FR Doc 04-5389
[Federal Register: March 10, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 47)]
[Notices]
[Page 11396-11400]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10mr04-55]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview
Information; Technical Assistance and Dissemination To Improve Services
and Results for Children With Disabilities--Regional Resource Centers;
Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.326R.
DATES: Applications Available: March 11, 2004.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 26, 2004.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 25, 2004.
Eligible Applicants: State educational agencies (SEAs), local
educational agencies (LEAs), institutions of higher education (IHEs),
other public agencies, nonprofit private organizations, for-profit
organizations, outlying areas, freely associated States, and Indian
tribes or tribal organizations.
Estimated Available Funds: $7,800,000.
Maximum Award: We will reject any application that proposes a
budget exceeding $1,300,000 for a single budget period of 12 months.
The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services may change the maximum amount through a notice
published in the Federal Register.
Estimated Number of Awards: 6.
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: This program provides technical assistance and
information that (1) support States and local entities in building
capacity to improve early intervention, educational, and transitional
services and results for children with disabilities and their families;
and (2) address goals and priorities for changing State systems that
provide early intervention, educational, and transitional services for
children with disabilities and their families.
Priority: In accordance with 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(iv), this priority
is from allowable activities specified in the statute (see sections
661(e)(2) and 685 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA)).
Absolute Priority: For FY 2004 this priority is an absolute
priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), we consider only applications that
meet this priority.
Background: Since 1969, the Office of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) has supported Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) to provide
technical assistance and support to SEAs and more recently to Part C
Lead Agencies (LA). Although SEAs and LAs are the RRC's primary
customers, RRCs may provide technical assistance to local agencies and
LEAs at the request of the SEA or LA. Activities have included staff
training, policy analysis, product development, information
dissemination, needs assessments, improvement planning, and supporting
and facilitating State systems change efforts.
Over the years, the relationship between the RRCs and the States
has evolved from RRCs passively responding to State-identified needs,
in isolation from OSEP initiatives, to a relationship characterized by
the proactive identification of issues and trends in need of technical
support and conducted within the context of OSEP and other Department
of Education initiatives (e.g., Continuous Improvement Monitoring
Process (CIMP), No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)) and policy.
This revised relationship has been the product of the development of a
more collaborative association with OSEP.
Through their relationship with SEAs and LAs, the RRCs have become
a critical component for dissemination of, and support to, OSEP's
expanded accountability strategy. This support has transcended the
RCCs' traditional capacity as technical assistance providers to a role
of brokering technical assistance between SEAs and LAs and OSEP-
supported technical assistance and research centers.
Priority: The RRC's activities must include, but are not limited
to, the following:
(a) Supporting efforts of sustainable systemic change through
working with SEAs and LAs on better outcomes for infants, toddlers, and
children with disabilities and their families by providing technical
assistance to:
(1) Support and enhance States' performance measurement, data
analysis, improvement planning, and system evaluation skills.
[[Page 11397]]
(2) Help SEAs, LAs, and their partners develop performance
measurement systems to guide improvement efforts, especially related to
annual performance reports. Technical assistance may include helping
States to--
(A) Develop critical performance indicators for children with
disabilities and the programs that serve them;
(B) Develop their annual performance reports;
(C) Assess State performance;
(D) Portray their current performance status relative to State-
developed performance measures;
(E) Develop and implement strategies to improve performance and
compliance; and
(F) Evaluate the impact of improvement activities.
(4) Support and enhance States' participation in OSEP's Continuous
Improvement and Focused Monitoring System (CIFMS).
(5) Support and enhance States' ability to develop and submit
eligibility documents.
(b) Disseminating scientifically-based practices to SEAs and LAs
by--
(1) Using information from a variety of sources including,
Department of Education and other government and nongovernment agency-
funded technical assistance and research centers;
(2) Linking SEAs and LAs to Department of Education and other
government and nongovernment agency-funded technical assistance and
research centers;
(3) Employing effective technology and multiple strategies of
communication for receiving and disseminating current information,
including information on research-based practices;
(4) Supporting the Federal Resource Center's (FRC) consolidated RRC
network Web site; and
(5) Supporting the FRC's consolidated RRC network information
services initiative, including budgeting no more than 1.0 FTE positions
to support the effort.
(c) Providing current information and technical assistance to SEAs
on NCLB as it relates to IDEA and students with disabilities on--
(1) Highly qualified personnel requirements;
(2) Assessment requirements, including alternate assessment and
alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards;
(3) Professional development requirements; and
(4) Reading First and other NCLB programs.
