[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 250 (Thursday, December 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73529-73530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33957]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA Nos. 84.339A; 84.339B]


Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--Learning 
Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) (Preapplications and 
Applications); Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal 
Year (FY) 2000.

    Purpose of Program: To provide grants or enter into cooperative 
agreements to enhance the delivery, quality, and accountability of 
postsecondary education and career-oriented lifelong learning through 
technology and related innovations.
    For fiscal year (FY) 2000, the Secretary encourages applicants to 
design projects that focus on the invitational priorities set forth in 
the invitational priorities section of this application notice.
    Eligible Applicants: Partnerships consisting of two or more 
independent agencies, organizations, or institutions, including 
institutions of higher education, community organizations, and other 
public and private institutions, agencies, and organizations. Note: A 
nonprofit organization must serve as the fiscal agent for a funded 
partnership.
    Applications Available: December 30, 1999.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Preapplications: March 3, 2000.

    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 9, 2000.
    Note: All applicants must submit a preapplication to be eligible 
to submit a final application.

    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 8, 2000.
    Available Funds: $4,300,000. Note: Federal funds available under 
this competition may not pay for more than 50 percent of the cost of a 
project. The non-Federal share of project costs may be in cash or in 
kind, fairly evaluated, including services, supplies, or equipment.

    Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000 to $500,000 per year.
    Estimated Size of Awards: $333,333 per year.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 12-13.
    Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice.
    Project Period: Up to 48 months.
    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 
82, 85, and 86.
    Authorized Activities: Funds awarded to an eligible partnership 
must be used to conduct one or more of the following activities:
    (a) Develop and assess model distance learning programs or 
innovative educational software.
    (b) Develop methodologies for the identification and measurement of 
skill competencies.
    (c) Develop and assess innovative student support services.
    (d) Support other activities consistent with the statutory purpose 
of this program.

Invitational Priorities

    The Secretary is particularly interested in applications that meet 
one or more of the following invitational priorities. However, an 
application that meets one or more of these invitational priorities 
does not receive competitive or absolute preference over other 
applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).

Invitational Priority 1

    Projects to address the need to ensure that significant development 
costs can be justified by wide-scale applicability and long-term 
sustainability of technology-mediated distance education, and the need 
to find new ways to overcome the barriers that may inhibit faculty 
across institutions from working collectively.

Invitational Priority 2

    Projects to develop high quality, interactive courseware that can 
be implemented to achieve the scale necessary to recoup large 
investments, but is modular and sufficiently flexible for faculty to 
shape and modify academic content.

Invitational Priority 3

    Projects to package courses and programs to assist students who 
wish to draw from the offerings of multiple providers and to assist 
institutions to cooperate and share resources.

Invitational Priority 4

    Projects to use skill competencies and learning outcomes in order 
to measure student progress and achievement in technology-mediated 
distance learning programs.

Invitational Priority 5

    Projects to improve quality and accountability of technology-
mediated distance education to ensure that credentials are meaningful, 
that educational providers are accountable, and that courses meet high 
standards.

Invitational Priority 6

    Projects to create new technology-mediated education opportunities 
for underserved learners, especially those who have not always been 
well served by traditional campus-based education or common forms of 
distance education, including: individuals with disabilities; 
individuals who have lost their jobs; individuals making the transition 
from welfare to the workforce; and individuals seeking basic or 
technical skills or their first postsecondary education experience.

Invitational Priority 7

    Projects to improve support services for students seeking 
technology-mediated distance education to ensure that they have 
complete and convenient

[[Page 73530]]

access to needed services such as registration, financial aid, 
advising, assessment, counseling, libraries, and many others.

Invitational Priority 8

    Projects to remove or revise institutional, system, state, or other 
policies which are barriers to the implementation of new types of 
technology-mediated distance education.

Selection Criteria

    The Secretary selects from the criteria in 34 CFR 75.210 to 
evaluate preapplications and applications for this competition. Under 
34 CFR 75.201, the Secretary announces in the application package the 
selection criteria and factors, if any, for this competition and the 
maximum weight assigned to each criterion.

GPRA Participation

    In 1993, Congress enacted the Government Performance and Results 
Act (GPRA), which directs federal departments and agencies to improve 
the effectiveness of their programs by engaging in strategic planning, 
setting outcome-related goals for programs, and measuring program 
results against those goals. Under the GPRA policy, the LAAP program 
has four primary objectives, with related performance indicators that 
grant recipients will be asked to include in their evaluation plans. 
The four objectives are: (1) Develop innovative partnerships resulting 
in economies of scale, delivering asynchronous distance education and 
training; (2) increase access to asynchronous distance education for 
diverse groups of learners, especially to prepare them for work in 
technical and other areas of critical shortage or for the changing 
requirements of fields; (3) enable advancements in quality and 
accountability within postsecondary, asynchronous distance education; 
(4) enable advancements in flexibility of distance education design and 
delivery. More details about LAAP performance indicators are provided 
on the LAAP website: www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/FIPSE/LAAP.

FOR APPLICATIONS CONTACT: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), P.O. 
Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-877-433-7827. 
FAX: (301) 470-1244. Individuals who use a telecommunications device 
for the deaf (TDD) may call (toll free): 1-877-576-7734. You may also 
contact ED Pubs via its Web site (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html) 
or its e-mail address ([email protected]). If you request an 
application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify the competition as 
follows: CFDA number 84.339A.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Fund for the Improvement of 
Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K 
Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20006-8544. Telephone: (202) 502-7500. 
Individuals may also request applications or request information by 
submitting the name of the competition, their name, and postal mailing 
address to the e-mail address [email protected]. The application text may be 
obtained from the Internet address: http://www.ed.gov/FIPSE/LAAP.
    Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-
8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact office listed in the preceding 
paragraph.
    Individuals with disabilities also may obtain a copy of the 
application package in an alternate format by contacting the email 
address: [email protected]
    However, the Department is not able to reproduce in 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 Program with 
Search, 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 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. 1070f et seq.

    Dated: December 23, 1999.
Maureen A. McLaughlin,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 99-33957 Filed 12-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P