Prior to beginning an online application submission, please be sure to review all available preliminary decision guide and application support materials and have answered all of the following questions:

1. Is a formal research partnership application required for the type of data or information my project requires, or could the publicly-available information in DPSCD's Open Data files or other available resources sufficiently provide what is needed?
2. What is the unique expected value proposition of the proposed research, above and beyond any recently published findings in the DPSCD Research Resources Library?
3. Is all of the response information and required additional supporting documentation that will be required for this proposal submission (as per the DPSCD Research Application Proposal Submission Preparation Guide) gathered and ready to submit? 

Once you have determined that your request will require a formal research partnership application and ensured that all required response information and supplemental supporting materials have been prepared, you may submit an application for review using the portal link provided.

Please note that the online submission system does not allow you to save a partially-completed entry and return to finish it later, so please review the attached DPSCD Research Application Proposal Preparation Guide carefully to ensure that you have all response information and any potential supporting documents that may be required prepared in advance to be able to enter your complete submission in one session once you begin.

If you are planning to submit a new request or a modification request for an existing agreement and run into any limitations in the online submission system that prevents you from being able to share any important information about project needs with us, please feel free to e-mail any additional information directly to Paula Astudillo at paula.astudillo@detroitk12.org separately upon completion of your portal submission and we will make sure all materials are included together for internal review of your application.  Please be sure to reference the title of your proposal, exactly as it was submitted in your portal submission, in any supplementary information provided to ensure we are able to match it correctly with the rest of your submission materials.

Once your application is submitted using the online portal link, you will receive a confirmation e-mail documenting that your submission has been received.  If you do not receive this message within 24 hours of submission, please contact us at DPSCD.Research@detroitk12.org to confirm whether your application was received.

Once your application is received by the DPSCD Office of Research, Evaluation, and Analytics (REA), it will be initially screened for completeness prior to routing it for the first stage of required internal approvals.  If any critical information or supporting documentation is missing, you will receive a response from REA requesting that the required information be provided before processing can continue.

If your submitted application is initially approved as complete by REA, you will recive a status update message notifying you that your application has been moved forward to the Executive Sponsor Approval Stage.

The first formal review and decision stage for any research partnership proposal application is the Executive Sponsor Stage.  All prospective research partnership activities must be approved for support by a Cabinet-level Executive Sponsor (E.S.). 

To be clear, you (as an applicant) do not need to seek out and identify an E.S. for your application in advance, nor would it necessarily aid your application to do so.  A specifically appropriate E.S. for each individual application will be designated by REA based on an initial review of the application's purpose(s), scope, and primary domain of impact.

E.S. Review stage decisions will result in one of the following four possible decisions:

• Advance (Priority 1): If an application's designated E.S. indicates that it should be advanced as a "Priority 1" application, the full application will be advanced for full DPSCD Internal IRB Committee review at the earliest possible next available committee meeting date.  "Priority 1" approvals indicate the highest level of priority has been assigned to this application by the E.S. and has requested it not be rejected during the Committee Review Stage (though the committee may still exercise 'revise and resubmit' discretion and weigh in on modifications required to the final scope of the request.
• Advance (Priority 2): If an application's designated E.S. indicates that it should be advanced as a "Priority 2" application, the full application will be advanced for full DPSCD Internal IRB Committee review at the earliest possible next available committee meeting date.  "Priority 2" approvals indicate a moderate level of priority has been assigned to this application by the E.S. but that the Committee has discretion to reject it from advancing any further beyond the Committee Review Stage if they deem that there are significant issues with the proposal or other conflicts in scheduling the requested research activity that would create an undue burden on students or staff to participate in.
• Advance (Priority 3): If an application's designated E.S. indicates that it should be advanced as a "Priority 3" application, the full application will be advanced for full DPSCD Internal IRB Committee review at the earliest possible next available committee meeting date.  "Priority 3" approvals indicate the lowest level of priority has been assigned to this application by the E.S. and that the Committee has full discretion to reject it from advancing any further beyond the Committee Review Stage if they deem that there are issues with the proposal or other conflicts in scheduling the requested research activity that would create an undue burden on students or staff to participate in.
• Reject: If an application's designated E.S. indicates that it should be rejected, the review cycle ends at this stage and the application will not be advanced further for DPSCD Internal IRB Committee review. 

Following the Executive Sponsor Review Stage, applicants will receive a status update notification informing them of whether their proposal has been advanced or rejected by the designated E.S..  For proposals advanced by the E.S. with any Priority Level 1-3, this status update notification will also inform you of the specific date on which your application has been scheduled for full Committee Review. 

