[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 11, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11706-11711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-5784]



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Part III





Department of Education





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Early Reading First Program; Notice Inviting Local Applications for New 
Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 47 / Tuesday, March 11, 2003 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No.: 84.359A (Pre-Application) and 84.359B (Full Application)]


Early Reading First Program; Notice Inviting Local Applications 
for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003

SUMMARY: The Secretary invites applications for new grant awards for FY 
2003 for the Early Reading First Program. These grants are authorized 
by subpart 2, part B, title I, of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act, 
Public Law 107-110. The Secretary also announces final eligibility, 
procedures, requirements, priorities, and selection criteria for this 
competition.

Purpose of Program

    The purpose of the Early Reading First Program is to create 
preschool centers of excellence by improving the instruction and 
classroom environment of early childhood programs that are located in 
urban or rural high-poverty communities and that serve primarily 
children from low-income families. These programs will provide 
preschool-age children, including children with disabilities and 
children with limited English proficiency, with high-quality 
environments and early reading curricula and activities, based on 
scientifically based reading research, to support the age-appropriate 
development of: oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness, 
and alphabet knowledge. These activities (with tactile and 
communication accommodations for children with disabilities, as 
appropriate), in combination with professional development based on 
scientific research and with screening assessments, will form a 
seamlessly integrated instructional program that will further 
children's development of language, cognitive, and early reading skills 
and prevent them from encountering reading difficulties when they enter 
school.
    Applications Available: March 17, 2003.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: Pre-Application: April 
11, 2003. Full Application (for invited applicants only): June 27, 2003 
(which is approximately 6 weeks after the date applicants will be 
invited to submit Full Applications).
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 26, 2003.
    Estimated Available Funds: $75,000,000.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $300,000-$1,500,000 per year; $900,000-
$4,500,000 for a 3-year period.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 17-250.

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

    Project Period: Up to three years.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Early Reading First Program is part of the President's early 
childhood initiative, ``Good Start, Grow Smart.'' As part of that 
initiative, these grants will strengthen early learning environments 
and instruction for young children. They also will help ensure that 
preschool programs are more closely coordinated with State educational 
goals, so that there is continuity with formal school instruction and 
so that what children are doing before they enter school is aligned 
with what is expected of them once they are in school.
    Early Reading First grants will use research-based strategies to 
generate information about effective practices in providing younger 
children with the essential language, literacy, and cognitive 
experiences that will best prepare them for later school success. The 
Department plans to disseminate information about Early Reading First 
projects that prove to be effective.
    Specifically, Early Reading First projects provide the following 
activities, with accommodations as needed for children with 
disabilities: High-quality oral language and print-rich environments; 
professional development for staff based on scientifically based 
reading research knowledge of language, cognitive, and early reading 
development that will assist in developing preschool-age children's 
oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet 
knowledge; activities and instructional materials based on 
scientifically based reading research for use in developing language, 
cognitive, and early reading skills; acquisition, training, and 
implementation of screening reading assessments; and integration of the 
instructional materials, activities, tools, and measures into the 
applicant's overall programs.

Eligible Applicants

    (1) One or more LEAs identified as being eligible on the list of 
``Eligible LEAs'' that will be posted on the Department's Web site at 
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/earlyreading/index.html by the date that 
applications are available; (2) one or more public or private 
organizations or agencies (including faith-based organizations) located 
in a community served by one of those LEAs, which organization or 
agency is acting on behalf of one or more programs (which may include 
themselves) that serve young children, such as a Head Start program, a 
child care program, an Even Start program; or (3) one or more of the 
eligible LEAs, applying in collaboration with one or more of the 
eligible organizations or agencies. In addition to obtaining the list 
of ``Eligible LEAs'' from the Department's web site, the public may 
obtain that list on or after the date that applications are available 
by contacting the individual identified under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.

Applicability of Regulations

    The following provisions of the Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) contained in Title 34 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) apply to these Early Reading First Program 
grants: 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 
99.

