The Fostering Diverse Schools Demonstration Grants program provides competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs), consortia of LEAs, or one or more LEAs in partnership with a State educational agency (SEA) to provide students with access to a well-rounded education and to improve school conditions for student learning by developing or implementing, and making publicly available as a resource for other LEAs and SEAs, comprehensive plans for increasing school socioeconomic diversity in preschool through grade 12.

Learn more: Fostering Diverse Schools Demonstration Grants Program (FDS) – Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Our country’s rich diversity is its strength. Research suggests that students are better prepared for success when they learn together in schools where students and educators represent a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. Supporting diverse student populations in LEAs, schools, classrooms, and educational programs or courses is a way to provide more well-rounded educational experiences and opportunities that support academic achievement for all students, consistent with section 4107 of the ESEA. In addition, schools with diverse student populations provide safe and healthy environments that enable academic achievement, consistent with section 4108 of the ESEA. This goal is supported by research showing that students attending diverse schools have better test scores and higher college attendance and graduation rates. The Fostering Diverse Demonstration Schools Grants program is intended to help build the capacity of LEAs to meet the needs of students—including academic, social, emotional, and mental health—by increasing access to and equity in diverse and inclusive learning environments. This program is being established with funds from the 2 percent reservation for technical assistance and capacity building under section 4103(a)(3) of the ESEA, which is designed to support States and LEAs in carrying out activities authorized under the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants program in Title IV, part A of the ESEA, including activities that support access to a well-rounded education and activities that support safe and healthy students and their academic and overall well-being. Grants are available to LEAs, individually or in partnership with other LEAs or with a SEA, to develop, enhance, or implement plans that foster socioeconomic diversity in preschool through grade 12 for the purpose of increasing academic achievement through providing access to a well-rounded education and supporting student well-being. The Explanatory Statement for Division H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. 117–103), directs the Department to prioritize its Title IV, part A reservation for technical assistance and capacity building to support SEAs and LEAs in fostering school diversity efforts across and within school districts. Awards under this FY 2023 competition will be supported with FY 2022 Title IV, part A technical assistance and capacity building funds, which remain available for obligation by the Department until September 30, 2023.

Research suggests that income segregation is increasing and that students in socioeconomically isolated schools ( i.e., schools overwhelmingly composed of children from low-income backgrounds) have less access to the critical resources and funding that are necessary for high-quality educational experiences than students in socioeconomically diverse or more affluent schools, and as a result have negative academic outcomes. This disparity can ultimately have detrimental effects on the individual lives of students and the foundation of democracy.

Research also suggests that school diversity provides a range of benefits to students, including improved leadership skills, social mobility, civic engagement, academic success, empathy, and understanding. Unfortunately, nearly 70 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, much of the progress toward school diversity and equality has stalled or even reversed in many communities. For example, demographic isolation has been exacerbated by policy choices related to school assignment, zoning, and transportation options that create inequitable access to high-quality schools. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has documented the situation in a recent report showing the “student population has significantly diversified, but many schools remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines.” Another recent GAO report documented the increase in percentages of schools with high concentrations of students from families with low incomes and high concentrations of students of particular races.

In addition to diverse schools, students’ experiences in diverse classrooms can provide a range of academic, social, and emotional benefits, including increased civic engagement, improved critical thinking skills, and innovation. However, even when school buildings overall are more diverse, in some cases, the classrooms providing more rigorous educational opportunities in the building do not reflect such diversity.

Through the Title IV–A Grants for Fostering Diverse Schools Demonstration program, the Department invites LEAs, consortia of LEAs, or one or more LEAs in partnership with a SEA to apply for funding to—(1) develop or enhance a locally tailored comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity across and within LEAs, schools, and academic programs or courses, as applicable; or (2) implement a locally tailored comprehensive plan to foster socioeconomic diversity across and within districts and schools, and within classrooms, as applicable. The Department seeks to support applicants that promote the use of evidence-based strategies to increase access to high-quality, well-rounded learning experiences, support safe and healthy students by increasing diversity across and within districts, schools, and courses, or both. The Department also seeks to support applicants that demonstrate student, family, educator, and community involvement in the development and implementation of their school diversity plans. In either case, projects supported by this program must complement, rather than duplicate, the ongoing work of the grantee, and funds awarded under this grant must supplement, and not supplant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be available for activities funded under this program.

The Department expects applicants to submit proposals to develop or implement plans for diversity that are responsive to the significant body of research showing the importance of student diversity in fostering academic achievement. In developing their proposals, applicants should consider strategies to encourage socioeconomic diversity in schools, courses, and programs. Applicants may also propose to voluntarily foster diversity more broadly by considering legally permissible strategies for promoting diversity as it relates to factors such as race/ethnicity, culture, geography, the percentage of English learners, and the percentage of students with disabilities.

As part of the Department’s Raise the Bar: Lead The World initiative (see https://www.ed.gov/​raisethebar/​), the Department has identified three focus areas and six strategies to help support LEAs and SEAs drive improvements in educational excellence for students in preschool through grade 12 and provide conditions that enable success for all students in their educational attainment, college, and careers. The Fostering Diverse Schools Demonstration program will help advance the Department’s efforts in two of these focus areas in particular: Accelerate Learning for Every Student and Deliver a Comprehensive and Rigorous Education for Every Student.

