Dr. Katina Stapleton
(202) 219-2154
Katina.Stapleton@ed.gov

To address the shortage of education scientists who are prepared to conduct rigorous education research, the Institute of Education Sciences established a training grant program to support the development of a new generation of education scientists — the Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences. Currently, the Institute supports 18 interdisciplinary predoctoral research training programs. Students are being trained to develop education interventions (e.g., curricula, professional development) that are grounded in a science of learning; to evaluate education programs, practices, and policies using rigorous and well-implemented experimental and quasi-experimental designs; and to employ sophisticated statistical methods to examine large state and local datasets to identify potential solutions to education problems.

Each year the training directors of the IES predoctoral and postdoctoral education research training programs report on their programs. In 2008, IES supplemented these reports with information obtained directly from the predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows. This report is a summary of the information provided by the IES fellows and by their training directors.

How to Apply:

Training grant awards are made to academic institutions, not to individual fellows. Competitions for the interdisciplinary predoctoral research training programs occur on an irregular basis. The Institute posts announcements of new competitions for the interdisciplinary predoctoral research training programs in the Federal Register. Interested applicants are also encouraged to subscribe to IES Newsflash to receive information about future competitions.

Students interested in becoming predoctoral training fellows must apply for admission to a training program, not to IES. Each training program has its own admission process and selection criteria. Potential fellows can receive information about applying for a fellowship by contacting the training program directly or by reading Applying for a Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Program Fellowship (http://pirt.wceruw.org/howtoapply.php). Not all programs are accepting applications at this time.