[Federal Register: April 12, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 70)]
[Notices]
[Page 18462-18466]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12ap07-40]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Overview
Information; Enhanced Assessment Instruments; Notice Inviting
Applications for New Awards Using Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Funds
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.368.
Dates: Applications Available: April 12, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 31, 2007.
Eligible Applicants: State educational agencies (SEAs) and
consortia of SEAs.
[[Page 18463]]
Estimated Available Funds: $7,500,000 in FY 2006 funds.
Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000 to $2,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 5.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project period: Up to 18 months.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: The purpose of this program is to enhance the
quality of assessment instruments and systems used by States for
measuring the achievement of all students.
Priorities: This competition includes four absolute priorities and
three competitive preference priorities. In accordance with 34 CFR
75.105(b)(2)(iv), the absolute priorities are from section 6112 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA). The
competitive preference priorities are from Appendix E to the notice of
final requirements for optional State consolidated applications
submitted under section 9302 of the ESEA, published in the Federal
Register on May 22, 2002 (67 FR 35967).
Absolute Priorities: For FY 2006, these priorities are absolute
priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications
that meet one or more of these priorities.
These priorities are:
Absolute Priority 1. Collaborate with institutions of higher
education, other research institutions, or other organizations to
improve the quality, validity, and reliability of State academic
assessments beyond the requirements for these assessments described in
section 1111(b)(3) of Title I, Part A of the ESEA.
Absolute Priority 2. Measure student academic achievement using
multiple measures of student academic achievement from multiple
sources.
Absolute Priority 3. Chart student progress over time.
Absolute Priority 4. Evaluate student academic achievement through
the development of comprehensive academic assessment instruments, such
as performance and technology-based academic assessments.
Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2006, these priorities
are competitive preference priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i) we
award up to an additional 35 points to an application, depending on the
extent to which the application meets these priorities.
These priorities are:
Competitive Preference Priority 1. Accommodations and alternate
assessments (up to 20 points).
Competitive Preference Priority 2. Collaborative efforts (up to 10
points).
Competitive Preference Priority 3. Dissemination (up to 5 points).
Note: The full text of the competitive preference priorities is
included in the notice of final requirements published in the
Federal Register on May 22, 2002 (67 FR 35967) and in the
application package.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7842 and 7301a.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 80, 81,
82, 84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99. (b) The notice of final requirements
published in the Federal Register on May 22, 2002 (67 FR 35967).
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
Estimated Available Funds: $7,500,000 in FY 2006 funds.
Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000 to $2,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 5.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project period: Up to 18 months.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: SEAs and consortia of SEAs.
2. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not involve cost
sharing or matching.
3. Other: An application from a consortium of SEAs must designate
one SEA as the fiscal agent.
IV. Application and Submission Information
1. Address to Request Application Package: Valeria Ford, Office of
Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3W118, Washington, DC 20202-6132. Telephone:
(202) 205-2213 or by e-mail: Valeria.Ford@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print,
audiotape, or computer diskette) by contacting the program contact
person listed in this section.
2. Content and Form of Application Submission: Requirements
concerning the content of an application, together with the forms you
must submit, are in the application package for this competition.
Page Limit: The application narrative (Part III of the application)
is where you, the applicant, address the selection criteria that
reviewers use to evaluate your application and the absolute and
competitive preference priorities. You must limit Part III to the
equivalent of no more than 40 pages, using the following standards:
A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only with 1''
margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch)
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings,
footnotes, quotations, and captions as well as all text in charts,
tables, figures, and graphs.
Use a font that is either 12 point or larger or no smaller
than 10 pitch (characters per inch).
The page limit does not apply to the cover sheet, budget section
(chart and narrative), assurances and certifications, response
regarding research activities involving human subjects, GEPA 427
response, one-page abstract, personnel resumes, and letters of support;
however, discussion of how the application meets the absolute
priorities, how well the application meets the competitive preference
priorities, and how well the application addresses each of the
selection criteria must be included within the application narrative
and therefore is subject to the page limit.
