70652 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 196 / Thursday, October 12, 2023 / Notices 

1United States Congress. Committee Print of the 

Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of 

Representatives, on H.R. 2617/Public Law 117–328. 

117th Congress, Second Session. Washington: US. 

Govt. Publishing Off. 2023. 

that appropriate arrangements can be 

made. 

Written Statements: Pursuant to 41 

CFR 102–3.140 and section 5 U.S.C. 

1009(a)(3), interested persons may 

submit a written statement to the SERDP 

SAB. Individuals submitting a statement 

must submit their statement no later 

than 5:00 p.m. EST, Thursday, October 

12, 2023 to kimberly.y.spangler.civ@

mail.mil (email) or to (571) 372–6565 

(voice). If a statement pertaining to a 

specific topic being discussed at the 

planned meeting is not received by 

Friday, October 13, 2023, prior to the 

meeting, then it may not be provided to, 

or considered by, the Committee during 

the October 11–13, 2023 meeting. The 

Designated Federal Officer, Dr. 

Kimberly Spangler will review all 

timely submissions with the SERDP 

SAB Chair and ensure such submissions 

are provided to the members of the 

SERDP SAB before the meeting. 

Dated: October 10, 2023. 

Natalie M. Ragland, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22681 Filed 10–10–23; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6001–FR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

[Docket ID ED–2023–IES–0011] 

Request for Information on Potential 

New Program, From Seedlings to Scale 

(S2S) 

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, 

Department of Education. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: The National Center for 

Education Research (NCER), a center 

within the Institute of Education 

Sciences (IES), is seeking insight to 

guide its efforts to fund quickturnaround high-reward, scalable 

solutions intended to improve 

education outcomes for all students. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

by November 13, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: 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 submitted after the 

comment period. 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 the ‘‘FAQ’’ tab. 

Privacy Note: The Department’s 

policy is generally to make comments 

received from members of the public 

available for public viewing in their 

entirety on the Federal eRulemaking 

Portal at www.regulations.gov. 

Therefore, commenters should be 

careful to include in their comments 

only information that they wish to make 

publicly available. We encourage, but 

do not require, that each respondent 

include their name, title, institution or 

affiliation, and the name, title, mailing 

and email addresses, and telephone 

number of a contact person for the 

institution or affiliation, if any. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin 

Higgins, Education Research Analyst, 

National Center for Education Research, 

Institute of Education Sciences, U.S 

Department of Education, 400 Maryland 

Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202– 

7240. Telephone: (202) 987–1531. You 

may also email your questions to 

erin.higgins@ed.gov, but as described 

above, comments must be submitted via 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

regulations.gov. 

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: 

Background 

Our education system is tasked with 

helping Americans across their entire 

lifespan to successfully engage in civic 

activity and participate in an everevolving workforce, building the 

foundation for the Nation’s future. 

In the Explanatory Statement 

accompanying the fiscal year (FY) 2023 

Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 

117–328), Congress directed IES to 

invest in quick-turnaround high-reward, 

scalable solutions intended to improve 

education outcomes for all students.1 To 

fulfill this directive, IES’s Accelerate, 

Transform, and Scale (ATS) initiative 

will support advanced education 

research and development (R&D) to 

create scalable solutions to improve 

education outcomes for all learners and 

eliminate persistent achievement and 

attainment gaps. Through this initiative, 

IES will invest in bold, innovative ideas 

that come from interdisciplinary, 

diverse teams that have the potential to 

make dramatic advances towards 

solving seemingly intractable problems 

and challenges in the education field. 

ATS will pilot efforts modeled on the 

advanced research projects agencies 

(ARPAs) found throughout the Federal 

government. ARPAs leverage insights 

from traditional/basic research to 

develop and scale breakthrough 

solutions and capabilities in focused 

areas that research or industry do not 

traditionally support. Many domains of 

R&D are primed for breakthrough 

advances that can make inroads on long 

standing education goals, such as 

personalizing student and educator 

learning, dramatically increasing 

learners’ motivation and engagement, 

transforming the implementation and 

usefulness of assessments, and 

supporting successful transitions from 

school to career and between careers. 

