• How does the Department consider my application for funding?
• How are application reviewers chosen?
• What criteria do reviewers use to score my application?
• How does the Department take into account variations in scoring practices among reviewers?
• Does a high score guarantee funding?
• How long does it take the Department to decide on my application?

Frequently, some months pass between an application deadline and the day when applicants learn about the funding decision or disposition of a particular group of applications. Some waiting is always involved because of the volume of applications the Department receives as well as the time required for the Department to act on its commitment to give each application a fair and thorough review. This section describes what happens to your application after the Department receives it.

How does the Department consider my application for funding?

For the majority of the Department’s grant competitions, program offices recruit application reviewers (reviewers) from outside the federal government who have expertise in the subject area(s) of the applications being considered. Program offices also use federal employees within and outside the Department to serve as reviewers. Each reviewer reads and scores a group of assigned applications. After the reviewers score the applications, program staff carry out an internal review to ensure that the reviewers’ scoring sheets are correctly completed and that the application meets all the requirements of the program.

How are application reviewers chosen?

To ensure a fair and competent review of all applications, program staff recruit persons who have expertise in areas pertinent to a program and from as many sources as possible. Individuals interested in becoming a reviewer complete an application or submit a resume or curriculum vitae so that program staff can determine whether they have the necessary qualifications to review applications for upcoming competitions. Program staff maintain a reviewer register and contact individuals when they are needed to review a particular group of applications.

Some of the methods that ED uses for recruiting individuals for the reviewer register include:

• Notices and advertisements in appropriate publications, including the Federal Register, journals, newspapers, and the principal office Web site;

• Letters of request to key individuals (e.g., college or university deans, heads or prominent members of educational research institutions and professional associations, or private and public school officials);

• Contacts with members of the educational community, professional associations, and current or former reviewers; and

• Requests to ED employees or other federal agencies.

The training for application reviewers, grant review procedures, time commitment, and compensation vary from grant program to grant program. Some programs require travel to Washington, D.C. (at the Department of Education’s expense), while other programs use e-Reader so that grant application reviews can be done from the reviewer’s home.

Individuals interested in becoming application reviewers can contact the program office that handles grant programs in a particular area of interest or visit the program office’s Web site (see the Internet directory in the Other Information section). Phone numbers for program offices can be found in the Guide to U.S. Department of Education Programs.

What criteria do reviewers use to score my application?

Reviewers score each application against the selection criteria stated in the application notice. If there are no program regulations, the reviewers score each application against the selection criteria in EDGAR which will be outlined in the application notice. In reviewing applications, reviewers are not permitted to use additional criteria or consider any other information that is not in the application.

How does the Department take into account variations in scoring practices among reviewers?

Generally, ED averages the scores given by the application reviewers that read the application and the average score of each application is used to determine the rank order of the application. Under certain circumstances, program staff use a computer program to standardize reviewers’ scores. Standardization helps compensate for the tendencies of some reviewers to score applications higher or lower than other reviewers for the same quality applications.

Does a high score guarantee funding?

No. Even if an application ranks high it may not be funded. In some instances, because of the large number of high-quality applications that were received under a competition and because of the limited funds that Congress appropriates for a program, ED may be unable to fund all of them. In addition, high-scoring applications may not be funded because a program may establish a geographic distribution requirement that limits the number of grants awarded to specific regions of the country. Some applications also may not be funded because of an applicant’s poor performance in the past on other federal projects. Keep in mind that a project is not guaranteed funding until an official Grant Award Notification (GAN) has been signed by the authorized program official and mailed to the applicant.

How long does it take the Department to decide on my application?

Although the time varies from program to program, it takes approximately four to six months from the time the Department receives a new application to the time an award is made. The Department must carefully follow its procedures, as well as requirements established by Congress, in reviewing applications and awarding grants. We must assure that the review and award process is fair to all applicants. As the Department adopts new technology, we expect the time required to process applications to be reduced.

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