18340 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 68 / Monday, April 10, 1995 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Educational Research and

Improvement (OERI); Educational

Research and Development Centers

Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed priorities.

SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes

priorities for seven national educational

research and development centers that

would carry out sustained research and

development to address nationally

significant problems and issues in

education.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before May 25, 1995.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning

these proposed priorities should be

addressed to Jacqueline Jenkins, U.S.

Department of Education, 555 New

Jersey Avenue, NW., room 510G,

Washington, DC 20208–5573.

Comments can be faxed to Jacqueline

Jenkins at (202) 219–2030. Comments

can be sent electronically to Jackie l

Jenkins@ed.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jacqueline Jenkins, telephone: (202)

219–2079. 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 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time,

Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title IX of

Public Law 103–227, which authorizes

the Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, establishes five new

national research institutes to carry out

coordinated and comprehensive

programs of research, development,

evaluation, and dissemination designed

to provide research-based leadership for

the improvement of education. The five

institutes are—

(1) The National Institute on Student

Achievement, Curriculum, and

Assessment;

(2) The National Institute on the

Education of At-Risk Students;

(3) The National Institute on

Educational Governance, Finance,

Policy-Making, and Management;

(4) The National Institute on Early

Childhood Development and Education;

and

(5) The National Institute on

Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and

Lifelong Learning.

The institutes support sustained

research and development focused on

significant national problems and issues

in education conducted by national

research and development centers.

Institutions eligible to receive center

awards include institutions of higher

education, institutions of higher

education in consort with public

agencies or non-profit organizations,

and interstate agencies established by

compact that operate subsidiary bodies

to conduct postsecondary education

research and development.

The Secretary invites comments on

the seven priority topics included in

this announcement. Comments may

address individual center priorities or

the priorities as a whole. In addition to

centers addressing the proposed

priorities, OERI will continue to support

a Center for Research on the Education

of Students Placed At-Risk, a National

Reading Research Center, and a National

Research Center on Gifted and Talented

Children and Youth.

Through a series of meetings, regional

hearings, and Federal Register Notices,

OERI solicited advice from parents,

teachers, administrators, policy-makers,

business people, researchers, and others

to identify the most needed research

and development activities. After

reviewing this advice, OERI identified

the priorities proposed in this Notice.

The final research and development

center priorities will be published

following review of the public comment

and consideration of the priorities by

OERI’s National Educational Research

Policy and Priorities Board.

Proposed Absolute Priorities

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

Secretary proposes to give an absolute

preference to applications that meet the

general priority and one of the

individual priorities listed below.

Funding of any individual priority will

depend on the availability of funds, the

nature of the final priority, and the

quality of applications received.

Proposed General Absolute Priority:

Each national research and development

center must—

(a) Conduct a coherent, sustained

program of research and development to

address problems and issues of national

significance in its individual priority

area, using a well-conceptualized and

theoretically sound framework;

(b) Contribute to the development and

advancement of theory in the area of its

individual priority;

(c) Conduct scientifically rigorous

studies capable of generating findings

that contribute substantially to

understanding in the field;

(d) Conduct work of sufficient size,

scope, and duration to produce

definitive guidance for improvement

efforts and future research;

(e) Address issues of both equity and

excellence in education in its individual

priority area; and

(f) Document, report, and disseminate

information about its research findings

and other accomplishments in ways that

will allow others to use that

information.

Proposed Absolute Priority 1: Promoting

the Cognitive and Social-Emotional

Development of Young Children

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on promoting the

cognitive and social-emotional

development and achievement of young

children, beginning at birth, especially

children who are placed at risk of

educational failure because of

community, economic, linguistic,

family, or disability factors, and the

general well-being of their families; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related to the following

topics:

(1) The skills, knowledge, and

expectations that enable families,

educators, and others in the community

to help young children come to school

prepared to learn.

(2) Effective models and strategies

that families, educators, and others can

use to foster young children’s learning.

(3) How various early childhood

supports and services within the

community can be designed and

implemented to maximize young

children’s cognitive and socialemotional development, success in

preschool, and achievement in

elementary grades.

Proposed Absolute Priority 2: Improving

Student Learning and Achievement

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on improving student

learning and achievement; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related to the following

topics:

(1) How students acquire knowledge

and develop cognitive skills.

(2) The social context of learning,

including the social organization of

classrooms and schools.

(3) The integration of curriculum

changes with other efforts to improve

student learning and achievement.

(4) Effective teaching in the core

academic content areas.

(5) The role of student motivation and

student responsibility in creating safe

schools and environments conducive to

learning.

(6) Effective professional development

for educators.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 68 / Monday, April 10, 1995 / Notices 18341

Proposed Absolute Priority 3: Improving

Student Assessment

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on improving student

assessment; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related to the following

topics:

(1) The development of assessments

that are aligned with curriculum and

instruction and can be used to improve

teaching and learning.