FY 2003 Eligibility

Background

    The Early Reading First statute ties grant applicant eligibility to 
basic LEA eligibility for Reading First State Grants subgrants. 
Specifically, to meet the basic eligibility criteria under the Reading 
First State Grants Program (and, thus, the Early Reading First 
Program), each eligible LEA must:
    [sbull] Be among the LEAs in the State with the highest numbers or 
percentages of students in kindergarten through grade 3 reading below 
grade level, based on the most currently available data (and a State 
may use the lowest grade for which it has those data, such as grade 4, 
up through grade 5); and also qualify under one of the following 
categories as an LEA that:
    [sbull] Has jurisdiction over a geographic area that includes an 
area designated as an empowerment zone (EZ) or an enterprise community 
(EC).
    [sbull] Has jurisdiction over a significant number or percentage of 
schools that are identified for school improvement under section 
1116(b) of title I of the ESEA (or the predecessor statutory 
authority).
    [sbull] Has the highest numbers or percentages of children in the 
State who are counted under section 1124(c) of title I of the ESEA (the 
number of children counted for Title I Basic Grants to LEAs).
    At the time of the FY 2002 Early Reading First grant competition, 
no State had yet obtained approval of its

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Reading First plan. Therefore, for Early Reading First eligibility for 
FY 2002, the Department allowed States to submit lists of eligible LEAs 
using the above Reading First criteria. In the absence of those lists, 
the Department used Title I Basic Grant allocation child count data for 
FY 2001 (see Federal Register notice, 67 FR 17594 (April 10, 2002)).

FY 2003 Eligibility Lists

    The Department will use the same eligibility lists for the FY 2003 
Early Reading First competition that it used for the FY 2002 
competition, supplemented as explained in this section under 
``Supplemental Data.'' Therefore, all LEAs, and organizations and 
agencies located in those LEAs, that were eligible for FY 2002 will 
also be eligible for the FY 2003 Early Reading First competition.
    Supplemental Data--States That Have Approved Reading First Plans by 
February 28, 2003: A number of States now have approved Reading First 
plans. For States that received approval of their Reading First plans 
on or before February 28, 2003, the Department will supplement the FY 
2002 Early Reading First eligible LEA list with any LEAs that are 
eligible under those approved Reading First plans but that were not 
included on the FY 2002 Early Reading First eligible LEA list.
    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 
that are not taken directly from statute. Ordinarily, this practice 
would have applied to the priorities and requirements in this notice. 
Section 437(d)(2) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 
however, exempts from this requirement rules that would cause extreme 
hardship to the intended beneficiaries of the program that would be 
affected by those regulations. The Secretary has determined that 
extreme hardship would be caused in this case because: a two-stage 
competition is necessary in order to obtain the highest-quality 
applications for these grants because of the complex nature of the 
program, the variety of potential applicants, and the expected large 
number of applications; funding is available only until September 30, 
2003; and there is insufficient time to publish the competition rules 
for notice and comment and conduct a two-stage competition before that 
date. The Secretary, in accordance with section 437(d)(2) of GEPA, has 
decided to forgo public comment with respect to the rules in this grant 
competition in order to ensure timely and high-quality awards. These 
rules will apply only to the FY 2003 grant competition.
    Application Process: The FY 2003 Early Reading First grant 
competition will be conducted through a Pre-Application and Full 
Application process. All applicants must submit a Pre-Application, 
which must include a brief description of the context of the existing 
preschool program(s) to be supported and improved with Early Reading 
First funds, and then a short narrative that addresses four key 
concepts related to the proposed project that are described under PRE-
APPLICATION SELECTION CRITERIA. The Pre-Application is limited to: 2 
double-spaced pages for describing the context, and 10 double-spaced 
pages to address the selection criteria, with a limited appendix and 
formatting requirements that are described in the application package.
    The Secretary, through a peer review panel of experts convened 
under section 1203(c)(2) of the ESEA in accordance with section 1222(c) 
of the ESEA, will evaluate each Pre-Application based on the Pre-
Application selection criteria and will determine whether each Pre-
Application qualifies for additional points under two Pre-Application 
competitive priorities included in this notice. In determining which 
applicants to invite to submit Full Applications, the Secretary will 
consider the rank order of applications, as determined by the total 
score of the Pre-Application based on the selection criteria and the 
awarding of competitive priority points, if any.
    The Full Application must include a brief program context 
description, a narrative addressing the Full Application selection 
criteria (different than the Pre-Application selection criteria), a 
budget, and a budget narrative. The Secretary, through a separate peer 
review panel of experts also convened under section 1203(c)(2) of the 
ESEA in accordance with section 1222(c) of the ESEA, will evaluate each 
Full Application based on the Full Application selection criteria and 
will determine whether each Full Application qualifies for additional 
points under the Full Application competitive priority included in this 
notice. The Full Application is limited to: 2 double-spaced pages for 
the context description, 35 double-spaced pages for the narrative, and 
5 double-spaced pages for the budget narrative, with formatting 
requirements and limited appendices that are described in the 
application package.
    The Secretary will select applicants for funding based on the 
quality of the Full Applications including their rank order as 
determined by the total score of the Full Application based on the 
selection criteria and the awarding of competitive priority points, if 
any. In making funding decisions, the Department will use the 
procedures in section 75.217 of EDGAR, 34 CFR 75.217. When making 
awards, the Secretary may take into consideration other information 
that is relevant to obtaining a variety of types of funded projects and 
an equitable distribution of awards throughout the Nation, such as 
geographical representation, location in high-need urban and rural 
areas, project size, and type of program. The Department anticipates 
making final awards in September 2003.

