Special Demonstration Programs--Model Demonstration Projects--Mentoring for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults With Disabilities; Notice of proposed priority, definitions, and application requirements [OSERS]

[Federal Register: August 5, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 150)]
[Notices]
[Page 46421-46424]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05au03-139]

Download:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Part V

Department of Education

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Special Demonstration Programs--Model Demonstration Projects--Mentoring
for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults With Disabilities; Inviting
Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003; Notices

[[Page 46422]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

RIN 1820-ZA28

Special Demonstration Programs--Model Demonstration Projects--
Mentoring for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults With Disabilities

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed priority, definitions, and application
requirements.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services proposes a priority, definitions, and
application requirements under the Special Demonstration Programs
focusing on mentoring models that provide appropriate supports for
transition-age youth and young adults with disabilities. The mentoring
models developed under this program must incorporate effective,
research-based mentoring methods. The Assistant Secretary may use this
priority, definitions, and the requirements for competitions in fiscal
year (FY) 2003 and later years. We take this action to increase
meaningful postsecondary education and quality employment outcomes
through a mentoring system within State vocational rehabilitation (VR)
agencies. Grants would be made to State VR agencies.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before September 4, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this proposed priority,
definitions, and application requirements to Alfreda Reeves, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3314, Switzer
Building, Washington, DC 20202-2645. If you prefer to send your
comments through the Internet, use one of the following addresses:
Alfreda.Reeves@ed.gov or Pamela.Martin@ed.gov.
You must include the term ``Mentoring Model Demonstration'' in the
subject line of your electronic message.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alfreda Reeves. Telephone: (202) 205-
9361 or via Internet: Alfreda.Reeves@ed.gov. Or Pamela Martin, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3314, Switzer
Building, Washington, DC 20202-2645. Telephone: (202) 205-8494 or via
Internet: Pamela.Martin@ed.gov. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the TDD number at (202) 205-4475.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to one of the contact persons listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation to Comment

We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed priority,
definitions, and application requirements. To ensure that your comments
have maximum effect in developing the notice of final priority,
definitions, and application requirements, we urge you to be specific
about any recommended changes. We are particularly interested in
receiving comments on the following topics:
1. The definitions of ``mentor'' and ``mentoring'' as they appear
in this notice.
2. The requirement to collaborate with a consumer-controlled
organization.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Order 12866 and its overall requirement of
reducing regulatory burden that might result from this notice. Please
let us know of any further opportunities we should take to reduce
potential costs or increase potential benefits while preserving the
effective and efficient administration of the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this proposed priority, definitions, and application
requirements in room 3038, Switzer Building, 330 C Street, SW.,
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Eastern
time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking
Record

On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for this proposed priority, definitions, and
application requirements. If you want to schedule an appointment for
this type of aid, please contact one of the individuals listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
We will announce the final priority, definitions, and application
requirements in a notice in the Federal Register. We will determine the
final priority, definitions, and application requirements after
considering responses to this notice and other information available to
the Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing or
funding additional priorities, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking
requirements.

Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use this proposed priority, definitions, and
application requirements, we invite applications through a notice in
the Federal Register. When inviting applications we designate the
priority as absolute, competitive preference, or invitational. The
effect of each type of priority follows:

Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority we consider only
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference
priority we give competitive preference to an application by either (1)
awarding additional points, depending on how well or the extent to
which the application meets the competitive priority (34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) selecting an application that meets the
competitive priority over an application of comparable merit that does
not meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority we are
particularly interested in applications that meet the invitational
priority. However, we do not give an application that meets the
invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over other
applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).

Priority

Proposed Priority--Model Demonstration Projects--Mentoring for
Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults With Disabilities

These model demonstration projects would test whether increases in
meaningful postsecondary education and quality employment outcomes can
be achieved through the use of mentors by State VR agencies.
The program will be conducted under section 303(b) of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The proposed priority
supports section 303(b) by furthering the purposes of the Act,
specifically by empowering individuals with disabilities to maximize
employment, economic self-sufficiency, independence, and inclusion and
integration into society.

Background

The educational and employment achievements of youth and young
adults with disabilities lag significantly behind those of their peers
without disabilities. The Office of Special Education

[[Page 46423]]

Programs reports that only 57.4 percent of youth with disabilities
graduate from high school with a standard diploma. In addition, the
Final Report of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults
with Disabilities, July 2002, estimates that only one-third of youth
and young adults with disabilities receive appropriate job training and
assistance. Some of the barriers to autonomy and achievement
encountered by youth and young adults with disabilities include
uncoordinated approaches to transition across service systems,
discontinuity between schools and adult disability services, poor
preparation of teens for adult life, lack of incentives or supports for
early transition planning, and lack of school and community supports.
For transitioning youth and young adults with disabilities,
developing positive self-confidence, resilience, and an expectation for
achievement in a competitive, high'quality career must take place early
in their academic career. Mentors or role models with whom students can
identify, and who have shared interests, can have a positive impact
that will last a lifetime. These individuals can play a vital role in
eliminating barriers to autonomy, community integration, and
achievement by motivating youth and young adults with disabilities to
develop social competence, academic motivation, career awareness, and
other appropriate skills needed for employment and independent living.
Successful mentoring programs under this model demonstration program
will provide appropriate supports, based on the individual's unique
strengths, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests,
and informed choice. An overall objective of the mentoring program is
to encourage youth and young adults with disabilities in meeting and
achieving a desired optimal career goal or postsecondary education.