Priorities: This competition includes two absolute priorities and three competitive preference priorities. We are establishing the absolute priorities and competitive preference priorities for the FY 2023 grant competition and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, in accordance with section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 20 U.S.C. 1232(d)(1).

Absolute Priorities: For FY 2023 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, these priorities are absolute priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), we consider only applications that meet one of these priorities. An applicant must identify in the project abstract the absolute priority to which it is applying.

Note: The Secretary intends to create two separate rank orders, one for each absolute priority. As a result, the Secretary may fund applications out of the overall rank order, but the Secretary is not bound to do so.

These priorities are:

Absolute Priority 1—Developing or Enhancing a Comprehensive Plan to Increase Socioeconomic Diversity.

To meet this priority, an applicant must propose to develop or enhance, and make publicly available, including by posting on the applicant’s website, a comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity (as defined in this notice) across the LEA, or LEAs, as applicable, for the purpose of promoting academic achievement by providing students with access to a well-rounded education, fostering safe and healthy schools, or both.

The application must include—

(a) A description of how the applicant will develop or enhance a plan to increase socioeconomic diversity across the LEA, or LEAs, as applicable, including a description of the students, families, and school community or communities to be served, including disaggregated demographic data ( e.g., income, race, ethnicity, disability status, status as an English learner).

(b) A description of how the applicant will document and publicly disseminate the results of the funded project to increase the capacity of other LEAs to implement similar programs.

(c) A timeline and approach for conducting a comprehensive assessment of the geographic area to be served, including using established survey or data collection methods to identify: areas of limited socioeconomic diversity; related barriers to and opportunities for diversity at the educational program, classroom, school, and district levels (including those related to resource equity and adequacy); and educational opportunities (for example, advanced courses, opportunities to participate in rigorous career education or courses of study leading to an in-demand and high-value industry-recognized credential, dual or concurrent enrollment, work-based learning, and academic enrichment experiences) and outcomes of students attending included schools that will inform the comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity. Such an assessment could include: identifying enrollment strategies that promote diversity while taking into account geographic proximity; analyzing the location and capacity of existing school facilities and the adequacy of local or regional transportation infrastructure to support more diverse student bodies; or examining school boundaries and feeder patterns.

(d) A timeline and approach for family, student, community, and educator engagement (such as public hearings or other open forums) to inform the development of the comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity.

(e) Action steps and a timeline to produce a comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity approved by district leadership by the end of the grant period that can serve as a roadmap for immediate and future policy and implementation actions to promote socioeconomic diversity in schools.

Absolute Priority 2—Implementing a Comprehensive Plan to Increase Socioeconomic Diversity.

To meet this priority, an applicant must propose to implement its existing high-quality comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity across the LEA, or LEAs, as applicable, for the purpose of promoting academic achievement by providing students with access to a well-rounded education, fostering safe and healthy schools, or both. In proposing a project under this priority, an applicant must—

(a) Provide evidence that the comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity is based on a comprehensive assessment of the geographic area to be served, including using established survey or data collection methods to identify areas of limited socioeconomic diversity; related barriers to socioeconomic diversity at the educational program, classroom, school, and district levels (including those related to resource equity and adequacy); and educational opportunities and outcomes of students attending included schools. The data may also include within-school data and analysis including course enrollment, academic achievement, school climate data, school staffing, and other measures related to a well-rounded education.

(b) Demonstrate, including by providing a description and relevant substantiating documentation, that the comprehensive plan to increase socioeconomic diversity is based on rigorous family, student, community, and educator engagement.

(c) Document a commitment to ambitious, but achievable, goals for increasing socioeconomic diversity and transparent, published data analysis of progress relative to those goals.

Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2023 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, these priorities are competitive preference priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), we award up to an additional 20 points to an application, depending on how well the application meets these priorities. An applicant must identify each competitive preference priority that it believes it meets in the project abstract, including relevant data and data sources that support the applicant’s assertion that it meets the priority.

These priorities are:

Competitive Preference Priority 1—Fostering Socioeconomic Diversity in One or More High-Need LEAs. (0 or 10 points)

To meet this priority, an applicant must propose a project that will foster socioeconomic diversity in one or more high-need LEAs (as defined in this notice). To meet this priority, the applicant must identify relevant qualifying data in its project abstract or indicate in the project abstract where in the application such data are found.

Competitive Preference Priority 2—Strengthening Cross-Agency Coordination and Community Engagement to Advance Systemic Change. (Up to 5 points)

To meet this priority, an applicant must propose a project that takes a systemic, evidence-based approach to improving outcomes for all students by coordinating efforts with other local government agencies ( e.g., housing or transportation), community-based organizations, social service agencies, institutions of higher education, or early learning providers to promote socioeconomic diversity in schools. To meet this priority, the applicant must identify the coordinating agencies, and their proposed contributions to the project, in its project abstract.

Competitive Preference Priority 3—Fostering Socioeconomic Diversity Through Regional Approaches. (0 or 5 points)

To meet this priority, an applicant must be a consortium of two or more LEAs that propose to increase socioeconomic diversity in schools in the participating LEAs. To receive points for this priority, the applicant must include a partnership agreement or proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) among all members of the consortium, identified at the time of the application, that describes the role of each partner in carrying out the proposed project and each partner’s efforts to advance socioeconomic diversity within the region. In addition, the MOU or partnership agreement must identify and describe the LEAs and schools that make up the region and indicate whether the project will include all schools within the LEAs or specific regions and/or schools within the LEAs.