E6-19193. Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Overview Information; Teacher Incentive Fund; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.374A.

DATES:

Applications Available: November 14, 2006.

Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: December 29, 2006.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: February 12, 2007.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: April 13, 2007.

Eligible Applicants: Local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that are LEAs in their State; State educational agencies (SEAs); or partnerships of (a) an LEA, an SEA, or both, and (b) at least one non-profit organization.

Estimated Available Funds: $43,000,000.

Contingent upon the availability of funds and the receipt of a sufficient number of high-quality applications, we may make additional awards, using FY 2007 funds, from the rank-ordered list of unfunded applications from this competition.

Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000—$10,000,000.

Estimated Average Size of Awards: $3,500,000.

Estimated Number of Awards: 10—20.

Note:

The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice.

Project Period: Up to 60 months.

Full Text of Announcement

I. Funding Opportunity Description

Description of Program: This competition is a reopening of a competition run by the Department of Education for FY 2006 Teacher Incentive Program funds. Sixteen awards were made on November 1, 2006. At that time, applicants who were not awarded funding were notified. We encourage applicants who applied previously for this competition and did not receive funding to revise their applications and to reapply. All other eligible applicants are also encouraged to apply.

Purpose of Program: The purpose of the Teacher Incentive Fund, authorized as part of the FY 2006 Department of Education Appropriations Act, Public Law 109-149, is to support programs that develop and implement performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems in high-need schools.

The specific goals of the Teacher Incentive Fund include: Improving student achievement by increasing teacher and principal effectiveness; reforming teacher and principal compensation systems so that teachers and principals are rewarded for increases in student achievement; increasing the number of effective teachers teaching poor, minority, and disadvantaged students in hard-to-staff subjects; and creating sustainable performance-based compensation systems.

Priorities: We are establishing these priorities for the FY 2006 grant competition (including any awards we make, using FY 2007 funds, from the list of unfunded applications from this competition), in accordance with section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions Act.

Absolute Priority: For the FY 2006 grant competition (including any awards we may make, using FY 2007 funds, from the list of unfunded applications from this competition), this priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that meet this priority.

Consistent with the program purpose, the grantee must establish a system that provides teachers and principals, or principals only, serving in high-need schools with differentiated levels of compensation based primarily on student achievement gains at the school and classroom levels. This performance-based compensation system must also (a) consider classroom evaluations conducted multiple times during each school year and (b) provide educators with incentives to take on additional responsibilities and leadership roles.

Competitive Preference Priorities: For the FY 2006 grant competition (including any awards we make, using FY 2007 funds, from the list of unfunded applications from this competition), these priorities are competitive preference priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i) we award up to an additional 5 points to an application, depending on the extent to which the application meets the priority.

These priorities are:

Competitive Preference Priority 1: We will award up to an additional 5 points depending on the extent to which the applicant documents or provides a plan to establish ongoing support for and commitment to the performance-based compensation system from a significant proportion of the teachers, the principal, and the community, including the applicable governing authority or LEA, for each participating high-need school.

Competitive Preference Priority 2: We will award up to an additional 5 points depending on the extent to which the applicant will provide differentiated levels of compensation, which may include incentives, to recruit or retain effective teachers and principals (as measured by student achievement gains) in high-need urban and rural schools, and/or in hard-to-staff subject areas such as mathematics and science.

Definitions: The following definitions apply:

A high-need school means a school with more than 30 percent of its enrollment from low-income families, based on eligibility for free and reduced price lunch subsidies or other poverty measures that the State permits the LEAs to use. A middle or high school may be determined to meet this definition on the basis of poverty data from feeder elementary schools.

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), the Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed priorities, definitions, cost-sharing requirements, selection criteria, and performance measures. Section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232(d)(1)), however, allows the Secretary to exempt from rulemaking requirements regulations governing the first grant competition under a new or substantially revised program authority. This is the first grant competition for this program authorized as part of the FY 2006 Department of Education Appropriations Act, Public Law 109-149, and therefore these rules qualify for this exemption. To ensure timely grant awards, the Secretary has decided, under section 437(d)(1), to forego public comment on the priorities, definitions, cost-sharing requirements, selection criteria, and performance measures. These priorities, definitions, cost-sharing requirements, selection criteria, and performance measures will apply to the FY 2006 grant competition (including any awards we make, using FY 2007 funds, from the list of unfunded applications from this competition).

Program Authority: Pub. L. No. 109-149, 119 Stat. 2864-65.

Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 97, 98, and 99.

II. Award Information

Type of Award: Discretionary grant.

