27102 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 92 / Monday, May 14, 2007 / Notices 

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Dated: May 8, 2007. 

James F. Manning, 

Delegated the Authority of the Assistant 

Secretary for Postsecondary Education. 

[FR Doc. 07–2341 Filed 5–11–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Office of Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services; Overview 

Information; Personnel Development 

to Improve Services and Results for 

Children With Disabilities—National 

Center to Inform Policy and Practice in 

Special Education Professional 

Development; Notice Inviting 

Applications for New Awards for Fiscal 

Year (FY) 2007 

Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.325Q. 

Dates: 

Applications Available: May 14, 2007. 

Deadline for Transmittal of 

Applications: June 13, 2007. 

Deadline for Intergovernmental 

Review: August 13, 2007. 

Eligible Applicants: Institutions of 

higher education (IHEs). 

Estimated Available Funds: $500,000. 

Maximum Award: We will reject any 

application that proposes a budget 

exceeding $500,000 for a single budget 

period of 12 months. The Assistant 

Secretary for Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services may change the 

maximum amount through a notice 

published in the Federal Register. 

Number of Awards: 1. 

Note: The Department is not bound by any 

estimates in this notice. 

Project Period: Up to 60 months. 

Full Text of Announcement 

I. Funding Opportunity Description 

Purpose of Program: The purposes of 

this program are to (1) help address 

State-identified needs for highly 

qualified personnel—in special 

education, related services, early 

intervention, and regular education—to 

work with infants or toddlers with 

disabilities, or children with 

disabilities; and (2) ensure that those 

personnel have the skills and 

knowledge—derived from practices that 

have been determined through research 

and experience to be successful—that 

are needed to serve those children. 

Priority: In accordance with 34 CFR 

75.105(b)(2)(v), this priority is from 

allowable activities specified in the 

statute (see sections 662(d) and 681(d) 

of the Individuals with Disabilities 

Education Act (IDEA)). 

Absolute Priority: For FY 2007 this 

priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 

CFR 75.105(c)(3), we consider only 

applications that meet this priority. 

This priority is: National Center to 

Inform Policy and Practice in Special 

Education Professional Development. 

Background 

While Federal law requires educators 

to meet the highly qualified teacher 

(HQT) requirements, States and school 

districts struggle to retain such teachers. 

The likelihood that teachers will remain 

in their positions beyond the first years 

of employment is affected by a wide 

variety of factors, including the policies 

and practices of teacher preparation 

programs, States, and school districts. 

The retention of teachers is a major 

concern among educators because 

teacher turnover creates multiple 

challenges for schools. Several recent 

studies report the costs of teacher 

turnover are high because it not only 

affects the quality of instruction, but 

turnover also means additional costs for 

preparing, recruiting, and inducting 

highly qualified teachers to replace 

those who have left (Boe, Cook, and 

Sutherland, 2006; Billingsley, 2005; 

Johnson, Berg, and Donaldson, 2005). 

On the whole, there is broad consensus 

among policymakers that significant 

efforts are needed to improve the 

preparation and retention of highly 

qualified teachers. 

Teacher preparation that is of high 

quality is a strong predictor of both 

teacher retention and good teaching 

practice (NCTAF, 2006), and research 

has consistently found that new 

teachers make important gains in 

teaching quality in the first year and 

smaller gains over the next few years of 

their careers (Rivkin, Hanushek, and 

Kain, 2005, p. 449 as cited in Condition 

of Education, NCES, 2005). In addition, 

high quality teacher preparation, along 

with quality induction and mentoring 

during the first years of employment, 

appear to be even more important in 

urban school districts where data from 

the last several decades show that from 

40 to 50 percent of new teachers will 

leave the profession within five years 

(Darling-Hammond and Schlan, 1996; 

Ingersoll, 2003; National Education 

Association, 2006; Farber, 2006). 

Research suggests that there are a 

variety of effective ways to improve 

retention rates for beginning special 

educators, as well as strategies that 

improve the quality of pre-service 

training and professional development 

for special educators. To this end, the 

Secretary proposes a National Center to 

Inform Policy and Practice in Special 

Education Professional Development. 

