[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 78 (Monday, April 23, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20440-20442]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9940]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No.: 84.330]


Office of Elementary and Secondary Education--Advanced Placement 
Incentive Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2001

    Purpose of Program: The Advanced Placement Incentive Program 
provides grants to States to enable them to pay advanced placement test 
fees on behalf of eligible low-income individuals, and to undertake 
activities designed to increase the participation of low-income 
students in advanced placement courses and tests. For FY 2001, we 
encourage applicants to design projects that meet the invitational 
priorities in the PRIORITIES section of this application notice.

[[Page 20441]]

    Eligible Applicants: State educational agencies (SEAs) in any 
State, including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana 
Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of 
Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 7, 2001.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 22, 2001.
    Applications Available: April 23, 2001.
    Estimated Available Funds: $5,500,000.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $50,000 to $800,000 per year.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $300,000 per year.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 18.

    Note: These estimates are projections for the guidance of 
potential applicants. The Department is not bound by any estimates 
in this notice.

    Project Period: Up to 36 months.

Allowable Activities

    States receiving grants under this program may use the grant funds 
to pay part or all of the cost of advanced placement test fees for low-
income individuals who (1) are enrolled in an advanced placement class; 
and (2) plan to take an advanced placement test. In addition, SEAs in 
States in which no eligible low-income individual is required to pay 
more than a nominal fee to take advanced placement tests in core 
subjects may use grant funds for activities directly related to 
increasing (a) the enrollment of low-income individuals in advanced 
placement courses; (b) the participation of low-income individuals in 
advanced placement tests; and (c) the availability of advanced 
placement courses in schools serving high-poverty areas (hereinafter 
referred to as ``section 810(d)(1) activities'').
    Examples of section 810(d)(1) activities may include, but are not 
limited to, projects that provide student access to advanced placement 
courses online and professional development institutes designed to 
prepare teachers to teach advanced placement courses. An SEA may apply 
for funds under this program both to assist it in meeting the 
requirement that no eligible low-income student in the State be 
required to pay more than a nominal fee to take advanced placement 
tests in core subjects and for section 810(d)(1) activities.

Priorities

    (a) Absolute Priority. The Department is establishing an absolute 
priority for proposals to use grant funds to pay advanced placement 
test fees on behalf of eligible low-income individuals. We have chosen 
this priority from the allowable activities specified in the program 
statute (see 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(v) and section 810(a) of Title VIII, 
Part B of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11, 
note)).
    To implement this priority, the Department intends to fund, at some 
level, all applications (1) meeting the minimum REQUIREMENTS FOR 
APPROVAL OF APPLICATIONS described in the application package; and (2) 
proposing to use grant funds for the purpose of paying part or all of 
the cost of advanced placement test fees on behalf of eligible low-
income individuals in the State. For applications that propose to use 
grant funds to pay advanced placement tests fees and to support section 
810(d)(1) activities, the section of the application proposing to use 
grant funds for section 810(d)(1) activities will be evaluated based on 
the SELECTION CRITERIA described in the application package (see 34 CFR 
75.05(c)(3)).

    Note: This absolute priority does not apply to current Advanced 
Placement Incentive Program grantees that are scheduled to receive 
non-competing continuation awards for the payment of advanced 
placement test fees in FY 2001.

    (b) Invitational Priorities. The Department is particularly 
interested in applications from the following:
    (1) Consortia, or groups, of SEAs proposing to undertake section 
810(d)(1) activities. Because SEAs are the only eligible applicants 
under this program, the consortium must be comprised solely of SEAs. 
Members of the consortium may represent any combination of States but 
must designate one SEA to apply for the grant on behalf of the 
consortium. See 34 CFR 75.128(a).
    (2) Applications proposing to undertake section 810(d)(1) 
activities to provide advanced placement courses to students in rural 
and other underserved areas that otherwise would not have access to 
such courses. These courses may be provided through the Internet or 
other innovative means.

    Note: Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1), the Department does not give an 
application that meets an invitational priority a competitive or 
absolute preference over applications that do not meet an 
invitational priority.

Allocation of Funds

    The Department intends to allocate approximately $200,000 of the 
funds available under this program to States for the purpose of paying 
advanced placement test fees on behalf of eligible low-income 
individuals. The Department intends to allocate approximately $5.3 
million to States to support section 810(d)(1) activities. In 
determining grant award amounts, the Department will consider, among 
other things, the number of children in the State eligible to be 
counted under section 1124(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965, in relation to the number of such children in all States.

Selection Criteria

    The Secretary uses the selection criteia published in 34 CFR 75.209 
and 75.210 to evaluate the section of the application that proposes to 
use grant funds to support section 810(d)(1) activities. The 
application package includes the SELECTION CRITERION and th epoints 
assigned to each criterion.

Applicable Regulations and Statute

    The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) 
in 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, and 99. Title VIII, 
Part B of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (1998 Amendments), 20 
U.S.C. 1070A-11, note.
    The following definitions and other provisions are taken from the 
Advanced Placement Incentive Program authorizing statute, in Title 
VIII, Part B of the 1998 Amendments. They are repeated in this 
application notice for the convenience of the applicant.

Definitions

    As used in this section:
    (a) The term advanced placement test includes only an advanced 
placement test approved by the Secretary of Education for the purposes 
of this program.

    Note: To date, the Secretary has approved advanced placement 
tests administered by The College Board and International 
Baccalaureate Organization. As part of the grant application 
process, applicants may request approval of tests from other 
educational entities that provide comparable programs of rigorous 
academic courses and testing through which students may earn college 
credit.

    (b) The term low-income individual has the meaning given the term 
in section 402A(g)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) (20 
U.S.C. 1070a-11(g)(2)).

    Note: Under section 402A(g)(2) of the HEA, the term low-income 
individual means an

[[Page 20442]]

individual from a family whose taxable income for the preceding year 
did not exceed 150 percent of an amount equal to the poverty level 
determined by using criteria of poverty established by the Bureau of 
Census (20 U.SC. 1070a-11(g)(2)).

Information Dissemination

    The SEA shall disseminate information regarding the availability of 
test fee payments under this program to eligible individuals through 
secondary school teachers and guidance counselors (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11, 
note (b)).

Supplement, Not Supplant, Rule

    Funds provided under this program must be used to supplement and 
not supplant other non-Federal funds that are available to assist low-
income individuals in paying advanced placement test fees (20 U.S.C. 
1070a-11, note (d)(2)).

FOR APPLICATIONS OR INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank B. Robinson, U.S. 
Department of Education, School Improvement Programs, 400 Maryland 
Avenue, SW., Room 3C153, Washington, DC 20202-6140. Telephone (202) 
260-2669. Internet address: [email protected].
    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 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) upon request to the contact person listed in the preceding 
paragraph. Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the 
application package in an alternative format, also, 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 the following site: 
www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at the previous site. If you have questions about using 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 a 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. 1070a-11, note.

    Dated: April 17, 2001.
Thomas M. Corwin,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary 
Education.
[FR Doc. 01-9940 Filed 4-20-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-M