Estimated Available Funds: $43,000,000.

Contingent upon the availability of funds and the receipt of a sufficient number of high-quality applications, we may make additional awards, using FY 2007 funds, from the rank-ordered list of unfunded applications from this competition.

Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000-$10,000,000.

Estimated Average Size of Awards: $3,500,000.

Estimated Number of Awards: 10-20.

Note:

The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice.

Project Period: Up to 60 months.

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants: LEAs, including charter schools that are LEAs in their State; SEAs; or partnerships of (a) an LEA, an SEA, or both, and (b) at least one non-profit organization.

2. Cost-Sharing: The grantee must ensure that, in each applicable budget year, an increasing share of funds from sources other than this grant will be used to pay for earned differential compensation costs as they are phased in during the performance period. In the final year of the performance period, the grantee must ensure that at least 75 percent of the differentiated compensation costs are not paid from this grant.

IV. Application and Submission Information

1. Address to Request Application Package: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-877-433-7827. Fax: [phone]. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call (toll free): 1-877-576-7734.

You may also contact ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/​pubs/​edpubs.html or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address: [e-mail].

If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.374A.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application package in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) by contacting one of the individuals listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT in section VII. of this notice.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission: Requirements concerning the content of an application, together with the forms you must submit, are in the application package for this competition.

Notice of Intent to Apply: We will be able to develop a more efficient process for reviewing grant applications if we have a better understanding of the number of entities that intend to apply for funding.

Therefore, we strongly encourage each potential applicant to send a notification of its intent to apply for funding to the following e-mail address: [e-mail]. The notification of intent to apply for funding is optional and should not include information regarding the proposed application.

Page Limit: Applicants are strongly encouraged to limit their application to 40 pages.

3. Submission Dates and Times:

Applications Available: November 14, 2006.

Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: December 29, 2006.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: February 12, 2007.

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 by mail or hand delivery if you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, please refer to section IV. 6. Other Submission Requirements in this notice.

We do not consider an application that does not comply with the application requirements.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: April 13, 2007.

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 in this notice.

6. 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 this competition-CFDA Number 84.374A must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site at: http://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 e-mail 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 TIF program at: http://www.grants.gov. You must search for the downloadable application package for this program by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA number's alpha suffix in your search.

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 time and date stamped. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted, and must be date/time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. Except as otherwise noted in this section, we will not consider your application if it is date/time stamped by the Grants.gov system later than 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. When we retrieve your application from Grants.gov, we will notify you if we are rejecting your application because it was date/time stamped by the Grants.gov system after 4:30 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 at http://e-Grants.ed.gov/​help/​GrantsgovSubmissionProcedures.pdf.
• To submit your application via Grants.gov, you must complete all of the steps in the Grants.gov registration process (see http://www.Grants.gov/​GetStarted). These steps include (1) registering your organization, (2) registering yourself as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR), and (3) getting authorized as an AOR by your organization. Details on these steps are outlined in the Grants.gov 3-Step Registration Guide (see http://www.grants.gov/​assets/​GrantsgovCoBrandBrochure8X11.pdf). You also must provide on your application the same D-U-N-S Number used with this registration. Please note that the registration process may take five or more business days to complete, and you must have completed all registration steps to allow you to successfully submit an application via Grants.gov.
• 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 typically included on the Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424), Budget Information—Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and certifications. You must attach any narrative sections of your application as files in a .DOC (document), .RTF (rich text), or .PDF (Portable Document) format. If you upload a file type other than the three file types specified above or submit a password protected file, we will not review that material.
• Your electronic application must comply with any page limit requirements described in this notice.
• After you electronically submit your application, you will receive an automatic acknowledgment from Grants.gov that contains a Grants.gov tracking number. The Department will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send you a second confirmation by e-mail that will include a PR/Award number (an ED-specified identifying number unique to your application).
• 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 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 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 as described elsewhere in this notice. If you submit an application after 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the deadline date, please contact the person listed elsewhere in this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, and provide an explanation of the technical problem you experienced with Grants.gov, along with the Grants.gov Support Desk Case Number (if available). We will accept your application if we can confirm that a technical problem occurred with the Grants.gov system and that that problem affected your ability to submit your application by 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. The Department will contact you after a determination is made on whether your application will be accepted.

Note:

Extensions referred to 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 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 prevent 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: April Lee, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3W229, Washington, DC 20202-6200. Fax: [phone].