(d) Collaborating with the Regional Parent Technical Assistance
Centers (RPTAC) to (1) use available resources, access research-based
practices and findings, and participate in educational reform
activities; and (2) improve collaboration and coordination between
RRCs, RPTACs, Parent Training and Information Centers, and Community
Parent Training Centers by helping them to prepare training materials
that include scientifically-based research on best practices and
information on NCLB, and through such activities as--
(A) Participation in conference calls;
(B) Inviting RPTAC participation in RRC multiregional workgroups
(e.g., assessment, transition);
(C) As appropriate, attending RPTAC's national meetings; and
(D) Participating on a joint listserv and/or a Community of
Practice Web site.
(e) Providing leadership and technical support to OSEP-coordinated,
large-scale technical assistance initiatives, especially the
Communities of Practice formed to address OSEP's CIFMS critical
indicators (i.e., school completion, access to the general curriculum,
settings, early childhood environments, and identification).
(f) Providing OSEP-specified technical assistance to States. This
effort may include participation in: (1) Collaborative Web-based
technical assistance activities, (2) coordination of and participation
in State-to-State communities of practice, and (3) direct technical
assistance to OSEP-specified States through partnerships between OSEP
and selected States. Staff time and project resources dedicated to
provide technical assistance to OSEP-specified States will be
negotiated with OSEP as part of the cooperative agreement within 30
days of the project award (OSEP anticipates that technical assistance
to OSEP-specified States could averaged approximately $40,000 per year.
Budgets should be developed with this in mind).
(g) Providing technical assistance to State Improvement grantees.
(h) Using personnel to provide technical assistance who have
special education expertise in (1) reading for nonresponders, (2) core
academic subjects, (3) early childhood education, (4) transition, (5)
positive behavior supports, (6) alternate assessment, (7) recruitment
and retention, (8) systems change (e.g., Communities of Practice), (9)
program evaluation, (10) parent and family involvement, and (11) NCLB
(e.g., improving achievement of children with disabilities).
(i) Prior to developing any new product, whether paper or
electronic, submitting for approval a proposal describing the content
and purpose of the product to the document review board of OSEP's
Dissemination Center. These products may include analyses and syntheses
of policy but not policy development.
In deciding whether to continue this project for the fourth and
fifth years, the Secretary will consider the requirements of 34 CFR
75.253(a), and in addition--
(1) The recommendation of a review team consisting of experts
selected by the Secretary. The review will be conducted in Washington,
DC during the last half of the project's second year. Projects must
budget for the travel associated with this one-day intensive review;
(2) The timeliness and effectiveness with which all requirements of
the negotiated cooperative agreement have been or are being met by the
RRC; and
(3) Evidence of the degree to which the RRC's activities have
contributed to changed practices and improved child outcomes.
Geographic Regions
The Secretary establishes the following geographic regions for the
RRCs--
Region 1: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont;
Region 2: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia;
Region 3: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands;
Region 4: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin;
Region 5: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Nebraska,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs;
Region 6: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon,
Washington, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern
Marianas, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the
Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: Under the Administrative Procedure
Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the Department generally offers interested parties
the opportunity to comment on proposed priorities. However, section
661(e)(2) of IDEA makes the public comment requirements inapplicable to
the priorities in this notice.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1485.
[[Page 11398]]
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 agreements.
Estimated Available Funds: $7,800,000.
Maximum Award: We will reject any application that proposes a
budget exceeding $1,300,000 for a single budget period of 12 months.
The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services may change the maximum amount through a notice
published in the Federal Register.
Estimated Number of Awards: 6.
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, IHEs, other public agencies,
nonprofit private organizations, for-profit organizations, outlying
areas, freely associated States, and Indian tribes or tribal
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
notice must make positive efforts to employ and advance in employment
qualified individuals with disabilities (see section 606 of IDEA).
(b) Applicants and grant recipients funded under this notice must
involve individuals with disabilities or parents of individuals with
disabilities in planning, implementing, and evaluating the projects
(see section 661(f)(1)(A) of IDEA).
(c) The projects funded under this priority must budget for a two-
day Project Directors' meeting in Washington, DC during each year of
the project.
(d) If a project maintains a Web site, it must include relevant
information and documents in an accessible form.
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 84.326R.
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 under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 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, 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, or the letters of support.
