[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 99 (Monday, May 22, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32080-32082]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-12760]


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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: [email protected]
    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.


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    Dated: May 16, 2000.
Michael Cohen,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 00-12760 Filed 5-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P