[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 41 (Monday, March 2, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12277-12278]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04148]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Peer Review Opportunities With the U.S. Department of Education's 
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Postsecondary 
Education, and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of 
Postsecondary Education, and Office of Special Education and 
Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education.

ACTION: Announcement.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) announces 
opportunities for individuals to participate in its peer review process 
by reviewing applications for competitive grant funding.

DATES: Requests to serve as a peer reviewer will be accepted on an 
ongoing basis aligned with this year's grant competition schedule. The 
Department's peer review began in January 2020 and will continue 
through the end of the calendar year. A list of grant programs with 
expected competitions during this timeframe is posted on the 
Department's website under ``Forecast of Funding Opportunities'' at 
https://www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html. Although the 
list in this link is inclusive of all Department grant competitions for 
which peer reviewers are needed, this notice highlights the specific 
needs of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE--Chart 
2), the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE--Chart 3), and the 
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS--Charts 
4 and 4b). The Department will accept submissions throughout the year 
on a rolling basis. Requests to serve as a peer reviewer should be 
submitted four weeks prior to the program's application deadline noted 
on the forecast page.

ADDRESSES: An individual interested in serving as a peer reviewer must 
register and upload his or her resume in the Department's grants 
management system known as ``G5'' at www.g5.gov. Additionally, 
individuals interested in serving as peer reviewers for an OESE 
competition should also submit their resumes by electronic mail to the 
following email address: [email protected]">OESEPeerReview[email protected] with the 
subject line ``Prospective 2020 Peer Reviewer.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: OESE: State and Grantee Relations, 
U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20202-7240. Telephone: (202) 453-5563. Email: 
[email protected]">OESEPeerReview[email protected]. OPE: Tonya Hardin, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 278-12, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 453-7694. Email: [email protected]. OSERS: Michael 
Gross, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5103, 
Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-5076. Telephone: (202) 245-
6718. Email: [email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The mission of the Department is to promote 
student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by 
fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. The 
Department pursues its mission by funding programs that will improve 
access to high-quality educational opportunities and programs that 
pursue innovations in teaching and learning. Grant funds are awarded to 
State educational agencies, local educational agencies (i.e., school 
districts), nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education 
(IHEs), and other entities through a competitive process referred to as 
a grant competition.
    Each year, typically beginning in January, the Department convenes 
panels of external education professionals and practitioners to serve 
as peer reviewers. Peer reviewers evaluate and score submitted 
applications against program-specific criteria. Application scores are 
then used to inform the Secretary's funding decisions.
    This year, OESE plans to manage over 20 grant competitions to fund 
a range of projects that support community schools, early learning, 
education innovation and research, educator development, charter and 
magnet schools, literacy, private school vouchers, school improvement, 
school

[[Page 12278]]

safety, and American Indian/Alaska Native education.
    Similarly, OPE expects to conduct nearly 20 grant competitions to 
fund a wide range of projects, including: Projects to support 
improvements in educational quality, management, and financial 
stability at colleges that enroll high numbers of minority and 
financially disadvantaged students; projects to provide high-quality 
support services to improve retention and graduation rates of low-
income and first generation college students; projects designed to 
strengthen foreign language instruction, area and international studies 
teaching and research, professional development for educators, and 
curriculum development at the K-12, graduate, and postsecondary levels; 
and other innovative projects designed to improve postsecondary 
education.
    OSERS expects to conduct approximately 24 grant competitions to 
fund a wide range of projects, which will take place between April 2020 
and September 2020. Specifically, the competitions in OSERS' Office of 
Special Education Programs (OSEP) will include State Personnel 
Development Grants (SPDG), Personnel Development (PD), Technical 
Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D), Educational Technology, Media, and 
Materials (ETechM2), Parent Training and Information, and Technical 
Assistance on State Data Collection. The competitions in OSERS' 
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) will include 
Rehabilitation Long-Term Training, Demonstration and Training Programs, 
Innovative Rehabilitation Training, Parent Training and Information, 
American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services (AIVRS), Vocational 
Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Centers, Capacity Building, and 
Independent Living Services for Older Individuals Who Are Blind (OIB).
    The Department seeks to expand its pool of peer reviewers to ensure 
that applications are evaluated by individuals with up-to-date and 
relevant knowledge of educational interventions and practices across 
the learning continuum, from early education to college and career, and 
a variety of learning settings, including early learning centers, 
charter schools, public schools, Tribally-operated schools, and private 
schools. Department peer reviewers are education professionals who have 
gained subject matter expertise through their education and work, for 
example, as teachers, professors, principals, administrators, school 
counselors, researchers, evaluators, content developers, and advocates. 
Peer reviewers can be active education professionals, in any 
educational level or sector, or those who are retired but stay informed 
of current educational content and issues. No prior experience as a 
peer reviewer is required.
    Peer reviewers for each competition will be selected based on 
several factors, including each reviewer's program-specific expertise; 
the number of applications to be reviewed; and the availability of 
prospective reviewers. Individuals selected to serve as peer reviewers 
are expected to participate in training; independently read, score, and 
provide written evaluative comments on assigned applications; and 
participate in facilitated panel discussions. Panel discussions are 
held in person in the Washington, DC area or via conference calls. The 
time commitment for peer reviewers can range from a few to several 
hours a day over a period of one to four weeks. Peer reviewers receive 
an honorarium payment as monetary compensation for successfully 
reviewing applications and are compensated for travel and per diem for 
panel discussions that take place in person in the Washington, DC area.
    If you are interested in serving as a peer reviewer for the 
Department, you should first review the program web pages of the grant 
programs that match your area of expertise. You can access information 
on each grant program from the link provided on the Department's grants 
forecast page at https://www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html. If you have documented experience that you believe 
qualifies you to serve as a peer reviewer for one or more specific 
grant programs, please register in G5, at www.g5.gov, which allows the 
Department to manage and assign potential peer reviewers to 
competitions that may draw upon their professional backgrounds and 
expertise. A toolkit that includes helpful information on how to be 
considered as a peer reviewer for programs administered by the 
Department can be found at https://www2.ed.gov/documents/peer-review/peer-reviewer-toolkit.pptx.
    If you have interest in serving as a reviewer specifically for OESE 
competitions (Chart 2) also send your resume to [email protected]">OESEPeerReview[email protected]. The subject line of the email should read 
``Prospective 2020 Peer Reviewer.'' In the body of the email list all 
programs for which you would like to be considered to serve as a peer 
reviewer. Neither the submission of a resume nor registration in G5 
guarantees you will be selected to be a peer reviewer.
    Requests to serve as a peer reviewer should be submitted four weeks 
prior to the program's application deadline, noted on the forecast 
page, to provide program offices with sufficient time to review resumes 
and determine an individual's suitability to serve as a peer reviewer 
for a specific competition. If you are selected to serve as a peer 
reviewer, the program office will contact you.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view 
this document, as well as all other documents of this Department 
published in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format 
(PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 
available free at the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.
    Program Authority: Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 
as amended (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), Higher Education Act of 1965, as 
amended (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), and the Rehabilitation Act of 
1973, as amended by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 
U.S.C. 701 et seq.).

    Dated: February 25, 2020.
Frank T. Brogan,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
Robert L. King,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
Mark Schultz,
Delegated the authority to perform the functions and duties of the 
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and 
Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-04148 Filed 2-28-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P