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 applicable following address:

By mail through the U.S. Postal Service: U.S. Department of Education, Application Control Center, Attention: (CFDA Number 84.374A), 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20202-4260; or

By mail through a commercial carrier: U.S. Department of Education, Application Control Center—Stop 4260, Attention: (CFDA Number 84.374A), 7100 Old Landover Road, Landover, MD 20785-1506.

Regardless of which address you use, 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, or

(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, or

(2) A mail receipt that is not dated by the U.S. Postal Service.

If your application is postmarked after the application deadline date, we will not consider your application.

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 84.374A), 550 12th Street, SW., Room 7041, Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-4260.

The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily between 8 a.m. and 4:30 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 4 of the Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424) the CFDA number—and suffix letter, if any—of the competition under which you are submitting your application.

(2) The Application Control Center will mail a grant application receipt acknowledgment to you. If you do not receive the grant application receipt acknowledgment within 15 business days from the application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center at [phone].

V. Application Review Information

Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this competition are as follows:

(a) Need (5 points).

The extent to which the applicant describes the scope and size of the project and the need for the project, including information on student academic achievement and the quality of the teachers and principals in the LEA(s) and high-need schools that will be served by the project.

(b) Project Design (50 points).

(1) The extent to which the performance-based compensation system will reward teachers and principals who raise student academic achievement.

(2) The extent to which the applicant describes the performance-based teacher and principal compensation system that the applicant proposes to develop, implement, or expand, including the extent to which the applicant will build the capacity of teachers and principals through activities such as professional development to raise student achievement and to provide students with greater access to rigorous coursework.

(3) The extent to which the applicant's proposed project includes valid and reliable measures of student achievement—including statewide assessment scores as appropriate for this purpose—as the primary indicator of teacher and principal effectiveness in the proposed performance-based compensation system.

(4) The extent to which the applicant proposes to develop and implement a fair, rigorous and objective process to evaluate teacher and principal performance multiple times throughout the school year.

(c) Adequacy of Resources (20 points).

(1) The extent to which the applicant provides a thorough explanation of how the applicant will use funds awarded under the grant together with the required matching funds to carry out the program purpose.

(2) The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed plan, including documentation of resources, for sustaining its performance-based compensation system after the grant period ends.

(3) The extent to which the applicant includes a thorough description of its current data-management capacity and proposed areas of data management development in order to implement a performance-based compensation system in which differentiated compensation is based primarily on student academic achievement.

(d) Quality of the Management Plan and Key Personnel (15 points).

(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, milestones, and processes for continuous improvement to accomplish project tasks.

(2) The qualifications, including experience, education, and training of proposed key personnel.

(e) Evaluation (10 points).

(1) The extent to which the applicant's evaluation plan includes the use of objective measures that are clearly related to the goals of the project to raise student achievement and increase teacher effectiveness, including the extent to which the evaluation will produce quantitative and qualitative data.

(2) The extent to which the applicant includes adequate evaluation procedures for ensuring feedback and continuous improvement in the operation of the proposed project.

(3) The extent to which the applicant commits to participating in a rigorous national evaluation that will provide a common design methodology, data collection instruments, and performance measures for all grantees funded under this competition.

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). We may also notify you informally.

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 GAN also incorporates your approved application as part of your binding commitments under the grant.

3. Reporting: At the end of the project period, recipients must submit a final performance report, including financial information, as directed by the Secretary. If you receive a multi-year award, you must submit an annual performance report that provides the most current performance and financial expenditure information as specified by the Secretary in 34 CFR 75.118.

4. Performance Measures: Pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the Department has established the following performance measures that it will use to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the grantee's project, as well as the TIF program as a whole:

(1) Changes in LEA personnel deployment practices, as measured by changes over time in the percentage of teachers and principals in high-need schools who have a record of effectiveness; and

(2) Changes in teacher and principal compensation systems in participating LEAs, as measured by the percentage of a district's personnel budget that is used for performance-related payments to effective (as measured by student achievement gains) teachers and principals.

All grantees will be expected to submit an annual performance report documenting their success in addressing these performance measures. The Department will use the applicant's performance data for program management and administration, in such areas as determining new and continuation funding and planning technical assistance.

VII. Agency Contacts

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

April Lee, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3W229, Washington, DC 20202-6200. Telephone number: [phone] or by e-mail: [e-mail] or by Internet at the following Web site: http://www.ed.gov/​programs/​teacherincentive/​index.html.

If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on request to the individuals listed in this section.

VIII. Other Information

Electronic Access to This Document: You may 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) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/​news/​fedregister.

To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, DC, area at [phone].

Note:

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 on GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/​nara/​index.html.

Dated: November 8, 2006.

Henry L. Johnson,

Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.