[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-5301]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: March 8, 1994]
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Part V
Department of Education
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Educational Research and Development Centers Program; Final Priority
for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995; Notice
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Educational Research and Development Centers Program, Final
Priority for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of final priority for fiscal years 1994 and 1995.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary announces a priority for fiscal years 1994 and
1995 under the Educational Research and Development Centers Program.
The Secretary takes this action to support a national research and
development center or centers to study the education of children and
youth placed at risk of educational failure. The priority is intended
to increase knowledge related to improving educational practices that
address an important national need.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This priority takes effect either 45 days after
publication in the Federal Register or later if the Congress takes
certain adjournments. If you want to know the effective date of this
priority, call or write the Department of Education contact person.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Joseph Conaty, U.S. Department of
Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, room 610, Washington, DC 20208-
5573. Telephone: (202) 219-2079. 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.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Educational Research and Development
Centers Program, authorized under section 405 of the General Education
Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221e), supports sustained educational
research and development activities, including those designed to
generate knowledge that increases the capacity of the Nation's
education system to provide all children and youth with equal
educational opportunities to achieve academic excellence. The program
helps to advance the National Education Goals, which emphasize the
importance of improving the quality of education for children and youth
(1) who are most at risk of educational failure, or (2) whose
educational achievement falls seriously short of their educational
potential.
Using guidance provided from such sources as the recent National
Academy of Sciences' report on Research and Education Reform: Roles for
the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (1992) and public
comments provided by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, the
Secretary seeks to provide support for national research and
development centers designed to conduct sound and coherent education
research programs on important topics.
The Secretary believes that deliberate, sustained, and coordinated
initiatives should be undertaken to improve the social and educational
conditions that threaten the learning of many educationally
disadvantaged children and youth, in urban and rural settings. (Readers
should note that, as used in this notice--including the priority--the
term ``students'' means children and youth in educational systems,
programs, or settings.)
In the course of developing this final priority, the Secretary has
followed legally mandated procedures for rulemaking. In addition, the
Secretary has, through the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement (OERI), engaged in other information gathering activities
designed to ensure identification of the kinds of research needed to
improve the education of all students who are at risk of school failure
or whose academic performance does not meet high standards. The
following statement describes in chronological order all the activities
undertaken by the Secretary to obtain public comments and other
information that have been taken into account in developing this final
priority.
On January 27, 1993, the Secretary published a notice in the
Federal Register (58 FR 6267) inviting public comments on ``research
needed to improve the education of students who are at risk of
educational failure or substantially below average academic
achievement.'' The notice did not propose a priority, but solicited
comments to be considered by OERI in determining what priority, if any,
should be proposed with respect to this subject area. The notice
requested that written comments from the public be submitted by March
1, 1993.
In June 1993, staff of OERI met with appropriate officials from the
Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Agriculture,
and Housing and Urban Development, and the National Science Foundation
to discuss the subject of the January 27 Federal Register notice.
On October 4, 1993, the Secretary published in the Federal Register
(58 FR 51690) a proposed priority to govern any competition for a
national research and development center or centers to study the
education of children and youth at risk of educational failure. In the
October 1993 notice the Secretary also stated the availability of a
draft of a background document to be used to provide additional
suggestions to prospective applicants about addressing the mission of
the planned center, and the priority. The notice invited written public
comments--to be submitted by November 18, 1993--on the proposed
priority and the related background document. On October 4 and 5,
immediately after publication of the proposed priority, OERI convened a
meeting of non-Federal researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and
parents to discuss the proposed priority and the background document.
Note: This notice of final priority does not solicit
applications. A notice inviting applications under this competition
is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
Analysis of Comments and Changes
In response to the Secretary's invitation in the notice of proposed
priority, 45 parties submitted written comments. An analysis of the
comments and of the changes in the priority since publication of the
notice of proposed priority follows. Technical and other minor
changes--and suggested changes the Secretary is not legally authorized
to make under the applicable statutory authority--are not addressed.
Comments: Two commenters recommended that the Department cancel its
plans to make an award for a research and development center that would
address this priority. They believed that the prospective center's work
would duplicate research already under way at other national research
and development centers supported by OERI or at other locations
supported by various Federal agencies and private foundations. They
felt that the proposed center's findings would not be used to improve
the educational system, because the center would not collaborate with
laboratories or clearinghouses or with practitioners in schools.
