FR Doc E7-5590
[Federal Register: March 27, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 58)]
[Notices]
[Page 14263-14266]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27mr07-23]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research--
Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program--
Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs)
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed priority for a RRTC on Vocational
Rehabilitation.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services proposes a priority on vocational
rehabilitation under the Disability and Rehabilitation Research
Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute
[[Page 14264]]
on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The Assistant
Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY)
2007 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention
on areas of national need. We intend this priority to improve
rehabilitation services and outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before April 26, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this proposed priority to Donna
Nangle, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room
6030, Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20204-2700. If you prefer to
send your comments through the Internet, use the following address:
donna.nangle@ed.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Nangle. Telephone: (202) 245-
7462.
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 contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Invitation to Comment
We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed priority.
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 proposed
priority. 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 on this notice of proposed priority in room 6030, 550 12th
Street, SW., Potomac Center Plaza, 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 notice of proposed priority. If you want to
schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
We will announce the final priority in a notice in the Federal
Register. We will determine the final priority after considering
responses to this notice and other information available to the
Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing or using
additional priorities or selection criteria, 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, 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)).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice of proposed priority is in
concert with President George W. Bush's New Freedom Initiative (NFI)
and NIDRR's Final Long-Range Plan for FY 2005-2009 (Plan). The NFI can
be accessed on the Internet at the following site:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom.
The Plan, which was published in the Federal Register on February
15, 2006 (71 FR 8165), can be accessed on the Internet at the following
site: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/policy.html.
Through the implementation of the NFI and the Plan, NIDRR seeks
to--(1) Improve the quality and utility of disability and
rehabilitation research; (2) Foster an exchange of expertise,
information, and training to facilitate the advancement of knowledge
and understanding of the unique needs of traditionally underserved
populations; (3) Determine best strategies and programs to improve
rehabilitation outcomes for underserved populations; (4) Identify
research gaps; (5) Identify mechanisms of integrating research and
practice; and (6) Disseminate findings.
Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs)
RRTCs conduct coordinated and integrated advanced programs of
research targeted toward the production of new knowledge to improve
rehabilitation methodology and service delivery systems, alleviate or
stabilize disability conditions, or promote maximum social and economic
independence for persons with disabilities. Additional information on
the RRTC program can be found at:
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/res-program.html#RRTC.
General Requirements of RRTCs
RRTCs must--
Carry out coordinated advanced programs of rehabilitation
research;
Provide training, including graduate, pre-service, and in-
service training, to help rehabilitation personnel more effectively
provide rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities;
Provide technical assistance to individuals with
disabilities, their representatives, providers, and other interested
parties;
Demonstrate in their applications how they will address,
in whole or in part, the needs of individuals with disabilities from
minority backgrounds;
Disseminate informational materials to individuals with
disabilities, their representatives, providers, and other interested
parties; and
Serve as centers of national excellence in rehabilitation
research for individuals with disabilities, their representatives,
providers, and other interested parties.
Priority
Background
Approximately 56 percent of working-age individuals with
disabilities are employed, including 42 percent of those with severe
disabilities, compared to the 88 percent of working-age individuals who
do not have a disability who are employed (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002).
The rate of employment among individuals with disabilities varies by
type of disabling condition and severity of disability (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2002).
As authorized under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended, the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program, which is
administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), has
been providing employment services to individuals with disabilities
[[Page 14265]]
for more than eight decades. With agencies in every State and
Territory, the VR program annually achieves more than 200,000
employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities, as the term
employment outcome is defined in 34 CFR 361.5(b)(16).
The VR program exists within a complex and dynamic network of
Federal and State policies and programs that provide employment
services to individuals with disabilities with the purpose of obtaining
employment outcomes and increasing earnings from employment. At the
Federal level, these efforts include, but are not limited to, the
Social Security Administration's Ticket to Work Program and other
related work incentive and benefits planning initiatives, and the
Department of Labor's ``one-stop'' career center program, which is part
of the array of programs authorized under the Workforce Investment Act.
At the State level, programs that provide employment services to
individuals with disabilities include State developmental disability
agencies and State mental health agencies. These and other State level
agencies often use funds provided by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) through Medicaid waiver programs and Medicaid
infrastructure grants, and may benefit from CMS Medicaid buy in
provisions. Services to individuals are either delivered directly by
State and local government agencies or by community non-governmental
organizations (community NGOs). The differing arrangements and funding
of State programs and the interaction of State, Federal and other
programs and funding sources create a variety of complex employment
service delivery structures for individuals with disabilities.
A strategic partnership between RSA and NIDRR, both of which are
located in the Department's Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services, provides an opportunity to develop systematic
knowledge of the variations in these complex and dynamic State-level
structures, and the VR program's role and position within them. This
new knowledge will provide the VR program with an empirical context in
which services and service delivery systems and mechanisms can be
designed to optimize VR outcomes and the employment of individuals with
disabilities.
New knowledge about the VR program and how it relates to other
employment policies and programs for individuals with disabilities will
also provide an empirical context within which high-quality research on
the employment status of individuals with disabilities can be
conducted. NIDRR aims to sponsor research that will increase the number
of validated interventions to enhance employment outcomes among
individuals with disabilities (NIDRR Long Range Plan, 2005-2009).
Without adequate knowledge of the complex and dynamic environment of
policies and programs in which employment interventions are delivered
to individuals with disabilities, research on those interventions is
likely to lack validity and real-world applicability.
In addition to detailed information about the structure of
disability employment services, service providers and researchers also
require information about successful practices for prioritizing and
providing services to individuals with the most significant
disabilities. Section 101(a)(5) of the Rehabilitation Act requires that
individuals with the most significant disabilities be selected first
for VR services. Interpretation and implementation of this statutory
requirement varies widely across the States. Research is needed to
identify best practices for prioritizing the delivery of VR services to
individuals with the most significant disabilities.
