[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 77 (Thursday, April 20, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21284-21286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-9932]



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Part III





Department of Education





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Office of Educational Research and Improvement; The Comprehensive 
School Reform Research Grant Competition; Inviting Applications for New 
Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2000; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.306S]


Office of Educational Research and Improvement; The Comprehensive 
School Reform Research Grant Competition; Notice Inviting Applications 
for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2000

    Purpose of Program: The purpose of this program is to expand 
understanding of the full dimensions of school reform through rigorous 
investigation of the large-scale implementation of research-based 
comprehensive school reform models as a strategy for increasing student 
achievement.
    For FY 2000 the competition for new awards focuses on projects 
designed to meet the priorities identified in the PRIORITIES section of 
this application notice.
    Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education; State and 
local education agencies; public and private organizations, 
institutions, and agencies; and individuals.
    Applications Available: May 12, 2000 for hardcopies. Also available 
by Web site (http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/) on the date of publication 
of this notice.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 22, 2000.
    Estimated Available Funds: Up to $5 million.
    Estimated Size of Awards: The size of the awards will be 
commensurate with the nature and scope of the proposed work.

    Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this 
notice.

    Budget Period: 12-month period.
    Project Period: Up to 36 months, with the exception of large-scale 
longitudinal field studies that may require 5 years to collect and 
analyze sufficient student or school outcome data.
    Page Limits: The application must include six sections: title page 
form, research narrative, management plan, biographical sketches for 
principal investigators and other key personnel, budget summary form 
with budget narrative, and statement of equitable access (GEPA 427). 
The research narrative is limited to 50 pages, the management plan is 
limited to 5 pages, and biographical sketches are limited to 3 pages 
each, using 8\1/2\ x 11 inch paper with printing on only one side. 
Appendix materials should not be submitted. Pages in excess of these 
limitations will be removed unread. We strongly encourage applicants to 
use double-spacing, a 12-point font, and 1-inch margins. Reviewers are 
able to conduct the highest quality review when applications are 
concise and easy to read, with pages consecutively numbered.
    Applicable Statutes and Regulations: (a) Statutes: This grant 
competition is authorized by P.L. 106-113, the Department of Education 
Appropriations Act, 2000 and by OERI's authorizing statute at 20 U.S.C. 
6031. (b) Regulations: (1) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR Parts 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 
81, 82, 84, 86 (Part 86 applies only to Institutions of Higher 
Education), 97, 98 and 99; and (2) 34 CFR Part 700.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This research grant competition combines 
elements of both research and evaluation of comprehensive school 
reform. The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) 
expects that the knowledge gained from this work will provide the field 
with findings about specific models in promoting student achievement 
and enhance our understanding of how model developers and staff in 
schools can more effectively work together to improve student 
achievement. In addition, it should contribute to our overall 
understanding of how to increase student achievement and our continuing 
efforts to refine and improve education reform strategies.
    Currently, very few comprehensive school reform models have been 
rigorously evaluated to determine their effectiveness. States, 
districts, schools, and the research community all would greatly 
benefit from additional rigorous evaluation of the various models. 
Equally important is additional information about how various model 
characteristics (e.g., prescriptiveness, professional development 
strategy, and curriculum requirements) are likely to achieve success in 
schools with differing student populations, capacities, and needs.
    This work should build on the growing awareness that comprehensive 
school reform as a strategy for improved student achievement will 
depend not only on the model being implemented, but also on the context 
and conditions that exist in classrooms, schools, and districts. What 
works or does not work in a classroom, school or district can be a 
function of a variety of factors and supporting conditions such as 
financial resources, teacher quality, district and school-level 
leadership, and collaborative strategies employed by model developers, 
districts, schools, and external technical assistance providers. In 
addition, the success or effectiveness of a model may be related to the 
needs of special populations including limited English proficient 
students or special education students.
    OERI seeks rigorous research and evaluation designs that focus 
explicitly on comprehensive school reform's role in increasing student 
learning and achievement. The studies must contribute in a significant 
and cumulative way to extant research on comprehensive school reform; 
and produce findings that are sound, relevant, timely, and useful to 
practitioners and policymakers. Applicants should demonstrate 
understanding of research in progress, as well as plans for evaluations 
of this research. Research questions should be informed by the needs of 
practitioners and policymakers involved in comprehensive school reform 
initiatives and should be framed in ways that are likely to increase 
the utility of the findings ultimately produced. In addition, study 
designs should include mechanisms to share emerging findings with the 
field, as appropriate. The designs should also enable other interested 
researchers to conduct further data analyses, replication, verification 
and refinement of findings, and improvement of measurement procedures.
    We encourage collaboration in the conduct of research. Proposal 
teams should reflect synergistic collaborations among model developers, 
researchers, practitioners, and others likely to produce relevant and 
actionable findings for educators and policymakers. We encourage 
research organizations to collaborate with groups and institutions 
historically underrepresented in education research, such as 
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving 
Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities.
    OERI cautions that this research grant program is not intended to 
support model development or improvement efforts in individual schools 
or districts, but rather to support research efforts resulting in 
findings that apply to comprehensive school reform strategies for many 
schools in various communities, districts and states.

