[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 76 (Thursday, April 19, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20180-20181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9738]



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Part III





Department of Education





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American Indian and Alaska Native Education Research Grant Program; 
Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 76 / Thursday, April 19, 2001 / 
Notices  

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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.

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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: [email protected].
    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: [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 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

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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