11496 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 42 / Monday, March 3, 2008 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Institute of Education Sciences; 

Overview Information; Education 

Research and Special Education 

Research Grant Programs; Notice 

Inviting Applications for New Awards 

for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

(CFDA) Numbers: 84.305A, 84.305B, 305C, 

305D, 305E, 84.324A, and 84.324B. 

Summary: The Director of the 

Institute of Education Sciences 

(Institute) announces the Institute’s FY 

2009 competitions for grants to support 

education research and special 

education research. The Director takes 

this action under the Education 

Sciences Reform Act of 2002, title I of 

Public Law 107–279. The intent of these 

grants is to provide national leadership 

in expanding fundamental knowledge 

and understanding of education from 

early childhood education through 

postsecondary and adult education. 

Full Text of Announcement 

I. Funding Opportunity Description 

Purpose of Program: The central 

purpose of the Institute’s research grant 

programs is to provide parents, 

educators, students, researchers, 

policymakers, and the general public 

with reliable and valid information 

about education practices that support 

learning and improve academic 

achievement and access to education 

opportunities for all students. In 

carrying out its grant programs, the 

Institute provides support for programs 

of research in areas of demonstrated 

national need. 

Competitions in this Notice: The 

Institute will conduct nine research 

competitions in FY 2009 through two of 

its National Education Centers. 

The National Center for Education 

Research (NCER) will hold six 

competitions: Two competitions for 

education research; one competition for 

education research training; one 

competition for education research and 

development centers; one competition 

for research on statistical and research 

methodology in education; and one 

competition for evaluation of State and 

district education programs and 

policies. 

The National Center for Special 

Education Research (NCSER) will hold 

three competitions: Two competitions 

for special education research and one 

competition for special education 

research training. 

National Center for Education Research 

Competitions 

Education Research. Under the two 

education research competitions, NCER 

will consider only applications that 

address one of the following education 

research topics: 

• Reading and Writing 

• Mathematics and Science Education 

• Cognition and Student Learning 

• Teacher Quality—Reading and 

Writing 

• Teacher Quality—Mathematics and 

Science Education 

• Social and Behavioral Context for 

Academic Learning 

• Education Leadership 

• Education Policy, Finance, and 

Systems 

• Early Childhood Programs and 

Policies 

• Middle and High School Reform 

• Interventions for Struggling 

Adolescent and Adult Readers and 

Writers 

• Postsecondary Education 

• Education Technology 

Education Research Training. Under 

the education research training 

competition, NCER will consider only 

applications for: 

• Postdoctoral Research Training 

• Predoctoral Research Training 

Education Research and Development 

Centers. Under the education research 

and development centers competition, 

NCER will consider only applications 

that address one of the following 

education research topics: 

• Teacher Effectiveness 

• Rural Education 

• Turning Around Chronically Low 

Achieving Schools 

Research on Statistical and Research 

Methodology in Education. Under this 

competition, NCER will consider only 

applications that address research on 

statistical and research methodology in 

education. 

Evaluation of State and District 

Education Programs and Policies. Under 

this competition, NCER will consider 

only applications that address the 

evaluation of State and district 

education programs and policies. 

National Center for Special Education 

Research Competitions 

Special Education Research. Under 

the two special education research 

competitions, NCSER will consider only 

applications that address one of the 

following special education research 

topics: 

• Early Intervention and Early 

Childhood Special Education 

• Reading, Writing, and Language 

Development 

• Mathematics and Science Education 

• Social and Behavioral Outcomes to 

Support Learning 

• Transition Outcomes for Special 

Education Secondary Students 

• Cognition and Student Learning in 

Special Education 

• Teacher Quality 

• Related Services 

• Systemic Interventions and Policies 

for Special Education 

• Autism Spectrum Disorders 

Special Education Research Training. 

Under the special education research 

training competition, NCSER will 

consider only applications for 

Postdoctoral Research Training. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 9501 et 

seq. 

Applicable Regulations: The 

Education Department General 

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 

34 CFR parts 74, 77, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 

86, 97, 98, and 99. In addition, 34 CFR 

part 75 is applicable, except for the 

provisions in 34 CFR 75.100, 75.101(b), 

75.102, 75.103, 75.105, 75.109(a), 

75.200, 75.201, 75.209, 75.210, 75.211, 

75.217, 75.219, 75.220, 75.221, 75.222, 

and 75.230. 

Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 

apply to institutions of higher education 

only. 

II. Award Information 

Type of Award: Discretionary grants 

and cooperative agreements. 

