Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 189 / Friday, September 30, 2005 / Notices 57257 

the complete title of the information 

collection when making your request. 

Comments regarding burden and/or 

the collection activity requirements 

should be directed to Joseph Schubart at 

his e-mail Joe.Schubart@ed.gov. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–

8339. 

[FR Doc. 05–19573 Filed 9–29–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Striving Readers Program 

AGENCY: Office of Elementary and 

Secondary Education, Department of 

Education. 

ACTION: Notice inviting applications for 

new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2005; 

Modification. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

(CFDA) Number: 84.371A. 

SUMMARY: On August 15, 2005, the 

Department published in the Federal 

Register (70 FR 47816–47821) a notice 

inviting applications for new awards for 

FY 2005 for the Striving Readers 

program. In the notice inviting 

applications, we established certain 

eligibility requirements and two 

absolute priorities for the Striving 

Readers competition. We are now 

modifying the eligibility requirements to 

expand who may apply for a grant 

under this competition and modifying 

Priority Two—Comprehensive Reading 

Initiative Components—to clarify 

further the requirements under this 

priority. 

DATES: All dates and deadlines 

published in the notice inviting 

applications remain the same. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kathryn Doherty, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 

Room 3W309, Washington, DC 20202–

6132. Telephone: (202) 205–6272 or by 

e-mail: StrivingReaders@ed.gov. 

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 to the program contact person 

listed in this section. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Subsequent to the publication on 

August 15, 2005 of the notice inviting 

applications for the Striving Readers 

competition, the Department conducted 

a series of teleconference briefings with 

more than 500 potential applicants to 

discuss the purposes of the competition, 

the funding priorities, the selection 

criteria, and the competition process. 

Based on questions and comments that 

we received during these 

teleconferences, we are modifying the 

notice inviting applications to expand 

who may apply for a grant under this 

competition and also modifying the 

Statement of Priority Two—

Comprehensive Reading Initiative 

Components. 

Modification of Applicant Eligibility 

Requirements 

In the original notice inviting 

applications for the Striving Readers 

competition, we stated that eligible 

applicants were local educational 

agencies (LEAs) that—

1. Are eligible to receive funds under 

Part A of Title I of the Elementary and 

Secondary Education Act of 1965, as 

amended (ESEA), pursuant to section 

1113 of the ESEA, and 

2. Serve students in one or more 

grades in grades 6 through 12. 

We also indicated that eligible LEAS 

may apply individually or, with other 

eligible LEAs, or in partnership with 

one or more of the following entities: 

• State educational agencies (SEAs), 

• Intermediate service agencies, 

• Public or private institutions of 

higher education, and 

• Public or private organizations with 

expertise in adolescent literacy and/or 

rigorous evaluation. 

Finally, the original notice provided 

that in any partnership, the fiscal agent 

must be the eligible LEA. 

In the teleconferences, a number of 

LEAs and some SEAs expressed interest 

in working with consortia of several 

school districts and having the SEA 

apply for the grant and serve as the 

fiscal agent for the grant. They requested 

that the eligibility requirements be 

modified to permit an SEA to partner 

with, and apply on behalf of, LEAs that 

meet the eligibility requirements 

described in the original notice inviting 

applications. We believe that a 

modification is warranted and are 

changing the eligibility requirements as 

follows: 

Eligible Applicants: The following 

entities are eligible to apply for funding 

under this competition: 

1. LEAs that—

(a) Are eligible to receive funds under 

Part A of Title I of the ESEA, pursuant 

to section 1113 of the ESEA, and 

(b) Serve students in one or more 

grades in grades 6 through 12. 

Eligible LEAs may apply individually, 

with other eligible LEAs, or in 

partnership with one or more of the 

following entities: 

• SEAs, 

• Intermediate service agencies, 

• Public or private institutions of 

higher education, and 

• Public or private organizations with 

expertise in adolescent literacy and/or 

rigorous evaluation. 

2. SEAs on behalf of one or more 

LEAs that meet the requirements of 

paragraph 1. 

SEAs must apply on behalf of one or 

more eligible LEAs and may also partner 

with one or more of the following 

entities: 

• Intermediate service agencies, 

• Public or private institutions of 

higher education, and 

• Public or private organizations with 

expertise in adolescent literacy and/or 

rigorous evaluation. 

For any application, the fiscal agent 

must be an eligible LEA or an SEA. 

Modification of Priority Two 

In the original notice inviting 

applications for the Striving Readers 

competition, we also established an 

absolute priority (Priority Two—

Comprehensive Reading Initiative 

Components) that set forth required 

activities that must be conducted by all 

Striving Readers grantees. Under this 

priority, Striving Readers grantees must 

use funds awarded under the 

competition to support a comprehensive 

reading initiative that includes three 

essential components: (1) School-level 

strategies designed to increase reading 

achievement throughout the curriculum; 

(2) an intensive, targeted intervention 

for some or all struggling readers (i.e., 

students who read at least two years 

below grade level, including limited 

English proficient students and students 

with disabilities); and (3) a rigorous 

project evaluation that includes an 

experimental research evaluation of the 

intensive, targeted intervention for 

struggling readers. 

Based on our telephone conferences, 

we are modifying this absolute priority 

to make several clarifications. 