To advance ARPA-style efforts in 

education, the ATS initiative will build 

on several existing IES investments, 

including the Leveraging Evidence to 

Accelerate Recovery Nationwide 

(LEARN) Research Network, the Small 

Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 

program, the Standards for Excellence 

in Educational Research (SEER) 

Research Network for Digital Learning 

Platforms, prize challenges, and the 

Transformative Research in the 

Education Sciences research program. 

ATS will also support new activities 

that emphasize creating scalable, high 

impact solutions, such as going from 

idea to prototype and preparing existing 

tools, techniques, and products with 

evidence of effectiveness for scaling. 

This RFI is focused on a proposed 

new program within ATS we are calling 

‘‘From Seedlings to Scale’’ (S2S). IES is 

considering a three-phase investment 

strategy for S2S to support 

transformative ideas as they grow from 

seedlings to scalable solutions. As 

proposed, S2S would focus on high 

quality research, robust product 

development, and sustainability and 

scaling in the education marketplace. 

The performance goals below highlight 

how, at a high-level, each of those 

elements could be combined into a 

successful project. 

Across the three proposed phases of 

funding, the Department envisions that 

successful performers would: 

• Develop a full product or a broadlyapplicable, new capability. 

• Foster collaboration between 

product developers, researchers, and 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 196 / Thursday, October 12, 2023 / Notices 70653 

educators who are highly-skilled in 

their respective disciplines and across 

disciplines. 

• Challenge what is currently 

possible by pursuing breakthroughs, not 

incremental improvements or ‘‘point 

solutions.’’ 

• Maintain an unwavering focus on 

improving learner outcomes, continuous 

improvement, and rigorously evaluating 

performance. 

• Define from the beginning a 

credible path to significant impact and 

commercial success (including free and 

open-source pathways). 

• Catalyze new areas of interest and 

investment. 

Through the specific questions in the 

next section, IES is soliciting public 

comment on the two topics described 

below, Focus Areas and Program 

Design, to inform the development of 

the S2S program. 

Topic One: Proposed S2S Focus Areas 

IES is currently considering four focus 

areas: 

• Developing approaches that can be 

used to help learners build skills 

throughout their life spans to gain 

broadly applicable competencies and 

domain-specific skills in growing areas 

critical for international 

competitiveness in the jobs of the 

future. 

• Creating tools and systems that can 

accurately identify and determine the 

unique needs of individual 

neurodiverse learners and propose a 

custom suite of instructional and 

technological supports to guide their 

learning. 

• Creating next-generation tools for 

educators for feedback, 

recommendations, and supports that 

leverage artificial intelligence to 

augment teaching and planning. These 

efforts should support educators and 

coaches to reflect holistically on the 

elements of daily practice, including 

learning environment, instructional 

strategies, and student performance. 

• Creating new techniques and 

approaches to help educators and 

learners implement strategies to support 

behavior and emotion regulation and to 

support learners’ interactions with 

others in ways that build and maintain 

caring environments, strong 

relationships, and robust mental health. 

We have also developed a list of 

potential cross-cutting areas that would 

be listed alongside the focus areas as 

‘‘additional topics of interest.’’ We do 

not anticipate that these additional 

topics would become requirements for 

potential performers; rather, they would 

be strongly recommended as areas to 

consider. The additional topics of 

interest include: 

• Data modernization (including 

transferability, interoperability, and 

common measures). 

• Human-centered design for 

education innovation. 

• Open, fair, and transparent 

research. 

• Data privacy and security. 

IES is not currently soliciting 

examples of ideas for breakthrough 

solutions under these categories, but we 

plan to announce more efforts in this 

area soon after the initial priority areas 

are solidified. 

Topic Two: Proposed S2S Program 

Design 

IES proposes to leverage a tiered 

investment model to spur R&D to 

accelerate the creation of tools, 

techniques, and products that can lead 

to breakthrough solutions for any stage 

of the education system: pre-K, K–12, 

postsecondary (including community 

colleges and technical training 

institutes), and adult education. We 

envision that this investment model will 

use a three-phase process to support 

developing transformative solutions. We 

offer a brief sketch of the proposed 

model below. Advancement from one 

stage to the next would not be automatic 

but would be contingent on 

performance and available funds. We 

anticipate that the timeline for 

completing all three phases would take 

an average of six years. However, it is 

possible that phase three awards 

focused on scaling may not follow-on 

directly from a phase two award if IES 

chooses to structure this phase similar 

to the Department of Energy’s ARPA 

(ARPA–E) SCALEUP program (https://

arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/ 

scaleup), which was launched by 

ARPA–E to provide funding for projects 

to continue scaling. 

