Applications for New Awards; Enhanced Assessment Instruments Grant Program-Enhanced Assessment Instruments, 52424-52432 [2016-18532]
Download as PDF
52424
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
Parents of dependents and
independents with dependents
other than a spouse
State
Percent of Total Income
Under $15,000
$15,000 & Up
7
5
7
5
2
2
3
5
6
6
3
3
7
2
2
6
4
6
4
1
1
2
4
5
5
2
2
6
1
1
Oregon .........................................................................................................................................
Pennsylvania ................................................................................................................................
Rhode Island ................................................................................................................................
South Carolina .............................................................................................................................
South Dakota ...............................................................................................................................
Tennessee ...................................................................................................................................
Texas ...........................................................................................................................................
Utah .............................................................................................................................................
Vermont .......................................................................................................................................
Virginia .........................................................................................................................................
Washington ..................................................................................................................................
West Virginia ................................................................................................................................
Wisconsin .....................................................................................................................................
Wyoming ......................................................................................................................................
Other ............................................................................................................................................
Accessible Format: Individuals with
disabilities can obtain this document in
an accessible format (e.g., braille, large
print, audiotape, or compact disc) on
request to the contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT in this notice.
Electronic Access to This Document:
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 via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site 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). To use PDF you must
have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at this site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at: www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department.
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1087rr.
Dated: August 3, 2016.
James W. Runcie,
Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2016–18723 Filed 8–5–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Applications for New Awards;
Enhanced Assessment Instruments
Grant Program—Enhanced
Assessment Instruments
Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Overview Information:
Enhanced Assessment Instruments
Grant Program—Enhanced Assessment
Instruments.
Notice inviting applications for new
awards for fiscal year (FY) 2016.
Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.368A.
DATES:
Applications Available: August 8,
2016.
Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply:
August 29, 2016.
Deadline for Transmittal of
Applications: September 22, 2016.
Deadline for Intergovernmental
Review: November 21, 2016.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: The purpose of
the Enhanced Assessment Instruments
Grant program, also called the Enhanced
Assessment Grants (EAG) program, is to
enhance the quality of assessment
instruments and assessment systems
used by States for measuring the
academic achievement of elementary
and secondary school students.
Priorities: This competition includes
four absolute priorities and three
competitive preference priorities. In
accordance with 34 CFR
PO 00000
Frm 00028
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Dependents
and independents without
dependents
other than a
spouse
All
(%)
5
3
4
3
1
1
1
3
3
4
1
2
4
1
1
75.105(b)(2)(iv), the absolute priorities
are from section 6112 of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965,
as amended (ESEA), as amended by the
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(NCLB), 20 U.S.C. 7301a. The
competitive preference priorities are
from the Department’s notice of final
priorities published elsewhere in this
issue of the Federal Register.
Absolute Priorities: For FY 2016 and
any subsequent year in which we make
awards from the list of unfunded
applications from this competition,
these priorities are absolute priorities.
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider
only applications that meet one or more
of the absolute priorities.
These priorities are:
Absolute Priority 1—Collaboration.
Collaborate with institutions of higher
education, other research institutions, or
other organizations to improve the
quality, validity, and reliability of State
academic assessments beyond the
requirements for these assessments
described in section 1111(b)(3) of the
ESEA, as amended by NCLB.
Absolute Priority 2—Use of Multiple
Measures of Student Academic
Achievement.
Measure student academic
achievement using multiple measures of
student academic achievement from
multiple sources.
Absolute Priority 3—Charting Student
Progress Over Time.
Chart student progress over time.
Absolute Priority 4—Comprehensive
Academic Assessment Instruments.
Evaluate student academic
achievement through the development
of comprehensive academic assessment
instruments, such as performance- and
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
technology-based academic
assessments.
Competitive Preference Priorities: For
FY 2016 and any subsequent year in
which we make awards from the list of
unfunded applications from this
competition, these priorities are
competitive preference priorities. For
Competitive Preference Priority 1, under
34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), the Department
awards up to an additional 15 points to
an application, depending on how well
the application meets the priority.
Specifically, the Department awards up
to an additional 10 points to an
application depending on how well the
application meets parts (a) and (c), and
up to an additional five points to an
application depending on how well the
application meets parts (b) and (c). For
Competitive Preference Priority 2, under
34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), the Department
awards up to an additional 10 points,
depending on how well the application
meets the priority. Specifically, the
Department awards up to an additional
five points to an application depending
on how well the application meets parts
(a) and (c), and up to an additional five
points to an application depending on
how well the application meets parts (b)
and (c). An applicant may choose to
respond to either or both parts (a) and
(b) of either of these priorities. For
Competitive Preference Priority 3, under
34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), the Department
awards up to an additional five points
to an application, depending on how
well the application meets this priority.
An applicant may choose to respond to
and earn points for how well the
application meets multiple competitive
preference priorities.
These priorities are:
Competitive Preference Priority 1—
Developing Innovative Assessment Item
Types and Design Approaches. (Up to
15 points.)
Under this priority, SEAs must:
(a) Develop, evaluate, and implement
new, innovative item types for use in
summative assessments in reading/
language arts, mathematics, or science;
(1) Development of innovative item
types under paragraph (a) may include,
for example, performance tasks;
simulations; or interactive, multi-step,
technology-rich items that can support
competency-based assessments or
portfolio projects;
(2) Projects under this priority must
be designed to develop new methods for
collecting evidence about a student’s
knowledge and abilities and ensure the
quality, validity, reliability, and fairness
(such as by incorporating principles of
universal design for learning) of the
assessment and comparability of student
data; or
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
(b) Develop new approaches to
transform traditional, end-of-year
summative assessment forms with many
items into a series of modular
assessment forms, each with fewer items
than the end-of-year summative
assessment.
(1) To respond to paragraph (b),
applicants must develop modular
assessment approaches which can be
used to provide timely feedback to
educators and parents as well as be
combined to provide a valid, reliable,
and fair summative assessment of
individual students.
(c) Applicants proposing projects
under either paragraph (a) or (b) must
provide a dissemination plan to share
lessons learned and best practices such
that their projects can serve as models
and resources that can be shared with
other States.
Competitive Preference Priority 2—
Improving Assessment Scoring and
Score Reporting. (Up to 10 points.)
Under this priority, SEAs must:
(a) Develop innovative tools that
leverage technology to score
assessments;
(1) To respond to paragraph (a),
applicants must propose projects to
reduce the time it takes to provide test
results to educators, parents, and
students and to make it more costeffective to include non-multiple choice
items on assessments. These innovative
tools must improve automated scoring
of student assessments, in particular
non-multiple choice items in reading/
language arts, mathematics, or science;
or
(b) Propose projects, in consultation
with organizations representing parents
(including parents of English learners
and parents of students with
disabilities), students, teachers,
counselors, and school administrators to
address needs related to score reporting
and improve the utility of information
about student performance included in
reports of assessment results and
provide better and more timely
information to educators and parents;
(1) To respond to paragraph (b),
applicants must include one or more of
the following in their projects:
(i) Developing enhanced score
reporting templates or digital
mechanisms for communicating
assessment results and their meaning
(such as by providing clear and
actionable next steps for parents);
(ii) Improving the assessment literacy
of educators and parents to help them
interpret test results and to support
teaching and learning in the classroom
(such as by providing training on test
development and interpretation of test
scores); and
PO 00000
Frm 00029
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
52425
(iii) Developing mechanisms for
secure transmission and individual use
of assessment results by students and
parents.
(c) Applicants proposing projects
under either paragraph (a) or (b) must
provide a dissemination plan to share
lessons learned and best practices such
that their projects can serve as models
and resources that can be shared with
other States.
Competitive Preference Priority 3—
Inventory of State and Local Assessment
Systems. (Up to 5 points.)
(a) Under this priority, SEAs must—
(1) Review statewide and local
assessments to ensure that each test is
of high quality, maximizes instructional
goals, has a clear purpose and utility,
and is designed to help students
demonstrate mastery of State standards;
(2) Determine whether assessments
are serving their intended purpose to
measure student achievement and
identify gaps in students’ knowledge
and skills and to eliminate redundant
and unnecessary testing; and
(3) Review State and LEA strategies
and activities related to test preparation
to make sure those strategies and
activities are focused on academic
content and not on test-taking skills.
(b) To meet the requirements in
paragraph (a), SEAs must ensure that
tests, including statewide and local
assessments are—
(1) Worth taking, meaning that
assessments are a component of good
instruction and require students to
perform the same kind of complex work
they do in an effective classroom and
the real world;
(2) High quality, resulting in
actionable, objective information about
students’ knowledge and skills,
including by assessing the full range of
relevant State standards, eliciting
complex student demonstrations or
applications of knowledge, providing an
accurate measure of student
achievement, and producing
information that can be used to measure
student growth accurately over time;
(3) Time-limited, in order to balance
instructional time and the need for
assessments, for example, by
eliminating duplicative assessments and
assessments that incentivize low-quality
test preparation strategies that consume
valuable classroom time;
(4) Fair for all students and used to
support equity in educational
opportunity by ensuring that
accessibility features and
accommodations level the playing field
so tests accurately reflect what all
students, including students with
disabilities and English learners, know
and can do;
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
52426
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
(5) Fully transparent to students and
parents, so that States and districts can
clearly explain to parents the purpose,
the source of the requirement (if
appropriate), and the use by teachers
and schools, and provide feedback to
parents and students on student
performance; and
(6) Tied to improving student learning
as tools in the broader work of teaching
and learning.