Fiscal Information: Although 

Congress has not enacted a final 

appropriation for FY 2009, the Institute 

is inviting applications for these 

competitions now so that it may be 

prepared to make awards following final 

action on the Department’s 

appropriations bill. The President’s FY 

2009 Budget for the Institute includes 

sufficient funding for all of the 

competitions included in this notice. 

The actual award of grants will depend 

on the availability of funds. The number 

of awards made under each competition 

will depend on the quality of the 

applications received for that 

competition. The size of the awards will 

depend on the scope of the projects 

proposed. 

III. Eligibility Information 

1. Eligible Applicants: Applicants that 

have the ability and capacity to conduct 

scientifically valid research are eligible 

to apply. Eligible applicants include, 

but are not limited to, non-profit and 

for-profit organizations and public and 

private agencies and institutions, such 

as colleges and universities. 

2. Cost Sharing or Matching: These 

programs do not require cost sharing or 

matching. 


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IV. Application and Submission 

Information 

1. Request for Applications and Other 

Information: Information regarding 

program and application requirements 

for the competitions will be contained 

in the NCER and NCSER Request for 

Applications (RFA) packages, which 

will be available at the following Web 

sites: 

http://ies.ed.gov/funding/. 

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ies/ 

programs.html. 

2. Applications Available: The RFAs 

for the education research, special 

education research, research on 

statistical and research methodology in 

education, and evaluation of State and 

district education programs and policies 

competitions will be available at the 

Web sites listed above on or before 

March 3, 2008. The dates on which 

applications for these competitions will 

be available are also indicated in the 

chart at the end of this notice. 

The RFAs for the education research 

training, special education research 

training, and education research and 

development centers competitions will 

be available at the Web sites listed 

above on or before March 20, 2008. 

Interested potential applicants should 

periodically check the Institute’s Web 

site. 

Information regarding selection 

criteria and review procedures for the 

competitions will be provided in the 

RFA packages. 

3. Deadline for Transmittal of 

Applications: The deadline dates for 

transmittal of applications invited under 

this notice are indicated in the chart at 

the end of this notice and in the RFAs 

for the competitions. 

4. Submission Requirements: 

Applications for grants under these 

competitions must be submitted 

electronically using the Grants.gov 

Apply site (Grants.gov). Information 

(including dates and times) about how 

to submit your application 

electronically, or in paper format by 

mail or hand delivery if you qualify for 

an exception to this requirement, please 

refer to section V. a. Submission of 

Applications 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 

in section VII in this notice. If the 

Department provides an accommodation 

or auxiliary aid to an individual with a 

disability in connection with the 

application process, the individual’s 

application remains subject to all other 

requirements and limitations in this 

notice. 

V. Submission of Applications 

a. Electronic Submission of 

Applications 

Applications for grants under the 

Education Research, Education Research 

Training, Education Research and 

Development Centers, Research on 

Statistical and Research Methodology in 

Education, and Evaluation of State and 

District Education Programs and 

Policies competitions, CFDA Numbers 

84.305A, 84.305B, 84.305C, 84.305D, 

and 84.305E, and for grants under the 

Special Education Research and Special 

Education Research Training 

competitions, CFDA Numbers 84.324A 

and 84.324B, must be submitted 

electronically using 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. 

We will reject your application if you 

submit it in paper format unless, as 

described elsewhere in this section, you 

qualify for one of the exceptions to the 

electronic submission requirement and 

submit, no later than two weeks before 

the application deadline date, a written 

statement to the Department that you 

qualify for one of these exceptions. 

Further information regarding 

calculation of the date that is two weeks 

before the application deadline date is 

provided later in this section under 

Exception to Electronic Submission 

Requirement. 

You may access the electronic grant 

applications for the Education Research, 

Education Research Training, Education 

Research and Development Centers, 

Research on Statistical and Research 

Methodology in Education, Evaluation 

of State and District Education Programs 

and Policies, Special Education 

Research, and Special Education 

Research Training competitions at 

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

for the downloadable application 

package for each competition by the 

CFDA number. Do not include the 

CFDA number’s alpha suffix in your 

search (e.g., search for 84.324, not 

84.324A). 

Please note the following: 

• 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 the 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 all steps 

in the Grants.gov registration process 

(see 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 

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 submit 

successfully an application via 

Grants.gov. In addition you will need to 


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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 qualify for 

an exception to the electronic 

submission requirement, as described 

elsewhere in this section, and submit 

your application in paper format. 

• You must submit all documents 

electronically, including all information 

you typically provide on the following 

forms: Application for Federal 

Assistance (SF 424 (R&R)) and the other 

R&R forms, including Project 

Performance Site Locations, Other 

Project Information, Senior/Key Person 

Profile, Research and Related Budget 

(Total Federal + Non-federal) and all 

necessary assurances and certifications. 