For the first phase of funding, teams 

would have approximately one year to 

demonstrate that their proposed 

solution could meet four essential 

milestones: (1) serve a set of education 

providers, educator, or learner needs; (2) 

define and refine the key performance 

indicators (KPIs) for the solution; (3) 

create a prototype that can demonstrate 

elements of the core functionality at a 

‘‘demo day’’; and (4) conduct one or 

more successful studies providing 

evidence of the promise of the proposed 

solution for improving learner outcomes 

relative to traditional approaches, 

should the solution be fully developed. 

Projects that demonstrate a 

compelling use case(s) and promising 

prototype would be able to move to the 

second phase. This stage would be 

approximately two years. The second 

phase would focus on rapid, iterative 

development to turn the prototype into 

a functional solution, answering key 

research questions about its design, 

establishing product-market fit, and 

gathering initial evidence of promise. In 

this second stage, awardees should also 

be looking for opportunities to forge 

strong external partnerships that can 

function together to improve learner 

outcomes. 

The third phase of funding would last 

approximately three years. This stage 

would focus on leveraging strategic 

partnerships to support continuous 

improvement, expanding the user base, 

and independently and rigorously 

evaluating the impacts of the solutions 

that showed evidence of promise and 

strong product-market fit. In this stage, 

it would be critical to evaluate whether 

this new solution improves education 

outcomes and reduces persistent 

achievement and attainment gaps 

relative to existing solutions, and to 

determine cost, implementation ease, 

and other important measures that 

reflect both effectiveness and productmarket fit. It is also possible that this 

phase may not follow directly from the 

previous two phases, allowing time to 

further develop the partnerships 

necessary for scaling. 

This is a request for information only. 

This RFI is not a request for proposals 

(RFP), a request for applications (RFA), 

or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice 

inviting applications (NIA). This RFI 

does not commit the Department to 

contract for any supply or service 

whatsoever. Further, we are not seeking 

proposals and will not accept 

unsolicited proposals that align to this 

potential program. The Department will 

not pay for any information or 

administrative costs that you may incur 

in responding to this RFI. The 

documents and information submitted 

in response to this RFI will not be 

returned. 

Solicitation of Comments: To assist in 

refining the topic areas and program 

design for the S2S program, we invite 

comments in response to the questions 

below: 

(1) Are the focus areas and cross 

cutting topics described well suited to 

advanced development R&D? 

(a) Are these areas already adequately 

covered by existing funding 

mechanisms? If not, why not? 

(b) Are there other topics that you 

think would yield more promise for 

identifying and developing 

breakthrough solutions? If so, what do 

you find more compelling about that 

topic? 


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70654 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 196 / Thursday, October 12, 2023 / Notices 

(2) To successfully develop products 

and ecosystems that make a major 

impact on learners’ education outcomes, 

teams will need a variety of supports. 

IES may require support from private 

industry in areas such as providing 

consultation and coaching to teams, 

convening potential partners for 

research and scaling. 

(a) What would an ideal team look 

like to maximize the likelihood of 

success? For example, what role would 

researchers, education agencies (at the 

state or local level), and private 

companies play in the team? 

(b) How can we ensure community 

engagement and input? 

(c) What kind of experience does your 

organization have with supporting 

ARPA-style R&D efforts, especially 

those related to the education sciences? 

What case studies can you share from 

your experience? 

(d) Particularly in the areas of fair, 

open, and transparent research and data 

privacy and security, what kind of 

programing or resources would you 

recommend providing teams? 

(3) With a focus on developing quickturn around, high-reward and scalable 

solutions, what would you propose are 

the core activities and/or benchmarks 

for success for a project in each of the 

phases? What examples can you provide 

around past successes in social science 

domains or specifically related to 

education R&D? 

(4) Could you provide any estimates 

of the costs, assets, and contributions 

required for a team to successfully 

complete each phase? 

