27646 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 96 /Tuesday, May 19, 1998 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA NO.: 84.184G & J]

Safe and Drug-Free Schools and

Communities National Programs—

Federal Activities Grants Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Priorities

and Selection Criteria for Fiscal Year

1998.

SUMMARY: The Secretary announces

proposed priorities and selection

criteria for fiscal year (FY) 1998 under

the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and

Communities (SDFSC) National

Programs Federal Activities Grants

Program. The Secretary takes this action

to focus Federal financial assistance on

identified national needs to promote the

creation of safe and orderly learning

environments for all students and to

encourage the development of systems

to collect data related to youth drug use

and violent behavior.

Invitation To Comment

Interested persons are invited to

submit comments and recommendations

regarding these proposed priorities. All

comments submitted in response to this

notice will be available for public

inspection, during and after the

comment period, in Room 603, Portals

Building, 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC, between the hours of

9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Eastern time,

Monday through Friday of each week

except Federal holidays.

On request, the Department supplies

an appropriate aid, such as a reader or

print magnifier, to an individual with a

disability who needs assistance to

review the comments. An individual

with a disability who wants to schedule

an appointment for this type of aid may

call (202) 205–8113 or (202) 260–9895.

An individual who uses a TDD may call

the Federal Information Relay Service at

1–800–877–8339, between 8 a.m. and 8

p.m. Eastern time, Monday through

Friday.

DATES: Comments must be received by

the Department on or before June 18,

1998.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning

these proposed priorities should be

addressed to Ethel Jackson, U.S.

Department of Education, 600 Maryland

Avenue, SW., Suite 603, Portals

Building, Washington, DC 20202–6123.

Comments may also be sent through the

Internet to: comments@ed.gov. You

must include the term ‘‘Federal

Activities Grant Program’’ in the subject

line of your electronic message.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ethel Jackson, Safe and Drug-Free

Schools Programs, U.S. Department of

Education, 600 Independence Avenue,

SW., Room 603, Portals, Washington,

DC 20202–6123. Telephone: (202) 260–

3954. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD) may call the Federal Information

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339

between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.,

Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Individuals with disabilities may

obtain this document in an alternate

format (e.g., Braille, large print,

audiotape, or computer diskette) on

request to the contact person listed

above.

Note: This notice of proposed priorities

and selection criteria does not solicit

applications. A notice inviting applications

under this competition will be published in

the Federal Register concurrent with or

following the publication of the notice of

final priorities.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This notice contains two proposed

priorities and selection criteria for fiscal

year 1998. Under absolute priority one

(CFDA 84.184G, State and Local

Educational Agency Drug and Violence

Prevention Data Collection), the

Secretary may make grant awards for up

to 24 months. Under absolute priority

number two (CFDA 84.184J, Model

Demonstration Program), the Secretary

may award cooperative agreements for

up to 60 months. Cooperative

agreements funded through this priority

will serve as national demonstration

sites to test strategies, assess

effectiveness, and make a major

contribution to the development and

dissemination of models and

components of models which can be

used by school districts and other

youth-serving agencies nationwide.

Priorities

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) and the

Safe and Drug-Free Schools and

Communities Act of 1994, the Secretary

gives an absolute preference to

applications that meet one of the

following priorities. The Secretary funds

under this competition only

applications that meet one of these

absolute priorities.

Absolute Priority 1 and Selection

Criteria—State and Local Educational

Agency Drug and Violence Prevention

Data Collection (CFDA 84.184G)

Under this priority, applicants must

propose projects that—

(1) Develop, improve, expand, or

enhance the collection of data related to

youth drug use and violence; and

(2) Develop and implement processes

to ensure that high-quality data are used

to form policy, assess needs, select

interventions, and assess the success of

drug and violence prevention activities

funded under the SDFSC State Grants

Program. Projects may be State-wide in

scope or limited to an individual local

educational agency, or a consortium of

local educational agencies, with a

student enrollment that exceeds 30,000.

Projects must address drug and

violence prevention data for students in

general, not just for a sub-set of the

population (e.g., non-English speaking

students or hearing-impaired students).