(c) Approaches to assessment
inventories under paragraph (a) must
include:
(1) Review of the schedule for
administration of all assessments
required at the Federal, State, and local
levels;
(2) Review of the purpose of, and legal
authority for, administration of all
assessments required at the Federal,
State, and local levels; and
(3) Feedback on the assessment
system from stakeholders, which could
include information on how teachers,
principals, other school leaders, and
administrators use assessment data to
inform and differentiate instruction,
how much time teachers spend on
assessment preparation and
administration, and the assessments that
administrators, teachers, principals,
other school leaders, parents, and
students do and do not find useful.
(d) Projects under this priority—
(1) Must be no longer than 12 months;
(2) Must include a longer-term project
plan, understanding that, beginning
with FY 2017, there may be dedicated
Federal funds for assessment audit work
as authorized under section 1202 of the
ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, and
understanding that States and LEAs may
use other Federal funds, such as the
State assessment grant funds, authorized
under section 1201 of the ESEA, as
amended by the ESSA, consistent with
the purposes for those funds, to
implement such plans; and
(3) Must have a budget of $200,000 or
less.
Requirements: The following
requirements are from the notice of final
priorities, requirements, definitions, and
selection criteria for this program
published in the Federal Register on
April 19, 2011 (76 FR 21985) (2011
NFP). With respect to requirement (b),
the Department notes that the Race to
the Top Assessment program ended in
2015. As a result, while the grantees
will be expected to meet this
requirement broadly, they will not need
to coordinate with the Race to the Top
Assessment program.
An eligible applicant awarded a grant
under this program must:
(a) Evaluate the validity, reliability,
and fairness of any assessments or other
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
assessment-related instruments
developed under a grant from this
competition, and make available
documentation of evaluations of
technical quality through formal
mechanisms (e.g., peer-reviewed
journals) and informal mechanisms
(e.g., newsletters), both in print and
electronically;
(b) Actively participate in any
applicable technical assistance activities
conducted or facilitated by the
Department or its designees, coordinate
with the Race To The Top Assessment
program in the development of
assessments under this program, and
participate in other activities as
determined by the Department;
(c) Develop a strategy to make
student-level data that result from any
assessments or other assessment-related
instruments developed under a grant
from this competition available on an
ongoing basis for research, including for
prospective linking, validity, and
program improvement studies; 1
(d) Ensure that any assessments or
other assessment-related instruments
developed under a grant from this
competition will be operational (ready
for large-scale administration) at the end
of the project period;
(e) Ensure that funds awarded under
the EAG program are not used to
support the development of standards,
such as under the English language
proficiency assessment system priority
or any other priority;
(f) Maximize the interoperability of
any assessments and other assessmentrelated instruments developed with
funds from this competition across
technology platforms and the ability for
States to move their assessments from
one technology platform to another by
doing the following, as applicable, for
any assessments developed with funds
from this competition by—
(1) Developing all assessment items in
accordance with an industryrecognized, open-licensed,
interoperability standard that is
approved by the Department during the
grant period, without non-standard
extensions or additions; and
(2) Producing all student-level data in
a manner consistent with an industryrecognized open-licensed
interoperability standard that is
approved by the Department during the
grant period;
(g) Unless otherwise protected by law
or agreement as proprietary information,
make any assessment content (i.e.,
1 Eligible applicants awarded a grant under this
program must comply with the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and 34 CFR part
99, as well as State and local requirements
regarding privacy.
PO 00000
Frm 00030
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
assessments and assessment items) and
other assessment-related instruments
developed with funds from this
competition freely available to States,
technology platform providers, and
others that request it for purposes of
administering assessments, provided
that those parties receiving assessment
content comply with consortium or
State requirements for test or item
security; and
(h) For any assessments and other
assessment-related instruments
developed with funds from this
competition, use technology to the
maximum extent appropriate to
develop, administer, and score the
assessments and report results.
Definitions: The following definitions
are from the 2011 NFP and the notice
of final priorities, requirement,
definitions, and selection criteria for
this program published in the Federal
Register on May 23, 2013 (78 FR 31343)
(2013 NFP).
English learner means a child,
including a child aged three and
younger, who is an English learner
consistent with the definition of a child
who is ‘‘limited English proficient,’’ as
applicable, in section 9101(25) of the
ESEA, as amended by NCLB. (2013
NFP)
Student with a disability means a
student who has been identified as a
child with a disability under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, as amended. (2011 NFP)
Program Authority: Section 6112 of
the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as
amended by NCLB, and section
1203(b)(1) of the ESEA, as amended by
the Every Student Succeeds Act (Pub. L.
114–95) (ESSA).
Applicable Regulations: (a) The
Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in
34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 84, 86,
97, 98, and 99. (b) The Office of
Management and Budget Guidelines to
Agencies on Governmentwide
Debarment and Suspension
(Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR part 180, as
adopted and amended as regulations of
the Department in 2 CFR part 3485. (c)
The Uniform Administrative
Requirements, Cost Principles, and
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards
in 2 CFR part 200, as adopted and
amended as regulations of the
Department in 2 CFR part 3474. (d) The
notice of final priorities published
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register. (e) The 2011 NFP and the 2013
NFP.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
Estimated Available Funds:
$8,860,000.
Contingent upon the availability of
funds and the quality of applications,
we may make additional awards in FY
2016 from the list of unfunded
applications from this competition.
Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000
to $4,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards:
$2,500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 3–6.
Note: The Department is not bound by any
estimates in this notice.
Project Period: Up to 48 months.
Note: For Competitive Preference Priority 1
and Competitive Preference Priority 2,
applicants should submit a single budget and
propose a project period of up to 48 months.
Applicants should propose a project period
that is up to 48 months, based on a timeline
that takes into account the urgency of the
need of the final project findings and
products to be accessible to the field. Subject
to the availability of future years’ funds, the
Department may make supplemental grant
awards to grants awarded in this
competition. Applicants that address
Competitive Preference Priority 3 may not
propose a project period of greater than 12
months or a budget of greater than $200,000.
If an applicant addresses Competitive
Preference Priority 3, as well as one of the
other competitive preference priorities, then
that portion of the proposed project period
attributable to the project activities under
Competitive Preference Priority 3 may not
exceed 12 months; and that portion of the
proposed budget attributable to the project
activities under Competitive Preference
Priority 3 may not exceed $200,000.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: State
educational agencies (SEAs) as defined
in section 9101(41) of the ESEA, as
amended by NCLB, and consortia of
such SEAs.
2. Cost Sharing or Matching: This
competition does not require cost
sharing or matching.
3. Other: An application from a
consortium of SEAs must designate one
SEA as the fiscal agent.
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
IV. Application and Submission
Information
1. Address to Request Application
Package: Donald Peasley, Office of
Elementary and Secondary Education,
U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3E124,
Washington, DC 20202–6132.
Telephone: (202) 453–7982 or by email:
Donald.Peasley@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800–877–
8339.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
Individuals with disabilities can
obtain a copy of the application package
in an accessible format (e.g., braille,
large print, audiotape, or compact disc)
by contacting the program contact
person listed in this section.
2. Content and Form of Application
Submission: Requirements concerning
the content and form of an application,
together with the forms you must
submit, are in the application package
for this competition. Page Limit: The
project narrative is where you, the
applicant, address the selection criteria
that reviewers use to evaluate your
application. You must limit the
application narrative to the equivalent
of no more than 65 pages, using the
following standards:
• A ‘‘page’’ is 8.5″ x 11″, on one side
only, with 1″ margins at the top, bottom,
and both sides.
• Double space (no more than three
lines per vertical inch) all text in the
application narrative, including titles,
headings, footnotes, quotations,
references, and captions, as well as all
text in charts, tables, figures, and
graphs.
• Use a font that is either 12 point or
larger or no smaller than 10 pitch
(characters per inch).
• Use one of the following fonts:
Times New Roman, Courier, Courier
New, or Arial.
The page limit applies to the project
narrative, including the table of
contents, which must include a
discussion of how the application meets
one or more of the absolute priorities; if
applicable, how the application meets
one or more of the competitive
preference priorities; and how well the
application addresses each of the
selection criteria. The page limit also
applies to any attachments to the project
narrative other than the items
mentioned in Part 6 of the application
package, including the references/
bibliography. In other words, the
entirety of the project narrative,
including the aforementioned
discussion and any attachments to the
project narrative, must be limited to the
equivalent of no more than 65 pages.
The only allowable attachments other
than those included in the project
narrative are outlined in Part 6, ‘‘Other
Attachments Forms,’’ in the application
package. Any attachments other than
those included within the page limit of
the project narrative and those outlined
in Part 6 will not be reviewed.
