21284 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.306S]

Office of Educational Research and

Improvement; The Comprehensive

School Reform Research Grant

Competition; Notice Inviting

Applications for New Awards for Fiscal

Year (FY) 2000

Purpose of Program: The purpose of

this program is to expand understanding

of the full dimensions of school reform

through rigorous investigation of the

large-scale implementation of researchbased comprehensive school reform

models as a strategy for increasing

student achievement.

For FY 2000 the competition for new

awards focuses on projects designed to

meet the priorities identified in the

PRIORITIES section of this application

notice.

Eligible Applicants: Institutions of

higher education; State and local

education agencies; public and private

organizations, institutions, and

agencies; and individuals.

Applications Available: May 12, 2000

for hardcopies. Also available by Web

site (http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/) on

the date of publication of this notice.

Deadline for Transmittal of

Applications: June 22, 2000.

Estimated Available Funds: Up to $5

million.

Estimated Size of Awards: The size of

the awards will be commensurate with

the nature and scope of the proposed

work.

Note: The Department is not bound by any

estimates in this notice.

Budget Period: 12-month period.

Project Period: Up to 36 months, with

the exception of large-scale longitudinal

field studies that may require 5 years to

collect and analyze sufficient student or

school outcome data.

Page Limits: The application must

include six sections: title page form,

research narrative, management plan,

biographical sketches for principal

investigators and other key personnel,

budget summary form with budget

narrative, and statement of equitable

access (GEPA 427). The research

narrative is limited to 50 pages, the

management plan is limited to 5 pages,

and biographical sketches are limited to

3 pages each, using 81⁄2 x 11 inch paper

with printing on only one side.

Appendix materials should not be

submitted. Pages in excess of these

limitations will be removed unread. We

strongly encourage applicants to use

double-spacing, a 12-point font, and 1-

inch margins. Reviewers are able to

conduct the highest quality review

when applications are concise and easy

to read, with pages consecutively

numbered.

Applicable Statutes and Regulations:

(a) Statutes: This grant competition is

authorized by P.L. 106–113, the

Department of Education

Appropriations Act, 2000 and by OERI’s

authorizing statute at 20 U.S.C. 6031. (b)

Regulations: (1) The Education

Department General Administrative

Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR Parts

74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 86 (Part

86 applies only to Institutions of Higher

Education), 97, 98 and 99; and (2) 34

CFR Part 700.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

research grant competition combines

elements of both research and

evaluation of comprehensive school

reform. The Office of Educational

Research and Improvement (OERI)

expects that the knowledge gained from

this work will provide the field with

findings about specific models in

promoting student achievement and

enhance our understanding of how

model developers and staff in schools

can more effectively work together to

improve student achievement. In

addition, it should contribute to our

overall understanding of how to

increase student achievement and our

continuing efforts to refine and improve

education reform strategies.

Currently, very few comprehensive

school reform models have been

rigorously evaluated to determine their

effectiveness. States, districts, schools,

and the research community all would

greatly benefit from additional rigorous

evaluation of the various models.

Equally important is additional

information about how various model

characteristics (e.g., prescriptiveness,

professional development strategy, and

curriculum requirements) are likely to

achieve success in schools with

differing student populations,

capacities, and needs.

This work should build on the

growing awareness that comprehensive

school reform as a strategy for improved

student achievement will depend not

only on the model being implemented,

but also on the context and conditions

that exist in classrooms, schools, and

districts. What works or does not work

in a classroom, school or district can be

a function of a variety of factors and

supporting conditions such as financial

resources, teacher quality, district and

school-level leadership, and

collaborative strategies employed by

model developers, districts, schools,

and external technical assistance

providers. In addition, the success or

effectiveness of a model may be related

to the needs of special populations

including limited English proficient

students or special education students.

