[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 184 (Thursday, September 25, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46114-46117]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18640]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Part 75
[Docket ID ED-2025-OS-0680]
Proposed Priority and Definitions--Secretary's Supplemental
Priority and Definitions on Meaningful Learning Opportunities
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education.
ACTION: Proposed priority and definitions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes one additional priority and related
definitions for use in currently authorized discretionary grant
programs or programs that may be authorized in the future. The
Secretary may choose to use the entire priority for a grant program or
a particular competition or use one or more of the priority's component
parts. This priority and definitions augment the initial set of three
Secretary's Supplemental Priorities on Evidence-Based Literacy,
Educational Choice, and Returning Education to the States published as
final priorities on September 9, 2025 (90 FR 43514), the Secretary's
Supplemental Priority on Artificial Intelligence published as a
proposed priority on July 21, 2025 (90 FR 34203), and the Secretary's
Supplemental Priority on Promoting Patriotic Education published as a
proposed priority on September 17, 2025 (90 FR 44788). In addition,
this priority complements the additional Secretary's Supplemental
Priority and Definitions on Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness
published as a proposed priority elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before October 27, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at Regulations.gov. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
for more details.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Zachary Rogers, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 7W213, Washington, DC 20202-
6450. Telephone: (202) 260-1144. Email: [email protected].
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding
the proposed priority and definitions. Comments must be submitted via
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at Regulations.gov. However, if you
require an accommodation or cannot otherwise submit your comments via
Regulations.gov, please contact the program contact person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not accept
comments by fax or by email, or comments submitted after the comment
period closes. To ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate
copies, please submit your comments only once. Additionally, please
include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.Regulations.gov to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov,
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under
``FAQ.'' Also included on Regulations.gov is a commenter checklist that
addresses how to submit effective comments.
In instances where individual submissions appear to be duplicates
or near duplicates of comments prepared as part of a writing campaign,
the Department may choose to post to Regulations.gov one representative
sample comment along with the total comment count for that campaign.
The Department will consider these comments along with all other
comments received. In instances where individual submissions are
bundled together (submitted as a single document or packaged together),
the Department will post all of the substantive comments included in
the submissions along with the total comment count for that document or
package to Regulations.gov. Comments containing personal threats will
not be posted to Regulations.gov and may be referred to the appropriate
authorities.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect public
comments about the proposed priority and definitions by accessing
Regulations.gov. To inspect comments in person, please contact the
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to generally make all
comments received from members of the public available for public
viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
Regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include in
their comments only information that they wish to make publicly
available.
Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a
[[Page 46115]]
disability who needs assistance to review the comments or other
documents in the public rulemaking record for this document. If you
want to schedule an appointment for this type of accommodation or
auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3, 3474.
Proposed Priority: This document contains one proposed priority.
Proposed Priority: Supporting Meaningful Learning Opportunities for
Students.
Background: Recent disappointing National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) results highlight the need for a renewed focus on
academic rigor and achievement.\1\ These results demonstrate that
education priorities have too often shifted away from what matters
most: equipping students with the essential skills and knowledge for
success required to be contributing members of a free society. Instead
of focusing on improving student outcomes and providing meaningful
learning opportunities for students, the Biden Administration wasted
billions of dollars in discretionary grant funding on harmful
ideological programming when our students needed academic support the
most.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Administration seeks to ensure that education programs and
initiatives provide all students with access to rigorous, relevant, and
engaging learning experiences. This proposed priority emphasizes the
importance of designing meaningful learning experiences that promote
strong core instruction, personalized and relevant learning
opportunities, and support deep understanding of foundational subject
areas. This priority is intended to guide the development and
implementation of strategies that prepare students for success in an
increasingly complex, interconnected and technology-rich world and
ensure all students are prepared for employment, enrollment,
enlistment, or entrepreneurship.
Proposed Priority: Projects or proposals that are designed to do
one or more of the following:
(a) Strengthen core instruction through one or more of the
following:
(i) Improving mathematics instruction to promote student
achievement through one or more of the following priority areas:
(1) Assisting states in developing comprehensive statewide plans to
raise mathematics achievement that align with mathematics instruction
based on strong, moderate, or promising evidence (as defined in 34 CFR
77.1);
(2) Selecting, adopting, and/or implementing high-quality
instructional materials in mathematics;
(3) Developing and implementing pathways to accelerate conceptual
understanding of mathematics or advanced mathematics coursework,
including strategies like automatic enrollment that encourage
participation in such pathways;
(4) Developing and implementing strategies that provide
opportunities for the early identification and support for students
struggling with foundational and developmental mathematics concepts;
(5) Developing and implementing strategies for the identification
of gifted and talented students, including strategies for students to
access higher grade-level and/or advanced placement in mathematics;
(6) Offering high-quality professional development based on strong,
moderate, or promising evidence (as defined in 34 CFR 77.1) in
mathematics for educators; or
(7) Integrating explicit and systematic teaching strategies for
mathematics or programming to build subject matter expertise for
mathematics into preservice training for general or special education
educators.