The 65-page limit, or its equivalent,
does not apply to the following sections
of an application: Part 1 (including the
response regarding research activities
involving human subjects); Part 2
(budget information); Part 3 (two-page
PO 00000
Frm 00031
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
52427
project abstract); Part 5 (the budget
narrative); Part 6 (memoranda of
understanding or other binding
agreement, if applicable; copy of
applicant’s indirect cost rate agreement;
letters of commitment and support from
collaborating SEAs and organizations;
other attachments forms, including, if
applicable, references/bibliography for
the project narrative and individual
´
´
resumes for project director(s) and key
personnel); and Part 7 (standard
assurances and certifications).
Applicants are encouraged to limit each
´
´
resume to no more than five pages.
In addition, do not use hyperlinks in
an application. Reviewers will be
instructed not to follow hyperlinks if
included. Our reviewers will not read
any pages of your project narrative that
exceed the page limit, or the equivalent
of the page limit if you apply other
standards. Applicants are encouraged to
submit applications that meet the page
limit following the standards outlined
in this section rather than submitting
applications that are the equivalent of
the page limit applying other standards.
3. Submission Dates and Times:
Applications Available: August 8,
2016.
Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply:
August 29, 2016.
We will be able to develop a more
efficient process for reviewing grant
applications if we have a better
understanding of the number of
applicants that intend to apply for
funding under this competition.
Therefore, we strongly encourage each
potential applicant to notify us of the
applicant’s intent to submit an
application for funding. This
notification should be brief, and identify
the SEA applicant and, if applicable, the
SEA that it will designate as the fiscal
agent for an award (e.g., in the case of
consortia applicants). Submit this
notification by email to
Donald.Peasley@ed.gov with ‘‘Intent to
Apply’’ in the email subject line or mail
to Donald Peasley, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW.,
Room 3E124, Washington, DC 20202–
6132. Applicants that do not provide
this email notification may still apply
for funding.
Deadline for Transmittal of
Applications: September 22, 2016.
Applications for grants under this
competition must be submitted
electronically using the Grants.gov
Apply site (Grants.gov). For 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 the electronic
submission requirement, please refer to
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
52428
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
Other Submission Requirements in
section IV of 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 of 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.
Deadline for Intergovernmental
Review: November 21, 2016.
4. Intergovernmental Review: This
competition is subject to Executive
Order 12372 and the regulations in 34
CFR part 79. Information about
Intergovernmental Review of Federal
Programs under Executive Order 12372
is in the application package for this
competition.
5. Funding Restrictions: We reference
regulations outlining funding
restrictions in the Applicable
Regulations section of this notice.
6. Data Universal Numbering System
Number, Taxpayer Identification
Number, and System for Award
Management: To do business with the
Department of Education, you must—
a. Have a Data Universal Numbering
System (DUNS) number and a Taxpayer
Identification Number (TIN);
b. Register both your DUNS number
and TIN with the System for Award
Management (SAM), the Government’s
primary registrant database;
c. Provide your DUNS number and
TIN on your application; and
d. Maintain an active SAM
registration with current information
while your application is under review
by the Department and, if you are
awarded a grant, during the project
period.
You can obtain a DUNS number from
Dun and Bradstreet at the following
Web site: https://fedgov.dnb.com/
webform. A DUNS number can be
created within one to two business days.
If you are a corporate entity, agency,
institution, or organization, you can
obtain a TIN from the Internal Revenue
Service. If you are an individual, you
can obtain a TIN from the Internal
Revenue Service or the Social Security
Administration. If you need a new TIN,
please allow two to five weeks for your
TIN to become active.
The SAM registration process can take
approximately seven business days, but
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
may take upwards of several weeks,
depending on the completeness and
accuracy of the data you enter into the
SAM database. Thus, if you think you
might want to apply for Federal
financial assistance under a program
administered by the Department, please
allow sufficient time to obtain and
register your DUNS number and TIN.
We strongly recommend that you
register early.
Note: Once your SAM registration is active,
it may be 24 to 48 hours before you can
access the information in, and submit an
application through, Grants.gov.
If you are currently registered with
SAM, you may not need to make any
changes. However, please make certain
that the TIN associated with your DUNS
number is correct. Also note that you
will need to update your registration
annually. This may take three or more
business days.
Information about SAM is available at
www.SAM.gov. To further assist you
with obtaining and registering your
DUNS number and TIN in SAM or
updating your existing SAM account,
we have prepared a SAM.gov Tip Sheet,
which you can find at: www2.ed.gov/
fund/grant/apply/sam-faqs.html.
In addition, if you are submitting your
application via Grants.gov, you must (1)
be designated by your organization as an
Authorized Organization Representative
(AOR); and (2) register yourself with
Grants.gov as an AOR. Details on these
steps are outlined at the following
Grants.gov Web page: www.grants.gov/
web/grants/register.html.
7. Other Submission Requirements:
Applications for grants under this
competition must be submitted
electronically unless you qualify for an
exception to this requirement in
accordance with the instructions in this
section.
a. Electronic Submission of
Applications.
Applications for grants under the EAG
competition, CFDA number 84.368A,
must be submitted electronically using
the Governmentwide Grants.gov Apply
site at 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
PO 00000
Frm 00032
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
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
application for the EAG competition at
www.Grants.gov. You must search for
the downloadable application package
for this competition by the CFDA
number. Do not include the CFDA
number’s alpha suffix in your search
(e.g., search for 84.326, not 84.326A).
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 4:30:00
p.m., Washington, DC time, on the
application deadline date. Except as
otherwise noted in this section, we will
not accept your application if it is
received—that is, date and time
stamped by the Grants.gov system—after
4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on
the application deadline date. We do
not consider an application that does
not comply with the deadline
requirements. 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
4:30:00 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 this 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 under News
and Events on the Department’s G5
system home page at www.G5.gov. In
addition, for specific guidance and
procedures for submitting an
application through Grants.gov, please
refer to the Grants.gov Web site at:
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/
apply-for-grants.html.
• 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: The Application for Federal
Assistance (SF 424), the Department of
Education Supplemental Information for
SF 424, Budget Information—NonConstruction Programs (ED 524), and all
necessary assurances and certifications.
• You must upload any narrative
sections and all other attachments to
your application as files in a read-only,
non-modifiable Portable Document
Format (PDF). Do not upload an
interactive or fillable PDF file. If you
upload a file type other than a readonly, non-modifiable PDF (e.g., Word,
Excel, WordPerfect, etc.) or submit a
password-protected file, we will not
review that material. Please note that
this could result in your application not
being considered for funding because
the material in question—for example,
the application narrative—is critical to a
meaningful review of your proposal. For
that reason it is important to allow
yourself adequate time to upload all
material as PDF files. The Department
will not convert material from other
formats to PDF.
• 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. Grants.gov
will also notify you automatically by
email if your application met all the
Grants.gov validation requirements or if
there were any errors (such as
submission of your application by
someone other than a registered
Authorized Organization
Representative, or inclusion of an
attachment with a file name that
contains special characters). You will be
given an opportunity to correct any
errors and resubmit, but you must still
meet the deadline for submission of
applications.
Once your application is successfully
validated by Grants.gov, the Department
will retrieve your application from
Grants.gov and send you an email with
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
a unique PR/Award number for your
application.
These emails do not mean that your
application is without any disqualifying
errors. While your application may have
been successfully validated by
Grants.gov, it must also meet the
Department’s application requirements
as specified in this notice and in the
application instructions. Disqualifying
errors could include, for instance,
failure to upload attachments in a readonly, non-modifiable PDF; failure to
submit a required part of the
application; or failure to meet applicant
eligibility requirements. It is your
responsibility to ensure that your
submitted application has met all of the
Department’s requirements.
• 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 4:30:00 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
4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on
the application deadline date, please
contact the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT in
section VII of 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 the problem
affected your ability to submit your
application by 4:30:00 p.m.,
Washington, DC time, on the
application deadline date. We will
contact you after we determine whether
your application will be accepted.
52429
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 prevents 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: Donald Peasley, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue SW., Room 3E124, Washington,
DC 20202–6132. FAX: (202) 401–1557.
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 following address:
U.S. Department of Education,
Application Control Center, Attention:
(CFDA Number 84.368A), LBJ Basement
Level 1, 400 Maryland Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20202–4260.
You must show proof of mailing
consisting of one of the following:
(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service
postmark.
Note: The extensions to which we refer in
(2) A legible mail receipt with the
this section apply only to the unavailability
date of mailing stamped by the U.S.
of, or technical problems with, the Grants.gov
Postal Service.
system. We will not grant you an extension
(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or
if you failed to fully register to submit your
receipt from a commercial carrier.
application to Grants.gov before the
PO 00000
Frm 00033
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
52430
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
(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.
We will not consider applications
postmarked after the application
deadline date.
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
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 84.368A), 550 12th
Street SW., Room 7039, Potomac Center
Plaza, Washington, DC 20202–4260.
The Application Control Center
accepts hand deliveries daily between
8:00 a.m. and 4:30:00 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
and—if not provided by the Department—in
Item 11 of the SF 424 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.
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
V. Application Review Information
1. Selection Criteria: The selection
criteria for this competition are from 34
CFR 75.210. We will award up to 120
points to an application under the
selection criteria; the total possible
points for each selection criterion are
noted in parentheses.