Priority: This priority supports a 

National Center to Inform Policy and 

Practice in Special Education 

Professional Development (Center). The 

purposes of this Center are to: (a) Inform 

special education teacher preparation 

policy and practice by examining and 

recommending to IHEs, State 

educational agencies (SEAs), and local 

educational agencies (LEAs) those 

policies and practices that improve 

retention of beginning special education 

teachers, such as high quality induction, 

mentoring, and collaborative teaching 

experiences; and (b) recommend 

implementation strategies for policies 

and practices that provide beginning 

special education and regular education 

teachers with the knowledge and skills 

to effectively support students with 

disabilities in different classroom 

settings, including collaborative 

practices in regular classroom settings. 

The Center must: 

(a) Identify needs and existing 

resources: Identify critical issues, needs, 

and existing resources that relate to 

improved support for beginning special 

educators through: (1) A comprehensive 

review of current policy, scientifically 

based research, and evidence-based 

practice literature on retention strategies 

such as the induction and mentoring of 

beginning teachers of students with 

disabilities and collaborative teaching 

practices; and (2) coordination with 

other U.S. Department of Education (ED) 

funded grants related to highly qualified 

teacher induction, mentoring, and 

retention (e.g., National Comprehensive 

Center for Teacher Quality (http:// 

www.ncctq.org); Center for Improving 

Teacher Quality (http:// 

www.centerforteacherquality.org); 

National Center for Special Education 

Personnel and Related Service Providers 

(http://www.personnelcenter.org); and 

Faculty Enhancement Center (http:// 

iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu); 

(b) Identify critical gaps in the 

knowledge base: Identify the most 

significant gaps in the current 

knowledge base, considering the critical 

issues and needs identified in paragraph 

(a), and utilize this information to 

develop an agenda that identifies and 


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prioritizes critical need areas, where 

new knowledge on retention strategies, 

in particular induction, mentoring, and 

collaborative teaching strategies in all 

parts of the State professional 

development system (IHEs, SEAs, and 

LEAs), is needed. The Center must 

ensure that the agenda is reviewed and 

accepted by a panel of content, research, 

and evaluation experts. This panel must 

be convened by the applicant, include 

representatives from teacher 

accreditation organizations, and be 

identified in collaboration with and 

approved by the Office of Special 

Education Programs (OSEP). This expert 

panel informs the Center’s Advisory 

Board described in section (e). 

(c) Conduct activities aligned to the 

agenda: Activities must be designed to 

enhance, not duplicate, efforts to 

understand induction and mentoring 

policies and practices, and their impact 

on retention. The Center must identify 

and evaluate innovative models for the 

induction and mentoring of beginning 

special education teachers; provide 

targeted technical assistance for urban 

or rural schools with high need for 

highly qualified teachers to help 

establish and maintain well-designed 

induction and mentoring programs; 

develop partnerships with member 

organizations such as the Council for 

Chief State School Officers, American 

Association of Colleges of Teacher 

Education, etc., to convene annual 

forums that support the planning of 

State and local policies and practices 

that promote the implementation of 

high-quality induction and mentoring 

programs and other strategies that 

support teacher retention; and respond 

to new and emerging issues that may 

influence the retention of special 

education teachers, in particular. The 

Center’s work under this paragraph 

must align with, and be informed by, 

the agenda developed under paragraph 

(b). 

(d) Disseminate policy and practice 

information: Develop and implement 

activities that will result in effective and 

efficient large-scale dissemination of the 

policy and practice information 

identified and developed under 

paragraphs (b) and (c). The Center must 

make materials available on a dedicated 

Web site that is easily searchable by 

topic and is available at no cost to users. 

The Center also must develop targeted 

mechanisms for dissemination to: (1) 

SEAs and LEAs where implementation 

of effective policies and practices may 

lead to improved staff retention; and (2) 

preservice training programs in IHEs, 

including those that supply urban or 

rural schools with highly qualified 

special educators. Dissemination 

activities must be conducted in 

collaboration with other OSEP-funded 

centers, in particular, the Center on 

Improving Teacher Quality, the National 

Comprehensive Center on Teacher 

Quality, and the National Center on 

Special Education Personnel and 

Related Services Providers Center. 