Our reviewers will not read any pages of your application that--
Exceed the page limit if you apply these standards; or
Exceed the equivalent of the page limit if you apply other
standards.
3. Submission Dates and Times: Applications Available: April 12,
2007. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 31, 2007.
Applications for grants under this competition must be submitted
electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site (Grants.gov). If
duplicate applications are submitted, the last application submitted
will be considered and not the applications submitted earlier. For
information (including dates and times) about how to submit your
application electronically or by mail or hand delivery if you qualify
for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, please refer
to section IV. 6. Other Submission Requirements in this notice.
[[Page 18464]]
We do not consider an application that does not comply with the
deadline requirements.
Individuals with disabilities who need an accommodation or
auxiliary aid in connection with the application process should contact
the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
4. Intergovernmental Review: This competition is not subject to
Executive Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79.
5. Funding Restrictions: We reference regulations outlining funding
restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice.
6. Other Submission Requirements. Applications for grants under
this competition must be submitted electronically unless you qualify
for an exception to this requirement in accordance with the
instructions in this section.
a. Electronic Submission of Applications. Applications for grants
under the Enhanced Assessment Instruments, CFDA Number 84.368 must be
submitted electronically using the Governmentwide Grants.gov Apply site
at http://www.Grants.gov. Through this site, you will be able to
download a copy of the application package, complete it offline, and
then upload and submit your application. You may not e-mail an
electronic copy of a grant application to us.
We will reject your application if you submit it in paper format
unless, as described elsewhere in this section, you qualify for one of
the exceptions to the electronic submission requirement and submit, no
later than two weeks before the application deadline date, a written
statement to the Department that you qualify for one of these
exceptions. Further information regarding calculation of the date that
is two weeks before the application deadline date is provided later in
this section under Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement.
You may access the electronic grant application for Enhanced
Assessment Instruments at http://www.Grants.gov. You must search for
the downloadable application package for this competition by the CFDA
number. Do not include the CFDA number's alpha suffix in your search
(e.g., search for 84.368, not 84.368A).
Please note the following:
When you enter the Grants.gov site, you will find
information about submitting an application electronically through the
site, as well as the hours of operation.
Applications received by Grants.gov are date and time
stamped. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted, and
must be date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than
4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date.
Except as otherwise noted in this section, we will not consider your
application if it is date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system
later than 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline
date. When we retrieve your application from Grants.gov, we will notify
you if we are rejecting your application because it was date and time
stamped by the Grants.gov system after 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time,
on the application deadline date.
The amount of time it can take to upload an application
will vary depending on a variety of factors including the size of the
application and the speed of your Internet connection. Therefore, we
strongly recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline
date to begin the submission process through Grants.gov.
You should review and follow the Education Submission
Procedures for submitting an application through Grants.gov that are
included in the application package for this competition to ensure that
you submit your application in a timely manner to the Grants.gov
system. You can also find the Education Submission Procedures
pertaining to Grants.gov at http://e-Grants.ed.gov/help/GrantsgovSubmissionProcedures.pdf
.
To submit your application via Grants.gov, you must
complete all steps in the Grants.gov registration process (see http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp
). These steps include (1)
registering your organization, a multi-part process that includes
registration with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR); (2)
registering yourself as an Authorized Organization Representative
(AOR); and (3) getting authorized as an AOR by your organization.
Details on these steps are outlined in the Grants.gov 3-Step
Registration Guide (see http://www.grants.gov/section910/Grants.govRegistrationBrochure.pdf
). You also must provide on your
application the same D-U-N-S Number used with this registration. Please
note that the registration process may take five or more business days
to complete, and you must have completed all registration steps to
allow you to submit successfully an application via Grants.gov. In
addition you will need to update your CCR registration on an annual
basis. This may take three or more business days to complete.