(a) Need for project. (5 points)
The Secretary considers the need for
the proposed project. In determining the
need for the proposed project, the
Secretary considers the following
factors:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
1. The magnitude of severity of the
problem to be addressed by the
proposed project.
2. The magnitude of the need for the
services to be provided or the activities
to be carried out by the proposed
project.
3. 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.
(b) Significance. (25 points)
The Secretary considers the
significance of the proposed project. In
determining the significance of the
proposed project, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The significance of the problem or
issue to be addressed by the proposed
project.
2. The potential contribution of the
proposed project to the development
and advancement of theory, knowledge,
and practices in the field of study.
3. The potential for generalizing from
the findings or results of the proposed
project.
4. The extent to which the proposed
project involves the development or
demonstration of promising new
strategies that build on, or are
alternatives to, existing strategies.
5. The likely utility of the products
(such as information, materials,
processes, or techniques) that will result
from the proposed project, including the
potential for their being used effectively
in a variety of other settings.
(c) Quality of the project design. (35
points)
The Secretary considers the quality of
the design of the proposed project. In
determining the quality of the design of
the proposed project, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The extent to which the goals,
objectives, and outcomes to be achieved
by the proposed project are clearly
specified and measurable.
2. The extent to which there is a
conceptual framework underlying the
proposed research or demonstration
activities and the quality of that
framework.
3. The extent to which the proposed
activities constitute a coherent,
sustained, program of research and
development in the field, including, as
appropriate, a substantial addition to an
ongoing line of inquiry.
4. The extent to which the proposed
project is based upon a specific research
design, and the quality and
appropriateness of that design,
including the scientific rigor of the
studies involved.
PO 00000
Frm 00034
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
5. The extent to which the proposed
development efforts include adequate
quality controls and, as appropriate,
repeated testing of products.
6. The extent to which the design of
the proposed project reflects up-to-date
knowledge from research and effective
practice.
7. The quality of the methodology to
be employed in the proposed project.
8. The potential and planning for the
incorporation of project purposes,
activities, or benefits into the ongoing
work of the applicant beyond the end of
the grant.
(d) Quality of project services. (5
points)
The Secretary considers the quality of
the services to be provided by the
proposed project. In determining the
quality of the services to be provided by
the proposed project, the Secretary
considers the quality and sufficiency of
strategies for ensuring equal access and
treatment for eligible project
participants who are members of groups
that have traditionally been
underrepresented based on race, color,
national origin, gender, age, or
disability. In addition, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The extent to which the training or
professional development services to be
provided by the proposed project are of
sufficient quality, intensity, and
duration to lead to improvements in
practice among the recipients of those
services.
2. The likelihood that the services to
be provided by the proposed project
will lead to improvements in the
achievement of students as measured
against rigorous academic standards.
(e) Quality of project personnel. (8
points)
The Secretary considers the quality of
the personnel who will carry out the
proposed project. In determining the
quality of project personnel, the
Secretary considers the extent to which
the applicant encourages applications
for employment from persons who are
members of groups that have
traditionally been underrepresented
based on race, color, national origin,
gender, age, or disability. In addition,
the Secretary considers the following
factors:
1. The qualifications, including
relevant training and experience, of the
project director or principal
investigator.
2. The qualifications, including
relevant training and experience, of key
project personnel.
3. The qualifications, including
relevant training and experience, of
project consultants or subcontractors.
(f) Adequacy of resources. (12 points)
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
The Secretary considers the adequacy
of resources for the proposed project. In
determining the adequacy of resources
for the proposed project, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The adequacy of support, including
facilities, equipment, supplies, and
other resources, from the application
organization or the lead applicant
organization.
2. The relevance and demonstrated
commitment of each partner in the
proposed project to the implementation
and success of the project.
3. The extent to which the budget is
adequate to support the proposed
project.
4. The extent to which the costs are
reasonable in relation to the objectives,
design, and potential significance of the
proposed project.
(g) Quality of the management plan.
(12 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of
the management plan for the proposed
project. In determining the quality of the
management plan for the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the
following factors:
1. 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.
2. The adequacy of procedures for
ensuring feedback and continuous
improvement in the operation of the
proposed project.
3. The adequacy of mechanisms for
ensuring high-quality products and
services from the proposed project.
4. 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.
(h) Quality of the project evaluation.
(10 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of
the evaluation to be conducted of the
proposed project. In determining the
quality of the evaluation, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The extent to which the methods of
evaluation are thorough, feasible, and
appropriate to the goals, objectives, and
outcomes of the proposed project.
2. The extent to which the methods of
evaluation are thorough, feasible, and
appropriate to the goals, objectives, and
outcomes of the proposed project.
3. 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
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
and qualitative data to the extent
possible.
4. The extent to which the methods of
evaluation will provide performance
feedback and permit periodic
assessment of progress toward achieving
intended outcomes.
5. The extent to which the evaluation
will provide guidance about effective
strategies suitable for replication or
testing in other settings.
(i) Strategy to scale. (8 points)
The Secretary considers the
applicant’s strategy to scale the
proposed project. In determining the
applicant’s capacity to scale the
proposed project, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The applicant’s capacity (e.g., in
terms of qualified personnel, financial
resources, or management capacity) to
further develop and bring to scale the
proposed process, product, strategy, or
practice, or to work with others to
ensure that the proposed process,
product, strategy, or practice can be
further developed and brought to scale,
based on the findings of the proposed
project.
2. The mechanisms the applicant will
use to broadly disseminate information
on its project so as to support further
development or replication.
3. The extent to which the applicant
demonstrates there is unmet demand for
the process, product, strategy, or
practice that will enable the applicant to
reach the level of scale that is proposed
in the application.
2. Review and Selection Process: We
remind potential applicants that in
reviewing applications in any
discretionary grant competition, the
Secretary may consider, under 34 CFR
75.217(d)(3), the past performance of the
applicant in carrying out a previous
award, such as the applicant’s use of
funds, achievement of project
objectives, and compliance with grant
conditions. The Secretary may also
consider whether the applicant failed to
submit a timely performance report or
submitted a report of unacceptable
quality.
In addition, in making a competitive
grant award, the Secretary requires
various assurances, including those
applicable to Federal civil rights laws
that prohibit discrimination in programs
or activities receiving Federal financial
assistance from the Department of
Education (34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4,
108.8, and 110.23).
3. Risk Assessment and Special
Conditions: Consistent with 2 CFR
200.205, before awarding grants under
this competition the Department
conducts a review of the risks posed by
applicants. Under 2 CFR 3474.10, the
PO 00000
Frm 00035
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
52431
Secretary may impose special
conditions and, in appropriate
circumstances, high-risk conditions on a
grant if the applicant or grantee is not
financially stable; has a history of
unsatisfactory performance; has a
financial or other management system
that does not meet the standards in 2
CFR part 200, subpart D; has not
fulfilled the conditions of a prior grant;
or is otherwise not responsible.
4. Integrity and Performance System:
If you are selected under this
competition to receive an award that
over the course of the project period
may exceed the simplified acquisition
threshold (currently $150,000), under 2
CFR 200.205(a)(2), we must make a
judgment about your integrity, business
ethics, and record of performance under
Federal awards—that is, the risk posed
by you as an applicant—before we make
an award. In doing so, we must consider
any information about you that is in the
integrity and performance system
(currently referred to as the Federal
Awardee Performance and Integrity
Information System (FAPIIS)),
accessible through SAM. You may
review and comment on any
information about yourself that a
Federal agency previously entered and
that is currently in FAPIIS.
Please note that, if the total value of
your currently active grants, cooperative
agreements, and procurement contracts
from the Federal Government exceeds
$10,000,000, the reporting requirements
in 2 CFR part 200, Appendix XII,
require you to report certain integrity
information to FAPIIS semiannually.
Please review the requirements in 2 CFR
part 200, Appendix XII, if this grant
plus all the other Federal funds you
receive exceed $10,000,000.
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 Notification
(GAN); or we may send you an email
containing a link to access an electronic
version of your 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 of this notice.
We reference the regulations outlining
the terms and conditions of an award in
the Applicable Regulations section of
this notice and include these and other
specific conditions in the GAN. The
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
52432
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
GAN also incorporates your approved
application as part of your binding
commitments under the grant.
3. Reporting: (a) If you apply for a
grant under this competition, you must
ensure that you have in place the
necessary processes and systems to
comply with the reporting requirements
in 2 CFR part 170 should you receive
funding under the competition. This
does not apply if you have an exception
under 2 CFR 170.110(b).
(b) 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 multiyear 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
reporting, please go to www.ed.gov/
fund/grant/apply/appforms/
appforms.html.
(c) Under 34 CFR 75.250(b), the
Secretary may provide a grantee with
additional funding for data collection
analysis and reporting. In this case the
Secretary establishes a data collection
period.