Twenty-three commenters wrote to express general support for
establishing a center addressing the priority, and an overwhelming
majority of other comments received made specific recommendations
regarding the research activities that this type of center should
conduct, implying these commenters' support for such a project.
Discussion: The Secretary does not believe that a center carrying
out the priority will duplicate research already under way or
completed. The Secretary will make an award only if convinced that the
applicant's proposed work promises to make significant contributions to
the field. Centers are required by regulation to collaborate with other
national research and development centers, laboratories, and
clearinghouses. Centers are also required to ensure that information
developed as a result of their research and development activities,
including new educational methods, practices, techniques, and products,
will be appropriately disseminated.
Changes: None.
Comments: Twelve commenters recommended dropping the use of the
term ``at-risk students.'' They believed that the term implied blaming
students for being in circumstances for which the students are not
responsible and that labelling students in this way has negative
consequences for the students. The commenters suggested adopting a term
that shifted the emphasis to the conditions or institutions that
produce the risk of educational failure, such as poverty, abuse,
violence, poor health, limited English proficiency, and schools that
contain barriers to educational success.
Discussion: The Secretary does not wish to imply that children and
youth should be considered responsible for the conditions in which they
live and over which they have no control. Families, communities,
schools, and society at large all may have contributed to the adverse
conditions faced by many children and youth, along with circumstances
outside of anyone's control. At the same time, the Secretary believes,
as several commenters noted, that it is important to realize that there
are children and youth whose individual qualities enable them to
succeed despite the difficult obstacles they face.
Changes: The Secretary has dropped the term ``at-risk students''
from the priority, replacing it with a term that draws attention to
conditions that place children and youth at risk and, thereby, make it
especially difficult for them to attain educational success.
Comments: Fifteen commenters recommended that the priority identify
more specifically the population or populations of children and youth
placed at risk of educational failure. The commenters identified some
17 populations of children and youth that individual commenters felt
needed improvements in their opportunities to learn and attain
educational success. Examples of these identified population groups
included children who are poor, those from diverse cultural
backgrounds, and adolescents. Many of the comments referred to the need
to concentrate the limited resources of the center on one or another of
these populations.
Discussion: The comments reflect a variety of different views about
which population or populations of children and youth placed at risk of
educational failure the center's work should focus on and what research
knowledge would be most helpful to improving their education. In many
instances individual children and youth fall into several of the
recommended population categories; for example, young children with
disabilities living in rural poverty. The Secretary believes that,
taken together, the comments do not reflect one way of population
identification that is clearly best. The Secretary believes that better
applications will result if applicants are allowed to propose and
justify what population or populations will be studied in their
proposed center's research and development activities.
Changes: None.
Comments: Ten commenters recommended that the priority place a
greater emphasis on activities related to development. The commenters
felt that current research knowledge was underused. They also felt that
by carrying out certain development-related activities researchers and
educators could improve their understanding of how to use knowledge
gained from research to implement successful educational practices in
numerous settings.
Discussion: The Secretary believes that development activities are
an integral part of the work of research and development centers and
that these activities constitute very important means to improve
education. The Secretary also believes that the priority gives proper
attention to the role of development activities by twice explicitly
requiring development activities and by requiring the center to
contribute to the capacity of educational systems to provide students
with equal opportunities to learn.
Changes: None.
Comments: Six commenters recommended various changes in the
description of the methods and kinds of research activities to be
carried out by a center. These commenters recommended requiring the
center to carry out research syntheses and secondary analyses of data
collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and to
do basic research, applied research, and development work. They
suggested that syntheses of existing research serve to consolidate what
is known about an educational problem and to guide further research and
development of successful practices. The commenters also pointed out
that secondary analyses of NCES databases offer the opportunity to
examine a variety of research questions using data about large
population samples in a timely, inexpensive manner. The recommendation
that the center do basic and applied research and development
activities was based on the commenters' view that all of these
functions can contribute to improving education.
One commenter supported--as appropriate for a center--the kinds of
research and development activities described in the priority.