OERI seeks rigorous research and

evaluation designs that focus explicitly

on comprehensive school reform’s role

in increasing student learning and

achievement. The studies must

contribute in a significant and

cumulative way to extant research on

comprehensive school reform; and

produce findings that are sound,

relevant, timely, and useful to

practitioners and policymakers.

Applicants should demonstrate

understanding of research in progress,

as well as plans for evaluations of this

research. Research questions should be

informed by the needs of practitioners

and policymakers involved in

comprehensive school reform initiatives

and should be framed in ways that are

likely to increase the utility of the

findings ultimately produced. In

addition, study designs should include

mechanisms to share emerging findings

with the field, as appropriate. The

designs should also enable other

interested researchers to conduct further

data analyses, replication, verification

and refinement of findings, and

improvement of measurement

procedures.

We encourage collaboration in the

conduct of research. Proposal teams

should reflect synergistic collaborations

among model developers, researchers,

practitioners, and others likely to

produce relevant and actionable

findings for educators and

policymakers. We encourage research

organizations to collaborate with groups

and institutions historically

underrepresented in education research,

such as Historically Black Colleges and

Universities, Hispanic-Serving

Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and

Universities.

OERI cautions that this research grant

program is not intended to support

model development or improvement

efforts in individual schools or districts,

but rather to support research efforts

resulting in findings that apply to

comprehensive school reform strategies

for many schools in various

communities, districts and states.

Type of Awards

OERI anticipates that research

designed to address one or more of these

priorities may require large studies. For

some projects, such as large-scale

longitudinal studies, closer

relationships with grantees than those

typically afforded by discretionary

grants may be appropriate. OERI

therefore expects that some studies will

be awarded cooperative agreements

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Notices 21285

rather than discretionary grants, as

provided for in EDGAR, at 34 CFR

75.200.

OERI is interested in conducting

research about the capacity of already

developed comprehensive school reform

models to increase student achievement

in large numbers of schools outside the

original development and field test

sites. As previously noted, we will not

fund the development of models or

provide support simply to implement

and/or evaluate a specific program in a

specific site.

Priorities

For purposes of this competition, an

externally developed, research-based

comprehensive school reform model is

defined as follows: (1) It includes an

integrated set of supportive materials,

frameworks or guidelines, and the

capacity to provide implementation

assistance to schools. (2) It supports all

systems within a school—organization,

instruction, professional development,

and management. (3) All of the school’s

classrooms are actively engaged in and

accountable for the implementation of a

common, articulated strategy to improve

teaching and learning for all students in

the school. (4) The components are

grounded in research on effective

practice. (5) It has been developed and

tested in one set of schools and has

demonstrated capacity to serve other

schools. (6) There is some evidence of

the effectiveness of the model in

increasing student achievement.

Absolute Priority

OERI has identified three research

questions as being critical to

understanding the full dimensions of

the large-scale implementation of

externally developed research-based

comprehensive school reform models as

a strategy for increasing student

achievement. This competition focuses

on research projects designed to meet

the following absolute priority:

Conduct studies that address one or

more of the following research

questions:

(1) How effective are specific

externally developed, research-based

comprehensive school reform models in

improving the achievement of all

students?

(2) How are model characteristics

related to success of model

implementation and improvement in

teaching and learning in specific types

of settings and with specific types of

students?

(3) What supporting conditions and

strategies are necessary to effectively

implement and sustain comprehensive

school reform models in schools and

school districts?

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we

consider only applications that meet

this priority.

Competitive Priority

The Secretary gives competitive

preference priority to applications that

address research question (1) under the

absolute priority, in addition to

addressing one or both of the other

research questions in a coherent and

integrated design. OERI considers

research question (1) to be central to the

proposed work. OERI believes studies

designed to address question (1), and

one or both of the other research

questions will increase the rigor and

robustness of school reform research

and evaluation. In addition, study

designs that link elements of research

questions (2) and/or (3) with research

question (1) will be more useful to

model developers, policymakers, and

practitioners.