(ii) Providing or expanding access to high-quality instructional
materials in one or more of the following subjects:
(1) A science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM)
discipline, including computer science;
(2) English Language Arts; or
(3) Social Studies.
(iii) Providing or expanding access to training on implementing
high-quality instructional materials in one or more of the following
subjects:
(1) A STEM discipline, including computer science;
(2) English Language Arts; or
(3) Social Studies.
(iv) Creating competency-based instructional models that provide
timely and actionable insights for students, parents, and educators.
(v) Creating strategic staffing models, instructional leadership
roles, or developing models for teacher advancement that incentivize
high-performing educators with opportunities and leverage their time,
resources, and talent in innovative ways to better support student
learning and achievement.
(vi) Planning or implementing a new school day schedule to allow
more opportunities for meaningful learning.
(b) Expand high-quality interventions or accelerated learning
supports for students based on strong, moderate or promising evidence
(as defined in 34 CFR 77.1) aimed at improving student outcomes through
one or more of the following priority areas:
(i) Providing remedial or accelerated learning opportunities
focused on individualized, differentiated, and scaffolded supports for
students to access grade-level (or above grade-level) content;
(ii) Identifying and implementing strategies for delivering
effective personalized supports to all students;
(iii) Supporting states in defining, implementing, or improving
statewide tiered educational frameworks that meet the varied needs of
students;
(iv) Implementing, expanding, or scaling high-impact tutoring
programs that occur during the regular school day, are aligned with
practices based on strong, moderate, or promising evidence (as defined
in 34 CFR 77.1) to accelerate student learning in literacy and
mathematics, which may include innovative delivery models or
approaches, such as outcomes-based contracting, artificial intelligence
(AI), technology-enabled platforms, or strategic partnerships and
staffing; or
(v) Leveraging outcomes-based contracting or grantmaking to improve
student achievement.
(c) Provide career-connected learning through one or more of the
following priority areas:
(i) Career and academic advising and mentorship opportunities for
all students;
(ii) Integrating career-connected and work-based learning into K-12
education, including approaches to help all students connect core
academic instruction with real-world career skills and foster career
awareness, exploration, and advising throughout their education
journey; or
(iii) Supporting vocational rehabilitation for students with
disabilities (pre-employment transition services and transition
services); or
(iv) Supporting States in developing, piloting, or scaling
statewide plans for career-connected learning.
(d) Advance innovative assessment models through one or more of the
following priority areas:
(i) Supporting the development, implementation, and scaling of new
or innovative assessment models that accurately and fairly measure all
student's learning and progress, including competency- and mastery-
based assessments;
(ii) Supporting the development, implementation, and scaling of
assessment models that provide timely and useful information to
educators,
[[Page 46116]]
students, and families to address student learning needs;
(iii) Encouraging the use of adaptive technologies for assessments;
(iv) Developing a clear methodology for early identification and
subsequent ongoing support of students at-risk, students with
disabilities, or gifted and talented students; or
(v) Supporting states to re-envision state assessment systems
through research activities, planning, piloting, and/or scaling new or
innovative assessment models.
(e) Supporting parents in providing meaningful at-home learning,
which could include providing resources, educational materials, and
access to learning platforms to support student learning needs.
Types of Priorities:
When inviting applications for a competition using one or more
priorities, we designate the type of each priority as absolute,
competitive preference, or invitational through a notice in the Federal
Register. The effect of each type of priority follows:
Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority, we consider only
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference
priority, we give competitive preference to an application by (1)
awarding additional points, depending on the extent to which the
application meets the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2)
selecting an application that meets the priority over an application of
comparable merit that does not meet the priority (34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority, we are
particularly interested in applications that meet the priority.
However, we do not give an application that meets the priority a
preference over other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Proposed Definitions:
Background: The Secretary proposes the following definitions for
use in any Department discretionary grant program in which the proposed
priority is used.
Computer science means the study of computers and algorithmic
processes, including their principles, their hardware and software
designs, theories, computational thinking, coding, analytics,
applications, and AI.