(5) As a part of this effort, IES may 

seek support in establishing a technical 

working group (TWG) to inform the 

activities that will guide research teams 

for the S2S competition. If we were to 

establish a TWG related to the S2S 

competition, what kind of expertise 

would you propose is essential to a 

TWG in this area? Are there specific 

organizations or individuals that you 

suggest be included in the TWG? 

Accessible Format: By 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, or 

compact disc, or other 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. 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. 

Mark Schneider, 

Director, Institute of Education Sciences. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22482 Filed 10–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

[GDO Docket No. EA–345–C] 

Application for Renewal of 

Authorization To Export Electric 

Energy; New Brunswick Energy 

Marketing Corporation 

AGENCY: Grid Deployment Office, 

Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of application. 

SUMMARY: New Brunswick Energy 

Marketing Corporation (the Applicant or 

NBEMC) has applied for renewed 

authorization to transmit electric energy 

from the United States to Canada 

pursuant to the Federal Power Act. 

DATES: Comments, protests, or motions 

to intervene must be submitted on or 

before November 13, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Comments, protests, 

motions to intervene, or requests for 

more information should be addressed 

by electronic mail to 

Electricity.Exports@hq.doe.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christina Gomer, (240) 474–2403, 

electricity.exports@hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

United States Department of Energy 

(DOE) regulates electricity exports from 

the United States to foreign countries in 

accordance with section 202(e) of the 

Federal Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 

824a(e)) and regulations thereunder (10 

CFR 205.300 et seq.). Sections 301(b) 

and 402(f) of the DOE Organization Act 

(42 U.S.C. 7151(b) and 7172(f)) 

transferred this regulatory authority, 

previously exercised by the nowdefunct Federal Power Commission, to 

DOE. 

Section 202(e) of the FPA provides 

that an entity which seeks to export 

electricity must obtain an order from 

DOE authorizing that export. (16 U.S.C. 

824a(e)). On April 10, 2023, the 

authority to issue such orders was 

delegated to the DOE’s Grid Deployment 

Office (GDO) by Delegation Order No. 

S1–DEL–S3–2023 and Redelegation 

Order No. S3–DEL–GD1–2023. 

On December 5, 2008, DOE issued 

Order No. EA–345, authorizing NBEMC 

(f/k/a New Brunswick Power Generation 

Corporation) to transmit electric energy 

from the United States to Canada as a 

power marketer. This authority was 

renewed on December 6, 2013, (Order 

No. EA–345–A) and on December 5, 

2018 (Order No. EA–345–B). On August 

23, 2023, NBEMC filed an application 

with DOE (Application or App) for 

renewal of their export authority for an 

additional five-year term. App at 2. 

In its Application, NBEMC states that 

it will purchase power to be exported to 

Canada from electric utilities in the 

U.S., federal power marketing agencies, 

qualifying cogeneration and small 

power production facilities, 

independent power producers, and 

other sellers. App. at 5. NBEMC notes it 

‘‘does not own any electric generation or 

transmission facilities and, as a power 

marketer, does not hold a franchise or 

service territory or native load 

obligation.’’ Id. at 6. NBEMC also states 

it is not affiliated with an entity that 

holds a franchise or service territory in 

the U.S., and ‘‘[t]hus, NBEMC has no 

transmission ‘system’ of its own on 

which its exports of power could have 

a reliability or stability impact.’’ Id. 

NBEMC asserts DOE has recognized that 

power purchased by a power marketer 

is surplus to the needs of the selling 

entities, and exports of electricity under 

such circumstances would not impair 

the sufficiency of electric supply within 

the U.S. Id. at 7. 

The existing international 

transmission facilities to be utilized by 

the Applicant have been previously 

authorized by Presidential permits 

issued pursuant to Executive Order 

10485, as amended, and are appropriate 

for open access transmission by third 

parties. See App. at Exhibit C. 

Procedural Matters: Any person 

desiring to be heard in this proceeding 

should file a comment or protest to the 

Application at Electricity.Exports@

hq.doe.gov. Protests should be filed in 

accordance with Rule 211 of FERC’s 

Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 

385.211). Any person desiring to 

become a party to this proceeding 

should file a motion to intervene at 

Electricity.Exports@hq.doe.gov in 

accordance with FERC Rule 214 (18 CFR 

385.214). 


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