You will not receive additional point value because you
submit your application in electronic format, nor will we penalize you
if you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission
requirement, as described elsewhere in this section, and submit your
application in paper format.
You must submit all documents electronically, including
all information you typically provide on the following forms:
Application for Federal Assistance (SF 424), the Department of
Education Supplemental Information for SF 424, Budget Information--Non-
Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and
certifications. Please note that two of these forms--the SF 424 and the
Department of Education Supplemental Information for SF 424--have
replaced the ED 424 (Application for Federal Education Assistance).
You must attach any narrative sections of your application
as files in a .DOC (document), .RTF (rich text), or .PDF (Portable
Document) format. If you upload a file type other than the three file
types specified in this paragraph or submit a password-protected file,
we will not review that material.
Your electronic application must comply with any page-
limit requirements described in this notice.
After you electronically submit your application, you will
receive from Grants.gov an automatic notification of receipt that
contains a Grants.gov tracking number. (This notification indicates
receipt by Grants.gov only, not receipt by the Department.) The
Department then will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send
a second notification to you by e-mail. This second notification
indicates that the Department has received your application and has
assigned your application a PR/Award number (an ED-specified
identifying number unique to your application).
We may request that you provide us original signatures on
forms at a later date.
Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of Technical Issues
with the Grants.gov System: If you are experiencing problems submitting
your application through Grants.gov, please contact the Grants.gov
Support Desk at 1-800-518-4726. You must obtain a Grants.gov Support
Desk Case Number and must keep a record of it.
If you are prevented from electronically submitting your
application on the application deadline date because of technical
problems with the Grants.gov system, we will grant you an extension
until 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, the following business day to
enable you to transmit
[[Page 18465]]
your application electronically or by hand delivery. You also may mail
your application by following the mailing instructions described
elsewhere in this notice.
If you submit an application after 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time,
on the application deadline date, please contact the person listed
elsewhere in this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT and
provide an explanation of the technical problem you experienced with
Grants.gov, along with the Grants.gov Support Desk Case Number. We will
accept your application if we can confirm that a technical problem
occurred with the Grants.gov system and that that problem affected your
ability to submit your application by 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time,
on the application deadline date. The Department will contact you after
a determination is made on whether your application will be accepted.
Note: The extensions to which we refer in this section apply
only to the unavailability of, or technical problems with, the
Grants.gov system. We will not grant you an extension if you failed
to fully register to submit your application to Grants.gov before
the application deadline date and time or if the technical problem
you experienced is unrelated to the Grants.gov system.
Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement: You qualify for an
exception to the electronic submission requirement, and may submit your
application in paper format, if you are unable to submit an application
through the Grants.gov system because--
You do not have access to the Internet; or
You do not have the capacity to upload large documents to
the Grants.gov system; and
No later than two weeks before the application deadline
date (14 calendar days or, if the fourteenth calendar day before the
application deadline date falls on a Federal holiday, the next business
day following the Federal holiday), you mail or fax a written statement
to the Department, explaining which of the two grounds for an exception
prevent you from using the Internet to submit your application.
If you mail your written statement to the Department, it must be
postmarked no later than two weeks before the application deadline
date. If you fax your written statement to the Department, we must
receive the faxed statement no later than two weeks before the
application deadline date.
Address and mail or fax your statement to: Valeria Ford, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3W118,
Washington, DC 20202-6132. FAX: (202) 260-7764.
Your paper application must be submitted in accordance with the
mail or hand delivery instructions described in this notice.
b. Submission of Paper Applications by Mail. If you qualify for an
exception to the electronic submission requirement, you may mail
(through the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier) your
application to the Department. You must mail the original and two
copies of your application, on or before the application deadline date,
to the Department at the applicable following address:
By mail through the U.S. Postal Service: U.S. Department of
Education, Application Control Center, Attention: (CFDA Number 84.368),
400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20202-4260; or
By mail through a commercial carrier: U.S. Department of Education,
Application Control Center, Stop 4260, Attention: (CFDA Number 84.368),
7100 Old Landover Road, Landover, MD 20785-1506.
Regardless of which address you use, you must show proof of mailing
consisting of one of the following:
(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark.