Priority

Under 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(v) and 34 CFR 373.6(b)(2) and (c)(8),
this priority supports projects that demonstrate mentoring models
focusing on transitioning youth and young adults with disabilities that
will be effective in increasing meaningful community integration,
postsecondary education, and employment outcomes. The mentoring models
developed under this program must incorporate effective, research-based
mentoring methods. An external evaluation of these projects will be
initiated in FY 2004. The projects must cooperate with the external
evaluator including establishing a common data system.
A. Definitions
Mentor means a more successful, experienced person with a
disability, who can be most appropriately matched with the youth with a
disability and who can impart advice, support, insight, and knowledge
on employment and other life activities to a less experienced person.
State VR agencies should match mentors and mentees using the best
individualized information possible.
Mentoring means the act of a more successful, experienced person or
persons with a disability, working with a less experienced youth or
young adult, or a group of individuals, by providing guidance in the
form of teaching and support, encouraging and motivating, assisting
with career and professional development, assisting with goal
achievement, and linking the less experienced youth to others who can
help enhance growth and development.
Youth and young adults with disabilities, as defined in 34 CFR
373.4, means individuals with disabilities who are between the ages of
16 and 26 inclusive when entering the program.
Consumer-controlled organization is an organization that vests
power and authority in individuals with disabilities and a majority of
the officers and members of the board of directors are individuals with
disabilities.

B. General Requirements for Applicants

These model demonstration projects must focus on research-based
mentoring methods that provide appropriate supports for transition-age
youth and young adults with disabilities. The projects must demonstrate
research-based mentoring models that will be effective in increasing
meaningful community integration, postsecondary education, and
employment outcomes through collaboration between State VR agencies and
consumer-controlled organizations. To meet the requirements an
applicant must--
(1) Describe the manner in which mentoring will increase academic
achievement, participation in postsecondary education, and high-quality
employment outcomes for transitioning youth and young adults with
disabilities by including information on the expected impact and
outcomes of the project. More specifically, an applicant must project a
goal of how many youth and young adults with disabilities will
transition into postsecondary education or will achieve high-quality
employment outcomes. An applicant also must be specific about what data
it will collect in order to measure project outcomes against the goal;
(2) Describe the research-based mentoring models that will be
demonstrated through its project;
(3) Describe clear program goals and intended program outcomes and
well-defined operational guidelines that will support these goals;
(4) Describe how the project will collaborate with consumer-
controlled organizations that have in-depth knowledge of the
rehabilitation process, the outreach methods used to select project
participants, and the criteria by which individuals with disabilities
will be recruited as mentors by the consumer-controlled organizations;
(5) Describe how the proposed project will increase self-advocacy,
high-level personal and career expectations, decisionmaking, and
adjustment to disability of the mentored individuals. At a minimum, the
project must describe how mentors will help consumers--
(a) Navigate through service delivery systems; and
(b) develop and improve self-confidence, community integration
skills, work skills, self-determination skills, advocacy, and
decisionmaking;
(6) Describe the design and implementation of an internal
evaluation plan for which--
(a) The methods of evaluation are thorough, feasible, and
appropriate to the goals, objectives, and outcomes of the project;
(b) 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;
(c) The methods of evaluation will provide performance feedback and
permit periodic assessment of progress toward achieving intended
outcomes; and
(d) The methods of evaluation will be consistent with and can
support the program assessment that will be implemented by the
Rehabilitation Services Administration; and
(7) Include a plan to widely disseminate the results of the
project, including any mentoring methods that demonstrated positive
results, so the mentoring model may be adapted, replicated, or
integrated into other State VR agencies and disability organizations.

Executive Order 12866

This notice of proposed priority, definitions, and application
requirements has been reviewed in accordance with Executive Order
12866.

[[Page 46424]]

Under the terms of the order, we have assessed the potential costs and
benefits of this regulatory action.
The potential costs associated with this notice are those resulting
from requirements we have determined as necessary for administering
this program effectively and efficiently.
In assessing the potential costs and benefits--both quantitative
and qualitative--of this notice, we have determined that the benefits
of the proposed priority, definitions, and application requirements
justify the costs.
We have also determined that this regulatory action does not unduly
interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the exercise of
their governmental functions.

Summary of Potential Costs and Benefits

The Assistant Secretary has determined that the cost to the Federal
Government associated with this program will not exceed $1,200,000 in
FY 2003. No other costs will result from the announcement of this
proposed priority, definitions, and application requirements.
The benefit of this proposed priority, definitions, and application
requirements will be the establishment of model demonstration projects
that will lead to increases in meaningful postsecondary education and
quality employment outcomes through a mentoring system within State VR
agencies.

Intergovernmental Review

This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies on processes developed by State
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance.
This document provides early notification of our specific plans and
actions for this program.

Applicable Program Regulations

34 CFR part 373.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may review this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/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/fr/.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.235Q, Special
Demonstration Programs--Model Demonstration Projects--Mentoring for
Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults With Disabilities)

Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 773(b).

Dated: July 31, 2003.
Robert H. Pasternack,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 03-19876 Filed 8-4-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000-01-P