Priorities

Invitational Priorities

    The Secretary is particularly interested in Early Reading First 
proposals that will be operated by a partnership that includes at a 
minimum, the following entities: (1) An SEA or a local educational 
agency (LEA), or both; and (2) a preschool that is not under the 
administrative control of an LEA. A preschool is considered to be under 
the administrative control of an LEA for this purpose if the LEA is the 
fiscal agent or operates, supervises, controls, or manages the 
preschool. A preschool that is located in a school or LEA building is 
not necessarily under the administrative control of an LEA. This 
invitational priority will help ensure that the preschool programs 
supported with Early Reading First funds are closely coordinated and 
aligned with the State's kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) 
educational system and goals and will give State and local support to 
preschools that are not formally a part of the State's K-12 public 
education system. However, applications that meet this invitational 
priority do not receive any absolute or competitive preference over 
applications that do not meet the priority.
    The Secretary also is particularly interested in Early Reading 
First projects that will serve a significant number of children with 
special needs, including those with disabilities and those with limited 
English proficiency. These programs would provide those children 
access, through appropriate accommodations, to the same high-quality 
environments and early reading curricula and activities based on 
scientifically based reading research as would be provided to children 
without special needs, to support their age-appropriate development of 
oral language, phonological awareness, print

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awareness, and alphabet knowledge. Applications that meet this 
invitational priority do not receive any absolute or competitive 
preference over other applications.