• You must attach any narrative 

sections of your application as files in 

a .PDF (Portable Document) format. If 

you upload a file type other than the file 

type specified in this paragraph or 

submit a password-protected file, the 

Institute may choose not to 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 Technical Issues With the 

Grants.gov System: If you are 

experiencing problems submitting your 

application through Grants.gov, please 

contact the Grants.gov Support Desk, 

toll free, 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 under For 

Further Information Contact in section 

VII in this notice 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. 

Exception to Electronic Submission 

Requirement: You qualify for an 

exception to the electronic submission 

requirement, and may submit your 

application in paper format, if you are 

unable to submit an application through 

the Grants.gov system because—

• You do not have access to the 

Internet; or 

• You do not have the capacity to 

upload large documents to the 

Grants.gov system; and 

• No later than two weeks before the 

application deadline date (14 calendar 

days or, if the fourteenth calendar day 

before the application deadline date 

falls on a Federal holiday, the next 

business day following the Federal 

holiday), you mail or fax a written 

statement to the Department, explaining 

which of the two grounds for an 

exception prevent you from using the 

Internet to submit your application. 

If you mail your written statement to 

the Department, it must be postmarked 

no later than two weeks before the 

application deadline date. If you fax 

your written statement to the 

Department, we must receive the faxed 

statement no later than two weeks 

before the application deadline date. 

Address and mail or fax your 

statement to: Elizabeth Payer, U.S. 

Department of Education, 555 New 

Jersey Avenue, NW., Room 602C, 

Washington, DC 20208. Fax: (202) 219–

1466. 

Your paper application must be 

submitted in accordance with the mail 

or hand delivery instructions described 

in this notice. 

b. Submission of Paper Applications by 

Mail 

If you qualify for an exception to the 

electronic submission requirement, you 

may mail (through the U.S. Postal 

Service or a commercial carrier) your 

application to the Department. 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: [Identify the CFDA 

number for the competition under 

which you are submitting an 

application.]), 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: [Identify the 

CFDA number for the competition under 

which you are submitting an 

application.]), 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 qualify for an exception to the 

electronic submission requirement, you 

(or a courier service) may deliver your 


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paper application to the Department by 

hand. You 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: [Identify the CFDA 

number for the competition under 

which you are submitting an 

application.]), 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—if not provided by the 

Department—in Item 10 of the SF 424 

(R&R) 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. 

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 Notice (GAN). 

We may notify you informally, also. 

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 in this notice. 

We reference the regulations outlining 

the terms and conditions of an award in 

the Applicable Regulations section in 

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. Grant Administration: Applicants 

should budget for a three-day meeting 

for project directors to be held in 

Washington, DC. 

4. 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 directed by 

the Secretary under 34 CFR 75.118. The 

Secretary may also require more 

frequent performance reports under 34 

CFR 75.720(c). For specific 

requirements on grantee reporting, 

please go to http://www.ed.gov/fund/ 

grant/apply/appforms/appforms.html. 

5. Performance Measures: To evaluate 

the overall success of its education 

research program, the Institute annually 

assesses the quality and relevance of 

newly funded research projects, as well 

as the quality of research publications 

that result from its funded research 

projects. External panels of qualified 

scientists review the quality of new 

research applications, and the 

percentage of newly funded projects 

that receive an average panel score of 

excellent or higher is determined. A 

panel of experienced education 

practitioners and administrators reviews 

descriptions of a randomly selected 

sample of newly funded projects and 

rates the degree to which the projects 

are relevant to educational practice. An 

external panel of eminent scientists 

reviews the quality of a randomly 

selected sample of new publications, 

and the percentage of new publications 

that are deemed to be of high quality is 

determined. 

VII. Agency Contact 

For Further Information Contact: The 

contact person associated with a 

particular research competition is listed 

in the chart at the end of this notice and 

in the RFA. The date on which 

applications will be available, the 

deadline for transmittal of applications, 

the estimated range of awards, and the 

project period are also listed in the chart 

and in the RFA that will be posted at the 

following Web sites: 

http://ies.ed.gov/funding/. 

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ies/ 

programs.html. 

Alternative Format: Individuals with 

disabilities can obtain this document 

and a copy of the application package in 

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

print, audiotape, or computer diskette) 

on request to the program contact 

person listed in the chart at the end of 

this notice. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

You can 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: February 26, 2008. 

Grover J. Whitehurst, 

Director, Institute of Education Sciences. 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 


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BILLING CODE 4000–01–C 


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