FR Doc 05-4103
[Federal Register: March 3, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 41)]
[Notices]
[Page 10370-10374]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03mr05-36]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview
Information; Technology and Media Services for Individuals With
Disabilities--Research on Technology Effectiveness and Implementation
for Children With Disabilities; Notice Inviting Applications for New
Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2005
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.327R.
DATES: Applications Available: March 4, 2005.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 15, 2005.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 14, 2005.
Eligible Applicants: State educational agencies (SEAs); local
educational agencies (LEAs); public charter schools that are LEAs under
State law; institutions of higher education (IHEs); other public
agencies; private nonprofit organizations; outlying areas; freely
associated States; Indian tribes or tribal organizations; and for-
profit organizations.
Estimated Available Funds: $600,000.
Maximum Award: The Secretary does not intend to fund an application
that proposes a budget exceeding $600,000 for a single budget period of
12 months. The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services may change the maximum amount through a notice
published in the Federal Register.
Number of Awards: 1.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: The purpose of the program is to: (1) Improve
results for children with disabilities by promoting the development,
demonstration, and use of technology; (2) support educational media
services activities designed to be of educational value in the
classroom setting to children with disabilities; and (3) provide
support for captioning and video description that is appropriate for
use in the classroom setting.
Priority: In accordance with 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(iv), this priority
is from allowable activities specified in the statute (see sections 674
and 681(d) of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)).
Absolute Priority: For FY 2005 this priority is an absolute
priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), we consider only applications that
meet this priority.
This priority is: Technology and Media Services for Individuals
With Disabilities--Research on Technology Effectiveness and
Implementation for Children With Disabilities.
Background: Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a
technology-based instructional medium that has been variously termed
``electronic text'', ``digital text'', ``hypertext'', ``hypermedia'',
``supported text'', and other similar terms. In this priority, the
expression ``electronic text'' will be used.
Specific features and capabilities of ``electronic text'' vary, but
the following eight types of resources, proposed by Horney & Anderson-
Inman (1999),\1\ can be used as a basic (but not necessarily
exhaustive) reference set to define ``electronic text'' as used in this
priority--
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\1\ Horney, M. A. & Anderson-Inman, L. (1999). Supported Text in
Electronic Reading Environments. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 15,
127-168.
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(1) Translational resources that provide the reader with an
alternate form for words or phrases that might be problematic (e.g.,
language translation or text-to-speech);
(2) Illustrative resources that provide the reader with examples,
illustrations, or comparisons of a concept or set of concepts, often
taking advantage of multimedia such as graphics, animation, or sound;
(3) Summarizing resources that provide an overview of the text's
structure, content, or major features, for example in outline form
(e.g., a table of contents with each title linked to its appropriate
page in the text) or in graphic form (e.g., a concept map of key ideas
in the document or a timeline of major events);
(4) Instructional resources that prompt students to learn by
guiding their interaction with the text, for example by means of
questions embedded in the text, tutorials, or assignments;
(5) Enrichment resources that augment the main body of the text
with material that is related to, but not actually necessary for,
comprehension, such as photos or sound clips;
(6) Notational resources that enable students to support their
reading by
[[Page 10371]]
such activities as recording observations, summarizing main ideas, or
marking parts of the text;
(7) Collaborative resources that promote the process of joint
construction of meaning when reading from text (e.g., collaborative
projects shared electronically); and
(8) General-purpose resources that support the content of an
electronic book with information that is relevant but never designed to
be a part of the book, such as a dictionary linked to an electronic
book but not designed specifically for that book.
In electronic text, these resources are generally under the
learner's control and are accessed by means of ``buttons,'' specially-
marked words, or images located in or near the text.
Electronic text has a number of potential benefits for students
with disabilities. For example, it can provide supports to compensate
for learning difficulties, sensory impairments, and academic skill
deficits. Recently, a National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Standard (NIMAS) was developed through an OSEP-funded grant. This new
standard is expected to streamline the production of accessible
textbooks to students who are blind or print-disabled, and holds
tremendous promise related to addressing the needs of a much broader
range of students with disabilities.