Pre-Application Priorities

Pre-Application Competitive Priorities

    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2), the Secretary gives two separate 
competitive preferences to Pre-Applications as follows:
Pre-Application Competitive Priority 1--Children from Low-Income 
Families
    To meet Pre-Application competitive priority 1, each preschool 
center to be supported by the proposed Early Reading First project must 
have at least 75 percent of the children enrolled in the preschool 
center qualify to receive free or reduced price lunches; or at least 75 
percent of the children enrolled in the elementary school, in the 
school attendance area in which that center is located qualify to 
receive free or reduced price lunches. In addition, each of those 
preschool centers must be located in a community served by an 
``eligible LEA,'' or primarily serve children who will attend 
kindergarten in an ``eligible LEA.'' (``Eligible LEAs'' for the purpose 
of this competitive priority are those LEAs that are listed as 
``eligible LEAs'' for this FY 2003 grant competition on the Early 
Reading First Web site at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/earlyreading/index.html.)
    An application that meets this first Pre-Application competitive 
priority would receive 10 points in the Pre-Application portion of this 
grant competition. To receive these points, an applicant that qualifies 
must complete and submit Pre-Application Form B, included in the 
application package. These points are in addition to any points the 
applicant earns under the Pre-Application selection criteria or the 
other Pre-Application competitive priority.
    This competitive priority is designed to ensure that Early Reading 
First funds are used to support local efforts to enhance the early 
language, literacy, and prereading development, primarily of preschool 
children who are from low-income families.
Pre-Application Competitive Priority 2--Novice Applicant
    To meet Pre-Application competitive priority 2, the applicant must 
be a novice applicant (or a group of novice applicants) under 34 CFR 
75.225 that is otherwise eligible to apply under this competition, and 
must check the appropriate box on ED Form 424 (Application for Federal 
Assistance), Question 6. A ``novice applicant'' under 34 CFR 75.225 
means the following for this Pre-Application competitive priority: an 
applicant that has not had an active discretionary grant from the 
Federal Government in the five years before the deadline date for the 
Pre-Application in this grant competition. For the purposes of this 
requirement, a grant is active until the end of the grant's project or 
funding period, including any extensions of those periods that extend 
the grantee's authority to obligate funds. In the case of applications 
from more than one eligible applicant (that is, a group application), 
every eligible applicant must be a novice applicant to meet this Pre-
Application competitive priority.
    This competitive priority is included to broaden and diversify the 
pool of qualified applicants and provide greater opportunities for 
inexperienced applicants with high-quality applications to receive 
funding. An application that meets this second Pre-Application 
competitive priority would receive 5 points in the competition. These 
points are in addition to any points the applicant earns under the Pre-
Application selection criteria or the other Pre-Application competitive 
priority.

Full Application Priority

    Under 34 CFR 75.225, the Secretary gives a competitive priority to 
Full Applications as follows:

Full Application Competitive Priority--Novice Applicant

    To meet the Full Application competitive priority, the applicant 
must be a novice applicant (or a group of novice applicants) under 34 
CFR 75.225 that is otherwise eligible to apply under this competition, 
and must check the appropriate box on ED Form 424 (Application for 
Federal Assistance), Question 6. A ``novice applicant'' under 34 CFR 
75.225 means the following for this Full Application competitive 
priority: an applicant that has not had an active discretionary grant 
from the Federal Government in the five years before the deadline date 
for a Full Application under this grant competition. For the purposes 
of this requirement, a grant is active until the end of the grant's 
project or funding period, including any extensions of those periods 
that extend the grantee's authority to obligate funds. In the case of 
applications from more than one eligible applicant (that is, a group 
application), every eligible applicant must be a novice applicant to 
meet this Full Application competitive priority.
    This competitive priority is included to broaden and diversify the 
pool of qualified applicants and provide greater opportunities for 
inexperienced applicants with high-quality applications to receive 
funding. An application that meets this Full Application competitive 
priority would receive 5 points in the competition. These points are in 
addition to any points the applicant earns under the selection 
criteria.

Pre-Application Selection Criteria

    The Secretary will use the following selection criteria in 
accordance with 34 CFR 75.200(b)(2) and 75.209 to evaluate Pre-
Applications under this grant competition. The maximum score for all of 
these selection criteria is 100 points. The maximum score for each 
criterion is indicated in parenthesis with the criterion.
    Each applicant must first use up to two (2) double-spaced pages of 
its Pre-Application to describe the context of the existing early 
childhood education programs serving preschool-age children (preschool 
programs) that they propose to support with Early Reading First funds. 
The Secretary recommends that, in the case of center-based programs, 
applicants generally include no more than a total of 5 centers to 
ensure that funds are sufficiently concentrated to achieve the program 
goals. The context description of the current program must include the 
following information: the ages and number of children being served; 
demographic and socioeconomic information on those children; 
information on the type of special needs that any of the children may 
have; the average hours the children attend the program (hours/day, 
days/week, and months/year); primary funding source(s) for the program; 
the basic instructional program; and the number of staff and their 
qualifications.
    The Secretary believes that programs with the capacity and 
potential to become Early Reading First preschool centers of 
educational excellence are likely to be preschool programs that 
currently are stable and effectively attend to the developmental 
domains traditionally supported by preschool programs, including 
social, emotional, and physical. The Secretary recommends that 
applicants demonstrate the current program's capacity in these domains 
when describing the context of the existing program.
    In addition to the 2-page context description, applicants must also 
include, in the Appendix to the Pre-Application, a list of the names 
and addresses of the preschool programs

