[Federal Register: May 22, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 99)]
[Notices]
[Page 32080-32082]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22my00-50]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No. 84.926B]
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education--Arts in Education
Competitive Grant Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2000
Purpose of Program
The goal of this grant competition is to provide assistance to
local educational agencies (LEAs) on behalf of eligible schools to
support media
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literacy projects. ``Media literacy'' refers to the ability to
understand and interpret the artistic content of images, including
violent messages, transmitted through the electronic media.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Many studies have explored the relationship between children's
viewing of violence through the media and their engaging in violent
behavior. While there is little consensus among these studies regarding
the impact that the electronic media have on youth violence, the
Secretary believes that instruction that helps young people to
critically analyze media messages about violence can help to prevent
youth violence. Accordingly, this grant competition focuses on media
literacy projects that include opportunities for youth to engage in
non-violent, innovative arts programming. These projects will support
model partnerships between schools and arts-based organizations to
demonstrate new methods of improving the interpretive and creative
skills of young people in dealing with the media arts. Young people
will learn how to interpret the messages they receive on a daily basis
through the media, and also how to engage in the creative process in
developing better alternatives to media programming that include
violent content.
Today's students--tomorrow's citizens and leaders in our
democracy--will need a different set of understandings and skills in
communications if they are to succeed in the global society and economy
that are fueled by new media technologies. CD-ROMs, video games, music
videos, interactive communications facilitated by personal computers,
and the World Wide Web, as well as such older electronic media as
television shows, movies, and recorded music, command an increasing
amount of the attention and time of our children. We must help them
learn to ``read'' and evaluate images as well as text. These
technologies can be used to create and communicate ideas that portray
alternatives to violence, drug use, and disrespect.
Eligible Applicants: LEAs with one or more schools where 75 percent
or more of the children are from low-income families, based on the
poverty criteria described in Title I Section 1113(a)(5) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Applicants must submit evidence
of their eligibility. For this purpose applicants may submit records
kept for the purpose of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act that demonstrates that proof of eligibility.
Note: Potential applicants are reminded that, under the absolute
priority published elsewhere in this notice, the Secretary will only
fund under this competition media literacy projects in schools where
the number of children from low-income families equals or exceeds 75
percent.
Applications Available: May 22, 2000.
Deadline for Transmittal of Application: July 21, 2000.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 21, 2000.
Estimated Available Funds: $990,000.
Estimated Range of Awards: $50,000 to $150,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $100,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 8-10.
Project Period: Up to 36 months.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice. Funding estimates are for the first year of the project
period only. Funding for the second and third years is subject to
the availability of funds and the approval of continuation awards
(34 CFR 75.253).
Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR Parts 75, 77, 79, 80, 81,
82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
Priority: Absolute Priority: The Secretary gives absolute priority
to media literacy projects, implemented in schools where the number of
children from low-income families equals or exceeds 75 percent, that
are designed both to: (1) enable students in those schools to
critically interpret and analyze the images, including violent
messages, transmitted through the electronic media, and (2) help
students in those schools to create their own media-based arts projects
presenting alternative non-violent messages through the use of film,
video, hypermedia, website design and other contemporary communications
media. Applicants should clearly state in the abstract how their
application addresses both elements of this priority. Only projects
that meet both elements of this priority will be considered for
funding.
Selection Criteria: The Secretary uses the selection criteria
published in 34 CFR 75.209 and 75.210 to evaluate applications for the
Arts in Education Competitive Grant Program. The application package
includes the selection criteria and the points assigned to each
criterion.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: It is the Secretary's practice, in
accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) to
offer interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed rules.
Section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA),
however, exempts from this requirement rules that apply to the first
competition under a new or substantially revised program. Funding was
provided for this new initiative in the fiscal year 2000 appropriations
act enacted in October 1999. The Secretary, in accordance with section
437(d)(1) of GEPA, has decided to forego public comment in order to
ensure timely grant awards.
For Further Information or Applications: Shelton Allen, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, FOB6, Room 3C126,
Washington, DC 20202-6140. Telephone: (202) 260-2487 or fax: (202) 205-
5630. The e-mail address for Mr. Allen is: shelton_allen@ed.gov
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-888-877-8339.
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 in the preceding
paragraph. Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the
application package in an alternate format, also, by contacting that
person. However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an
alternate format the standard forms included in the application
package.
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 either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at either of the previous sites. If you have questions
about using the 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.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 8091.
[[Page 32082]]
Dated: May 16, 2000.
Michael Cohen,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 00-12760 Filed 5-19-00; 8:45 am]
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