Toward this end, the Department of Education is funding two centers
to support further development and implementation of NIMAS. The NIMAS
Technical Assistance Center will provide information and technical
assistance to States to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in
providing accessible instructional materials to students with
disabilities. The NIMAS Development Center will provide national
leadership to develop the standard further, including making
recommendations about updating and revising NIMAS to take into account
advances in technology and to address the needs of a broader range of
students with disabilities and evaluating whether adoption of the NIMAS
standard results in greater and more timely availability of materials.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, research to document the benefits of
electronic text for students with disabilities is not entirely
conclusive. While some studies have found electronic text or some of
its features to be effective in improving reading comprehension, other
studies have found no effects, or inconsistent effects (MacArthur,
Ferretti, Okolo, & Cavalier, 2001 \2\). Moreover, resources added to
text to provide access for one population of students may create
accessibility barriers for others (e.g., graphic features may not be
accessible to students with visual disabilities, hyper-linked resources
or graphic organizers may increase cognitive demands and thus create
barriers for students with cognitive disabilities). Finally, the
effectiveness of electronic text in widespread use in typical
educational environments has not been fully explored.
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\2\ MacArthur, C.A., Ferretti, R.P., Okolo, C.M., & Cavalier,
A.R. (2001). Technology applications for students with literacy
problems: A critical review. The Elementary School Journal, 101(3),
273-301.
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Priority
This priority supports one cooperative agreement for a Center to
conduct a systematic program of research on the use of electronic text
to advance the principles of universal design (i.e., design of products
that will be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible,
with minimal need for additional adaptations and accommodations)
related to the development of curriculum and instructional materials
that are accessible to all students with disabilities, in order to
improve access to and progress in the general curriculum for students
with disabilities.
Applicants must:
(a) Propose an operational definition of electronic text to be used
in a program of research. This definition must incorporate at least
five of the eight types of resources discussed in the Background
section, and can include additional types of resources.
(b) Demonstrate that they have access to existing electronic text
materials so that research can proceed quickly with minimal time
devoted to additional development.
(c) Demonstrate knowledge of the state of practice in terms of use
of products, sources of products, and research on electronic text.
(d) Present a plan for conducting a program of research to answer
the following questions: (1) Does electronic text improve learning of
academic content in actual educational settings with typical resources
and levels of teacher support? (2) What characteristics of electronic
text facilitate or impede access to and learning of academic content?
(3) What student characteristics (e.g., disability, technology skills)
and contextual factors (e.g., teacher training, hardware resources,
student groupings) influence the effectiveness of electronic text?
This plan may focus on specific academic content areas, student
ages, and implementations of electronic text, but, at a minimum, must
address each of the three research questions separately for each of
these populations: Students with learning disabilities, students with
mental retardation, students with visual impairments or blindness,
students with hearing impairments or deafness, and students with
physical disabilities.
These research questions are intended to test causal relationships,
and the research must employ rigorous experimental designs using
randomized assignment or repeated measures unless a compelling case is
made that such designs are not possible and that other designs, such as
quasi-experiments with matched groups and statistical controls, can be
used to determine treatment effects.
Applicants must fully describe methodologies and must provide
documentation that available sample sizes and methodologies are
sufficient to produce the statistical power needed to yield conclusive
findings. Experimental research may be supplemented with qualitative or
non-experimental methodologies, provided sufficient rigor is
maintained.
The plan must provide for conducting the majority of research in
actual educational environments using typical resources and levels of
teacher support.
Once funded, the Center must:
(a) Establish a technical review board to review its operational
definition of electronic text and its research plans, and identify any
needed improvements.
(b) Revise its operational definition of electronic text and its
research plan in accordance with comments from the technical review
board and instructions from the U.S. Department of Education.