4. Performance Measures: Under the
Government Performance and Results
Act of 1993, the Department has
developed four measures to evaluate the
overall effectiveness of the EAG
program: (1) The number of States that
participate in EAG projects funded by
this competition; (2) the percentage of
grantees that, at least twice during the
period of their grants, make available to
SEA staff in non-participating States
and to assessment researchers
information on findings resulting from
the EAG through presentations at
national conferences, publications in
refereed journals, or other products
disseminated to the assessment
community; (3) for each grant cycle and
as determined by an expert panel, the
percentage of EAG that yield significant
research, methodologies, products, or
tools regarding assessment systems or
assessments; and (4) for each grant cycle
and as determined by an expert panel,
the percentage of EAG that yield
significant research, methodologies,
products, or tools specifically regarding
accommodations and alternate
assessments for students with
disabilities and limited English
proficient students. Grantees will be
expected to include in their interim and
final performance reports information
about the accomplishments of their
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
projects because the Department will
need data on these measures.
5. Continuation Awards: In making a
continuation award under 34 CFR
75.253, the Secretary considers, among
other things: Whether a grantee has
made substantial progress in achieving
the goals and objectives of the project;
whether the grantee has expended funds
in a manner that is consistent with its
approved application and budget; and,
if the Secretary has established
performance measurement
requirements, the performance targets in
the grantee’s approved application.
In making a continuation award, the
Secretary also considers whether the
grantee is operating in compliance with
the assurances in its approved
application, including those applicable
to Federal civil rights laws that prohibit
discrimination in programs or activities
receiving Federal financial assistance
from the Department (34 CFR 100.4,
104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
VII. Agency Contact
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Donald Peasley, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW.,
Room 3e124, Washington, DC 20202–
6132. Telephone: (202) 453–7982 or by
email: Donald.Peasley@ed.gov.
If you use a TDD or a TTY, call the
Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at
1–800–877–8339.
VIII. Other Information
Accessible Format: Individuals with
disabilities can obtain this document
and a copy of the application package in
an accessible format (e.g., braille, large
print, audiotape, or compact disc) on
request to the program contact person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT in section VII of this notice.
Electronic Access to This Document:
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 via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you
can view this document, as well as all
other documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
text or PDF. To use PDF you must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at: www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department.
PO 00000
Frm 00036
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Dated: August 1, 2016.
Ann Whalen,
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Delegated
the Duties of Assistant Secretary for
Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2016–18532 Filed 8–5–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Coal Council Meeting
Department of Energy.
Notice.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
This notice announces a
virtual meeting via WebEx of the
National Coal Council (NCC). The
Federal Advisory Committee Act (92, 86
Stat. 770) requires that public notice of
these meetings be announced in the
Federal Register.
DATES: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 2:00
p.m.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to join the
meeting you must register on-line by
close of business on August 26, 2016, at
the following URL: https://goo.gl/forms/
dQnwFBvzl7JcqWLX2.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Daniel Matuszak, U.S. Department of
Energy, 4G–036/Forrestal Building,
1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585–0001;
Telephone: 202–586–6915.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose of the Council: The National
Coal Council provides advice and
recommendations to the Secretary of
Energy, on general policy matters
relating to coal and the coal industry.
Purpose of Meeting: The National
Coal Council (the Council) will hold a
virtual meeting via webcast at 2:00 p.m.
Eastern Time on August 30, 2016 for the
sole purpose of receiving the report
‘‘CO2 Building Blocks: Assessing CO2
Utilization Options’’ from the Coal
Policy Committee. The Council
membership will be asked to accept the
report and forward it to the U.S.
Secretary of Energy.
The draft white paper will be
available on the National Coal Council
Web site on August 25, 2016, at the
following URL: https://
www.nationalcoalcouncil.org/
Documents/CO2-Building-Blocks2016.pdf.
If you wish to join the meeting you
must register on-line by close of
business on August 26, 2016, at the
following URL: https://goo.gl/forms/
dQnwFBvzl7JcqWLX2.
The email address you provide in the
on-line registration form will be used to
forward instructions on how to join the
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 152 (Monday, August 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52424-52432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18532]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Applications for New Awards; Enhanced Assessment Instruments
Grant Program--Enhanced Assessment Instruments
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Overview Information:
Enhanced Assessment Instruments Grant Program--Enhanced Assessment
Instruments.
Notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY)
2016.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.368A.
Dates:
Applications Available: August 8, 2016.
Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: August 29, 2016.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: September 22, 2016.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: November 21, 2016.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: The purpose of the Enhanced Assessment
Instruments Grant program, also called the Enhanced Assessment Grants
(EAG) program, is to enhance the quality of assessment instruments and
assessment systems used by States for measuring the academic
achievement of elementary and secondary school students.
Priorities: This competition includes four absolute priorities and
three competitive preference priorities. In accordance with 34 CFR
75.105(b)(2)(iv), the absolute priorities are from section 6112 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), as
amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), 20 U.S.C.
7301a. The competitive preference priorities are from the Department's
notice of final priorities published elsewhere in this issue of the
Federal Register.
Absolute Priorities: For FY 2016 and any subsequent year in which
we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this
competition, these priorities are absolute priorities. Under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that meet one or more of the
absolute priorities.
These priorities are:
Absolute Priority 1--Collaboration.
Collaborate with institutions of higher education, other research
institutions, or other organizations to improve the quality, validity,
and reliability of State academic assessments beyond the requirements
for these assessments described in section 1111(b)(3) of the ESEA, as
amended by NCLB.
Absolute Priority 2--Use of Multiple Measures of Student Academic
Achievement.
Measure student academic achievement using multiple measures of
student academic achievement from multiple sources.
Absolute Priority 3--Charting Student Progress Over Time.
Chart student progress over time.
Absolute Priority 4--Comprehensive Academic Assessment Instruments.
Evaluate student academic achievement through the development of
comprehensive academic assessment instruments, such as performance- and
[[Page 52425]]
technology-based academic assessments.
Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2016 and any subsequent
year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications
from this competition, these priorities are competitive preference
priorities. For Competitive Preference Priority 1, under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(i), the Department awards up to an additional 15 points to
an application, depending on how well the application meets the
priority. Specifically, the Department awards up to an additional 10
points to an application depending on how well the application meets
parts (a) and (c), and up to an additional five points to an
application depending on how well the application meets parts (b) and
(c). For Competitive Preference Priority 2, under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(i), the Department awards up to an additional 10 points,
depending on how well the application meets the priority. Specifically,
the Department awards up to an additional five points to an application
depending on how well the application meets parts (a) and (c), and up
to an additional five points to an application depending on how well
the application meets parts (b) and (c). An applicant may choose to
respond to either or both parts (a) and (b) of either of these
priorities. For Competitive Preference Priority 3, under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(i), the Department awards up to an additional five points
to an application, depending on how well the application meets this
priority. An applicant may choose to respond to and earn points for how
well the application meets multiple competitive preference priorities.
These priorities are:
Competitive Preference Priority 1--Developing Innovative Assessment
Item Types and Design Approaches. (Up to 15 points.)
Under this priority, SEAs must:
(a) Develop, evaluate, and implement new, innovative item types for
use in summative assessments in reading/language arts, mathematics, or
science;
(1) Development of innovative item types under paragraph (a) may
include, for example, performance tasks; simulations; or interactive,
multi-step, technology-rich items that can support competency-based
assessments or portfolio projects;
(2) Projects under this priority must be designed to develop new
methods for collecting evidence about a student's knowledge and
abilities and ensure the quality, validity, reliability, and fairness
(such as by incorporating principles of universal design for learning)
of the assessment and comparability of student data; or
(b) Develop new approaches to transform traditional, end-of-year
summative assessment forms with many items into a series of modular
assessment forms, each with fewer items than the end-of-year summative
assessment.
(1) To respond to paragraph (b), applicants must develop modular
assessment approaches which can be used to provide timely feedback to
educators and parents as well as be combined to provide a valid,
reliable, and fair summative assessment of individual students.
(c) Applicants proposing projects under either paragraph (a) or (b)
must provide a dissemination plan to share lessons learned and best
practices such that their projects can serve as models and resources
that can be shared with other States.
Competitive Preference Priority 2--Improving Assessment Scoring and
Score Reporting. (Up to 10 points.)
Under this priority, SEAs must:
(a) Develop innovative tools that leverage technology to score
assessments;
(1) To respond to paragraph (a), applicants must propose projects
to reduce the time it takes to provide test results to educators,
parents, and students and to make it more cost-effective to include
non-multiple choice items on assessments. These innovative tools must
improve automated scoring of student assessments, in particular non-
multiple choice items in reading/language arts, mathematics, or
science; or
(b) Propose projects, in consultation with organizations
representing parents (including parents of English learners and parents
of students with disabilities), students, teachers, counselors, and
school administrators to address needs related to score reporting and
improve the utility of information about student performance included
in reports of assessment results and provide better and more timely
information to educators and parents;
(1) To respond to paragraph (b), applicants must include one or
more of the following in their projects:
(i) Developing enhanced score reporting templates or digital
mechanisms for communicating assessment results and their meaning (such
as by providing clear and actionable next steps for parents);
(ii) Improving the assessment literacy of educators and parents to
help them interpret test results and to support teaching and learning
in the classroom (such as by providing training on test development and
interpretation of test scores); and
(iii) Developing mechanisms for secure transmission and individual
use of assessment results by students and parents.