To be considered for funding under this

competition, a project must include—

(1) Concrete plans, with timelines,

that detail how the results of new or

improved data collection efforts will be

incorporated into State and local

educational agency efforts to assess

needs, select interventions, and assess

success of drug and violence prevention

efforts;

(2) Outcome-based performance

indicators that will be used to judge the

success of the project;

(3) A description of how efforts

proposed as part of the project have

been coordinated with and will not

duplicate data collection efforts being

implemented by other State or local

agencies; and

(4) If the applicant is other than a

State or local educational agency,

evidence of commitment from the State

educational agency (for State-wide

projects) or from the superintendent of

schools (for local projects).

Selection Criteria

(a)(1) The Secretary uses the following

selection criteria to evaluate proposals

submitted under this priority.

The maximum score for all of the

criteria in this section is 100 points.

The maximum score for each criterion

is indicated in parentheses with the

criterion.

(b) The criteria.—

1. Need for project. (15 points)

In determining the need for the

proposed project, the following factors

are considered:

(a) The magnitude of the need for the

services to be provided or the activities

to be carried out by the proposed

project.

(b) The extent to which specific gaps

or weaknesses in services,

infrastructure, or opportunities have

been identified and will be addressed by

the proposed project, including the

nature and magnitude of those gaps or

weaknesses.

2. Significance. (25 points)

In determining the significance of the

proposed project, the following factors

are considered:
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 96 /Tuesday, May 19, 1998 / Notices 27647

(a) The significance of the problem or

issues to be addressed by the proposed

project.

(b) The likelihood that the proposed

project will result in system change or

improvement.

(c) The extent to which the proposed

project is likely to build local capacity

to provide, improve, or expand services

that address the needs of the target

population.

3. Quality of the project design. (25

points)

In determining the quality of the

design of the proposed project, the

following factors are considered:

(a) The extent to which the goals,

objectives, and outcomes to be achieved

by the proposed project are clearly

specified and measurable.

(b) The extent to which the proposed

project is designed to build capacity and

yield results that will extend beyond the

period of Federal financial assistance.

(c) The extent to which the proposed

project will be coordinated with similar

or related efforts, and with other

appropriate community, State and

Federal resources.

4. Adequacy of resources. (15 points)

In determining the adequacy of

resources for the proposed projects, the

following factors are considered:

(a) The extent to which the costs are

reasonable in relation to the objectives,

design, and potential significance of the

proposed project.

(b) The potential for the incorporation

of project purposes, activities or benefits

into the ongoing program of the agency

or organization at the end of Federal

funding.

5. Quality of the management plan

(10 points)

In determining the quality of the

management plan for the proposed

project, the following factor is

considered:

(a) The adequacy of the management

plan to achieve the objectives of the

proposed project on time and within

budget, including clearly defined

responsibilities, time lines, and

milestone for accomplishing project

tasks.

6. Quality of the project evaluation.

(10 points)

In determining the quality of the

evaluation to be conducted for the

proposed project, the following factor is

considered:

(a) The extent to which the methods

of evaluation will provide performance

feedback and permit periodic

assessment of progress toward achieving

intended outcomes.

Absolute Priority #2 and Selection

Criteria—Model Demonstration

Programs to Create Safe and Orderly

Learning Environments in Schools

(CFDA 84.184J)

Projects proposed under this priority

are expected to comprehensively

address multiple factors that predispose

youth to drug use and violent behavior.

Therefore, projects will not be funded

for: (a) basic support of existing

programs; (b) replication of a single

program of demonstrated effectiveness,

or (c) less than $500,000 or more than

$1 million.

Projects supported under this priority

will be funded for implementation in

one site for three years and for

replication in additional sites for two

years. Projects will be reviewed during

the third year to examine, among other

factors, the degree to which the

evaluation findings at the original site

are promising, and the quality of the

evaluation design proposed to test the

model at other sites during years four

and five. Projects which fail to

demonstrate effectiveness at the original

site will not be funded to test the

model’s replication in other sites.

Under this priority, applicants must

propose projects that:

(A) Develop and implement a model

with specific components or strategies

that are based on theory, research, or

evaluation data;

(B) Identify outcomes intended to

result in behavioral change in youth

served and other indicators of the

effectiveness of the model (e.g.

improved bonding to school and to the

community, reductions in disciplinary

referrals, absence of firearms and other

weapons in schools, acquisition of prosocial skills, and reductions in alcohol,

tobacco, and other drug use by the target

population);

(C) Evaluate the model by using

multiple measures to determine the

effectiveness of the model and its

components or strategies; and

(D) Produce detailed documentation

of procedures and materials that would

enable others to replicate the model as

implemented at the original site.