(c) Conduct the program of research called for in its plan, taking
appropriate steps to ensure that the research is rigorous and
objective. Toward this end, the Center must maintain communication with
the U.S. Department of Education and the technical review board to
identify needed corrective actions.
(d) Coordinate and collaborate with the NIMAS Development Center
and the NIMAS Technical Assistance Center. This coordination must be
designed to minimize duplication of effort and to ensure that the
research conducted under this competition supports, to the maximum
possible extent, the further development and implementation of NIMAS.
(e) Disseminate findings to appropriate audiences. The Center must
submit reports for publication in peer-
[[Page 10372]]
reviewed professional journals and for presentation at professional
conferences, and must post reports on a Web site that meets a
government or industry-recognized standard for accessibility.
(f) Formulate research-based guidelines for the development and use
of electronic text to improve access to and progress in the general
curriculum for students with disabilities. These guidelines must be
designed to reflect, to the maximum possible extent, the implementation
and possible further development of NIMAS.
(g) Budget for a two-day Research Project Directors' meeting, a
two-day Technology Project Directors' meeting, and a two-day Technical
Assistance and Dissemination Project Directors' meeting, each in
Washington, DC during each year of the project.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: Under the Administrative Procedure
Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 553), the Department generally offers interested
parties the opportunity to comment on proposed priorities. However,
section 681(d) of the IDEA makes the public comment requirements of the
APA inapplicable to the priority in this notice.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1474.
Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants
except federally recognized Indian tribes.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to institutions of
higher education only.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Cooperative agreement.
Estimated Available Funds: $600,000.
Maximum Award: The Secretary does not intend to fund an application
that proposes a budget exceeding $600,000 for a single budget period of
12 months. The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services may change the maximum amount through a notice
published in the Federal Register.
Number of Awards: 1.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: SEAs; LEAs; public charter schools that are
LEAs under State law; IHEs; other public agencies; private nonprofit
organizations; outlying areas; freely associated States; Indian tribes
or tribal organizations; and for-profit organizations.
2. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not involve cost
sharing or matching.
3. Other: General Requirements--(a) The projects funded under this
competition must make positive efforts to employ and advance in
employment qualified individuals with disabilities (see section 606 of
the IDEA).
(b) Applicants and grant recipients funded under this competition
must involve individuals with disabilities or parents of individuals
with disabilities ages birth through 26 in planning, implementing, and
evaluating the projects (see section 682(a)(1)(A) of the IDEA).
IV. Application and Submission Information
1. Address To Request Application Package: Education Publications
Center (ED Pubs), P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll
free): 1-877-433-7827. FAX: (301) 470-1244. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call (toll free):
1-877-576-7734.
You may also contact ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html
or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address: edpubs@inet.ed.gov.
If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify
this competition as follows: CFDA Number 84.327R.
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 Grants and Contracts
Services Team listed in section VII of this notice.
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. You must limit Part III to
the equivalent of no more than 70 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, references, 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 Part I, the cover sheet; Part II,
the budget section, including the narrative budget justification; Part
IV, the assurances and certifications; or the one-page abstract, the
resumes, the bibliography, the references, the letters of support, or
the appendix. However, you must include all of the application
narrative in Part III.
We will reject your application if--
You apply these standards and exceed the page limit; or
You apply other standards and exceed the equivalent of the
page limit.
3. Submission Dates and Times: Applications Available: March 4,
2005. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 15, 2005.
Applications for grants under this competition may be submitted
electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site (Grants.gov), or in
paper format by mail or hand delivery. For information (including dates
and times) about how to submit your application electronically, or by
mail or hand delivery, please refer to section IV. 6. Other Submission
Requirements in this notice.
We do not consider an application that does not comply with the
deadline requirements.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 14, 2005.
4. Intergovernmental Review: This program is subject to Executive
Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79. Information about
Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs under Executive Order
12372 is in the application package for this competition.