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that the Early Reading First project will support.
    Each applicant must then use no more than a total of 10 additional 
double-spaced pages to address the following selection criteria. (Pre-
Application Competitive Priority 1--Children from Low-Income Families, 
and Pre-Application Competitive Priority 2--Novice Applicant, are 
addressed by separate forms in the Pre-Application package.)

Selection Criteria

    (1) Vision (up to 25 points): Starting from the context of the 
existing early childhood education program(s) that the Early Reading 
First project would support, applicants must describe their vision for 
what those programs would look like if they were to become centers of 
educational excellence. Applicants must tie their vision to the 
scientific reading research upon which that vision is based, and state 
the overall goals for their proposed Early Reading First project based 
on that vision and research.
    In evaluating the response to this first Pre-Application selection 
criterion, the Secretary will consider the information in the 2-page 
context description, as well as the information in the 10-page 
narrative. The Secretary will evaluate the clarity, creativity, 
comprehensiveness, and feasibility of the overall vision, and the 
capacity and potential of the project to achieve that vision. The 
Secretary also will consider how well the goals are tied to the vision, 
and the extent to which those goals incorporate high expectations, 
based on scientific research, for improvements in the early learning 
environment, curricula, teacher instruction, and will enhance 
children's development of oral language, phonological awareness, print 
awareness, and alphabet knowledge.
    (2) Key Research and Program Design (up to 40 points): Applicants 
must discuss the key scientifically based research in the areas of 
language, cognitive, and early reading development for preschool-age 
children, and include citations to the sources of that research. 
Applicants must tie their program design to that research, by 
explaining the research-based strategies they would use, and the 
changes they would make to the existing program, which will 
appropriately address the needs of all children in the project, 
including children with special needs, in each of the following core 
areas: classroom environment, professional development, curricula and 
instruction, and on-going screening assessment or other appropriate 
measures to monitor the children's progress. Applicants must explain 
any changes that they would make in the amount of time the program 
spends on developing children's language, cognition, and early reading 
skills, and how they would engage parents in helping with their 
children's development in those areas.
    In evaluating the response to this second Pre-Application selection 
criterion, the Secretary will consider the relevance and rigor of the 
research cited, and how well the program design clearly links the 
proposed strategies with the major findings of up-to-date 
scientifically based reading research about best practices in language, 
cognitive, and early reading development. These best practices may 
include, for example, how the Early Reading First project will do the 
following: create high-quality oral language and print-rich 
environments; use strong, intensive, sustained, and classroom-focused 
professional development for preschool staff; support the diverse needs 
of all children's learning through the seamless integration of 
curricula, materials, and instructional approaches, including the use 
of explicit, contexualized, and scaffolded instruction in phonological 
awareness, oral language skills, print awareness, and alphabet 
knowledge; and use continuous screening assessments to monitor 
children's progress.
    The Secretary also will consider the clarity and feasibility of the 
overall program design, including the extent to which, in the case of 
center-based early education programs for preschool-age children, the 
number of centers to be supported by Early Reading First is limited 
enough (generally, to no more than five (5) centers) to achieve the 
project goals with the amount of funds requested.
    (3) Continuity and Coordination with Formal School Instruction (up 
to 10 points): Applicants must indicate whether or not their State has 
preschool standards in the cognitive domain, and if it does, briefly 
describe those standards. Applicants must explain how their proposed 
Early Reading First project would prepare young children to meet their 
State's preschool content standards (if any) and their State's reading 
or language arts content standards for kindergarten or the lowest 
elementary grade for which the State has those content standards. In 
evaluating the response to this third Pre-Application selection 
criterion, the Secretary will consider how well the Early Reading First 
strategies and activities would prepare children to meet the State's 
preschool cognitive standards (if any), and the State's content 
standards in reading or language arts for the lowest grade for which 
the State has those standards.
    (4) Measuring Success (up to 25 points): Applicants must describe 
how they will evaluate the success of their Early Reading First 
activities. Specifically, applicants must explain how they will 
determine whether the early language, literacy, and pre-reading 
development of the preschool-age children served by the Early Reading 
First Program has improved and been enhanced as a result of their Early 
Reading First strategies and changes. Applicants must describe the key 
outcomes that they would expect to see in the classroom environment, 
instructional practice, and children's development of oral language, 
phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge, how 
they plan to measure those outcomes, and how they would use the results 
for continuous program improvement.
    In evaluating the response to this fourth Pre-Application selection 
criterion, the Secretary will consider how well the expected outcomes 
are linked to the program's goals, and how well the proposed child 
measures will demonstrate those outcomes. The Secretary will also 
consider the validity and rigor of the proposed measures, their 
appropriateness for the target population, and the degree to which the 
program will use the results to inform future instruction and program 
improvement.

