[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 103 (Wednesday, May 29, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37406-37408]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-13403]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA NO: 84.349A]


Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program; Notice 
Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2002

    Purpose of Program: The purpose of the Early Childhood Educator 
Professional Development Program, authorized by section 2151(e) of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as added by the No Child 
Left Behind Act, Public Law 107-110, is to enhance the school readiness 
of young children, particularly disadvantaged young children, and to 
prevent them from encountering difficulties once they enter school. The 
program is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of early 
childhood educators who work in communities that have high 
concentrations of children living in poverty.
    Projects funded under the Early Childhood Educator Professional 
Development Program will provide high-quality, sustained, and intensive 
professional development for these early childhood educators in how to 
provide developmentally appropriate school-readiness services for 
preschool-age children that are based on the best available research on 
early childhood pedagogy and on child development and learning. These 
grants complement the President's Early Childhood Initiative and early 
learning programs, such as Early Reading First, by helping States and 
local communities strengthen early learning for young children. The 
Department intends to disseminate information about the funded projects 
that prove to be effective professional development models to child 
care and early childhood education programs.
    Eligible Applicants: A partnership consisting of--
    (i) One or more institutions of higher education, or other public 
or private entities (including faith-based organizations), that provide 
professional development for early childhood educators who work with 
children from low-income families in high-need communities; and
    (ii) One or more public agencies (including local educational 
agencies, State educational agencies, State human services agencies, 
and State and local agencies administering programs under the Child 
Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990), Head Start agencies, or 
private organizations (including faith-based organization); and
    (iii) If feasible, an entity with demonstrated experience in 
providing training to educators in early childhood education programs 
concerning identifying and preventing behavior problems or working with 
children identified as or suspected to be victims of abuse. This entity 
may be one of the partners described above, if appropriate.
    Applications Available: May 28, 2002.
    Deadline For Receipt of Applications: The Department's Application 
Control Center must receive the application by July 5, 2002 (by 4:30 
p.m., Eastern Standard Time, if hand-delivered).
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 3, 2002.

[[Page 37407]]

    Estimated Available Funds: $15,000,000 (for FY 2002).
    Estimated Range of Awards: $600,000-$1,400,000 per year.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,000,000 per year (based on 15 
awards).
    Estimated Number of Awards: 10-25.

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

    Project Period: Up to 2 years.
    Applicable Regulations: The following provisions of the Education 
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) apply to these 
Early Childhood Educator Professional Development program grants: 34 
CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
    Matching and Use of Funds Requirements:
    Cost-sharing: Each partnership carrying out a project through an 
Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program grant under 
this program must provide a cost share of (1) at least 50 percent of 
the total cost of the project for the entire grant period; and (2) at 
least 20 percent of the project cost for each year. The project may 
provide this cost share from any source other than funds under this 
program, including other Federal sources. The partnership may provide 
the project cost share through contributions of cash or in-kind, fairly 
evaluated, including plant, equipment, and services.
    Indirect Costs: For purposes of indirect cost charges, the 
Secretary considers all Early Childhood Educator Professional 
Development Program grants to be ``educational training grants'' within 
the meaning of 34 CFR 75.562(a). Therefore, consistent with 34 CFR 
75.562, except for costs incurred by fiscal agents that are State 
agencies or agencies of local governments (such as local educational 
agencies), a recipient's indirect cost rate is limited to the maximum 
of eight percent or the amount permitted by its negotiated indirect 
cost rate agreement, whichever is less.
    Pre-award Costs: The Department's regulations authorize grant 
recipients to incur allowable pre-award costs up to 90 calendar days 
before the grant award (34 CFR 75.263 and 74.25(e)(1)). Pre-award 
costs, in this case, may include the necessary and reasonable costs of 
a needs assessment that the statute requires applicants to conduct, 
before submitting their applications, to determine the most critical 
professional development needs of the early childhood educators to be 
served by the project and in the broader community. Applicants incur 
any pre-award costs at their own risk. That is, the Secretary is under 
no obligation to reimburse these costs if for any reason the applicant 
does not receive an award or if the award is less than anticipated and 
inadequate to cover these costs.

Background

    These Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program 
grants will provide a small but significant base of high-quality, 
intensive, replicable, professional development programs for early 
childhood educators. These programs will be based upon the best 
available research on early childhood pedagogy and on child development 
and learning, including early language and literacy development. The 
grants are particularly important because high-quality, intensive, 
research-based professional development is critical for implementing 
effective early childhood programs that enhance the school readiness of 
young children.
    These grants will fund projects that carry out activities to 
improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators working 
in early childhood programs that are located in high-need communities 
and serve concentrations of children from low-income families. The 
specific activities for which recipients may use grant funds are 
identified in the application package.
    The Secretary will expect funded projects to use rigorous 
methodologies to measure progress toward attainment of project 
objectives and of the achievement indicators in this notice under 
Achievement Indicators. The statute requires applicants to report 
annually on their progress toward attaining these achievement 
indicators.