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 11, 2004.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 26, 2004.
The dates and times for the transmittal of applications by mail or
by hand (including a courier service or commercial carrier) are in the
application package for this competition. The application package also
specifies the hours of operation of the e-Application Web site.
We do not consider an application that does not comply with the
deadline requirements.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 25, 2004.
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: Instructions and requirements for
the transmittal of applications by mail or by hand (including a courier
service or commercial carrier) are in the application package for this
competition.
Application Procedures:
Note: Some of the procedures in these instructions for
transmitting applications differ from those in the Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR
75.102). Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to
comment on proposed regulations. However, these amendments make
procedural changes only and do not establish new substantive policy.
Therefore, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A), the Secretary has determined
that proposed rulemaking is not required.
Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications: We are
continuing to expand our pilot project for electronic submission of
applications to include additional formula grant programs and
additional discretionary grant competitions. Special Education--
Technical Assistance and Dissemination of Services and Results for
Children with Disabilities--Regional Resource Centers competition--CFDA
Number 84.326R is one of the competitions included in the pilot
project. If you are an applicant under the Special Education--Technical
Assistance and Dissemination of Services and Results for Children with
Disabilities--Regional Resource Centers competition, you may submit
your application to us in either electronic or paper format.
The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant
Application System (e-Application). If you use e-Application
[[Page 11399]]
you will be entering data online while completing your application. You
may not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant application to us. If you
participate in this voluntary pilot project by submitting an
application electronically, the data you enter online will be saved
into a database. We request your participation in e-Application. We
shall continue to evaluate its success and solicit suggestions for its
improvement.
If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
Your participation is voluntary.
When you enter the e-Application system, you
will find information about its hours of operation. We strongly
recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline date to
initiate an e-Application package.
You will not receive additional point value
because you submit a grant application in electronic format, nor will
we penalize you if you submit an application in paper format.
You may submit all documents electronically,
including the Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424),
Budget Information--Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all
necessary assurances and certifications.
Your e-Application must comply with any page
limit requirements described in this notice.
After you electronically submit your
application, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement, which will
include a PR/Award number (an identifying number unique to your
application).
Within three working days of submitting your
electronic application, fax a signed copy of the Application for
Federal Education Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center
after following these steps:
1. Print ED 424 from e-Application.
2. The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign this
form.
3. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the
hard copy signature page of the ED 424.
4. Fax the signed ED 424 to the Application Control Center at (202)
260-1349.
We may request that you give us original
signatures on other forms at a later date.
Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of System
Unavailability: If you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot
for the Special Education--Technical Assistance and Dissemination of
Services and Results for Children with Disabilities--Regional Resource
Centers competition and you are prevented from submitting your
application on the application deadline date because the e-Application
system is unavailable, we will grant you an extension of one business
day in order to transmit your application electronically, by mail or
hand delivery. We will grant this extension if--
1. You are a registered user of e-Application, and have initiated
an e-Application for this competition; and
2. (a) The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes
or more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC
time, on the application deadline date; or
(b) The e-Application system is unavailable for any period of time
during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time
between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the
application deadline date.
We must acknowledge and confirm these periods of unavailability
before granting you an extension. To request this extension or to
confirm our acknowledgement of any system unavailability, you may
contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in this notice under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT (see VII. Agency Contact) or (2) the e-
GRANTS help desk at 1-888-336-8930.
You may access the electronic grant application for the Special
Education--Technical Assistance and Dissemination of Services and
Results for Children with Disabilities--Regional Resource Centers
competition at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
V. Application Review Information
Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this competition are
listed in 34 CFR 75.210 of EDGAR. The specific selection criteria to be
used for this competition are in the application package.
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
Technical Assistance to Improve Services and Results for Children with
Disabilities program (e.g., the extent to which projects use high
quality methods and materials, provide useful products and services,
and contribute to improving results for children with disabilities
(States report improved ability to provide technical assistance as a
result of projects and demonstrate improved results for children with
disabilities)). Data on these measures will be collected from the
projects funded under this notice.
Grantees will also be required to report information on their
projects' performance in annual reports to the Department (EDGAR, 34
CFR 75.590).
VII. Agency Contact
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Grants and Contracts Services
Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room
3317, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone: 1-202-
205-8207.
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 Grants and Contracts Services Team listed
in this section.
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-
[[Page 11400]]
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: March 4, 2004.
Troy R. Justesen,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 04-5389 Filed 3-9-04; 8:45 am]
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