(2) A legible mail receipt with the date of mailing stamped by the
U.S. Postal Service.
(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or receipt from a commercial
carrier.
(4) Any other proof of mailing acceptable to the Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Education.
If you mail your application through the U.S. Postal Service, we do
not accept either of the following as proof of mailing:
(1) A private metered postmark.
(2) A mail receipt that is not dated by the U.S. Postal Service.
If your application is postmarked after the application deadline
date, we will not consider your application.
Note: The U.S. Postal Service does not uniformly provide a dated
postmark. Before relying on this method, you should check with your
local post office.
c. Submission of Paper Applications by Hand Delivery. If you
qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, you
(or a courier service) may deliver your paper application to the
Department by hand. You must deliver the original and two copies of
your application by hand, on or before the application deadline date,
to the Department at the following address: U.S. Department of
Education, Application Control Center, Attention: (CFDA Number 84.368),
550 12th Street, SW., Room 7041, Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC
20202-4260. The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries
daily between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, except
Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.
Note for Mail or Hand Delivery of Paper Applications: If you
mail or hand deliver your application to the Department--
(1) You must indicate on the envelope and--if not provided by
the Department--in Item 11 of the SF 424 the CFDA number, including
suffix letter, if any, of the competition under which you are
submitting your application; and
(2) The Application Control Center will mail to you a
notification of receipt of your grant application. If you do not
receive this notification within 15 business days from the
application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of
Education Application Control Center at (202) 245-6288.
V. Application Review Information
Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this competition are
from Appendix E to the notice of final requirements published in the
Federal Register on May 22, 2002 (67 FR 35967) and are listed in the
application package.
VI. Award Administration Information
1. Award Notices: If your application is successful, we notify your
U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators and send you a Grant Award Notice
(GAN). We may also notify you informally.
If your application is not evaluated or not selected for funding,
we notify you.
2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements: We identify
administrative and national policy requirements in the application
package and reference these and other requirements in the Applicable
Regulations section of this notice.
We reference the regulations outlining the terms and conditions of
an award in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice and
include these and other specific conditions in the GAN. The GAN also
incorporates your approved application as part of your binding
commitments under the grant.
3. Reporting: Grantees receiving a multi-year award must submit an
annual performance report that provides the most current performance
and financial expenditure information as specified by the Secretary in
34 CFR 75.118. Grantees will be expected to include in this annual
performance report documentation of their success in addressing the
performance measures identified in section 4 below. At the end of the
project period, grantees must
[[Page 18466]]
submit a final report to the Secretary, including financial information
as directed by the Secretary. Each State educational agency receiving a
grant must submit a final report using the U.S. Department of Education
(ED) Grant Performance Report form describing its activities and the
result of those activities, under the grant. ED will provide grant
recipients with the appropriate form and related instructions for
addressing these reporting requirements.
4. Performance Measures: Under the Government Performance and
Results Act (GPRA), the ED has developed three measures for evaluating
the effectiveness of the Enhanced Assessment Instruments grantees: (1)
The number of States that participated in pilot activities described in
each proposal; (2) the number of States that participated in Enhanced
Assessment Grant projects funded by the current or prior competitions;
and (3) the number of presentations at national conferences sponsored
by professional education organizations and papers submitted for
publication in refereed journals.
VII. Agency Contact
For Further Information Contact: Valeria Ford, Office of Elementary
and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue, SW., room 3W118, Washington, DC 20202-6132. Telephone: (202)
205-2213, or by e-mail: Valeria.Ford@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed in this
section.
VIII. Other Information
Electronic Access to This Document: You may view this document, as
well as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the
Internet at the following site:http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html
.
Dated: April 9, 2007.
Kerri L. Briggs,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. E7-6958 Filed 4-11-07; 8:45 am]
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