[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 52 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13490-13491]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6642]
[[Page 13489]]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part IV
Department of Education
_______________________________________________________________________
Demonstration Projects To Ensure Students With Disabilities Receive a
Quality Higher Education; Final Priorities and Invitations for
Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year 1999; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 52 / Thursday, March 18, 1999 /
Notices
[[Page 13490]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No. 84.333]
Demonstration Projects To Ensure Students With Disabilities
Receive a Quality Higher Education; Notice of Final Priorities and
Invitation for Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 1999
Purpose of Program: The Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students
with Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education program provides
grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) to develop innovative
demonstration projects. The purpose of the demonstration program is to
provide technical assistance and professional development for faculty
and administrators in IHEs in order to provide them with the skills and
supports that they need to teach students with disabilities. The
program will also be used to widely disseminate research and training
to enable faculty and administrators in other IHEs to meet the
educational needs of students with disabilities.
Effective Date: March 18, 1999.
Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 5, 1999.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 4, 1999.
Applications Available: March 18, 1999.
Available Funds: $5,000,000.
Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000-$350,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $100,000-$290,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 17.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: 36 months.
Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 82,
85, and 86.
Because there are no program specific regulations for the
Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a
Quality Higher Education program, applicants should refer to the
authorizing statute in Part D, Title VII of the Higher Education Act of
1965, as amended (HEA). In preparing applications, IHEs should pay
particular attention to the requirements in section 427 of the General
Education Provisions Act (GEPA), as detailed later in this notice.
Applicants must address the requirements in section 427 in order to
receive funding under this competition. Section 427 requires each
applicant to describe the steps it proposes to take to address one or
more barriers (i.e., gender, race, national origin, color, disability,
or age) that can impede equitable access to, or participation in, the
program. A restatement of compliance with civil rights requirements is
not sufficient to meet the requirements in section 427 of GEPA.
Waiver of Rulemaking
It is generally the practice of the Secretary to offer interested
parties the opportunity to comment on proposed priorities. However, in
order to make awards on a timely basis, the Secretary has decided to
publish this absolute priority in final under the authority of section
437(d) of GEPA (20 U.S.C. 1232(d).
General Statutory Requirements
(a) Projects funded under this notice must make positive efforts to
employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with
disabilities in project activities; and
(b) Applicants and grant recipients funded under this notice must
involve qualified individuals with disabilities, such as students with
disabilities with experience in higher education, in planning,
implementing, and evaluating the projects.
Priorities
Absolute Priority--Demonstration Projects To Ensure Students With
Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education.
Background
The Federal Government has previously funded a number of research,
model demonstration, and training projects related to students with
disabilities in postsecondary education. To promote the greater use of
the findings generated by these projects and to further promote access
to a wide range of higher education opportunities for individuals with
disabilities, the Secretary establishes the following priority.
Priority
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), the Secretary gives an absolute
preference to applications that meet the following priority. The
Secretary funds under this competition only applications that meet this
absolute priority:
A project funded under this priority--
(a) Must coordinate activities with other federally funded
projects, such as the Rehabilitation and Research Training Center on
Educational Supports and the National Clearinghouse on Postsecondary
Education for Individuals with Disabilities.
(b) May not duplicate existing federally supported projects if the
primary purpose of the proposed project is to conduct activities to
synthesize research and information, as authorized by section
762(b)(2)(B) of the HEA.
(c) Must include letters of support from institutions of higher
education that will be the recipients of the training if applicants
apply for a grant to provide professional development and training
under section 762(b)(2)(C) of the HEA.
Invitational Priority
Background
Research indicates that students with disabilities are less likely
to enroll in postsecondary education than their nondisabled peers.
Moreover, when students with disabilities attend postsecondary
education, they are more likely than their nondisabled peers to attend
two-year or vocational programs, rather than four-year, degree-granting
institutions. Many of these students who attend two-year programs do
not go on to four-year institutions. Furthermore, when students with
disabilities do attend four-year, degree-granting institutions, they
are less likely than their nondisabled peers to persist in these
programs and, therefore, do not earn baccalaureate degrees. One way to
create lasting change in an IHE's capacity to enable students with
disabilities to persist in attaining a four-year degree is through
widespread appropriate professional development for faculty and
administrators. Focused efforts in this area will support systemic
change in that institution and result in an environment that can
effectively support the educational needs of students with disabilities
in higher education.
Priority
Within the absolute priority specified in this notice, the
Secretary is particularly interested in applications that meet the
following invitational priority. However, under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) an
application that meets this invitational priority does not receive
competitive or absolute preference over other applications.
Applications that propose to develop and implement innovative
demonstration projects that will be incorporated into the university's
overall plan to improve supports and services for postsecondary
students with disabilities, including departments that previously
enrolled few, if any, students with disabilities. This requirement is
[[Page 13491]]
essential to ensure that funded projects contribute to lasting and
systemic change within departments, colleges, or university-wide.
Applicants should include sufficient information, including letters of
support from institutions that will be the recipients of the training,
to demonstrate their ability to successfully carry out the proposed
project.
Selection Criteria
In evaluating an application for a new grant under this
competition, the Secretary uses selection criteria under 34 CFR 75.209
and 75.210 of EDGAR. The selection criteria to be used for this
competition will be provided in the application package for this
competition.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to the requirements of Executive Order
12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR Part 79. The objective of the
Executive order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a
strengthened federalism by relying on processes developed by State and
local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance.
In accordance with the order, this document is intended to provide
early notification of the Department's specific plans and actions for
this program.
FOR APPLICATIONS OR INFORMATION CONTACT: Amie Amiot, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Portals Building-6222, Washington,
DC 20202-5247. E-mail: Amie__Amiot@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 260-0415.
Please fax your requests for an application package to (202) 260-9271.
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternate format, also, by contacting that person.
However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternate format
the standard forms included in the application package.
Electronic Access to This Document
Anyone may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or
portable document format (pdf) on the World Wide Web at either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the pdf you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you
have questions about using the pdf, call the U.S. Government Printing
Office at (202) 512-1530 or, toll free, at 1-888-293-6498.
Anyone may also view these documents in text copy only on an
electronic bulletin board of the Department. Telephone: (202) 219-1511
or, toll free, 1-800-222-4922. The documents are located under Option
G--Files/Announcements, Bulletins and Press Releases.
Note: The official version of a document is the document
published in the Federal Register.
Program Authority: Title VII, Part D of the Higher Education Act
of 1965, as amended.
Dated: March 15, 1999.
David A. Longanecker,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 99-6642 Filed 3-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
