Department of Education 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) proposes the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research's (NIDRR) Long-Range Plan (Plan) for fiscal years 2005 through 2009. As required by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, the Assistant Secretary takes this action to outline priorities for rehabilitation research, demonstration projects, training, and related activities, and to explain the basis for these priorities.

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 submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

On May 6, 2005, we published in the Federal Register (70 FR 24012) a notice inviting applications for the Rehabilitation Short-Term TrainingClient Assistance Program's FY 2005 competition. The Dear Colleague letter in the application package contained incorrect citations for the selection criteria to be used for this competition. The original notice for this FY 2005 competition established a June 20, 2005, deadline date for eligible applicants to apply for funding under this program. In order to provide all applicants with a revised Dear Colleague letter and an opportunity to receive funding under this program, we are reopening the Rehabilitation Short-Term TrainingClient Assistance Program FY 2005 competition. The new application deadline date for the competition is July 27, 2005.

The notice set forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming meeting of the National Assessment Governing Board. This notice also describes the functions of the Board. Notice of this meeting is required under section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This document is intended to notify members of the general public of their opportunity to attend. Individuals who will need special accommodations in order to attend the meeting (i.e.; interpreting services, assistive listening devices, materials in alternative format) should notify Munira Mwalimu at 202-357-6938 or at Munira.Mwalimu@ed.gov no later than July 27, 2005. We will attempt to meet requests after this date, but cannot guarantee availability of the requested accommodation. The meeting site is accessible to individuals with disabilities.

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 submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces one funding priority for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research's (NIDRR) Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program, Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP). The Assistant Secretary may use this priority 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 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.

On July 8, 2005, the Department of Education published a notice in the Federal Register (Page 39496, Column 1) for the information collection, ``A Study of the Addition of Literacy Services for Vocational Rehabilitation Consumers''. This notice was inadvertently published. Please refer to the Federal Register notice of July 7, 2005, (Page 39249, Column 2). The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer, hereby issues a correction notice as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education announces changes to certain requirements governing the Community Technology Centers (CTC) program that the Department established in 2004 and used for the fiscal year (FY) 2004 CTC competition. Specifically, the Assistant Secretary is removing the following two requirements: (1) That novice and non-novice applicants in CTC competitions be ranked and funded separately, and (2) that at least 75 percent of the funds be set aside for non-novice applicants and up to 25 percent of the funds be set aside for novice applicants. The Assistant Secretary will abide by the revised requirements in making awards in FY 2005 from the list of unfunded applicants from the FY 2004 CTC competition.

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. The Assistant Secretary may use this priority 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 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 Secretary issues 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 regulations implement section 2303(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (Act). The regulations also define the terms ``high-need local educational agency'' (high-need LEA) and ``public charter school'' in which a participant must agree to be employed under section 2304(a)(1)(B) of the Act. In addition, the regulations define the term ``children from families with income below the poverty line'' which is used in the definition of high-need LEA.

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.