Discussion: The Secretary believes that syntheses sometimes serve
an important function in the development of research project designs
and in the creation of improvements in practice. The Secretary expects
that a research and development center will include syntheses as part
of its activities, but only if syntheses are not already available.
Likewise, the Secretary expects research and development centers to use
analyses of existing NCES databases in their research projects if these
analyses would contribute to the center's research objectives. The
Secretary notes that research and development centers are not the only
means through which the Department supports both syntheses and
secondary analyses of data collected by NCES.
The Secretary also believes that the priority adequately represents
the view that basic research, applied research, and development
activities all play a legitimate role in the mission of research and
development centers.
Changes: None.
Comments: Four commenters raised questions about the priority's
requirement that the center conduct at least one definitive research
study, questioning the use of the term ``definitive'' in the priority.
The commenters doubted whether it was realistic to expect a center to
conduct this type of study and whether any study could guarantee the
elimination of bias.
Two other commenters supported this provision in the priority, one
of them suggesting that the center could conduct several definitive
research studies.
Discussion: The Secretary understands the term ``definitive
research study'' to refer to a study whose design, size, scope, and
technical rigor are such that its findings cannot be ignored by the
research community. These studies exert a major influence on subsequent
research, development, policy, and practice in their topic area for a
substantial period of time. The priority's requirement that a project
conduct one or more definitive research studies is meant to reflect the
Secretary's position that research and development centers are
especially well-suited to carry out these activities, which require
significant commitments of researchers' expertise, resources, and
institutional support over a sustained period of time.
The Secretary does not expect definitive studies to bring all
research in a particular topic area to a close, nor does the Secretary
believe that any research study's design can make it entirely
invulnerable to later review and criticism on the basis of questionable
or false assumptions that had been taken for granted by the leading
researchers in the field. The Secretary does believe, however, that a
center should commit to at least one research project sufficient
efforts and resources to preclude leading experts from identifying any
significant limitations in the design of the project.
Changes: None.
Comments: Six commenters recommended that the center should require
researchers and practitioners to collaborate with each other in the
various stages of designing and implementing the center's research and
development activities. The commenters felt that this collaboration
could improve the direction of educational research.
Discussion: The Secretary believes that practitioners can play an
important and meaningful role in the work of research and development
centers. The instructions to prospective applicants in the application
package encourage the proposed center to develop in its activities
interaction between researchers and practitioners. Thus, applicants are
encouraged to describe in their application proposals how they plan to
approach the creation, design, and development of research projects.
Changes: None.
Comments: Three commenters recommended that the priority refer to a
comprehensive concept of educational success, including not only
academic achievement, but also qualities such as creativity, personal
and civic responsibility, self-reliance, and social competence. The
commenters felt that these qualities are important and integral
features of educational success and are implicit in the National
Education Goals.
Discussion: The Secretary believes that such a concept of
educational success is entirely consistent with the priority. The
Secretary encourages applicants to identify and justify the elements of
educational success implied in the design of their proposed research
and development activities. The Secretary expects that applicants'
concepts of educational success will contribute to the merits of their
proposals.
Changes: None.
Comments: Thirty-two commenters recommended changes in the proposed
priority's five topics for research and development activities. The
commenters recommended adding topics, replacing topics, dropping
topics, and either widening or narrowing the focus of the center's
research. The Secretary also received numerous comments agreeing with
the proposed topics.
Recommendations to drop topics or narrow the focus of the center's
research were based on the opinion that the recommended change would
give the center's work greater coherence, that a particular topic did
not deserve the center's attention, or that the Department should be
more specific about what the center should study. Recommendations to
add topics or widen the center's focus were based on the opinion that
the five proposed topics omitted important research issues, or that the
state of existing research knowledge did not warrant the priority's
being so directive.
Examples of specific research topics or questions recommended by
commenters included the following: an alternative set of topics using
students, teachers and classrooms, schools, and systems as the units of
analysis in one systematic, coherent approach; identifying practical
solutions, including alterable factors such as the school and classroom
environment, links between schools, families, and communities, and
other school innovations; analyzing the effects of children's health,
physiological development, and nutrition on their education;
understanding what cognitive and personal characteristics children
bring to the learning environment; studying student motivation and
incentives to learn; examining the effects of violence on children and
youth and their education; investigating the relationship between
teachers' gender and ethnicity and student outcomes, in light of
current trends in teacher recruitment and student characteristics;
studying applied learning experiences that enable students to
understand abstract ideas in a practical context; and examining the
relationships between resources and achievement. All of these
suggestions and others were put forward on the basis of their potential
to increase the understanding of what might improve educational
opportunities for students placed at risk of educational failure.