(e) Evaluate project activities: Design 

and conduct a comprehensive 

evaluation of the Center. This 

evaluation must provide formative 

information to guide ongoing 

adjustments to the structure, activities, 

workflow, and products to improve the 

effectiveness of the Center. This 

comprehensive evaluation must also 

measure the impact of the Center to 

ensure that: (1) Policies and practices 

that improve retention of beginning 

special education teachers are identified 

and widely disseminated; (2) preservice 

training programs are designed to link 

with LEAs in support of induction and 

mentoring programs for beginning 

teachers; and (3) beginning teachers of 

students with disabilities, particularly 

in rural and urban high need schools, 

participate in well-designed induction 

and mentoring programs and use 

collaborative teaching strategies that 

support their retention in the 

profession. 

(f) Establish an Advisory Board: The 

design and implementation of the 

Center’s required activities must be 

guided by an Advisory Board and 

informed by the expert panel described 

in paragraph (b). The Center must 

establish this Advisory Board in concert 

with OSEP. The Advisory Board must 

be composed of SEA and LEA 

personnel, IHE faculty involved with 

preservice preparation, teachers, 

individuals or parents of students with 

disabilities, OSEP State Professional 

Development Grant project directors, 

and project directors of ED-funded 

centers on teacher quality, as 

appropriate. 

(g) Meet the following additional 

requirements: 

(1) Budget for a three-day Project 

Director’s meeting in Washington, DC, 

during each year of the grant; 

(2) If the Center maintains a Web site, 

include relevant information and 

documents in a form that meets a 

government or industry-recognized 

standard for accessibility; and 

(3) Agree to submit an annual grant 

performance report which is required of 

each grantee for continuation funding 

(34 CFR 75.590). 

Fourth and Fifth Years of the Project: 

In deciding whether to continue funding 

the Center for the fourth and fifth years, 

the Secretary will consider the 

requirements of 34 CFR 75.253(a), and 

in addition—

(a) The recommendation of a review 

team consisting of experts selected by 

the Secretary. The review will be 

conducted during the last half of the 

project’s second year in Washington, 

DC; projects must budget for travel 

expenses associated with this one-day 

intensive review; 

(b) The timeliness and effectiveness 

with which all requirements of the 

negotiated cooperative agreement have 

been or are being met by the Center; and 

(c) The degree to which the project’s 

design and methodology demonstrate 

the potential for advancing significant, 

relevant knowledge. 

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: 

Under the Administrative Procedure Act 

(APA) (5 U.S.C. 553) the Department 

generally offers interested parties the 

opportunity to comment on a proposed 

priority. However, section 681(d) of 

IDEA makes the public comment 

requirements of the APA inapplicable to 

the priority in this notice. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1462 

and 1481(d). 

Applicable Regulations: The 

Education Department General 

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 

34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 

84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99. 

II. Award Information 

Type of Award: Cooperative 

agreement. 

Estimated Available Funds: $500,000. 

Maximum Award: We will reject any 

application that proposes a budget 

exceeding $500,000 for a single budget 

period of 12 months. The Assistant 

Secretary for Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services may change the 

maximum amount through a notice 

published in the Federal Register. 

Number of Awards: 1. 

Note: The Department is not bound by any 

estimates in this notice. 

Project Period: Up to 60 months. 

III. Eligibility Information 

1. Eligible Applicants: IHEs. 

2. Cost Sharing or Matching: This 

competition does not involve cost 

sharing or matching. 

3. Other: General Requirements—(a) 

The projects funded under this 

competition must make positive efforts 

to employ and advance in employmentqualified individuals with disabilities 

(see section 606 of IDEA). 

(b) Applicants and grant recipients 

funded under this competition must 

involve individuals with disabilities or 

parents of individuals with disabilities 

ages birth through 26 in planning, 


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implementing, and evaluating the 

projects (see section 682(a)(1)(A) of 

IDEA). 

IV. Application and Submission 

Information 

1. Address to Request Application 

Package: 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.html or you may contact ED 

Pubs at its e-mail address: 

edpubs@inet.ed.gov. 

If you request an application from ED 

Pubs, be sure to identify this 

competition as follows: CFDA number 

84.325Q. 