New knowledge about successful practices for serving individuals
with the most significant disabilities is also needed. Individuals with
developmental disabilities and mental illness have been identified as
subpopulations that have particularly low rates of employment (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2002). Identification of best practices for serving and
placing individuals with these conditions will inform service delivery
practice, and create intervention-related hypotheses that can be
evaluated through rigorous research.
References
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (2005).
NIDRR Long-Range Plan: 2005-2009. See
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/policy.html.
U.S. Census Bureau (2002). Survey of Income and Program
Participation. Table 5: Disability Status, Employment, and Annual
Earnings: Individuals 21 to 64 Years Old: 2002. See
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/disability/sipp/disable02.html.
Proposed Priority
The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services proposes a priority for the funding of a Rehabilitation
Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Vocational Rehabilitation (VR)
Services. The RRTC must conduct research on the complex employment
service delivery structures for individuals with disabilities,
investigate ``best VR practices'' in certain critical areas, and
provide training and technical assistance in order to improve VR
services and employment outcomes among individuals with disabilities.
Under this priority, the RRTC must contribute to the following
outcomes:
(a) A foundation of available knowledge about the VR program's
characteristics and outcomes. The RRTC must contribute to this outcome
by conducting a literature review and creating a synthesis of previous
research on the system-level characteristics of the VR program, and
outcomes associated with those characteristics. This review and
synthesis will inform the subsequent research, training, and evaluation
efforts of the RRTC.
(b) Increased knowledge about the broad constellation of Federal
and State policies and programs through which employment services are
delivered to individuals with disabilities, and the characteristics of
individuals with disabilities who are receiving those services. The
RRTC must contribute to this outcome by researching and providing a
detailed State-by-State description of the larger employment services
network and the role of the VR program within it. This research must
identify and describe key characteristics of Federal, State and local
government entities and community non-governmental organizations that
either directly deliver or directly purchase employment services for
individuals with disabilities.
(c) Increased knowledge of the structure and operations of VR
service delivery practices at the State level. The RRTC must contribute
to this outcome by researching and providing a detailed description of
the key characteristics of each State's VR system. These
characteristics should include, but not be limited to, VR service
delivery structure and practices, patterns of resource allocation,
patterns of internal and external provision of services, the extent to
which the VR agency uses cooperative agreements with other agencies to
deliver services, operational definitions of ``individuals with the
most significant disabilities,'' characteristics of clients, employment
outcomes and settings, the level of integration of work settings, the
extent of use of home-based employment, and means of addressing
transportation barriers. This research must describe elements internal
to each State's VR agency or agencies, and provide a base upon which
future researchers can analyze the operational consequences
[[Page 14266]]
and outcomes of different internal arrangements and agency decisions.
(d) Increased knowledge of ``best VR practices'' for prioritizing
and providing services to individuals with the most significant
disabilities. The RRTC must contribute to this outcome by conducting
research on the extent to which individuals with the most significant
disabilities are given priority for services from their respective
State VR programs, and identifying best practices among the State VR
programs in ensuring that individuals with the most significant
disabilities receive services on a priority basis. Collection and
analysis of data for this research must be coordinated with and
informed by research on the disability employment service and VR
structures described in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this priority. This
coordination will allow ``best practices'' findings to be properly
contextualized, and therefore more likely to be successfully applied in
other States or agencies.
(e) Increased knowledge of ``best VR practices'' for individuals
with developmental disabilities (DD) and individuals with mental
illness (MI). The RRTC must contribute to this outcome by conducting
research on best practices for placing or retaining individuals with DD
and individuals with MI in jobs. Collection and analysis of data for
this best practices research must be coordinated with and informed by
research on the disability employment service and VR structures
described in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this priority. This coordination
will allow ``best practices'' findings to be properly contextualized,
and therefore more likely to be successfully applied in other States or
agencies.
(f) Enhancement of the knowledge base of State and Federal
administrators of the VR program and other employment programs for
individuals with disabilities, through disseminating research results
and providing training and technical assistance based on the new
knowledge about the disability employment service structures described
in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this priority, and ``best practices''
knowledge described in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this priority.
In addition, this RRTC must:
Collaborate with RSA's technical assistance mechanisms to
effectively disseminate best practices materials developed in the
research component of this RRTC.
Coordinate its research, dissemination, training, and
technical assistance efforts with grantees in NIDRR's Employment
domain, as appropriate.
Executive Order 12866
This notice of proposed priority has been reviewed in accordance
with Executive Order 12866. Under the terms of the order, we have
assessed the potential costs and benefits of this regulatory action.
The potential costs associated with the notice of proposed priority
are those resulting from statutory requirements and those we have
determined as necessary for administering these programs effectively
and efficiently.
In assessing the potential costs and benefits--both quantitative
and qualitative--of this notice of proposed priority, we have
determined that the benefits of the proposed priority justify the
costs.
Summary of potential costs and benefits: The potential costs
associated with this proposed priority are minimal while the benefits
are significant.
The benefits of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers
have been well established over the years in that similar projects have
been completed successfully. This proposed priority will generate new
knowledge and technologies through research, development,
dissemination, utilization, and technical assistance projects.
Another benefit of this proposed priority is that the establishment
of a new RRTC conducting research projects will support the President's
NFI and will improve the lives of persons with disabilities. This RRTC
will generate, disseminate, and promote the use of new information that
will improve the options for individuals with disabilities to perform
regular activities in the community.
Applicable Program Regulations: 34 CFR part 350.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view 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/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.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.133B,
Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers Program.)
Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 762(g) and 764(b)(2).
Dated: March 22, 2007.
John H. Hager,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. E7-5590 Filed 3-26-07; 8:45 am]
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