Department of Education January 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Secretary announces plans to hold the last of a series of public meetings to seek comments and suggestions from the public prior to developing and publishing proposed regulations to implement programs under the recently revised Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Date and Time of Public Meeting: Thursday, February 24, 2005 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 552a, the Department of Education (Department) publishes this notice of an altered system of records entitled ``Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG), Participation Management System'' for the purpose of providing telecommunications support for the delivery and administration of Federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). This system stores personally identifiable data from individuals who elect to participate in the transfer of electronic data via the SAIG, or enroll in the Financial Aid Administration (FAA) Online Access system for access to either the Central Processing System (CPS) Online or eCampus Online. (The eCampus-Based Web site allows users to submit FISAP information, access Campus-Based account data, and view reports.) The Department is revising this system of records as a result of a system application change and other technical changes to the Title IV Wide Area Network (Title IV WAN 18-11-10) system notice. This altered system of records notice also changes the name of the system from Title IV WAN to Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG), Participation Management System; adds two new routine use disclosures; deletes number two under the ``Purposes'' statement, which refers to billing for customer service calls and ISIR data requests; and revises the safeguards and record retention and disposal sections to reflect the current safeguards and record retentions for the paper and electronic (Web-based) records and information.

On January 21, 2005, we published in the Federal Register (70 FR 3194) a notice announcing plans to hold the third of a series of public meetings to seek comments and suggestions from the public prior to developing and publishing proposed regulations to implement programs under the recently revised IDEA. On page 3195, first column, under Date and Time of Public Meeting, the times listed for the Boston, MA public meeting are corrected to read ``10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.''

The Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education proposes priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria for a special competition under the Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program. The Assistant Secretary may use these priorities, requirements, definitions and selection criteria for a special competition using a portion of fiscal year (FY) 2004 funds and also in future years. The priorities, requirements, definitions and selection criteria proposed in this notice will not be used for all FY SLC 2004 competitions. Projects funded using these priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria would create and/or expand SLC activities as well as participate in a national research evaluation of supplemental reading programs. Another SLC competition will be conducted later this year, awarding additional FY 2004 funds, for projects that do not require participation in the national research evaluation. Requirements, priorities, definitions, and selection criteria for that competition will be proposed in a notice in the Federal Register at a later date. We propose these priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria to focus federal financial assistance on an identified national need for scientifically based data on supplemental reading programs for adolescents.

The Secretary of Education announces a priority that may be used for any appropriate programs in the Department of Education (Department) in FY 2005 and in later years. We take this action to focus Federal financial assistance on expanding the number of programs and projects Department-wide that are evaluated under rigorous scientifically based research methods in accordance with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The definition of scientifically based research in section 9201(37) of NCLB includes other research designs in addition to the random assignment and quasi-experimental designs that are the subject of this priority. However, the Secretary considers random assignment and quasi-experimental designs to be the most rigorous methods to address the question of project effectiveness. While this action is of particular importance for programs authorized by NCLB, it is also an important tool for other programs and, for this reason, is being established for all Department programs. Establishing the priority on a Department-wide basis will permit any office to use the priority for a program for which it is appropriate.

The Secretary announces plans to hold the third of a series of public meetings to seek comments and suggestions from the public prior to developing and publishing proposed regulations to implement programs under the recently revised Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Secretary proposes regulations prescribing criteria to be used in selecting eligible members of the Armed Forces to participate in the Troops-to-Teachers program and receive financial assistance. These proposed regulations would implement section 2303(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (the Act), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The proposed regulations also would define the terms ``high-need local educational agency'' and ``public charter school'' in which a participant must agree to be employed under section 2304(a)(1)(B) of the Act, as amended by the NCLB.

On November 9, 2004, we published in the Federal Register (69 FR 65028) a notice inviting applications for the AP Test Fee FY 2005 competition. The original notice for this FY 2005 competition established a December 13, 2004 deadline date for eligible applicants to apply for funding under this program. In order to afford as many eligible applicants as possible an opportunity to receive funding under this program, we are reopening the AP Test Fee FY 2005 competition. The new application deadline date for the competition is January 24, 2005.

The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement proposes a priority, requirements, and definitions under the Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination program. We may use this priority and these requirements and definitions for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2005 and later years. We take this action to focus Federal financial assistance on an identified national need for the enhancement, expansion, documentation, evaluation, and dissemination of innovative, cohesive models that have demonstrated that they effectively: (1) Integrate standards-based arts education into the core elementary and middle school curricula; (2) strengthen standards-based arts instruction in these grades; and (3) improve elementary and middle schools students' academic performance, including their skills in creating, performing, and responding to the arts. We intend the priority, requirements, and definitions to increase the amount of information on effective models for arts education that is available nationally and to integrate the arts with standards-based education programs.

The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Director, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Director, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Education (Department) issues these final regulations to adjust the Department's civil monetary penalties (CMPs) for inflation.

The Director, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.