Office of Innovation and Improvement; Parental Information and Resource Centers Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003, CFDA No. 84.310A [OII]

FR Doc 03-13837
[Federal Register: June 3, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 106)]
[Notices]
[Page 33331-33333]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03jn03-186]

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Part VII

Department of Education

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Office of Innovation and Improvement; Parental Information and Resource
Centers Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal
Year (FY) 2003; Notice

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.310A]

Office of Innovation and Improvement; Parental Information and
Resource Centers Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year
(FY) 2003.

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Purposes of Program: The Parental Information and Resource Centers
(PIRC) program provides resources that eligible applicants can use in
pursuit of the objectives of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which
provides resources to enable all elementary and secondary students to
achieve to high standards and holds schools, local educational
agencies, and States accountable for ensuring that they do so. In
particular, this program provides an opportunity for eligible entities
to focus on assisting the parents of children who attend schools
identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring under
Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The PIRC program supports school-based and school-linked parental
information and resource centers that--
(1) Help implement effective parental involvement policies,
programs, and activities that will improve children's academic
achievement;
(2) Develop and strengthen partnerships among parents (including
parents of children from birth through age five), teachers, principals,
administrators, and other school personnel in meeting the educational
needs of children;
(3) Develop and strengthen the relationship between parents and
their children's school;
(4) Further the developmental progress of children assisted under
the program;
(5) Coordinate activities funded under the program with parental
involvement initiatives funded under section 1118 and other provisions
of the ESEA; and
(6) Provide a comprehensive approach to improving student learning,
through coordination and integration of Federal, State, and local
services and programs.
Eligible Applicants: Non-profit organizations, or consortia of non-
profit organizations and local educational agencies (LEAs). LEAs alone
are not eligible to apply for funding.
A ``non-profit organization'' is an organization whose net earnings
do not benefit, and cannot lawfully benefit, any private shareholder or
entity. Faith-based and community organizations are eligible to apply
for funding provided that they are nonprofit organizations.
For purposes of the PIRC program, the term ``non-profit
organization'' does not include institutions of higher education, State
educational agencies, LEAs, intermediate school districts, schools,
government entities, or hospitals.
Applications Available: June 3, 2003.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 18, 2003.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 16, 2003.
Notification of Intent to Apply for Funding: We will be able to
develop a more efficient process for reviewing grant applications if we
have a better understanding of the number of entities that intend to
apply for funding. Therefore, we strongly encourage each potential
applicant to send, by June 18, 2003, a notification of its intent to
apply for funding to the following address: patricia.kilby-robb@ed.gov.
The notification of intent to apply for funding is optional and
should not include information regarding the proposed application.
Eligible applicants that fail to provide the notification may still
submit an application by the application deadline.
Estimated Available Funds: $20.5 million.
Estimated Range of Awards: $200,000 to $700,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 40.

Note: These estimates are projections for the guidance of
potential applicants. The Department is not bound by any estimates
in this notice.

Project Period: Up to 36 months.
Applicable Regulations and Statute: (a) Regulations. The Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts
74, 75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 85, 97, 98, and 99. The regulations in 34 CFR
Part 80 also apply to an LEA that is part of a consortium receiving
assistance. (b) Statute. Sections 5561 to 5565 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001.

Priority

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2), we have established the following two
competitive preferences for the FY 2003 PIRC competition:
(1) The Secretary will give up to 20 additional points to each
applicant that proposes specific strategies to assist parents in
understanding their State accountability system and the opportunities
for supplemental services and public school choice afforded to their
children under section 1116 of the ESEA. The Secretary believes that
this competitive preference will increase the likelihood that the
activities of the funded PIRCs will improve services to parents of
students who are attending low-performing schools (the schools that are
not making adequate academic progress), leading to enhancements in
student academic achievement.
(2) The Secretary will give 10 additional points to each ``novice
applicant''. For the purposes of this grant competition a novice
applicant is an applicant that (1) has never received a grant under the
PIRC program; (2) has never been a member of group application
(submitted in accordance with 34 CFR 75.127-75.129) that received a
grant under the PIRC program; and (3) has not had an active
discretionary grant from the Federal Government in the five years
before July 18, 2003.
These points will be in addition to any points the applicant earns
under the selection criteria.
Performance Measures: The Secretary has established the following
key performance measure for assessing the effectiveness of the PIRC
program: the number of parents who receive the information necessary
for them to understand their State accountability system and the
opportunities for supplemental services and public school choice
afforded to their children under section 1116 of the ESEA. The
Secretary has set an overall performance target that calls for the
number of parents receiving such information from PIRC projects to
increase by five percent annually.
In applying the selection criteria that follow for the ``Quality of
the project design'' and the ``Quality of the project evaluation'', the
Secretary will take into consideration the extent to which the
applicant demonstrates a strong capacity (1) to help achieve this
nationwide target, and (2) to provide reliable data to the Department
on the project's impact as measured by the number of parents
participating in PIRC activities that are designed to provide parents
with the information necessary for them to understand their State
accountability system and the opportunities for supplemental services
and public school choice afforded to their children under section 1116
of the ESEA.
Selection Criteria: We will use the following selection criteria
and factors to evaluate applications under this competition.
The maximum score for all of the selection criteria is 100 points.
The total

