Solicitation # ED-00-R-0033
Amendment # 0003


The above solicitation is amended/clarified as follows:

Question 1 - Where were the REA grants developed, locally or centrally
defined and  distributed to each participant?

Answer 1 - REA grants are competitively awarded to states. States that are 
awarded run two grant competitions: 1) Local Reading Improvement Grants and
2) Tutorial Assistance Grants.

Eligibe applicants for the local reading improvement grants include: 1)
local districts that have at least one school in Title I school improvement
status; 2) districts with the highest or second highest percentages of
poverty in the State; and 3) districts with the highest or second highest
number of poor  children in the State.  Eligible applicants for the tutorial
assistance grants include the above named districts as well as districts
that are located in an empowerment zone or enterprise community.

Question 2 - Which states were included in the original seventeen programs?

Answer 2 - On August 13, 1999, the Department of Education announced the 17
states that were awarded Reading Excellence grants for 1999.  The states
were Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, rhode Island, Texas, Utah,
Vermont and West Virginia.  A new round of awards will be made in July.

Question 3 and 4 - If Tennessee is one of those states is the state Land
Grant University disqualified by association for this solicitation?  If
Kentucky is one of those states is the state Land Grant University
disqualified by  association for this solicitation?

Answer 3 and 4 - The question about the Land Grand University is unclear. 
Any  univeristy in any state can submit a proposal for evaluating the REA
program. However, if the Land Grant University question relates to whether a
university can receive an REA grant or subgrant, the answer is no.  They can
work with  the state or a subgrant district through a contract to provide
evaluation or  program services, and in some states universities are
involved that way.  The only eleigilve grantees are states and the only
eligible subgrantees are local educational agencies.

Question 5 - Are the five solicitations which are provided from the
Department  of Education to evaluate any specific subset of the seventeen
states of the  original reading program?

Answer 5 - The random sample of about 400 schools in the SCII should be
selected from the universe of schools in all 17 states.

Question 6 - On page six of the Statement of Work under the Sampling Plan 
paragraph whiat is the meaning of the sentence - "The contractor shall
consider how to treat the two cohorts of REA awardees in the sample design."

Answer 6 - One cohort received awards in August 1999, the second cohort will
receive awards this summer.  These two cohorts are at different stages of 
implementation.  The contractor should discuss how they will treat these two
 cohorts in the sample design given the fact that they are at different
stages.