Individuals with disabilities may 

obtain a copy of the application package 

in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, 

large print, audiotape, or computer 

diskette) by contacting the Grants and 

Contracts Services Team listed under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT in 

section VII of this notice. 

2. Content and Form of Application 

Submission: Requirements concerning 

the content of an application, together 

with the forms you must submit, are in 

the application package for this 

competition. 

Page Limit: The application narrative 

(Part III of the application) is where you, 

the applicant, address the selection 

criteria that reviewers use to evaluate 

your application. You must limit Part III 

to the equivalent of no more than 70 

pages, using the following standards: 

• A ‘‘page’’ is 8.5′′ x 11′′, on one side 

only, with 1′′ margins at the top, bottom, 

and both sides. 

• Double space (no more than three 

lines per vertical inch) all text in the 

application narrative, including titles, 

headings, footnotes, quotations, 

references, and captions, as well as all 

text in charts, tables, figures, and 

graphs. 

• Use a font that is either 12-point or 

larger or no smaller than 10 pitch 

(characters per inch). 

The page limit does not apply to Part 

I, the cover sheet; Part II, the budget 

section, including the narrative budget 

justification; Part IV, the assurances and 

certifications; or the one-page abstract, 

the resumes, the bibliography, the 

references, or the letters of support. 

However, you must include all of the 

application narrative in Part III. 

We will reject your application if—

• You apply these standards and 

exceed the page limit; or 

• You apply other standards and 

exceed the equivalent of the page limit. 

3. Submission Dates and Times: 

Applications Available: May 14, 2007. 

Deadline for Transmittal of 

Applications: June 13, 2007. 

Applications for grants under this 

competition may be submitted 

electronically using the Grants.gov 

Apply site (Grants.gov), or in paper 

format by mail or hand delivery. For 

information (including dates and times) 

about how to submit your application 

electronically, or by mail or hand 

delivery, please refer to section IV. 6. 

Other Submission Requirements in this 

notice. 

We do not consider an application 

that does not comply with the deadline 

requirements. 

Individuals with disabilities who 

need an accommodation or auxiliary aid 

in connection with the application 

process should contact the person listed 

under For Further Information Contact. 

Deadline for Intergovernmental 

Review: August 13, 2007. 

4. Intergovernmental Review: This 

program is subject to Executive Order 

12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR 

part 79. Information about 

Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs under Executive Order 12372 

is in the application package for this 

competition. 

5. Funding Restrictions: We reference 

regulations outlining funding 

restrictions in the Applicable 

Regulations section of this notice. 

6. Other Submission Requirements: 

Applications for grants under this 

competition may be submitted 

electronically or in paper format by mail 

or hand delivery. 

a. Electronic Submission of 

Applications. To comply with the 

President’s Management Agenda, we are 

participating as a partner in the 

Governmentwide Grants.gov Apply site. 

The National Center to Inform Policy 

and Practice in Special Education 

Professional Development 

competition—CFDA number 84.325Q is 

included in this project. We request 

your participation in Grants.gov. 

If you choose to submit your 

application electronically, you must use 

the Governmentwide Grants.gov Apply 

site at http://www.Grants.gov. Through 

this site, you will be able to download 

a copy of the application package, 

complete it offline, and then upload and 

submit your application. You may not email an electronic copy of a grant 

application to us. 

You may access the electronic grant 

application for the National Center to 

Inform Policy and Practice in Special 

Education Professional Development 

competition—CFDA number 84.325Q at: 

http://www.grants.gov. You must search 

for the downloadable application 

package for this program by the CFDA 

number. Do not include the CFDA 

number’s alpha suffix in your search 

(e.g., search for 84.326, not 84.326A). 

Please note the following: 

• Your participation in Grants.gov is 

voluntary. 

• When you enter the Grants.gov site, 

you will find information about 

submitting an application electronically 

through the site, as well as the hours of 

operation. 

• Applications received by Grants.gov 

are date and time stamped. Your 

application must be fully uploaded and 

submitted, and must be date and time 

stamped by the Grants.gov system no 

later than 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC 

time, on the application deadline date. 

