the program is intended to finance.

This opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number ED GRANTS 070921 001) was posted with applications available beginning July 12, 2021, and an application deadline of August 13, 2021. An optional notice of intent to apply was due July 30, 2021, and the intergovernmental review deadline was October 12, 2021. The Department indicated it expected to make about 20 awards. The synopsis notes an award ceiling value of 0, which typically indicates that the ceiling is not specified in this summary record and that applicants should consult the Federal Register notice for actual award ranges, ceilings, estimated totals, or any budgeting constraints. The grant is categorized as discretionary, uses the grant funding instrument type, and falls under the funding activity category of education.

For applicant support, OESE planned to provide pre-recorded informational webinars as technical assistance resources shortly after publication of the Federal Register notice, and to post those webinars on the TSL program webpage. A Frequently Asked Questions document was also expected to be posted to the same program page. For direct questions, the notice lists Orman Feres at the U.S. Department of Education as the contact person, with both a direct email address and a program mailbox (TSL@ed.gov), along with a phone number and mailing address at 400 Maryland Avenue SW in Washington, DC. Applicants are also pointed to the Department of Education "Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs" (published February 13, 2019) for the standard federal submission and application procedures that apply to this competition.

Overall, the TSL Incentive Program is designed to support educator effectiveness initiatives that are system-level rather than one-off, with an explicit focus on high-need contexts and on measurable student outcomes. It funds the development and scaling of compensation and talent-management structures intended to strengthen the educator workforce pipeline, reward and retain effective practice, and promote more equitable student achievement, while also encouraging grantees to test, study, and improve the validity and fairness of the systems they put in place.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Effective Educator Development (EED) Division: Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive Program Assistance Listing Number 84.374A" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.374.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 12, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 13, 2021 Applications available July 12, 2021. Pre-application webinars The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education intends to post pre-recorded informational webinars designed to provide technical assistance to interested applicants for TSL grants. These informational webinars will be available on the TSL webpage shortly after this notice is published in the Federal Register. Deadline for optional notice of intent to apply July 30, 2021. Deadline for transmittal of applications August 13, 2021. Deadline for intergovernmental review October 12, 2021. The informational webinars will be available on the TSL webpage at oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/effective-educator-development-programs/teacher-and-school-leader-incentive-program/applicant-info-eligibility/. A TSL Frequently Asked Questions document will also be published on the TSL program webpage as soon as it is available at https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/effective-educator-development-programs/teacher-and-school-leader-incentive-program/. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Orman Feres, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3C140, Washington, DC 20202-5960. Telephone (202) 453-6921. Email orman.feres@ed.gov or TSL@ed.gov.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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