[Federal Register: April 19, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 76)]
[Notices]
[Page 20179-20181]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19ap01-93]
[[Page 20179]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Part III
Department of Education
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
American Indian and Alaska Native Education Research Grant Program;
Notice
[[Page 20180]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
American Indian and Alaska Native Education Research Grant
Program
AGENCY: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed priority.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes a priority for an American Indian and
Alaska Native Education Research Grant Program to fund research that
will evaluate the role of Native language and culture in the
development of educational strategies for improving achievement and
academic progress of American Indian and Alaska Native students. The
Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY)
2001 and in later fiscal years.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 21, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this proposed priority to Karen
Suagee, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., room
610B, Washington, DC 20208-5521. If you prefer to send your comments
through the Internet, use the following address: comments@ed.gov.
You must include the term Indian Education Research in the subject
line of your electronic message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Suagee. Telephone: (202) 219-
2244 or via Internet: karen_suagee@ed.gov
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 contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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 about this proposed priority in room 610B, 555 New Jersey
Avenue, NW., 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. If you want to schedule
an appointment for this type of aid, you may call (202) 205-8113 or
(202) 260-9895. If you use a TDD, you may call the Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Background
The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) and the
Office of Indian Education (OIE), within the Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education (OESE), support educational research and
development activities that improve the educational achievement and
academic progress of American Indian and Alaska Native students. Under
section 9141 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the
national research program's authorities), the Department is authorized
to fund research, evaluation, and data collection to provide
information on the status of education for the Indian population and on
the effectiveness of Indian Education Programs. Section 9141 further
provides that the research activities funded under this authority shall
be carried out in consultation with OERI.
Pursuant to this authority and in response to Executive Order
13096, entitled ``American Indian and Alaska Native Education'', OIE
and OERI are collaborating to conduct their first grant competition.
Moreover, pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding between OESE and
OERI, OERI will conduct and administer the competition.
The Executive Order requires the Department to develop and
implement a comprehensive research agenda designed to improve the
academic achievement and school retention of American Indian and Alaska
Native students. The research agenda is to address three goals: (1) To
establish baseline data on academic achievement and retention of
American Indian and Alaska Native students in order to monitor
improvements; (2) to evaluate promising practices used with those
students; and (3) to evaluate the role of native language and culture
in the development of educational strategies. Work on the research
agenda is in progress. When the agenda is completed, the Secretary may
establish additional priorities for grant competitions under this
authority in FY 2002 and later years. During the interim period, the
Secretary is proposing an absolute priority to address one of the
agenda goals: evaluating the role of language and culture in developing
educational strategies.
Prior to this announcement and in conjunction with planning for the
development of a research agenda for American Indian and Alaska Native
education, OIE and OERI engaged in a series of meetings and regional
hearings to solicit advice from parents, teachers, administrators,
tribal leaders, and researchers to identify high-priority research
concerns. OIE and OERI considered these concerns in preparing this
notice of proposed priority.
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 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, we will invite
applications through a notice in the Federal Register.
Proposed Priority--Evaluating the Role of Language and Culture in
Developing Educational Strategies
Background: Recent research points to the degree of fit, or
congruence, between the cultural contexts of home and school as a
factor influencing academic and social development outcomes of
students. These outcomes include, but are not limited to, academic
achievement, reduced dropout rate, school engagement, responsible
behavior (taking into account tribal values), attendance, and high
school completion. The research suggests that achieving positive
academic and social outcomes for students from diverse linguistic and
cultural backgrounds may be enhanced by incorporating native language
and culture in the development of educational strategies.
Family and community involvement in education is also vital to the
academic and social development of students. For schools serving
students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, the research
also suggests that strong family and community
[[Page 20181]]
collaboration with schools that reflects the language and culture of
the community may support the efforts of schools to enhance student
achievement and social development. The Secretary wishes to determine
the extent to which, and the ways in which, incorporating native
language and culture in educational strategies (including strong family
and community collaboration with schools), contributes to the
attainment of these positive academic and social outcomes for American
Indian and Alaska Native students.
Absolute Priority: Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), the Secretary
proposes to give an absolute preference to applications that meet the
priority in the next paragraph. Funding this priority will depend on
the availability of funds, the nature of the final priority, and the
quality of applications received. There will be only one grant
competition addressing this priority. Therefore, each applicant will
compete against all applicants under this competition.
The Secretary proposes to fund only applicants that propose to
expand the current research base for pre-kindergarten through secondary
level education of American Indian and Alaska Native students, in both
rural and urban settings, by addressing the following research
question:
To what extent and in what ways does incorporating native language
and culture in educational strategies affect either academic
achievement or social development of American Indian and Alaska Native
students, or both? In addressing this question applicants must take
into account other factors that may affect these outcomes, such as
curriculum and instruction, standards and assessment, school and
classroom settings, teacher professional development, and family and
community collaboration with schools.
The research proposed in the application should--
a. Incorporate a well-conceptualized and theoretically sound
framework;
b. Incorporate a rigorous design that is capable of generating
findings that contribute substantially to understanding in the field;
c. Link previous research, theory, and findings to the proposed
study;
d. Conduct work of sufficient size, scope, and duration to produce
generalizable results;
e. Contribute to the advancement of knowledge; and
f. Provide for a dissemination plan that will facilitate effective
use of the research by educators, community members, policy makers, and
other interested parties.
Preference for Indian Organizations
Eligible entities for the national research program authorized
under section 9141 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20
U.S.C. 7861) are Indian Tribes, Indian organizations, State educational
agencies, local educational agencies, institutions of higher education,
including Indian institutions of higher education, and other public and
private agencies and institutions. We want to advise the public that
the statute requires the Secretary to give a preference to Indian
Tribes, Indian organizations, and Indian institutions of higher
education in awarding research grants authorized under section 9141.
(Section 9153; 20 U.S.C. 7873.)
The Secretary will award 5 extra points to applications submitted
by the entities entitled to the statutory preference. We are not taking
public comment on the manner in which the Secretary is carrying out the
preference; rather, we want to give the public as much advance notice
as possible as to the eligible parties and the existence of this
preference. In addition, we want to advise the public that a consortium
application of eligible entities that includes an Indian Tribe, Indian
organization or Indian institution of higher education would be
considered eligible to receive the extra 5 points.
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:
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 (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.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7861 and 7873 and section 931 of
the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and
Improvement Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 6031.)
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 84.306N American
Indian and Alaska Native Education Research Grant Program)
Dated: April 16, 2001.
Sue Betka,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Educational Research and
Improvement.
[FR Doc. 01-9738 Filed 4-18-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P