First, we recognize that there are 

many different school configurations 

and want to clarify that Striving Reading 

services may be carried out in schools 

that contain grades other than grades 6 

through 12 (for example, kindergarten 

through grade 8 schools, grades 5 

through 8 schools, or kindergarten 

57258 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 189 / Friday, September 30, 2005 / Notices 

through grade 12 schools). Second, we 

want to make it clear that under this 

priority, grantees must implement both 

school-level strategies to enhance 

reading achievement and intensive, 

targeted interventions, and these 

strategies and interventions must be 

directed at students in grades 6 and 

above only. Finally, we want to clarify 

when grantees must begin to provide 

these services. 

The school-level strategies must focus 

on improving literacy for the entire 

grade span/student population in the 

grades 6 through 12 that are included in 

the school and be implemented in each 

of these grades no later than the start of 

the 2006–2007 school year. In a 

kindergarten through grade 12 school, 

for example, the school-level strategies 

must be designed to enhance the 

literacy skills of all students in grades 

6 through 12. In a high school with 

grades 9 through 12, the school-level 

strategies must encompass all of the 

grades in the school. Further, the 

school-level strategies must be provided 

in all of the covered grade levels (i.e., 

grades 6 through 12) during each year of 

the project, beginning no later than the 

start of the 2006–2007 school year. 

The targeted interventions must be for 

some or all students in grades 6 through 

12 who are reading at least two years 

below grade level. In schools that 

include grades kindergarten through 8, 

for example, the targeted intervention 

must be targeted at struggling readers in 

one or more grades 6 through 8. 

However, the grantee would not have to 

provide targeted interventions to all 

struggling readers in grades 6 through 8. 

In this example, the targeted 

intervention must focus on all or some 

struggling readers either in a given grade 

level or in more than one grade in 

grades 6 through 8. Furthermore, the 

grantee must provide intensive, targeted 

intervention strategies during each year 

of the project beginning no later than 

the start of the 2006–2007 school year. 

Statement of Priority Two— 

Comprehensive Reading Initiative 

Components 

The applicant, if awarded a grant 

under this program, will use the funds 

to support a comprehensive reading 

initiative that includes the following 

components: 

1. School-level strategies designed to 

increase reading achievement for 

students by integrating enhanced 

literacy instruction throughout the 

curriculum and the entire school. These 

strategies must include, at a minimum, 

a needs assessment, professional 

development, and a process for 

monitoring student performance. The 

school-level strategies must focus on 

improving literacy for the entire grade 

span/student population in the grades 6 

through 12 that are included in the 

school and be implemented in each of 

these grades during each year of the 

project period beginning no later than 

the start of the 2006–2007 school year. 

2. An intensive, targeted intervention 

for struggling readers (i.e., students who 

read at least two years below grade 

level, including limited English 

proficient students and students with 

disabilities). The intervention must 

include, at a minimum, assessments to 

identify struggling readers, a 

supplementary literacy intervention 

designed to accelerate the development 

of literacy skills for these readers, 

professional development for their 

teachers, and a process for monitoring 

student progress that includes the 

administration of student assessments. 

The intensive, targeted interventions 

must be for some or all struggling 

readers in one or more grades 6 through 

12. The grantee must provide intensive, 

targeted intervention strategies during 

each year of the project period 

beginning no later than the start of the 

2006–2007 school year. 

3. A project evaluation that 

includes—

(a) A rigorous experimental research 

evaluation of the intensive, targeted 

intervention for struggling readers. The 

evaluation of the intensive, targeted 

intervention must be conducted by an 

independent evaluator and must 

include a randomized control trial; and 

(b) A rigorous evaluation of the 

school-level strategies designed to 

increase reading achievement for 

students by integrating enhanced 

literacy instruction throughout the 

curriculum and the school. The 

evaluation of the school-level strategies 

must be conducted by an independent 

evaluator and may, but need not, 

include a randomized control trial. 

To meet this priority, applicants must 

demonstrate that they have allocated 

sufficient program and other funds to 

carry out a high-quality evaluation of 

the proposed Striving Readers project. 

Applicants also will need to include a 

sufficient number of schools and 

students to support an experimental 

evaluation design of the targeted 

intervention in one or more grades in 

grades 6 through 12. 

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 eligibility 

requirements and priorities. Section 

437(d)(1) of the General Education 

Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232(d)(1)), 

however, allows the Secretary to exempt 

from rulemaking requirements, 

regulations governing the first grant 

competition under a new or 

substantially revised program authority. 

This is the first grant competition for 

this program under section 1502 of the 

Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act of 1965, as amended, and therefore 

qualifies for this exemption. In order to 

ensure timely grant awards, the 

Secretary has decided to forgo public 

comment on the modified eligibility 

requirements and priority in this notice 

under section 437(d)(1). These modified 

eligibility requirements and priority will 

apply to the FY 2005 grant competition 

and any subsequent awards we make 

based on the list of unfunded 

applications from this competition. 

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. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6492. 

Dated: September 27, 2005. 

Henry Johnson, 

Assistant Secretary for Elementary and 

Secondary Education. 

[FR Doc. 05–19618 Filed 9–29–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION 

Publication of State Plans Pursuant to 

the Help America Vote Act 

AGENCY: Election Assistance 

Commission (EAC). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to sections 

254(a)(11)(A) and 255(b) of the Help 

America Vote Act (HAVA), Public Law 

107–252, the U.S. Election Assistance 

Commission (EAC) hereby causes to be 

published in the Federal Register 

material changes to the HAVA State