Except as otherwise noted in this 

section, we will not consider your 

application if it is date and time 

stamped by the Grants.gov system later 

than 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on 

the application deadline date. When we 

retrieve your application from 

Grants.gov, we will notify you if we are 

rejecting your application because it 

was date and time stamped by the 

Grants.gov system after 4:30 p.m., 

Washington, DC time, on the 

application deadline date. 

• The amount of time it can take to 

upload an application will vary 

depending on a variety of factors, 

including the size of the application and 

the speed of your Internet connection. 

Therefore, we strongly recommend that 

you do not wait until the application 

deadline date to begin the submission 

process through Grants.gov. 

• You should review and follow the 

Education Submission Procedures for 

submitting an application through 

Grants.gov that are included in the 

application package for this competition 

to ensure that you submit your 

application in a timely manner to the 

Grants.gov system. You can also find the 

Education Submission Procedures 

pertaining to Grants.gov at http://eGrants.ed.gov/help/ 

GrantsgovSubmissionProcedures.pdf. 

• To submit your application via 

Grants.gov, you must complete the steps 

in the Grants.gov registration process 

(http://www.grants.gov/applicants/ 

get_registered.jsp). These steps include 

(1) registering your organization, a 

multi-part process that includes 

registration with the Central Contractor 

Registry (CCR); (2) registering yourself 

as an Authorized Organization 

Representative (AOR); and (3) getting 

authorized as an AOR by your 

organization. Details on these steps are 


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outlined in the Grants.gov 3-Step 

Registration Guide (see http:// 

www.grants.gov/section910/ 

Grants.govRegistrationBrochure.pdf). 

You also must provide on your 

application the same D–U–N–S Number 

used with this registration. Please note 

that the registration process may take 

five or more business days to complete, 

and you must have completed all 

registration steps to allow you to 

successfully submit an application via 

Grants.gov. In addition you will need to 

update your CCR registration on an 

annual basis. This may take three or 

more business days to complete. 

• You will not receive additional 

point value because you submit your 

application in electronic format, nor 

will we penalize you if you submit your 

application in paper format. 

• If you submit your application 

electronically, you must submit all 

documents electronically, including all 

information you typically provide on 

the following forms: Application for 

Federal Assistance (SF 424), the 

Department of Education Supplemental 

Information for SF 424, Budget 

Information—Non-Construction 

Programs (ED 524), and all necessary 

assurances and certifications. Please 

note that two of these forms—the SF 424 

and the Department of Education 

Supplemental Information for SF 424—

have replaced the ED 424 (Application 

for Federal Education Assistance). 

• If you submit your application 

electronically, you must attach any 

narrative sections of your application as 

files in a .DOC (document), .RTF (rich 

text), or .PDF (Portable Document) 

format. If you upload a file type other 

than the three file types specified in this 

paragraph or submit a passwordprotected file, we will not review that 

material. 

• Your electronic application must 

comply with any page limit 

requirements described in this notice. 

• After you electronically submit 

your application, you will receive from 

Grants.gov an automatic notification of 

receipt that contains a Grants.gov 

tracking number. (This notification 

indicates receipt by Grants.gov only, not 

receipt by the Department.) The 

Department then will retrieve your 

application from Grants.gov and send a 

second notification to you by e-mail. 

This second notification indicates that 

the Department has received your 

application and has assigned your 

application a PR/Award number (an EDspecified identifying number unique to 

your application). 

• We may request that you provide us 

original signatures on forms at a later 

date. 

Application Deadline Date Extension 

in Case of System Technical Issues with 

the Grant.Gov System: If you are 

experiencing problems submitting your 

application through Grants.gov, please 

contact the Grants.gov Support Desk at 

1–800–518–4726. You must obtain a 

Grants.gov Support Desk Case Number 

and must keep a record of it. 

If you are prevented from 

electronically submitting your 

application on the application deadline 

date because of technical problems with 

the Grants.gov system, we will grant you 

an extension until 4:30 p.m., 

Washington, DC time, the following 

business day to enable you to transmit 

your application electronically or by 

hand delivery. You also may mail your 

application by following the mailing 

instructions described elsewhere in this 

notice. 

