The District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), Division of Early Learning, is accepting applications for the FY2027 Aligning Quality Across DC’s Mixed Delivery System Through Interaction-Based Assessments Grant. This is a competitive applicant-facing financial assistance opportunity funded with federal Child Care and Development Block Grant resources administered by OSSE. The selected grantee or grantees will plan, conduct, analyze and report CLASS Second Edition Infant-Toddler observations for publicly funded child care centers, child development homes and expanded homes across the District, including participation in training, ongoing quality improvement, and secure data reporting.
Eligible organizational applicants include nonprofit, for-profit and eligible faith-based organizations and postsecondary education institutions with specialized experience in early childhood evaluation, observation, monitoring and financial management. The RFA requires at least six years of experience managing large-scale CLASS infant-toddler or toddler evaluations, including three years conducting statewide or citywide evaluations encompassing at least 100 different sites within a year; applicants also need experience with urban early childhood research and mitigating implicit bias in data collection. Individual families and schools without these organizational qualifications should not assume eligibility.
OSSE describes up to $720,000 of TOTAL program funding annually for each of five years through September 30, 2031, subject to annual continuation and available appropriations. This $720,000 figure is the annual program pool, NOT a published per-applicant award ceiling. The RFA does not separately establish an individual award range or maximum, and OSSE may award less than an applicant requests. Payment is by reimbursement after the grantee has paid allowable costs. Costs must support approved observation, staffing, training, data-collection, analysis, reporting and related program deliverables; other expenses are governed by the submitted budget and grant rules. No fixed matching percentage was stated in the reviewed RFA; applicants should confirm any applicable financial conditions with OSSE.
IMPORTANT: The official RFA is internally inconsistent on the application deadline. Its cover states November 13, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., matching the DC government grant clearinghouse, while Section 1.1.4 states Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. Neither location expressly specifies a time zone. Do not rely on the later date without direct written OSSE confirmation. Applicants should conservatively prepare to submit by November 11 at 3:00 p.m. and confirm the controlling deadline with the program contact. This deadline inconsistency remains unresolved and requires funder clarification.
Applications must be submitted in the DC Enterprise Grants Management System (EGMS) with required work plan, evaluation and data-collection plan, staffing plan, key personnel qualifications, fiscal and legal attestations, audited financial statements, status documentation, conflict-of-interest and separation-of-duties policies, organizational chart, logic model and required partnership materials. Submissions must be complete and late applications will not be reviewed. RFA released October 2, 2026. Official controlling RFA: https://communityaffairs.dc.gov/sites/moca/files/dc/sites/moca/publication/attachments/RFA%20-%20FY27%20Aligning%20Quality%20RFA%20(Final).pdf. Verification reviewed October 31, 2026.