NEW National Professional Development Grant Applications Released – Deadline July 14th

For immediate release

On May 15th, the Department of Labor, which now manages the Department of Education’s Title III formula and competitive grants programs, released its notice of grant availability for the National Professional Development Program (NPD). As the notice describes, “The NPD program provides grants to public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education (IHEs) and public and private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with State educational agencies (SEAs) and/or local educational agencies (LEAs) to implement pre-service and in-service professional development activities intended to improve instruction for English learners (ELs) and assist education personnel working with ELs to meet high professional standards.” 

For FY26, there will be $49 million available new grants, with awards ranging between $500,000 and $1 million. The notice indicates that the Department expects to award between 10 and 13 grants, and that each grant will be for a duration of up to 5 years. Applications will be due July 14th, with final reviews from the federal government ending by September 12th.

The notice also contains priorities that will guide the Department’s scoring of the grant applications. One absolute priority for all applications is that the project “provide professional development activities that will improve classroom instruction for ELs and assist educational personnel working with ELs to meet high professional standards, including standards for certification and licensure as teachers who work in language instruction educational programs or serve ELs.” Applications that do not address this absolute priority will not be considered.

The notice also contains two competitive preference priorities – one for projects that promote evidenced-based literacy (worth 5 points in the scoring rubric) and another for projects implemented by Indian Tribes or by “entities identified, designated, or endorsed by a Governor or chief State education official”(worth 10 points in the scoring rubric). Any points from these competitive preference priorities will be added to the other application scoring criteria, which collectively total up to 100 points. 

This last priority regarding state endorsements of applications is drawing some attention. School districts have not had to obtain sign-off from their states for this grant program before, and there is concern that the absence of state endorsements could cause some districts to lose in the grant competition. Some states may not want to endorse these applications as they know that the Administration disfavors Title III and has sought to defund it. 

JNCL will continue to follow-up with more information as it becomes available.