Full Application Selection Criteria

    The Secretary will use the following selection criteria in 
accordance with 34 CFR 75.200(b)(2) and 75.209 to evaluate Full 
Applications under this grant competition. The maximum score for all of 
the Full Application selection criteria is 100 points. The maximum 
score for each criterion is indicated in parenthesis with the 
criterion.
    When making funding decisions, the Secretary will consider the rank 
order of the applications based on the selection criteria and 
competitive priority. The Secretary will make award determinations 
under section 75.217 of EDGAR, 34 CFR 75.217, and may take into 
consideration other information that is relevant to obtaining a variety 
of types of funded projects and an equitable distribution of awards 
throughout the Nation, such as geographical representation, location in 
high-need urban and rural areas, project size, and type of program.
    Each applicant must first use up to two (2) double-spaced pages of 
its Full Application to describe the context of

[[Page 11710]]

the existing early childhood education programs serving preschool-age 
children (preschool programs) that it proposes to support with Early 
Reading First funds. The peer reviewers will consider the information 
in the context description of the existing preschool programs, as well 
as all other information in the Full Application, in evaluating the 
applicant's responses to the Full Application selection criteria. This 
description may be the same description that the applicant included in 
its Pre-Application, or a revised description, and must include the 
following information: the ages and number of children being served; 
demographic and socioeconomic information on those children; 
information on the type of special needs that any of the children may 
have; the average hours the children attend the program (hours/day, 
days/week, and months/year); primary funding source(s) for the program; 
the basic instructional program; and the number of staff and their 
qualifications.
    The Secretary believes that programs with the capacity and 
potential to become Early Reading First preschool centers of 
educational excellence are likely to be preschool programs that 
currently are stable and effectively attend to the developmental 
domains traditionally supported by preschool programs, including 
social, emotional, and physical. The Secretary recommends that 
applicants demonstrate the program's current capacity in these domains 
when describing the context of the existing program.