(c) Applicants proposing projects under either paragraph (a) or (b)
must provide a dissemination plan to share lessons learned and best
practices such that their projects can serve as models and resources
that can be shared with other States.
Competitive Preference Priority 3--Inventory of State and Local
Assessment Systems. (Up to 5 points.)
(a) Under this priority, SEAs must--
(1) Review statewide and local assessments to ensure that each test
is of high quality, maximizes instructional goals, has a clear purpose
and utility, and is designed to help students demonstrate mastery of
State standards;
(2) Determine whether assessments are serving their intended
purpose to measure student achievement and identify gaps in students'
knowledge and skills and to eliminate redundant and unnecessary
testing; and
(3) Review State and LEA strategies and activities related to test
preparation to make sure those strategies and activities are focused on
academic content and not on test-taking skills.
(b) To meet the requirements in paragraph (a), SEAs must ensure
that tests, including statewide and local assessments are--
(1) Worth taking, meaning that assessments are a component of good
instruction and require students to perform the same kind of complex
work they do in an effective classroom and the real world;
(2) High quality, resulting in actionable, objective information
about students' knowledge and skills, including by assessing the full
range of relevant State standards, eliciting complex student
demonstrations or applications of knowledge, providing an accurate
measure of student achievement, and producing information that can be
used to measure student growth accurately over time;
(3) Time-limited, in order to balance instructional time and the
need for assessments, for example, by eliminating duplicative
assessments and assessments that incentivize low-quality test
preparation strategies that consume valuable classroom time;
(4) Fair for all students and used to support equity in educational
opportunity by ensuring that accessibility features and accommodations
level the playing field so tests accurately reflect what all students,
including students with disabilities and English learners, know and can
do;
[[Page 52426]]
(5) Fully transparent to students and parents, so that States and
districts can clearly explain to parents the purpose, the source of the
requirement (if appropriate), and the use by teachers and schools, and
provide feedback to parents and students on student performance; and
(6) Tied to improving student learning as tools in the broader work
of teaching and learning.
(c) Approaches to assessment inventories under paragraph (a) must
include:
(1) Review of the schedule for administration of all assessments
required at the Federal, State, and local levels;
(2) Review of the purpose of, and legal authority for,
administration of all assessments required at the Federal, State, and
local levels; and
(3) Feedback on the assessment system from stakeholders, which
could include information on how teachers, principals, other school
leaders, and administrators use assessment data to inform and
differentiate instruction, how much time teachers spend on assessment
preparation and administration, and the assessments that
administrators, teachers, principals, other school leaders, parents,
and students do and do not find useful.
(d) Projects under this priority--
(1) Must be no longer than 12 months;
(2) Must include a longer-term project plan, understanding that,
beginning with FY 2017, there may be dedicated Federal funds for
assessment audit work as authorized under section 1202 of the ESEA, as
amended by the ESSA, and understanding that States and LEAs may use
other Federal funds, such as the State assessment grant funds,
authorized under section 1201 of the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA,
consistent with the purposes for those funds, to implement such plans;
and
(3) Must have a budget of $200,000 or less.
Requirements: The following requirements are from the notice of
final priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria for
this program published in the Federal Register on April 19, 2011 (76 FR
21985) (2011 NFP). With respect to requirement (b), the Department
notes that the Race to the Top Assessment program ended in 2015. As a
result, while the grantees will be expected to meet this requirement
broadly, they will not need to coordinate with the Race to the Top
Assessment program.
An eligible applicant awarded a grant under this program must:
(a) Evaluate the validity, reliability, and fairness of any
assessments or other assessment-related instruments developed under a
grant from this competition, and make available documentation of
evaluations of technical quality through formal mechanisms (e.g., peer-
reviewed journals) and informal mechanisms (e.g., newsletters), both in
print and electronically;
(b) Actively participate in any applicable technical assistance
activities conducted or facilitated by the Department or its designees,
coordinate with the Race To The Top Assessment program in the
development of assessments under this program, and participate in other
activities as determined by the Department;
(c) Develop a strategy to make student-level data that result from
any assessments or other assessment-related instruments developed under
a grant from this competition available on an ongoing basis for
research, including for prospective linking, validity, and program
improvement studies; \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Eligible applicants awarded a grant under this program must
comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
and 34 CFR part 99, as well as State and local requirements
regarding privacy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(d) Ensure that any assessments or other assessment-related
instruments developed under a grant from this competition will be
operational (ready for large-scale administration) at the end of the
project period;
(e) Ensure that funds awarded under the EAG program are not used to
support the development of standards, such as under the English
language proficiency assessment system priority or any other priority;
(f) Maximize the interoperability of any assessments and other
assessment-related instruments developed with funds from this
competition across technology platforms and the ability for States to
move their assessments from one technology platform to another by doing
the following, as applicable, for any assessments developed with funds
from this competition by--
(1) Developing all assessment items in accordance with an industry-
recognized, open-licensed, interoperability standard that is approved
by the Department during the grant period, without non-standard
extensions or additions; and
(2) Producing all student-level data in a manner consistent with an
industry-recognized open-licensed interoperability standard that is
approved by the Department during the grant period;
(g) Unless otherwise protected by law or agreement as proprietary
information, make any assessment content (i.e., assessments and
assessment items) and other assessment-related instruments developed
with funds from this competition freely available to States, technology
platform providers, and others that request it for purposes of
administering assessments, provided that those parties receiving
assessment content comply with consortium or State requirements for
test or item security; and
(h) For any assessments and other assessment-related instruments
developed with funds from this competition, use technology to the
maximum extent appropriate to develop, administer, and score the
assessments and report results.
Definitions: The following definitions are from the 2011 NFP and
the notice of final priorities, requirement, definitions, and selection
criteria for this program published in the Federal Register on May 23,
2013 (78 FR 31343) (2013 NFP).
English learner means a child, including a child aged three and
younger, who is an English learner consistent with the definition of a
child who is ``limited English proficient,'' as applicable, in section
9101(25) of the ESEA, as amended by NCLB. (2013 NFP)
Student with a disability means a student who has been identified
as a child with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, as amended. (2011 NFP)
Program Authority: Section 6112 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by NCLB, and section
1203(b)(1) of the ESEA, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act
(Pub. L. 114-95) (ESSA).
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 81, 82,
84, 86, 97, 98, and 99. (b) The Office of Management and Budget
Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension
(Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR part 180, as adopted and amended as
regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3485. (c) The Uniform
Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements
for Federal Awards in 2 CFR part 200, as adopted and amended as
regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3474. (d) The notice of
final priorities published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register. (e) The 2011 NFP and the 2013 NFP.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
[[Page 52427]]
Estimated Available Funds: $8,860,000.
Contingent upon the availability of funds and the quality of
applications, we may make additional awards in FY 2016 from the list of
unfunded applications from this competition.
Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000 to $4,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $2,500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 3-6.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 48 months.
Note: For Competitive Preference Priority 1 and Competitive
Preference Priority 2, applicants should submit a single budget and
propose a project period of up to 48 months. Applicants should
propose a project period that is up to 48 months, based on a
timeline that takes into account the urgency of the need of the
final project findings and products to be accessible to the field.
Subject to the availability of future years' funds, the Department
may make supplemental grant awards to grants awarded in this
competition. Applicants that address Competitive Preference Priority
3 may not propose a project period of greater than 12 months or a
budget of greater than $200,000. If an applicant addresses
Competitive Preference Priority 3, as well as one of the other
competitive preference priorities, then that portion of the proposed
project period attributable to the project activities under
Competitive Preference Priority 3 may not exceed 12 months; and that
portion of the proposed budget attributable to the project
activities under Competitive Preference Priority 3 may not exceed
$200,000.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: State educational agencies (SEAs) as
defined in section 9101(41) of the ESEA, as amended by NCLB, and
consortia of such SEAs.
2. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not require cost
sharing or matching.
3. Other: An application from a consortium of SEAs must designate
one SEA as the fiscal agent.
IV. Application and Submission Information
1. Address to Request Application Package: Donald Peasley, Office
of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education,
400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3E124, Washington, DC 20202-6132.
Telephone: (202) 453-7982 or by email: Donald.Peasley@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities can obtain a copy of the application
package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape,
or compact disc) by contacting the program contact person listed in
this section.
2. Content and Form of Application Submission: Requirements
concerning the content and form of an application, together with the
forms you must submit, are in the application package for this
competition. Page Limit: The project narrative is where you, the
applicant, address the selection criteria that reviewers use to
evaluate your application. You must limit the application narrative to
the equivalent of no more than 65 pages, using the following standards:
A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only, with 1''
margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch)
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings,
footnotes, quotations, references, and captions, as well as all text in
charts, tables, figures, and graphs.
Use a font that is either 12 point or larger or no smaller
than 10 pitch (characters per inch).
Use one of the following fonts: Times New Roman, Courier,
Courier New, or Arial.