(2) The use of assessments to improve

instruction in the core content areas,

particularly English language arts and

mathematics, and to promote

educational accountability.

(3) The technical quality (validity,

reliability, fairness, and content

coverage) of different types of

assessments.

Proposed Absolute Priority 4: Meeting

the Educational Needs of a Diverse

Student Population

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on meeting the

educational needs of an increasingly

diverse student population, including

students who are at risk of educational

failure because of limited English

proficiency, poverty, race, ethnicity,

culture, or geographical location; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related to the following

topics:

(1) Recognizing and building on the

strengths of students from diverse

backgrounds to help all students

achieve to high academic standards.

(2) Professional development that

enhances the abilities of teachers and

other school personnel to help language

minority students and other students at

risk of educational failure achieve to

high academic standards.

(3) Structuring out-of-school

experiences to help students at risk of

educational failure overcome obstacles

and achieve school success.

(4) Working with families and

community-based organizations to help

students at risk of educational failure

achieve to high academic standards.

(5) Ways that federal, state, and

community reform efforts can be

designed so that language minority

students and other students at risk of

educational failure learn to high

standards.

Proposed Absolute Priority 5: Increasing

the Effectiveness of State and Local

Education Reform Efforts

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on improving the

effectiveness of state and local efforts to

reform elementary and secondary

education; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related to the following

topics:

(1) The role of challenging academic

standards in efforts to reform

elementary and secondary education.

(2) The role of education policy and

financing in improving learning

opportunities for all students.

(3) The coherence of state, district and

school-level reforms and their effects on

the learning of all students.

(4) The role of incentives in the

reform of elementary and secondary

education.

(5) School-level strategies for

improving education within the context

of state and district reforms.

(6) Reforms to improve children’s

learning by strengthening the

connections between schools and

communities.

(7) Factors that influence the success

of state, district, and school-level

reforms, from initiation through

implementation to ‘‘scaling up.’’

Proposed Absolute Priority 6: Improving

Postsecondary Education and the

Preparation of Adults for Work

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on improving

postsecondary education and the

preparation of adults for work and

lifelong learning; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related the following

topics:

(1) Effective transitions from school to

work for secondary and postsecondary

students.

(2) The relationships among students’

access to and participation and progress

in postsecondary education, their

academic achievement, and their later

work force participation.

(3) The improvement of

postsecondary student learning and

assessment.

(4) Containing costs and improving

the productivity and accountability of

postsecondary institutions.

(5) Articulation between secondary

and postsecondary education.

Proposed Absolute Priority 7: Improving

Adult Learning and Literacy

Under this priority, a national

research and development center

must—

(a) Conduct research and

development on improving adult

learning and literacy, including the

acquisition of skills needed for

workforce participation and responsible

citizenship; and

(b) Include in its work research or

development related to the following

topics:

(1) Adult acquisition of knowledge

and development of cognitive skills.

(2) Effective methods and

instructional strategies to improve adult

learning, including effective use of

educational technology.

(3) Effective methods for professional

development of instructional staff in

adult literacy.

(4) The assessment of adult learning.

Proposed Post-Award Requirements

The Secretary proposes the following

post-award requirements consistent

with the Educational Research,

Development, Dissemination, and

Improvement Act of 1994. A grantee

receiving a center award must—

(a) Provide OERI with information

about center projects and products and

other appropriate research information

so that OERI can monitor center

progress and maintain its inventory of

funded research projects. This

information must be provided through

media that include an electronic

network;

(b) Conduct and evaluate research

projects in conformity with the highest

professional standards of research

practice;

(c) Reserve five percent of each budget

period’s funds to support activities that

fall within the center’s priority area, are

designed and mutually agreed to by the

center and OERI, and enhance OERI’s

ability to carry out its mission. Such

activities may include developing

research agendas, conducting research

projects collaborating with other

federally-supported entities, and

engaging in research agenda setting and

dissemination activities; and

(d) At the end of the award period,

synthesize the findings and advances in

knowledge that resulted from the

Center’s program of work and describe

the potential impact on the

improvement of American education,

including any observable impact to date.

Note: This notice of proposed priorities

does not solicit applications. A notice

inviting applications under this competition

will be published in the Federal Register
18342 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 68 / Monday, April 10, 1995 / Notices

concurrent with or following publication of

the notice of final priorities.

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 510G, 555

New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington,

D.C., between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and

4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday of

each week except Federal holidays.

Program Authority: P.L. 103–227, Title IX.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Numbers 84.305, 84.306, 84.307, 84.308, and

84.309 Educational Research and

Development Centers Program)

Dated: April 4, 1995.

Sharon Porter Robinson,

Assistant Secretary for Educational Research

and Improvement.

[FR Doc. 95–8749 Filed 4–7–95; 8:45 am]

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