If you submit an application after 4:30 

p.m., Washington, DC time, on the 

application deadline date, please 

contact the person listed elsewhere in 

this notice under For Further 

Information Contact and provide an 

explanation of the technical problem 

you experienced with Grants.gov, along 

with the Grants.gov Support Desk Case 

Number. We will accept your 

application if we can confirm that a 

technical problem occurred with the 

Grants.gov system and that that problem 

affected your ability to submit your 

application by 4:30 p.m., Washington, 

DC time, on the application deadline 

date. The Department will contact you 

after a determination is made on 

whether your application will be 

accepted. 

Note: The extensions to which we refer in 

this section apply only to the unavailability 

of, or technical problems with, the Grants.gov 

system. We will not grant you an extension 

if you failed to fully register to submit your 

application to Grants.gov before the 

application deadline date and time or if the 

technical problem you experienced is 

unrelated to the Grants.gov system. 

b. Submission of Paper Applications 

by Mail. If you submit your application 

in paper format by mail (through the 

U.S. Postal Service or a commercial 

carrier), you must mail the original and 

two copies of your application, on or 

before the application deadline date, to 

the Department at the applicable 

following address: 

By mail through the U.S. Postal 

Service: U.S. Department of Education, 

Application Control Center, Attention: 

(CFDA Number 84.325Q), 400 Maryland 

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20202–

4260; or 

By mail through a commercial carrier: 

U.S. Department of Education, 

Application Control Center—Stop 4260, 

Attention: (CFDA Number 84.325Q), 

7100 Old Landover Road, Landover, MD 

20785–1506. 

Regardless of which address you use, 

you must show proof of mailing 

consisting of one of the following: 

(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service 

postmark. 

(2) A legible mail receipt with the 

date of mailing stamped by the U.S. 

Postal Service. 

(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or 

receipt from a commercial carrier. 

(4) Any other proof of mailing 

acceptable to the Secretary of the U.S. 

Department of Education. 

If you mail your application through 

the U.S. Postal Service, we do not 

accept either of the following as proof 

of mailing: 

(1) A private metered postmark. 

(2) A mail receipt that is not dated by 

the U.S. Postal Service. 

If your application is postmarked after 

the application deadline date, we will 

not consider your application. 

Note: The U.S. Postal Service does not 

uniformly provide a dated postmark. Before 

relying on this method, you should check 

with your local post office. 

c. Submission of Paper Applications 

by Hand Delivery. If you submit your 

application in paper format by hand 

delivery, you (or a courier service) must 

deliver the original and two copies of 

your application by hand, on or before 

the application deadline date, to the 

Department at the following address: 

U.S. Department of Education, 

Application Control Center, Attention: 

(CFDA Number 84.325Q), 550 12th 

Street, SW., Room 7041, Potomac Center 

Plaza, Washington, DC 20202–4260. 

The Application Control Center 

accepts hand deliveries daily between 8 

a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC 

time, except Saturdays, Sundays and 

Federal holidays. 

Note for Mail or Hand Delivery of 

Paper Applications: If you mail or hand 

deliver your application to the 

Department—

(1) You must indicate on the envelope 

and—if not provided by the 

Department—in Item 11 of the SF 424 

the CFDA number, including suffix 

letter, if any, of the competition under 

which you are submitting your 

application; and 

(2) The Application Control Center 

will mail to you a notification of receipt 

of your grant application. If you do not 

receive this notification within 15 

business days from the application 

deadline date, you should call the U.S. 

Department of Education Application 

Control Center at (202) 245–6288. 


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V. Application Review Information 

1. Selection Criteria: The selection 

criteria for this competition are from 34 

CFR 75.210 and are listed in the 

application package. 

2. Review and Selection Process: 

Treating a Priority as Two Separate 

Competitions: In the past, there have 

been problems in finding peer reviewers 

without conflicts of interest for 

competitions in which many entities 

throughout the country submit 

applications. The Standing Panel 

requirements under IDEA also have 

placed additional constraints on the 

availability of reviewers. Therefore, the 

Department has determined that, for 

some discretionary competitions, 

applications may be separated into two 

or more groups and ranked and selected 

for funding within the specific group. 