The page limit applies to the project narrative, including the
table of contents, which must include a discussion of how the
application meets one or more of the absolute priorities; if
applicable, how the application meets one or more of the competitive
preference priorities; and how well the application addresses each of
the selection criteria. The page limit also applies to any attachments
to the project narrative other than the items mentioned in Part 6 of
the application package, including the references/bibliography. In
other words, the entirety of the project narrative, including the
aforementioned discussion and any attachments to the project narrative,
must be limited to the equivalent of no more than 65 pages. The only
allowable attachments other than those included in the project
narrative are outlined in Part 6, ``Other Attachments Forms,'' in the
application package. Any attachments other than those included within
the page limit of the project narrative and those outlined in Part 6
will not be reviewed.
The 65-page limit, or its equivalent, does not apply to the
following sections of an application: Part 1 (including the response
regarding research activities involving human subjects); Part 2 (budget
information); Part 3 (two-page project abstract); Part 5 (the budget
narrative); Part 6 (memoranda of understanding or other binding
agreement, if applicable; copy of applicant's indirect cost rate
agreement; letters of commitment and support from collaborating SEAs
and organizations; other attachments forms, including, if applicable,
references/bibliography for the project narrative and individual
r[eacute]sum[eacute]s for project director(s) and key personnel); and
Part 7 (standard assurances and certifications). Applicants are
encouraged to limit each r[eacute]sum[eacute] to no more than five
pages.
In addition, do not use hyperlinks in an application. Reviewers
will be instructed not to follow hyperlinks if included. Our reviewers
will not read any pages of your project narrative that exceed the page
limit, or the equivalent of the page limit if you apply other
standards. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications that meet
the page limit following the standards outlined in this section rather
than submitting applications that are the equivalent of the page limit
applying other standards.
3. Submission Dates and Times:
Applications Available: August 8, 2016.
Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: August 29, 2016.
We will be able to develop a more efficient process for reviewing
grant applications if we have a better understanding of the number of
applicants that intend to apply for funding under this competition.
Therefore, we strongly encourage each potential applicant to notify us
of the applicant's intent to submit an application for funding. This
notification should be brief, and identify the SEA applicant and, if
applicable, the SEA that it will designate as the fiscal agent for an
award (e.g., in the case of consortia applicants). Submit this
notification by email to Donald.Peasley@ed.gov with ``Intent to Apply''
in the email subject line or mail to Donald Peasley, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3E124, Washington, DC 20202-
6132. Applicants that do not provide this email notification may still
apply for funding.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: September 22, 2016.
Applications for grants under this competition must be submitted
electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site (Grants.gov). For
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 the electronic submission
requirement, please refer to
[[Page 52428]]
Other Submission Requirements in section IV of 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
of 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.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: November 21, 2016.
4. Intergovernmental Review: This competition is subject to
Executive Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79.
Information about Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs under
Executive Order 12372 is in the application package for this
competition.
5. Funding Restrictions: We reference regulations outlining funding
restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice.
6. Data Universal Numbering System Number, Taxpayer Identification
Number, and System for Award Management: To do business with the
Department of Education, you must--
a. Have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and a
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN);
b. Register both your DUNS number and TIN with the System for Award
Management (SAM), the Government's primary registrant database;
c. Provide your DUNS number and TIN on your application; and
d. Maintain an active SAM registration with current information
while your application is under review by the Department and, if you
are awarded a grant, during the project period.
You can obtain a DUNS number from Dun and Bradstreet at the
following Web site: https://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. A DUNS number can be
created within one to two business days.
If you are a corporate entity, agency, institution, or
organization, you can obtain a TIN from the Internal Revenue Service.
If you are an individual, you can obtain a TIN from the Internal
Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration. If you need a
new TIN, please allow two to five weeks for your TIN to become active.
The SAM registration process can take approximately seven business
days, but may take upwards of several weeks, depending on the
completeness and accuracy of the data you enter into the SAM database.
Thus, if you think you might want to apply for Federal financial
assistance under a program administered by the Department, please allow
sufficient time to obtain and register your DUNS number and TIN. We
strongly recommend that you register early.
Note: Once your SAM registration is active, it may be 24 to 48
hours before you can access the information in, and submit an
application through, Grants.gov.
If you are currently registered with SAM, you may not need to make
any changes. However, please make certain that the TIN associated with
your DUNS number is correct. Also note that you will need to update
your registration annually. This may take three or more business days.
Information about SAM is available at www.SAM.gov. To further
assist you with obtaining and registering your DUNS number and TIN in
SAM or updating your existing SAM account, we have prepared a SAM.gov
Tip Sheet, which you can find at: www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/sam-faqs.html.
In addition, if you are submitting your application via Grants.gov,
you must (1) be designated by your organization as an Authorized
Organization Representative (AOR); and (2) register yourself with
Grants.gov as an AOR. Details on these steps are outlined at the
following Grants.gov Web page: www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html.
7. Other Submission Requirements: Applications for grants under
this competition must be submitted electronically unless you qualify
for an exception to this requirement in accordance with the
instructions in this section.
a. Electronic Submission of Applications.
Applications for grants under the EAG competition, CFDA number
84.368A, must be submitted electronically using the Governmentwide
Grants.gov Apply site at 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 application for the EAG
competition at www.Grants.gov. You must search for the downloadable
application package for this competition by the CFDA number. Do not
include the CFDA number's alpha suffix in your search (e.g., search for
84.326, not 84.326A).
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 4:30:00
p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. Except as
otherwise noted in this section, we will not accept your application if
it is received--that is, date and time stamped by the Grants.gov
system--after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application
deadline date. We do not consider an application that does not comply
with the deadline requirements. 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
4:30:00 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 this 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 under News and Events on the Department's G5
system home page at www.G5.gov. In addition, for specific guidance and
procedures for submitting an application through Grants.gov, please
refer to the Grants.gov Web site at:
[[Page 52429]]
www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/apply-for-grants.html.
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: The
Application for Federal Assistance (SF 424), the Department of
Education Supplemental Information for SF 424, Budget Information--Non-
Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and
certifications.
You must upload any narrative sections and all other
attachments to your application as files in a read-only, non-modifiable
Portable Document Format (PDF). Do not upload an interactive or
fillable PDF file. If you upload a file type other than a read-only,
non-modifiable PDF (e.g., Word, Excel, WordPerfect, etc.) or submit a
password-protected file, we will not review that material. Please note
that this could result in your application not being considered for
funding because the material in question--for example, the application
narrative--is critical to a meaningful review of your proposal. For
that reason it is important to allow yourself adequate time to upload
all material as PDF files. The Department will not convert material
from other formats to PDF.
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. Grants.gov
will also notify you automatically by email if your application met all
the Grants.gov validation requirements or if there were any errors
(such as submission of your application by someone other than a
registered Authorized Organization Representative, or inclusion of an
attachment with a file name that contains special characters). You will
be given an opportunity to correct any errors and resubmit, but you
must still meet the deadline for submission of applications.
Once your application is successfully validated by Grants.gov, the
Department will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send you
an email with a unique PR/Award number for your application.
These emails do not mean that your application is without any
disqualifying errors. While your application may have been successfully
validated by Grants.gov, it must also meet the Department's application
requirements as specified in this notice and in the application
instructions. Disqualifying errors could include, for instance, failure
to upload attachments in a read-only, non-modifiable PDF; failure to
submit a required part of the application; or failure to meet applicant
eligibility requirements. It is your responsibility to ensure that your
submitted application has met all of the Department's requirements.
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 4:30:00 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 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC
time, on the application deadline date, please contact the person
listed under For Further Information Contact in section VII of 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 the
problem affected your ability to submit your application by 4:30:00
p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. We will
contact you after we determine 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
prevents 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: Donald Peasley, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3E124,
Washington, DC 20202-6132. FAX: (202) 401-1557.
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 following address:
U.S. Department of Education, Application Control Center, Attention:
(CFDA Number 84.368A), LBJ Basement Level 1, 400 Maryland Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20202-4260.
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.
[[Page 52430]]
(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.
We will not consider applications postmarked after the application
deadline date.
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 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 84.368A), 550 12th Street SW., Room 7039, Potomac Center
Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-4260.
The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily
between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30:00 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 and--if not provided by
the Department--in Item 11 of the SF 424 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.
V. Application Review Information
1. Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this competition
are from 34 CFR 75.210. We will award up to 120 points to an
application under the selection criteria; the total possible points for
each selection criterion are noted in parentheses.
(a) Need for project. (5 points)
The Secretary considers the need for the proposed project. In
determining the need for the proposed project, the Secretary considers
the following factors:
1. The magnitude of severity of the problem to be addressed by the
proposed project.
2. The magnitude of the need for the services to be provided or the
activities to be carried out by the proposed project.
3. 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.
(b) Significance. (25 points)
The Secretary considers the significance of the proposed project.
In determining the significance of the proposed project, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The significance of the problem or issue to be addressed by the
proposed project.
2. The potential contribution of the proposed project to the
development and advancement of theory, knowledge, and practices in the
field of study.
3. The potential for generalizing from the findings or results of
the proposed project.
4. The extent to which the proposed project involves the
development or demonstration of promising new strategies that build on,
or are alternatives to, existing strategies.
5. The likely utility of the products (such as information,
materials, processes, or techniques) that will result from the proposed
project, including the potential for their being used effectively in a
variety of other settings.