Discussion: The Secretary recognizes that there is merit to many of
the topics recommended for inclusion. In fact, the Secretary believes
that many of these recommendations fall within the scope of the
priority's topics and could be the subject of the center's research
projects. The Secretary recognizes, also, the need to modify the
proposed priority in order to clarify and give sharper focus to the
final priority.
Changes: The Secretary has modified the priority's topics to give
greater prominence to instructional arrangements, to drop the study of
fade-out effects as a separate topic, to reduce the number of topics
overall, and to clarify the meaning of some of the topics. The
Secretary is also using the comments to revise the guidance included in
the application package to provide additional suggestions to
prospective applicants about addressing the mission and priority of the
center.
Comments: Four commenters recommended that the center be required
to collaborate or coordinate with other centers and institutions
supported by the Department--e.g., laboratories and clearinghouses--in
order to achieve the greatest practical benefit from the center's work.
Discussion: The Secretary believes that research and development
centers should work with federally supported institutions and other
entities to maximize the impact that their activities may have on
improvements in the educational system. The Secretary believes that
laboratories and clearinghouses certainly fit the description of the
kinds of institutions with which centers should work. Instructions in
the application package identify ways in which a proposed center is
required to collaborate with these types of entities.
Changes: None.
Comments: Eight commenters recommended that the priority include
dissemination activities in the center's functions; e.g., serving as a
clearinghouse and developing dissemination strategies. One commenter
stressed the importance of integrating research and dissemination
activities in order to increase their effectiveness. Another commenter
recommended an information system that is readily available to the
classroom teacher. One commenter felt that the center should
concentrate on developing dissemination strategies but should not
devote significant resources to actually performing dissemination
activities because other institutions could perform that function.
Discussion: The Secretary believes that dissemination plays an
integral role in research and development activities that promise to
have a positive impact on improving education. The Secretary believes
that the particular types of dissemination activities that will best
accomplish this objective depend on (1) the nature of the research
knowledge being generated and (2) the potential users of this
knowledge. Instructions in the application package include guidance
related to the center's responsibilities for dissemination.
Changes: The Secretary has amended the priority to explicitly
identify dissemination as a part of the center's work.
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:
The educational needs of children and youth placed at risk of
educational failure.
Under this priority, the Secretary supports one or more national
research and development centers that--
Conduct research and development activities concerning the
educational needs of children and youth placed at risk of educational
failure because of economic, community, and family factors, and
personal experiences, including the lack of adequate school and other
educational resources;
Contribute to increasing the capacity of educational
systems to provide all students with equal opportunities to learn and
achieve educational success;
Use research methods in some of their studies that involve
advanced or innovative quantitative or qualitative techniques of
sampling, data gathering, conceptualization and measurement of
variables, data analyses, and interdisciplinary perspectives;
Conduct one or more definitive research studies that have
national implications and that will inform policy or practice across
the nation; i.e., use large representative samples and rigorous
scientific techniques that preclude biased results and support
generalizable, replicable findings concerning the education of sizable
populations of children or youth placed at risk of educational failure;
Include research and development activities related to two
or more of the following topics:
(a) Understanding how individual cognitive and emotional
characteristics of children or youth placed at risk of educational
failure affect how these children or youth respond to their social and
educational circumstances.
(b) Creating personalized and caring educational environments.
(c) Identifying effective ways of organizing schools, classrooms,
and instructional arrangements.
(d) Understanding how best to integrate all educational programs
and staff development into a coherent learning environment for students
placed at risk of educational failure; and
Document, report, and disseminate their research
activities in ways that will allow others to use the research results.
Applicable Program Regulations: 34 CFR parts 706 and 708.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e.
Dated: March 3, 1994.
Sharon Porter Robinson,
Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 94-5301 Filed 3-7-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