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maximum score of an application is 130 points (100 points under the
selection criteria and an additional 30 points under the competitive
preferences).
The Secretary will use the following selection criteria to evaluate
applications for PIRC projects under this competition:
(a) Need for project (15 points).
In determining the need for the proposed project, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
(1) The extent to which the proposed project will focus on serving
or otherwise addressing the needs of disadvantaged individuals; and
(2) The extent to which specific gaps or weaknesses in services,
infrastructure, or opportunities have been identified and will be
addressed by the proposed project, including the nature and magnitude
of those gaps or weaknesses.
(b) Quality of the project design (25 points).
In determining the quality of the design of the proposed project,
the Secretary considers the following factors:
(1) The extent to which the goals, objectives, and outcomes to be
achieved by the proposed project are clearly specified and measurable;
(2) The extent to which the design of the proposed project is
appropriate to, and will successfully address, the needs of the target
population or other identified needs;
(3) The extent to which the design of the proposed project reflects
up-to-date knowledge from research and effective practice;
(4) The extent to which the proposed project represents an
exceptional approach to meeting statutory purposes and requirements;
and
(5) The extent to which the proposed project will be coordinated
with similar or related efforts, and with other appropriate community,
State, and Federal resources.
(c) Quality of project services (15 points).
In determining the quality of the services to be provided by the
project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
(1) The likely impact of the services to be provided by the
proposed project on the intended recipients of those services; and
(2) The likelihood that the services to be provided by the proposed
project will lead to improvements in the achievement of students as
measured against rigorous academic standards.
(d) Quality of project personnel (10 points).
In determining the quality of project personnel, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
(1) The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of key personnel (including the project director); and
(2) The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of project consultants or subcontractors.
(e) Adequacy of resources (5 points).
In determining the adequacy of resources for the proposed project,
the Secretary considers the following factors:
(1) The adequacy of support, including facilities, equipment,
supplies, and other resources, from the applicant organization or the
lead applicant organization; and
(2) The extent to which the costs are reasonable in relation to the
number of persons to be served and to the anticipated results and
benefits.
(f) Quality of management plan (10 points).
In determining the quality of the management plan for the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
(1) The adequacy of the management plan to achieve the objectives
of the proposed project on time and within budget, including clearly
defined responsibilities, timelines, and milestones for accomplishing
project tasks; and
(2) The adequacy of mechanisms for ensuring high-quality products
and services from the proposed project.
(g) Quality of the project evaluation (20 points).
In determining the quality of the evaluation, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
(1) The extent to which the methods of evaluation include the use
of objective performance measures that are clearly related to the
intended outcomes of the project and will produce quantitative and
qualitative data to the extent possible; and
(2) The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide for
performance feedback and permit periodic assessment of progress toward
achieving intended outcomes. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: It is the
Secretary's practice, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure
Act (5 U.S.C. 553) to offer interested parties the opportunity to
comment on proposed rules that are not taken directly from statute.
Ordinarily, this practice would have applied to the competitive
priority and selection criteria in this notice. Section 437(d)(2) of
the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), however, exempts from this
rulemaking requirement those rules where the Secretary determines it
would cause extreme hardship to the intended beneficiaries of the
program that would be affected by those rules. The Secretary, in
accordance with section 437(d)(2) of GEPA, has decided to forgo public
comment with respect to the competitive priority in this grant
competition in order to ensure timely and high-quality awards. These
rules will apply only to the FY 2003 grant competition.

For Applications and Further Information Contact: Patricia Kilby-Robb,
U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3E209,
FOB-6, Washington, DC 20202-6254. Telephone: (202) 260-2225 or via
Internet: patricia.kilby-robb@ed.gov. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) 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 under FOR
APPLICATIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternative format by contacting that person. However,
the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the
standard forms included in the notice.

Electronic Access to This Document

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Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
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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.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.

Program Authority:

20 U.S.C. 7273 et seq.

Dated: May 29, 2003.
Nina S. Rees,
Deputy Under Secretary for Innovation and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 03-13837 Filed 6-2-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000-01-P