The second formal review and decision stage for any research partnership proposal application is the Committee Review Stage.  All prospective research partnership activities advanced for support by an Executive Sponsor must be comprhensively vetted by the DPSCD Internal IRB Committee for alignment of research purposes and request specifics, overall appropriateness, overall research soundness, and potential risks or benefits to students, staff, or the district as a whole.  

The DPSCD Internal IRB Committee includes standing representation at all reviews by representatives from DPSCD's Office of General Counsel, Office of Partnerships, Office of Research, Evaluation & Analytics, and Office of Strategic Planning.  Additional specific departmental representatives may also be present as necessary depending on the nature or scope of individual specific applications.

The Committee Review Stage process involves collaborative review and scoring of each application on a variety specific criteria under each of the following evaluation areas:

• Research Alignment & Value
• Research Design
• Potential Benefits to Students, Staff, or District
• Potential Risks to Students, Staff, or District
• Research Contributions to Priority Area Improvement
• Additional Considerations

Committee Review stage decisions will result in one of the following four possible decisions:

• Committee Approval: If an application is generally approved by the DPSCD IRB Committee, the full application will be advanced "as-is" immediately to the Office of General Counsel to begin any necessary agreement drafting.  Applicants will receive a status update notification informing them that their proposal has been forwarded for agreement drafting along with contact information for the appropriate reprsesentative from the Office of General Counsel's office to contact for further updates on timeline expectations or any additional draft agreement review or revision process steps needed.
• Conditional Committee Approval: If an application is conditionally approved by the DPSCD IRB Committee, the full application will be advanced to the Office of General Counsel to begin any necessary agreement drafting pending minor clarifications or additional information required.  Applicants will receive a status update notification informing them that their proposal has been forwarded for pending agreement drafting along with specific feedback notes from the committee regarding any minor revisions, clarifications, or additional information required before agreement drafting can begin.  Contact information for the appropriate reprsesentatives to provide the requested additional material to and to contact for further updates on timeline expectations or any additional draft agreement review or revision process steps needed will be provided as well.
• Revise and Resubmit: If an application is assigned "revise and resubmit" status by the DPSCD IRB Committee, the full application will be held at this stage pending resubmission by the applicant.  "revise and resubmit" determinations generally indicate proposals that the committee sees the potential value of supporting but that specific issues or concerns about the methodological approach, request appropriateness, burden on students or staff, or general lack of clarity in certain areas are too significant to be resolved through the minor editing process of a "conditional approval".  Applicants will receive a status update notification informing them that they have been requested to revise and resubmit their proposal along with specific feedback notes from the committee regarding any major revisions, clarifications, or additional information areas required before a final committee determination can be made.  
• Reject: If the DPSCD IRB Committee determines that an application should be rejected, the review cycle ends at this stage and the application will not be advanced further for agreement drafting or reconsideration at this time.  Applicants will receive a status update notification informing them that their application has been rejected along with specific feedback notes from the committee regarding the reasons why if applicable.

For applications either generally or conditionally approved by the DPSCD Internal IRB Committee, the next stage of the process will be agreement drafting.

Depending on the nature and scope of the proposed research activities, partnerships may require a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a Data-Sharing Agreement (DSA), both, and/or additional legal agreements to be in place prior to commencement of any activity.

The drafting process for required agreements may take several weeks and involve multiple rounds of collaborative review and revisions on final language between the applicant, DPSCD's Office of General Counsel, and any other relevant DPSCD departmental representatives as appropriate based on the nature of the request.

Maintaining ongoing communications and prioritizing rapid turnaround on any reviews or revisions required by the applicant during this stage is the best way to ensure your application continues progressing as quickly as possible through this stage.

Once all necessary required agreements are agreed upon in final draft format by the applicant(s) and DPSCD's Office of General Counsel, The final formal review and decision stage for any prospective application is the Final Executive (or Superintendent's) Review Stage.  All prospective research partnership activities must be ultimately approved directly by the General Superintendent before they can be considered fully approved for execution in DPSCD.  

Final Executive Review stage decisions will result in one of the following two possible decisions:

• Final Executive Approval: If an application is fully approved by DPSCD, the superintendent will sign off as required on all necessary agreement documents.  Applicants will receive a status update notification informing them that their proposal has been formally approved, along with any additional contact information needed or next steps information for moving into the execution stage of data collection or sharing activities as approved under the terms of the agreement.  
• Reject: If an application is ultimately rejected during the Final Executive Review Stage by DPSCD, the superintendent will not sign off on the necessary agreement documents and will notify REA and the Office of General Counsel of a decision to reject.  Applicants will receive a status update notification informing them that their application has been rejected at the Final executive Review Stage.

Please note that the General Superintendent has ultimate final discretion on approving or rejecting all prospective research partnership activities in the district. 

An application is not considered formally approved to commence research activities at any other stage of the review and decisions process prior to final and complete execution of all necessary agreements by the General Superintendent.