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i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
``SEC. 5404. APPLICATION.
- ``(a) Application Required.--
- ``(1) In general.--A grant under this part may be made only to a local educational agency or an educational partnership which submits an application to the Secretary containing such information as may be required by the Secretary by regulation.
- ``(2) Duration.--Each such application shall be for a three-year period.
- ``(b) Contents.--Each such application shall--
- ``(1) provide documentation of--
- ``(A) the number of children who were enrolled in the schools to be served by the applicant for the five academic years prior to the date application is made who have not completed their elementary or secondary education and who are classified as school dropouts; and
- ``(B) the percentage that such number of children is of the total school-age population in the applicant's schools;
- ``(2) include a plan for the development and implementation of a school dropout information collection and reporting system for documenting the extent and nature of the dropout problem, which system shall collect and cross tabulate data, where feasible, by sex according to race or ethnicity and socioeconomic status;
- ``(3) include a plan for coordinated activities involving not less than one secondary school and its feeder junior high or middle schools and elementary schools for local educational agencies that have feeder systems;
- ``(4) when applicable, describe how programs assisted under this part will be coordinated with, and not duplicate, programs assisted under title I;
- ``(5) include a description of how the program assisted under this part is consistent with the second National Education Goal, relating to school completion, and other Federal programs as appropriate; and
- ``(6) contain such other information as the Secretary considers necessary to determine the nature of the local needs, the quality of the proposed project, and the capability of the applicant to carry out the project.
- ``(c) Priority.--The Secretary shall, in approving applications under this section, give priority to applications which--
- ``(1) demonstrate the replication of successful programs conducted in other local educational agencies or the expansion of successful programs within a local educational agency; and
- ``(2) reflect very high numbers or very high percentages of school dropouts in the schools of the applicant in each category described in section 5303(a).
- ``(d) Special Consideration.--The Secretary shall give additional special consideration to applications that include--
- ``(1) provisions which emphasize early intervention services designed to identify at-risk students in elementary or early secondary schools; and
- ``(2) provisions for significant parental involvement.
- ``(e) Grants for New Grantees.--In awarding grants under this part the Secretary shall use only the priorities and special considerations described in subsections (c) and (d).
- ``(f) Continuation of Assistance.--For the two fiscal years beginning after the date of enactment of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, the Secretary shall approve an application under this section for a local educational agency which received funding in fiscal year 1994 under the School Dropout Demonstration Assistance Act of 1988 (20 U.S.C. 3241 et seq.) and which--
- ``(1) satisfies the requirements of this section;
- ``(2) qualifies for special consideration or priority under--
- ``(A) section 5303(b); and
- ``(B) subsections (c) and (d) of this section; and
- ``(3) provides evidence that the program for which such agency is seeking assistance is effective in--
- ``(A) providing early intervention services to at-risk students in elementary and secondary schools;
- ``(B) identifying potential student dropouts; and
- ``(C) preventing students from dropping out of school.
SEC. 5305. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.