Selection Criteria

    (a) Capacity and Significance of Project (up to 15 points). (1) The 
Secretary considers the capacity and significance of the proposed 
project.
    (2) In determining the capacity and significance of the proposed 
project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
    (i) The likelihood that the project will become a center of 
educational excellence for at-risk preschool-age children, as 
demonstrated by the goals articulated and the program's capacity and 
potential for achieving those goals.
    (ii) The extent to which the project will provide unique research-
based benefit to the field of early childhood education, such as 
through information, materials, and techniques, and the potential for 
those resources being used effectively in other settings.
    (b) Quality of Project Activities and Services (up to 35 points). 
(1) The Secretary considers the quality of the proposed project's 
activities and services.
    (2) In determining the quality of the proposed project's activities 
and services, the Secretary considers the following factors:
    (i) The extent to which the applicant presents a detailed plan that 
explains how the project will provide the following activities and 
services to support the development of language, cognitive, and early 
reading skills for preschool-age children; and how the project will 
incorporate strategies that meet the diverse needs of all of the 
project's preschool-age children (including those with limited English 
proficiency, disabilities, and other special needs) into those 
activities and services:
    (A) Providing a rich oral language and print-rich environment and 
developing preschool-age children's oral language, phonological 
awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge.
    (B) Preparing and providing ongoing assistance to staff, through 
professional development and other support.
    (C) Providing services and using instructional materials and 
activities, including explicit, contextualized, and scaffolded 
instruction, and integrating those instructional materials and 
activities into the applicant's preschool programs and family literacy 
services.
    (D) Using screening reading assessments or other appropriate 
measures to determine the skills children are learning and identify 
children who might be at risk of reading failure.
    (E) Helping children, especially those experiencing difficulty with 
language and early reading skills, to make the transition from 
preschool to formal classroom instruction.
    (F) Involving parents meaningfully in their children's early 
education.
    (ii) The reviewers also will evaluate the extent to which the 
applicant's detailed plan explains how each of the project's activities 
and services are based on up-to-date knowledge from scientifically 
based reading research, with research citations where appropriate.
    (c) Quality of Project Personnel (up to 10 points). (1) The 
Secretary considers the quality of project personnel.
    (1) The Secretary considers the quality of project personnel.
    (2) In determining the quality of project personnel, the Secretary 
considers the following factors:
    (i) The strength of the qualifications, including relevant training 
and experience, of the project staff.
    (ii) The strength of the qualifications, including relevant 
training and experience, of personnel with whom the project will 
contract to assist in project activities, including research-based 
professional development for staff to support children's development of 
language, cognitive, and early reading skills.
    (d) Quality of Management Plan (up to 20 total points).
    (1) The Secretary considers the quality of the management plan for 
the proposed project.
    (2) In determining the quality of the management plan, the 
Secretary considers the feasibility of the proposed project and the 
likelihood that the project will be able to achieve its expected goals, 
taking into consideration the strength of any partnership, and using 
the following factors:
    (i) The adequacy of the management plan to achieve the goals of the 
proposed project on time and within budget, including: clearly defined 
goals, activities, responsibilities, and a timeline for accomplishing 
project tasks.
    (ii) The extent to which the time commitments of the project 
director and principal investigator and other key project personnel, 
including any partnership commitments, are appropriate and adequate to 
meet the objectives of the proposed project.
    (iii) The extent to which the proposed costs are adequate in 
relation to the proposed activities, the number of persons to be 
served, and the anticipated results and benefits.
    (e) Quality of the Project Evaluation (up to 20 total points).
    (1) The Secretary considers the quality of the proposed project 
evaluation.
    (2) In considering the quality of the proposed project evaluation, 
the Secretary considers the extent to which the methods of evaluation 
include the use of objective, valid, and reliable performance measures 
that are clearly related to the intended outcomes of the project and 
will produce quantitative and qualitative data in the following areas:
    (i) Improvement in classroom environment.
    (ii) Improvement in teacher knowledge and qualifications.
    (iii) Improvement in teacher instruction and planning.
    (iv) Improvement in outcomes for children's development of oral 
language, phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet 
knowledge.

Paperwork Reduction Act Considerations

    The procedures and requirements contained in this notice relate to 
an application package that the Department has developed for the Early 
Reading

[[Page 11711]]

First Program grants. The public may obtain copies of this application 
package by calling or writing the individual identified below as the 
Department's contact, or through the Department's Web site at:  http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/84.359 or http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/earlyreading/index.html.
    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Office of 
Management and Budget has approved the use of this application package 
under OMB control number 1810-0654, which expires October 31, 2004.

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/about/ordering.jsp.
    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 84.359(A and B).
    The public also may obtain a copy of the application package on the 
Department's Web site at the following address: http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/84.359A.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Anne Lesiak or Jill Stewart, 
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC 20202-6132. Telephone: (202) 260-4555, 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 in the preceding 
paragraph.
    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: 
http://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 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. 6371-6376 and Public Law No. 107-
110.

    Dated: March 6, 2003.
Eugene W. Hickok,
Under Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-5784 Filed 3-10-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P