(c) Quality of the project design. (35 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of the design of the proposed
project. In determining the quality of the design of the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
1. The extent to which the goals, objectives, and outcomes to be
achieved by the proposed project are clearly specified and measurable.
2. The extent to which there is a conceptual framework underlying
the proposed research or demonstration activities and the quality of
that framework.
3. The extent to which the proposed activities constitute a
coherent, sustained, program of research and development in the field,
including, as appropriate, a substantial addition to an ongoing line of
inquiry.
4. The extent to which the proposed project is based upon a
specific research design, and the quality and appropriateness of that
design, including the scientific rigor of the studies involved.
5. The extent to which the proposed development efforts include
adequate quality controls and, as appropriate, repeated testing of
products.
6. The extent to which the design of the proposed project reflects
up-to-date knowledge from research and effective practice.
7. The quality of the methodology to be employed in the proposed
project.
8. The potential and planning for the incorporation of project
purposes, activities, or benefits into the ongoing work of the
applicant beyond the end of the grant.
(d) Quality of project services. (5 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of the services to be provided
by the proposed project. In determining the quality of the services to
be provided by the proposed project, the Secretary considers the
quality and sufficiency of strategies for ensuring equal access and
treatment for eligible project participants who are members of groups
that have traditionally been underrepresented based on race, color,
national origin, gender, age, or disability. In addition, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
1. The extent to which the training or professional development
services to be provided by the proposed project are of sufficient
quality, intensity, and duration to lead to improvements in practice
among the recipients of those services.
2. The likelihood that the services to be provided by the proposed
project will lead to improvements in the achievement of students as
measured against rigorous academic standards.
(e) Quality of project personnel. (8 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of the personnel who will carry
out the proposed project. In determining the quality of project
personnel, the Secretary considers the extent to which the applicant
encourages applications for employment from persons who are members of
groups that have traditionally been underrepresented based on race,
color, national origin, gender, age, or disability. In addition, the
Secretary considers the following factors:
1. The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of the project director or principal investigator.
2. The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of key project personnel.
3. The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of project consultants or subcontractors.
(f) Adequacy of resources. (12 points)
[[Page 52431]]
The Secretary considers the adequacy of resources for the proposed
project. In determining the adequacy of resources for the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
1. The adequacy of support, including facilities, equipment,
supplies, and other resources, from the application organization or the
lead applicant organization.
2. The relevance and demonstrated commitment of each partner in the
proposed project to the implementation and success of the project.
3. The extent to which the budget is adequate to support the
proposed project.
4. The extent to which the costs are reasonable in relation to the
objectives, design, and potential significance of the proposed project.
(g) Quality of the management plan. (12 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of the management plan for the
proposed project. In determining the quality of the management plan for
the proposed project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
1. 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.
2. The adequacy of procedures for ensuring feedback and continuous
improvement in the operation of the proposed project.
3. The adequacy of mechanisms for ensuring high-quality products
and services from the proposed project.
4. 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.
(h) Quality of the project evaluation. (10 points)
The Secretary considers the quality of the evaluation to be
conducted of the proposed project. In determining the quality of the
evaluation, the Secretary considers the following factors:
1. The extent to which the methods of evaluation are thorough,
feasible, and appropriate to the goals, objectives, and outcomes of the
proposed project.
2. The extent to which the methods of evaluation are thorough,
feasible, and appropriate to the goals, objectives, and outcomes of the
proposed project.
3. 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.
4. The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide
performance feedback and permit periodic assessment of progress toward
achieving intended outcomes.
5. The extent to which the evaluation will provide guidance about
effective strategies suitable for replication or testing in other
settings.
(i) Strategy to scale. (8 points)
The Secretary considers the applicant's strategy to scale the
proposed project. In determining the applicant's capacity to scale the
proposed project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
1. The applicant's capacity (e.g., in terms of qualified personnel,
financial resources, or management capacity) to further develop and
bring to scale the proposed process, product, strategy, or practice, or
to work with others to ensure that the proposed process, product,
strategy, or practice can be further developed and brought to scale,
based on the findings of the proposed project.
2. The mechanisms the applicant will use to broadly disseminate
information on its project so as to support further development or
replication.
3. The extent to which the applicant demonstrates there is unmet
demand for the process, product, strategy, or practice that will enable
the applicant to reach the level of scale that is proposed in the
application.
2. Review and Selection Process: We remind potential applicants
that in reviewing applications in any discretionary grant competition,
the Secretary may consider, under 34 CFR 75.217(d)(3), the past
performance of the applicant in carrying out a previous award, such as
the applicant's use of funds, achievement of project objectives, and
compliance with grant conditions. The Secretary may also consider
whether the applicant failed to submit a timely performance report or
submitted a report of unacceptable quality.
In addition, in making a competitive grant award, the Secretary
requires various assurances, including those applicable to Federal
civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or
activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department
of Education (34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
3. Risk Assessment and Special Conditions: Consistent with 2 CFR
200.205, before awarding grants under this competition the Department
conducts a review of the risks posed by applicants. Under 2 CFR
3474.10, the Secretary may impose special conditions and, in
appropriate circumstances, high-risk conditions on a grant if the
applicant or grantee is not financially stable; has a history of
unsatisfactory performance; has a financial or other management system
that does not meet the standards in 2 CFR part 200, subpart D; has not
fulfilled the conditions of a prior grant; or is otherwise not
responsible.
4. Integrity and Performance System: If you are selected under this
competition to receive an award that over the course of the project
period may exceed the simplified acquisition threshold (currently
$150,000), under 2 CFR 200.205(a)(2), we must make a judgment about
your integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under
Federal awards--that is, the risk posed by you as an applicant--before
we make an award. In doing so, we must consider any information about
you that is in the integrity and performance system (currently referred
to as the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System
(FAPIIS)), accessible through SAM. You may review and comment on any
information about yourself that a Federal agency previously entered and
that is currently in FAPIIS.
Please note that, if the total value of your currently active
grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts from the
Federal Government exceeds $10,000,000, the reporting requirements in 2
CFR part 200, Appendix XII, require you to report certain integrity
information to FAPIIS semiannually. Please review the requirements in 2
CFR part 200, Appendix XII, if this grant plus all the other Federal
funds you receive exceed $10,000,000.
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
Notification (GAN); or we may send you an email containing a link to
access an electronic version of your 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 of this notice.
We reference the regulations outlining the terms and conditions of
an award in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice and
include these and other specific conditions in the GAN. The
[[Page 52432]]
GAN also incorporates your approved application as part of your binding
commitments under the grant.
3. Reporting: (a) If you apply for a grant under this competition,
you must ensure that you have in place the necessary processes and
systems to comply with the reporting requirements in 2 CFR part 170
should you receive funding under the competition. This does not apply
if you have an exception under 2 CFR 170.110(b).
(b) 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 multiyear 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 reporting,
please go to www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/appforms/appforms.html.
(c) Under 34 CFR 75.250(b), the Secretary may provide a grantee
with additional funding for data collection analysis and reporting. In
this case the Secretary establishes a data collection period.
4. Performance Measures: Under the Government Performance and
Results Act of 1993, the Department has developed four measures to
evaluate the overall effectiveness of the EAG program: (1) The number
of States that participate in EAG projects funded by this competition;
(2) the percentage of grantees that, at least twice during the period
of their grants, make available to SEA staff in non-participating
States and to assessment researchers information on findings resulting
from the EAG through presentations at national conferences,
publications in refereed journals, or other products disseminated to
the assessment community; (3) for each grant cycle and as determined by
an expert panel, the percentage of EAG that yield significant research,
methodologies, products, or tools regarding assessment systems or
assessments; and (4) for each grant cycle and as determined by an
expert panel, the percentage of EAG that yield significant research,
methodologies, products, or tools specifically regarding accommodations
and alternate assessments for students with disabilities and limited
English proficient students. Grantees will be expected to include in
their interim and final performance reports information about the
accomplishments of their projects because the Department will need data
on these measures.
5. Continuation Awards: In making a continuation award under 34 CFR
75.253, the Secretary considers, among other things: Whether a grantee
has made substantial progress in achieving the goals and objectives of
the project; whether the grantee has expended funds in a manner that is
consistent with its approved application and budget; and, if the
Secretary has established performance measurement requirements, the
performance targets in the grantee's approved application.
In making a continuation award, the Secretary also considers
whether the grantee is operating in compliance with the assurances in
its approved application, including those applicable to Federal civil
rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities
receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department (34 CFR
100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
VII. Agency Contact
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald Peasley, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3e124, Washington, DC 20202-
6132. Telephone: (202) 453-7982 or by email: Donald.Peasley@ed.gov.
If you use a TDD or a TTY, call the Federal Relay Service (FRS),
toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.
VIII. Other Information
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document and a copy of the application package in an accessible format
(e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) on request to
the program contact person listed under For Further Information Contact
in section VII of this notice.
Electronic Access to This Document: 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 via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well
as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal
Register, in text or PDF. To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat
Reader, which is available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at:
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Dated: August 1, 2016.
Ann Whalen,
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Delegated the Duties of Assistant
Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2016-18532 Filed 8-5-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P