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii), OERI

will select an application that meets the

competitive priority over an application

of comparable merit that does not meet

the priority.

A principal investigator may submit

only one proposal and may collaborate

in one other proposal as a coinvestigator. Group and collaborative

proposals involving more than one

institution must be submitted as a single

administrative package from one of the

institutions involved. Principal

investigators will be required to meet at

least twice each year with agency staff,

consultants, and other OERI grantees

and contractors for the purpose of

expanding collaborative efforts within

this field of research. OERI anticipates

the possibility of funding two or more

proposals that address the same or

similar themes, topics or issues. OERI

provides opportunities for grantees to

inform each other’s work by discussing

common challenges, methodological

issues, and ways to maximize the

impact of this program on student

achievement for all students. Principal

investigators will also be required to

help identify crosscutting research

issues, and to work together to better

inform other researchers, practitioners,

and policymakers of emerging findings.

Depending upon the type of research

proposed, OERI might require some

common study design elements.

Investigators may be asked to develop a

core of common research questions,

outcome measures, instruments, or data

analysis procedures so that study

findings are comparable.

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking

In accordance with the

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.

553), it is the practice of the Department

to offer interested parties the

opportunity to comment on proposed

priorities that are not taken directly

from statute. Ordinarily, this practice

would have applied to the priorities in

this notice. Section 437(d)(1) of the

General Education Provisions Act

(GEPA), 20 U.S.C. l232(d)(1), however,

exempts rules that apply to the first

competition under a new or

substantially revised program from this

requirement.

The conference agreement for the FY

2000 appropriation for OERI’s national

research institutes includes $20,000,000

for ‘‘current and expanded

comprehensive school reform research

and development.’’ (P.L. 106–113, the

Department of Education

Appropriations Act, 2000.) Of that sum,

approximately $15 million will support

continuation of the current activities

(contracts resulting from the FY 1999

design competition for new models for

comprehensive school reform at the

middle and high school level). An

estimated $5 million will be used for the

discretionary grants or cooperative

agreements that are the subject matter of

this competition. This expanded

program of research and development

will focus on studies addressing the

student achievement effects of various

comprehensive school reform models.

Therefore, the Assistant Secretary of

OERI, in accordance with section

437(d)(1) of GEPA, to ensure timely

awards, has decided to forego public

comment with respect to the priorities.

The priorities will apply only to the FY

2000 grant competition.

FOR APPLICATIONS CONTACT: Electronic

Copy. Applications will be available on

the World Wide Web at the following

sites:

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/

csrrdp.html

http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/

Hard Copy. Hard copies will be

available after May 12, 2000 from the

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

21286 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Notices

If you request an application from ED

Pubs, be sure to identify this

competition as follows: CFDA Number

84.306S.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cheryl Kane, U.S. Department of

Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue,

NW., room 604B, Washington, DC

20202–5530. Telephone: (202) 208–

2991. E-mail: cheryl kane@ed.gov or D.

Hollinger Martinez, U.S. Department of

Education, 555 New Jersey Ave, NW.,

room 610C, Washington, DC 20208–

5521. Telephone: (202) 219–2239.

E-mail:

debralhollingerlmartinez@ed.gov. If

you use a telecommunications device

for the deaf (TDD), you may call the

Federal Information Relay Service

(FIRS) 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 either of the

individuals under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT.

Individuals with disabilities may

obtain a copy of the application package

in an alternative format by contacting

that person. However, the Department is

not able to reproduce in an alternative

format the standard forms included in

the application package.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may view this document, as well

as all other Department of Education

documents published in the Federal

Register, in text or Adobe Portable

Document Format (PDF) on the Internet

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, which is

available free at either of the previous

sites. If you have questions about using

the 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.access.gpo.gov/nara/

index.html.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6031.

C. Kent McGuire,

Assistant Secretary for Educational Research

and Improvement.

[FR Doc. 00–9932 Filed 4–19–00; 8:45 am]

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