Definitions

    The following terms used in the absolute priority, the competitive 
preference, and the selection criteria for this grant competition have 
specific statutory meanings that are included in the application 
package: ``early childhood educator,'' ``high-need community,'' ``low-
income family,'' ``poverty line,'' ``professional development,'' and 
``scientifically based research.'' The Secretary strongly encourages 
applicants to review the statutory definitions of these terms before 
preparing their grant applications.

Applications

    Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program grants 
for FY 2002 will be awarded through a competitive process. The statute 
requires each applicant to submit an application that contains specific 
information and assurances that are described in the application 
package. The application narrative (addressing the absolute priority, 
the competitive preference, the EDGAR selection criteria, and other 
information identified in the application package) is limited to 30 
double-spaced, typed pages. In addition, the budget narrative is 
limited to 5 double-spaced, typed pages. Other application materials 
are limited to the specific materials indicated in the application 
package, and may not include any video or other non-print materials.

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 priorities and other 
program requirements that are not taken directly from statute. 
Ordinarily, this practice would have applied to the priorities, 
achievement indicators, and application requirements in this notice. 
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. The 
Secretary, in accordance with section 437(d)(1) of GEPA, has decided to 
forgo public comment with respect to the rules in this grant 
competition in order to ensure timely awards. The rules in this notice 
will apply only to the FY 2002 grant competition.

Achievement Indicators

    The Secretary announces the following achievement indicators for 
these grants as required by section 2151(e)(6) of the ESEA:

Indicator 1

    Increasing numbers of hours of high quality professional 
development will be offered. High-quality professional development must 
be ongoing, intensive, classroom-focused, and based on scientific 
research on cognitive and social development in early childhood and 
effective pedagogy for young children.

Indicator 2

    Early childhood educators who work in early childhood programs 
serving low-income children will participate in greater numbers, and 
increasing numbers of hours, in high-quality professional development.

[[Page 37408]]

Indicator 3

    Early childhood educators will demonstrate increased knowledge and 
understanding of effective strategies to support school readiness based 
on scientific research on cognitive and social development in early 
childhood and effective pedagogy for young children.

Indicator 4

    Early childhood educators will more frequently apply research-based 
approaches in early childhood pedagogy and child development and 
learning domains, including using a content-rich curriculum and 
activities that promote language and cognitive development.

Indicator 5

    Children will demonstrate improved readiness for school, especially 
in the areas of appropriate social and emotional behavior and early 
language and literacy competencies.

Priorities

Absolute Priority

    Under 35 CFR 75.105(c)(3), the Secretary gives an absolute 
preference to any eligible applicant that proposes a project to provide 
professional development services that will improve the knowledge and 
skills of early childhood educators who are working in early childhood 
programs that (1) are located in high-need communities; and (2) serve 
concentrations of children from low-income families.
    The statute requires every applicant to describe in its application 
the high-need community to be served by the project. Applicants should 
include relevant demographic and socio-economic information to support 
this description. To meet this priority, all early childhood programs 
served by the early childhood educators receiving services under this 
grant must be located in a ``high-need community.'' For the purpose of 
this priority, the Secretary considers an early childhood program to 
serve a ``concentration'' of children from low-income families if the 
number of children in the program from low-income families is over 50 
percent of the number of children served by the total program.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), the Secretary will fund under this 
competition only applicants that meet this absolute priority.

    Note: The following terms used in this absolute priority have 
statutory definitions that are included in the application package: 
``early childhood educator,'' ``high-need community,'' ``low-income 
family,'' and ``professional development.''

Competitive Preference

    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2), the Secretary establishes one 
competitive preference as follows:
    The Secretary gives a competitive preference to any applicant that 
proposes to provide research-based professional development to early 
childhood educators to improve their knowledge and skills in working 
effectively with preschool-age children who have been identified as 
having a learning disability or whose pre-literacy skills put them at 
high risk of later being identified as having a learning disability.
    An application that meets this competitive preference would receive 
10 points in the competition. These points are in addition to any 
points the applicant earns under the selection criteria.

    Note: The following terms used in this competitive preference 
have statutory definitions that are included in the application 
package: ``early childhood educator,'' and ``professional 
development.''

Selection Criteria

    The Secretary will use selection criteria from EDGAR in 34 CFR 
75.210 to evaluate applications under this competition. Those selection 
criteria are identified in the application package.

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. 
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.htm.
    Or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address: 
[email protected].
    If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify 
this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.349A.
    The public also may obtain a copy of the application package on the 
Department's Web site at the following address: www.ed.gov/GrantApps/#84.349A.
    For Further Information Contact: Virginia Berg, U.S. Department of 
Education, Compensatory Education Programs, Office of Elementary and 
Secondary Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20202-
6132. Telephone: (202) 260-0926, 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 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 the following site: 
www.ed.gov/legislation/fedregister.
    To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at that 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 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. 6651(e).

    Dated: May 22, 2002.
Susan B. Neuman,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 02-13403 Filed 5-28-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P