Applicants must provide the

following : (1) recent and historical data

on drug use by youth; (2) data that

describes patterns of violence and

disruptive acts in schools; (3) rates of

referral to juvenile justice authorities for

bringing weapons to school, drug use or

possession and violent criminal acts; (4)

evidence of gang and violence problems

in the target community, and (5)

demographic information for the

geographic area in which the school is

located.

Selection Criteria

(a)(1) The Secretary uses the following

selection criteria to evaluate proposals

submitted under this priority.

The maximum score for all of the

criteria in this section is 100 points.

(2) The maximum score for each

criterion is indicated in parentheses.

(b) The criteria.—

1. Significance (30 points)

In determining the significance of the

proposed project, the following factors

are considered:

(a) The potential contribution of the

proposed project to the development

and advancement of theory, knowledge,

and practices in the field of study.

(b) The extent to which the proposed

project is likely to yield findings that

may be utilized by other appropriate

agencies and organizations.

(c) The potential replicability of the

proposed project or strategies,

including, as appropriate, the potential

for implementation in a variety of

settings.

(2) Quality of the project design (25

points)

In determining the quality of the

design of the proposed project, the

following factors are considered:

(a) The extent to which the goals,

objectives, and outcomes to be achieved

by the proposed project are clearly

specified and measurable.

(b) The extent to which there is a

conceptual framework underlying the

proposed research or demonstration

activities and the quality of that

framework.

(c) The extent to which the design of

the proposed project reflects up-to-date

knowledge from research and effective

practice.

(d) The quality of the proposed

demonstration design and procedures

for documenting project activities and

results;

(e) The extent to which the proposed

project represents an exceptional

approach to the priority or priorities

established for the competition.

3. Adequacy of resources (10 points)

In determining the adequacy of

resources for the proposed project, the

following factors are considered:

(a) The relevance and demonstrated

commitment of each partner in the

proposed project to the implementation

and success of the project.

(b) The extent to which the costs are

reasonable in relation to the objectives,

design and potential significance of the

proposed project.

4. Quality of the management plan

(10 points)

In determining the quality of the

management plan, the following factors

are considered:
27648 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 96 /Tuesday, May 19, 1998 / Notices

(a) The adequacy of the management

plan to achieve the objectives of the

proposed project on time and within

budget, including clearly defined

responsibilities, timelines, and

milestones for accomplishing project

tasks.

(b) The extent to which the time

commitments of the project director and

principal investigator and other key

project personnel are appropriate and

adequate to meet the objectives of the

proposed project.

5. Quality of the project evaluation

(25 points)

In determining the quality of the

evaluation, the following factors are

considered:

(a) The extent to which the methods

of the evaluation are thorough, feasible,

and appropriate to the goals, objectives

and outcomes of the proposed project.

(b) The extent to which the methods

of evaluation include the use of

objective performance measures that are

clearly related to the intended outcomes

of the project and will produce

quantitative and qualitative data to the

extent possible.

Electronic Access to This Document

Anyone may view this document, as

well as all other Department of

Education documents published in the

Federal Register, in text or portable

document format (pdf) on the World

Wide Web at either of the following

sites:

http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm

http://www.ed.gov/news.html

To use the pdf you must have the

Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with

Search, which is available free at either

of the preceding sites. If you have

questions about using the pdf, call the

U.S. Government Printing Office toll

free at 1–888–293–6498.

Anyone may also view these

documents in text copy only on an

electronic bulletin board of the

Department. Telephone: (202) 219–1511

or, toll free, 1–800–222–4922. The

documents are located under Option

G—Files/Announcements, Bulletins and

Press Releases.

Note: The official version of this document

is the document published in the Federal

Register.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7131.

Dated: May 14, 1998.

Gerald N. Tirozzi,

Assistant Secretary for Elementary and

Secondary Education.

[FR Doc. 98–13247 Filed 5–18–98; 8:45 am]

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