Computer science often includes computer programming or coding as a
tool to create software, including applications, games, websites, and
tools to manage or manipulate data; or development and management of
computer hardware and the other electronics related to sharing,
securing, and using digital information. In addition to coding, the
expanding field of computer science emphasizes computational thinking
and interdisciplinary problem-solving to equip students with the skills
and abilities necessary to apply computation to the digital world.
Computer science does not involve using computers for everyday tasks,
such as browsing the internet or using tools like word processors,
spreadsheets, or presentation software. Instead, it focuses on creating
and developing technology, not just utilizing it.
High-quality instructional materials (HQIM) means standards-
aligned, content-rich instructional tools that provide a coherent scope
and sequence for grade-level academic content. HQIM provide a full
suite of resources for teachers, students, and families--including
lesson plans, instructional units, and embedded formative assessments.
HQIM utilize evidence-based instructional strategies and provide
implementation supports for educators to ensure the learning needs of
all students are met.
Strategic Staffing means a team-based approach to school staffing
that replaces the traditional one-teacher, one-classroom model. In this
model, at least two professional educators share responsibility for a
common roster of students during the same blocks of time in the school
day. Teamed educators have differentiated roles and distributed
expertise, allowing for flexible student grouping, more effective use
of instructional time, and expanded career entry and advancement
opportunities.
Final Priority and Definitions: The Department will announce the
final priority and definitions in a document in the Federal Register.
We will determine the final priority and definitions after considering
responses to the proposed priority and definitions and other
information available to the Department. This document does not
preclude us from proposing additional priorities, requirements, or
definitions, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.
Note: This document does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use any of the final priority and definitions, we
invite applications through a notice in the Federal Register.
Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 14192
Regulatory Impact Analysis
This proposed regulatory action is not a significant regulatory
action subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under
section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866. Since this regulatory action is
not a significant regulatory action under section 3(f) of Executive
Order 12866, it is not considered an ``Executive Order 14192 regulatory
action.''
We have also reviewed this proposed regulatory action under
Executive Order 13563. We are issuing the proposed priority and
definitions only on a reasoned determination that their benefits would
justify their minimal costs. The Department believes that this
regulatory action is consistent with the principles in Executive Order
13563.
We also have determined that this regulatory action would not
unduly interfere with State, local, and Tribal governments in the
exercise of their governmental functions.
In accordance with these Executive orders, the Department has
assessed the potential costs and benefits, both quantitative and
qualitative, of this regulatory action. The potential costs are those
resulting from statutory requirements and those we have determined are
necessary for administering the Department's programs and activities.
Discussion of Costs and Benefits: The proposed priority would
impose no or minimal costs on entities that receive discretionary grant
award funds from the Department. Additionally, the benefits of
implementing the proposed priority outweigh any associated costs, to
the extent these de minimis costs even exist, because the proposed
priority would result in higher quality grant application submissions.
Application submission and participation in competitive grant
programs that might use this proposed priority and definitions is
voluntary. We believe, based on the Department's administrative
experience, that entities preparing an application would not need to
expend more resources than they otherwise would have in the absence of
this proposed priority. Therefore, any potential costs to applicants
would be de minimis. Because the costs of carrying out activities would
be paid for with program funds, the costs of implementation would not
be a burden for any eligible applicants that earn a grant award,
including small entities. We invite the public to comment on this
discussion of estimated costs and benefits. We are specifically
interested in high quality comments supported with quantitative data.
Intergovernmental Review: This action is subject to Executive Order
12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79.
[[Page 46117]]
This document provides early notification of our specific plans and
actions for this program.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification:
This section considers the effects that the final regulations may
have on small entities in the educational sector as required by the
Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. The Secretary
certifies that this proposed regulatory action would not have a
substantial economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The U.S. Small Business Administration Size Standards define
proprietary institutions as small businesses if they are independently
owned and operated, are not dominant in their field of operation, and
have total annual revenue below $7,000,000. Nonprofit institutions are
defined as small entities if they are independently owned and operated
and not dominant in their field of operation. Public institutions are
defined as small organizations if they are operated by a government
overseeing a population below 50,000.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The proposed priority and definitions do not contain information
collection requirements or affect any currently approved data
collection.
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file,
braille, large print, audiotape, compact disc, or another accessible
format.
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.govinfo.gov. You may also access documents
of the Department published in the Federal Register by using the
article search feature at www.federalregister.gov.
Linda McMahon,
Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 2025-18640 Filed 9-24-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P