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 may be submitted electronically or in paper format by
mail or hand delivery.
a. Electronic Submission of Applications. We have been accepting
applications electronically through the Department's e-Application
system since FY 2000. In order to expand on those efforts and comply
with the President's Management Agenda, we are continuing to
participate as a partner in the new government wide Grants.gov Apply
site in FY 2005. Research on Technology Effectiveness and
Implementation for Children With
[[Page 10373]]
Disabilities--CFDA Number 84.327R is one of the competitions included
in this project.
If you choose to submit your application electronically, you must
use the Grants.gov Apply site (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
request your participation in Grants.gov.
You may access the electronic grant application for the Research on
Technology Effectiveness and Implementation for Children with
Disabilities--CFDA Number 84.327R competition at: http://www.grants.gov.
You must search for the downloadable application
package for this program by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA
number's alpha suffix in your search.
Please note the following:
Your participation in Grants.gov is voluntary.
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 time and date
stamped. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted with a
date/time received by the Grants.gov system no later than 4:30 p.m.,
Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. We will not
consider your application if it was received by the Grants.gov system
later than 4:30 p.m. 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 submitted after 4:30 p.m. on
the application deadline date.
If you experience technical difficulties on the
application deadline date and are unable to meet the 4:30 p.m.,
Washington, DC time, deadline, print out your application and follow
the instructions in this notice for the submission of paper
applications by mail or hand delivery.
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 application 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
your application is submitted timely to the Grants.gov system.
To use Grants.gov, you, as the applicant, must have a D-U-
N-S Number and register in the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). You
should allow a minimum of five business days to complete the CCR
registration.
You will not receive additional point value because you
submit your application in electronic format, nor will we penalize you
if you submit your application in paper format.
You may submit all documents electronically, including all
information typically included on the Application for Federal Education
Assistance (ED 424), Budget Information--Non-Construction Programs (ED
524), and all necessary assurances and certifications. Any narrative
sections of your application should be attached as files in a .DOC
(document), .RTF (rich text) or .PDF (Portable Document) format.
Your electronic application must comply with any page
limit requirements described in this notice.
After you electronically submit your application, you will
receive an automatic acknowledgement from Grants.gov that contains a
Grants.gov tracking number. The Department will retrieve your
application from Grants.gov and send you a second confirmation by e-
mail that will include 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.
b. Submission of Paper Applications by Mail. If you submit your
application in paper format by mail (through the U.S. Postal Service or
a commercial carrier), 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
84.327R), 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 84.327R), 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, or
(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, or
(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 submit
your application in paper format by hand delivery, you (or a courier
service) 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 84.327R), 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 4 of the Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424) the
CFDA number--and suffix letter, if any--of the competition under which
you are submitting your application.
(2) The Application Control Center will mail a grant application
receipt acknowledgment to you. If you do not receive the grant
application receipt acknowledgment 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 34 CFR 75.210 and are listed in the application package.
[[Page 10374]]
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
Notification (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: At the end of your project period, you must submit a
final performance report, including financial information, as directed
by the Secretary. If you receive a multi-year award, you 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.
4. Performance Measures: Under the Government Performance and
Results Act (GPRA), the Department is currently developing measures
that will yield information on various aspects of the quality of the
Technology and Media Services to Improve Services and Results for
Children with Disabilities program (e.g., the extent to which projects
are of high quality and are relevant to the needs of children with
disabilities). Data on these measures will be collected from the
projects funded under this competition.
Grantees will also be required to report information on their
projects' performance in annual reports to the Department (34 CFR
75.590).
We will notify grantees of the performance measures once they are
developed.
VII. Agency Contact
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Malouf, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 4078, Potomac Center Plaza,
Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone: (202) 245-7427.
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 by contacting the following office: The Grants and
Contracts Services Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue, SW., Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-2550.
Telephone: (202) 245-7363.
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: February 24, 2005.
John H. Hager,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 05-4103 Filed 3-2-05; 8:45 am]
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