This procedure will ensure the 

availability of a much larger group of 

reviewers without conflicts of interest. It 

also will increase the quality, 

independence and fairness of the review 

process and permit panel members to 

review applications under discretionary 

competitions for which they have also 

submitted applications. However, if the 

Department decides to select for funding 

an equal number of applications in each 

group, this may result in different cutoff points for fundable applications in 

each group. 

VI. Award Administration Information 

1. Award Notices: If your application 

is successful, we notify your U.S. 

Representative and U.S. Senators and 

send you a Grant Award Notification 

(GAN). We may also notify you 

informally. 

If your application is not evaluated or 

not selected for funding, we notify you. 

2. Administrative and National Policy 

Requirements: We identify 

administrative and national policy 

requirements in the application package 

and reference these and other 

requirements in the Applicable 

Regulations section of this notice. 

We reference the regulations outlining 

the terms and conditions of an award in 

the Applicable Regulations section of 

this notice and include these and other 

specific conditions in the GAN. The 

GAN also incorporates your approved 

application as part of your binding 

commitments under the grant. 

3. Reporting: At the end of your 

project period, you must submit a final 

performance report, including financial 

information, as directed by the 

Secretary. If you receive a multi-year 

award, you must submit an annual 

performance report that provides the 

most current performance and financial 

expenditure information as specified by 

the Secretary in 34 CFR 75.118. 

4. Performance Measures: Under the 

Government Performance and Results 

Act of 1993 (GPRA), the Department has 

developed annual performance 

measures that will yield information on 

various aspects of the technical 

assistance and dissemination activities 

currently being supported under Part D 

of IDEA. These measures will be used 

for the National Center to Inform Policy 

and Practice in Special Education 

Professional Development competition. 

They are: The percentage of products 

and services deemed to be of high 

quality by an independent review panel 

of qualified experts or individuals with 

appropriate expertise to review the 

substantive content of the products and 

services; the percentage of products and 

services deemed to be of high relevance 

to educational and early intervention 

policy or practice by an independent 

review panel of qualified members of 

the target audiences of the technical 

assistance and disseminations; and the 

percentage of all products and services 

deemed to be of high usefulness by 

target audiences to improve educational 

or early intervention policy or practice. 

We will notify grantees if they will be 

required to provide any information 

related to these measures. 

Grantees will also be required to 

report information on their projects’

performance in annual reports to the 

Department (34 CFR 75.590). 

VII. Agency Contact 

For Further Information Contact: Dr. 

Bonnie D. Jones, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 

room 4153, Potomac Center Plaza, 

Washington, DC 20202–2600. 

Telephone: (202) 245–7395. 

If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD), you may call 

the Federal Relay Service (FRS) 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 by contacting the following 

office: The Grants and Contracts 

Services Team, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 

Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 

20202–2550. Telephone: (202) 245–

7363. 

VIII. Other Information 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

You may view this document, as well as 

all other documents of this Department 

published in the Federal Register, in 

text or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF) on the Internet at the 

following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/ 

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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Dated: May 7, 2007. 

John H. Hager, 

Assistant Secretary for Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services. 

[FR Doc. 07–2342 Filed 5–11–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4001–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Assistive Technology Act of 1998, As 

Amended—Assistive Technology 

Alternative Financing Program 

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services, Department of 

Education. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed priority. 

SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for 

Special Education and Rehabilitative 

Services (OSERS) proposes a priority 

under section 4(b)(2)(D) of the Assistive 

Technology Act of 1998, as amended, 

administered by the Rehabilitation 

Services Administration (RSA). The 

Assistant Secretary may use the priority 

for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2007 

and later years. We take this action to 

focus Federal financial assistance on an 

identified area of national need. We 

intend the priority to support activities 

that increase the availability of, funding 

for, access to, and provision of assistive 

technology (AT) devices and AT 

services. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before June 13, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about 

the proposed priority to Robert 

Groenendaal, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 

room 5019, Potomac Center Plaza, 

Washington, DC 20202–2550. 

Telephone: (202) 245–7393 or by e-mail: 

robert.groenendaal@ed.gov. 

You must include the term ‘‘AFP 

Priority’’ in the subject line of your 

electronic message. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Groenendaal. Telephone: (202) 


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