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

The Secretary of Education proposes to establish the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS or standard) as required under sections 612(a)(23)(A) and 674(e)(4) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as amended by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (Act). The purpose of the NIMAS is to help increase the availability and timely delivery of print instructional materials in accessible formats to blind or other persons with print disabilities in elementary schools and secondary schools.

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the Department of Education (Department) publishes this notice of a new system of records entitled ``Evaluation of the Impact of Supplemental Literacy Interventions in Freshman Academies'' (18-13-12). This evaluation, which is also called the Adolescent Literacy Project, has been commissioned by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). It is being conducted by MDRC in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR). IES has been collaborating with the Department's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) to coordinate the study of supplemental literacy interventions within OVAE's Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program. The study will address the following questions: (1) Do specific supplemental reading programs that support personalized and intensive instruction for striving ninth-grade readers significantly improve reading proficiency? (2) What are the effects of supplemental reading programs on in- school outcomes such as attendance and course-taking behavior, and on longer-term outcomes such as student performance on State assessments in the tenth or eleventh grade? (3) Which students benefit most from participation in the programs? The system will contain information about two cohorts of approximately 3,200 high school freshmen each in SLCs in eight to twelve school districts yet to be determined. Half of these students will be participants in a supplemental literacy program, and half will be in a control group. The system will include these students' names, addresses, demographic information such as race/ethnicity, age, gender, and educational background, their results on literacy assessments, some of their school records data such as attendance, state test results, course performance, and classes taken, and their responses to a survey about their attitude toward reading and their reading and writing activities during the school year. The system will also include responses to survey and interview questions from teachers of these students, and possibly other school staff working with the literacy classes, about their backgrounds and the supplemental literacy interventions.

The agencies listed in this document are amending the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, which was published in the Federal Register on June 18, 1991, to change all references to the Office for Protection from Research Risks (OPRR) to the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP); revise the footnote found at the end of Sec. .101(i) by deleting references to research involving fetuses, pregnant women, or human in vitro fertilization and subpart B of 45 CFR part 46; and update the Control Number for the approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the information collection requirements of this Federal Policy.

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 Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools announces a priority and other application requirements under the Emergency Response and Crisis Management Grants program. We may use this priority and these application requirements for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2005 and later years. We take this action to focus Federal financial assistance on an identified national need. We intend the priority to support grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to improve and strengthen emergency response and crisis management plans.

The Secretary waives the requirements in Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), in 34 CFR 75.250 and 75.261(c)(2), respectively, that generally prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. This extension of project period and waiver enables the current SCIMS (a total of 16), which provide assistance to establish innovative projects for the delivery, demonstration, and evaluation of comprehensive medical, vocational, and other rehabilitation services to meet the wide range of needs of individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), to receive an additional 12- month Federal funding period ranging from September 1, 2005, until December 1, 2006, a period exceeding the original project period of five years.

On June 3, 2005, the Department published in the Federal Register (70 FR 32583) a notice inviting applications for new awards for FY 2005 to establish and operate Comprehensive Centers under Title II of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (TA Act). On page 32589, third column, the additional requirement under the heading ``6. Advisory Board'' is corrected to read as follows: 6. Advisory Board. Each application must propose, as part of its technical assistance plan, establishing an advisory board to advise the proposed comprehensive center on: (a) The activities of the center relating to its allocation of resources to and within each State in a manner that reflects the need for assistance in accordance with section 203(d) of Title II of the TA Act; (b) strategies for monitoring and addressing the educational needs of the region, on an ongoing basis; (c) maintaining a high standard of quality in the performance of the center's activities; and (d) carrying out the center's duties in a manner that promotes progress toward improving student academic achievement. The plan must (1) detail the composition of the board by name and affiliation in accordance with the requirements described in section 203 of the TA Act and in the application instructions found in the application package, and (2) include a letter of commitment from each proposed board member. In the alternative to submitting a plan that meets the requirements in (1) and (2) in the previous sentence, an applicant may include, in its plan, a statement of commitment that it will comply with section 203(g) of the TA Act as well as a narrative statement of how the board will operate.

The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a funding priority for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research's (NIDRR) Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program, Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTC) program. This priority may be used for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2005 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on areas of national need. We intend this priority to improve rehabilitation services and outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

The Secretary announces the annual updates to the ICR plan formula for 2005. Under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, borrowers may choose to repay their student loans (Direct Subsidized Loan, Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Direct Subsidized Consolidation Loan, and Direct Unsubsidized Consolidation Loan) under the ICR plan, which bases the repayment amount on the borrower's income, family size, loan amount, and interest rate. Each year, we adjust the formula for calculating a borrower's payment to reflect changes due to inflation. This notice contains the adjusted income percentage factors for 2005 and charts showing sample repayment amounts based on the adjusted ICR plan formula. It also contains examples of how the calculation of the monthly ICR amount is performed and a constant multiplier chart for use in performing the calculations. The adjustments for the ICR plan formula contained in this notice are effective from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

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 Secretary of Education requests comments on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that the Secretary proposes to use for the 2006-2007 year. The FAFSA is completed by students and their families and the information submitted on the form is used to determine the students' eligibility and financial need for financial aid under the student financial assistance programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, (Title IV, HEA Programs). The Secretary also requests comments on changes under consideration for the 2006-2007 FAFSA.

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.

We correct the Deadline for Intergovernmental Review in the notice published on May 13, 2005 (70 FR 25553).

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.