Type of Awards

    OERI anticipates that research designed to address one or more of 
these priorities may require large studies. For some projects, such as 
large-scale longitudinal studies, closer relationships with grantees 
than those typically afforded by discretionary grants may be 
appropriate. OERI therefore expects that some studies will be awarded 
cooperative agreements

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rather than discretionary grants, as provided for in EDGAR, at 34 CFR 
75.200.
    OERI is interested in conducting research about the capacity of 
already developed comprehensive school reform models to increase 
student achievement in large numbers of schools outside the original 
development and field test sites. As previously noted, we will not fund 
the development of models or provide support simply to implement and/or 
evaluate a specific program in a specific site.

Priorities

    For purposes of this competition, an externally developed, 
research-based comprehensive school reform model is defined as follows: 
(1) It includes an integrated set of supportive materials, frameworks 
or guidelines, and the capacity to provide implementation assistance to 
schools. (2) It supports all systems within a school--organization, 
instruction, professional development, and management. (3) All of the 
school's classrooms are actively engaged in and accountable for the 
implementation of a common, articulated strategy to improve teaching 
and learning for all students in the school. (4) The components are 
grounded in research on effective practice. (5) It has been developed 
and tested in one set of schools and has demonstrated capacity to serve 
other schools. (6) There is some evidence of the effectiveness of the 
model in increasing student achievement.

Absolute Priority

    OERI has identified three research questions as being critical to 
understanding the full dimensions of the large-scale implementation of 
externally developed research-based comprehensive school reform models 
as a strategy for increasing student achievement. This competition 
focuses on research projects designed to meet the following absolute 
priority:
    Conduct studies that address one or more of the following research 
questions:
    (1) How effective are specific externally developed, research-based 
comprehensive school reform models in improving the achievement of all 
students?
    (2) How are model characteristics related to success of model 
implementation and improvement in teaching and learning in specific 
types of settings and with specific types of students?
    (3) What supporting conditions and strategies are necessary to 
effectively implement and sustain comprehensive school reform models in 
schools and school districts?
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that meet 
this priority.

Competitive Priority

    The Secretary gives competitive preference priority to applications 
that address research question (1) under the absolute priority, in 
addition to addressing one or both of the other research questions in a 
coherent and integrated design. OERI considers research question (1) to 
be central to the proposed work. OERI believes studies designed to 
address question (1), and one or both of the other research questions 
will increase the rigor and robustness of school reform research and 
evaluation. In addition, study designs that link elements of research 
questions (2) and/or (3) with research question (1) will be more useful 
to model developers, policymakers, and practitioners.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii), OERI will select an application that 
meets the competitive priority over an application of comparable merit 
that does not meet the priority.
    A principal investigator may submit only one proposal and may 
collaborate in one other proposal as a co-investigator. Group and 
collaborative proposals involving more than one institution must be 
submitted as a single administrative package from one of the 
institutions involved. Principal investigators will be required to meet 
at least twice each year with agency staff, consultants, and other OERI 
grantees and contractors for the purpose of expanding collaborative 
efforts within this field of research. OERI anticipates the possibility 
of funding two or more proposals that address the same or similar 
themes, topics or issues. OERI provides opportunities for grantees to 
inform each other's work by discussing common challenges, 
methodological issues, and ways to maximize the impact of this program 
on student achievement for all students. Principal investigators will 
also be required to help identify crosscutting research issues, and to 
work together to better inform other researchers, practitioners, and 
policymakers of emerging findings.
    Depending upon the type of research proposed, OERI might require 
some common study design elements. Investigators may be asked to 
develop a core of common research questions, outcome measures, 
instruments, or data analysis procedures so that study findings are 
comparable.

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking

    In accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), 
it is the practice of the Department to offer interested parties the 
opportunity to comment on proposed priorities that are not taken 
directly from statute. Ordinarily, this practice would have applied to 
the priorities in this notice. Section 437(d)(1) of the General 
Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 20 U.S.C. l232(d)(1), however, exempts 
rules that apply to the first competition under a new or substantially 
revised program from this requirement.
    The conference agreement for the FY 2000 appropriation for OERI's 
national research institutes includes $20,000,000 for ``current and 
expanded comprehensive school reform research and development.'' (P.L. 
106-113, the Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2000.) Of that 
sum, approximately $15 million will support continuation of the current 
activities (contracts resulting from the FY 1999 design competition for 
new models for comprehensive school reform at the middle and high 
school level). An estimated $5 million will be used for the 
discretionary grants or cooperative agreements that are the subject 
matter of this competition. This expanded program of research and 
development will focus on studies addressing the student achievement 
effects of various comprehensive school reform models.
    Therefore, the Assistant Secretary of OERI, in accordance with 
section 437(d)(1) of GEPA, to ensure timely awards, has decided to 
forego public comment with respect to the priorities. The priorities 
will apply only to the FY 2000 grant competition.

FOR APPLICATIONS CONTACT:  Electronic Copy. Applications will be 
available on the World Wide Web at the following sites:

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/csrrdp.html
http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/

    Hard Copy. Hard copies will be available after May 12, 2000 from 
the 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:

[email protected]


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    If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify 
this competition as follows: CFDA Number 84.306S.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cheryl Kane, U.S. Department of 
Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., room 604B, Washington, DC 20202-
5530. Telephone: (202) 208-2991. E-mail: cheryl [email protected] or D. 
Hollinger Martinez, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Ave, 
NW., room 610C, Washington, DC 20208-5521. Telephone: (202) 219-2239. 
E-mail: [email protected]. 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 by contacting either of the individuals under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application 
package in an alternative format by contacting that person. However, 
the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative 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. 6031.

C. Kent McGuire,
Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 00-9932 Filed 4-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U