Funding Priorities
Spencer Foundation funds education-focused research projects, fellowships for scholars and journalists, and field-building initiatives that aim to transform the field of education. This foundation supports high-quality projects that aspire for a bigger and more innovative change in the education system.
Types of grants funded
1) Research Grant
Grants are mostly given to projects that focus on the most urgent inquiries that have important potential in education. This foundation also encourages creative and rigorous inquiries that may influence educational policy. Four types of grants are provided through this grant opportunity.
1.1) Racial Equity Research grant
1.2) Research Grants on Education: Large
1.3) Research Grants on Education: Small
1.4) Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative research for educational change
2) Training grants: Fellowships for Scholars and journalists
The Spencer Foundation funds scholars and journals in their educational projects aiming to foster new foundational knowledge in the field. This foundation also supports innovative works that can better serve the purpose of guiding new policy and practice. Three types of training grants are provided through this grant opportunity.
2.1 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship
2.2 NAEd/Spencer Post-Doctoral Fellowship
2.3 Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship
3) Field building grants: Vision Grants
The Vision Grants program funds the collaborative planning of innovative, methodologically diverse, interdisciplinary research on education that focuses on transforming education systems for equity. These grants are given to large-scale research project teams for their research planning stage.
Eligibility
Different types of grants have different eligibility criteria. However, most of the projects expect that the Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a Research Grant on Education must have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field, or appropriate experience in an education research-related profession. Graduate students may participate in the research team but cannot be designated as the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on the proposal.
Level of funding provided and deadlines
1) Racial Equity Research grant – They accept Intent to Apply forms once a year. They will be accepting applications for projects ranging from one to five years with budgets of up to $75,000.
Deadline: Currently closed.
Intent to Apply Form Deadline-May 29, 2024, 12:00 PM Noon (Central/Chicago Time)
Full Proposal Deadline-June 27, 2024, 12:00 PM Noon (Central/Chicago Time)
2) Research Grants on Education: Large – Budgets ranging from $125,000 to $500,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. They anticipate awarding grants with budgets across each of the following funding tiers — $125,000 to 250,000; $250,001 to $375,000; and $375,001 to $500,000. They accept Intent to Apply forms for the large fund twice a year.
Deadline: Applications Open: December 2024
Intent to Apply-January 14, 2025, 12:00 pm Noon (Central/Chicago Time)
Full Proposal Deadline-February 11, 2025, 12:00 pm Noon (Central/Chicago Time)
3) Research Grants on Education: Small – Budgets up to $50,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. They accept applications three times per year.
Deadline: Applications Open: October 10, 2024
Full Proposal Deadline- December 4, 2024, 12:00 pm (noon), Central Time
4) Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative research for educational change – project budgets up to $400,000 and durations of up to three years.
Deadline: Currently closed.
Previously: Intent to apply due October 17, 2023; Full proposal due November 15, 2023
5) Vision grants – Vision Grants are $75,000 total and two cycles of this grant program will be held annually.
Deadline: Applications Open: Early December
Intent to Apply Form Deadline- February 11, 2025, 12:00 pm (noon), Central time
Full Proposal Deadline – March 11, 2025, 12:00 pm (noon), Central time
6) NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship – Funded by the Spencer Foundation but administered through the National Academy of Education provides around $27,500.
Deadline: The deadline for this is in the fall of each year. Application guidelines can be found on the National Academy of Education website.
7) NAEd/Spencer Post-Doctoral Fellowship – Funded by the Spencer Foundation but administered through the National Academy of Education provides around $70,000.
Deadline: The deadline for this is in the fall of each year. Application guidelines can be found on the National Academy of Education website.
8) Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship – Each fellow receives a $85,000 stipend for living expenses and an additional $7,500 for research support. Tuition and fees for courses at Columbia University are included in the fellowship.
Deadline: The application deadline is in the winter for the following academic year, which typically runs from August to mid-June.
o application and guide: Each grant and fellowship has its’ own guide on its dedicated webpage.
o Website: https://www.spencer.org/
Example
1) Title: Addressing the (In)Visibility of Asian American Teachers: Racial Identity and Cross-Generational Support
Dr. Grace MyHyun Kim (PI)
Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Associate Professor, Center for Asian American Studies, College of Liberal Arts
Faculty Affiliate, Department of Asian Studies, College of Liberal Arts
H. E. Hartfelder/The Southland Corporation Regents Chair in Human Resource Development (Fellow)
The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. North Cooc (Co-PI)
Associate Professor, Department of Special Education
Associate Professor, Center for Asian American Studies
The University of Texas at Austin
Award: Recipient of January 2024 Research Grants on Education: Large
Description: This study aims to examine the influence of intergenerational support on the recruitment and retention of Asian American teachers. This project aims to enhance and facilitate the participation of Asian American educators in K-12 education through four-year-long funding support. Currently, there are no substantial studies available after they receive funding on this topic. However, the scholars together have worked on several articles on the issue of Asian Americans in the field of education.
Related journal articles:
Kim, G. M., Cooc, N., Gee, K. A., & Louie, V. (2023). Humanizing Asian Americans in educational research. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2268017
Kim, G. M., & Cooc, N. (2020). Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in academe: race and gender through the tenure pipeline from 1993-2017. Race Ethnicity and Education, 24(3), 338–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2020.1753675
Cooc, N. (2016). Examining the Underrepresentation of Asian Americans in Special Education: New Trends from California School Districts. Exceptionality, 26(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09362835.2016.1216847
2) Title: Postsecondary Education: Autistic College Students Experiences of Success (PEACES)
Bradley E. Cox (PI)
Associate professor, Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education
Michigan State University
Brett Ranon Nachman (Co-PI)
Assistant Professor
Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy
University of Pittsburg
Award: Recipient of Summer 2023 Research Grant on Education: Large
Description: This grant is offered to support the research endeavor on autistic undergraduate college student success in the United States. In Wave 1 (Fall 2022), the scholars have gathered perspectives from 430 autistic college student participants.
Wave 2 (Fall 2023), not only elicits perspective from new students but also offers longitudinal data on returning students from Wave 1. Along with the survey, the scholars have conducted interviews and assembled photo elicitation responses from their participants.
Data collection for the Wave 3 (Fall 2024) has started and the details can be found in https://collegeautismnetwork.org/research/peaces/
Related journal articles:
Nachman, B.R., McDermott, C.T. & Cox, B.E. Brief Report: Autism-Specific College Support Programs: Differences Across Geography and Institutional Type. J Autism Dev Disord, 52, 863–870 (2022). https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1007/s10803-021-04958-1
Nachman, B. R., Cox, B. E., Yarber, K., Raclaw, E., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Taylor, J. L., & Gelbar, N. (Accepted). Faculty members’ roles in elevating autistic college student success. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability.
Nachman, B. R. (2023). “It’s like you’re a jockey riding a horse and you’re in a world of centaurs”: Unmasking autistic college students’ identity development. Journal of College Student Development, 64(4), 407-422.
Sources of information
1) https://collegeautismnetwork.org/
2) https://www.spencer.org/why-we-grant
3) https://sites.google.com/view/brettranonnachman/research/publications?authuser=0