U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor Announce Additional Grant Competition Under Elementary and Secondary Education Partnership

Today, the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Labor (DOL) issued the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 competition for the Competitive Grants for State Assessments (CGSA) Program. This competition represents a further step in the Trump Administration's efforts to enhance the quality of assessment instruments and systems to promote student academic achievement.

This announcement builds on ED's recent Convening on Strengthening State Assessment and Accountability, which brought together leaders from 43 states and 3 territories to highlight best practices and hear from experts on designing strong assessment and accountability systems. As the Trump Administration works to return education to the states, strong state systems are essential for improving student academic achievement and increasing transparency to families.

"This grant competition underscores the Trump Administration's commitment to supporting innovative assessments and encouraging accountability in state systems to improve academic achievement," said Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler. "Families deserve transparent, meaningful insight into their students' performance, and this stems from strong assessment and accountability systems."

"Strong state-assessment and accountability systems are critical supports when preparing students for employment. This partnership ensures states have the tools needed to measure students' progress, promote academic excellence, and align learning with the skills and pathways that drive opportunity in our dynamic, thriving economy," said Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Henry Mack, Ed.D.

The Trump Administration is using Secretary McMahon's Supplemental Priorities to prioritize grantees who will focus on meaningful learning opportunities and develop comprehensive assessment systems to utilize formative, diagnostic, and interim assessments aligned with the State's summative assessments.

Background:

To date, ED has announced 10 Interagency Agreements (IAAs) with five agencies to break up the Federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, and pursue the President's promise to return education to the states. Learn more about the efforts to return education to the states here.

This grant program will run through the ED-DOL partnership, formalized through an IAA, a tool routinely utilized by government agencies to procure services from each other. Under this partnership, and in accordance with 31 U.S.C. § 1535, DOL will help manage grant funds, provide technical assistance, and integrate ED's programs that focus on assessments to hold schools accountable with the suite of programs that DOL already administers.

ED and DOL will continue to provide grantees with additional guidance as these efforts are implemented.

For more information on this grant competition, please visit the grant notice on grants.gov.