[Federal Register: March 23, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 55)]
[Notices]
[Page 13745-13751]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23mr10-54]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Innovation and Improvement Overview Information; Ready
To Teach Program--General Programming Grants; Notice Inviting
Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.286A
Dates:
Applications Available: March 23, 2010.
Deadline for Notice of Intent To Apply: April 22, 2010.
Date of Meeting for Prospective Applicants: April 15, 2010.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 24, 2010.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 21, 2010.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program:
The Ready to Teach program (RTT) supports the use of
telecommunications to improve teaching by assisting elementary school
and secondary school teachers to prepare all students to achieve
challenging State academic content and student academic achievement
standards in core curriculum areas.
Background:
In order to improve the Nation's lowest-achieving schools, the
Secretary recognizes the need to improve the professional development
of teachers, including early childhood professionals. In this
competition, the Secretary encourages applicants to create new
professional development models that incorporate emerging technologies
and innovative strategies into digital professional development content
and to disseminate products and results through open educational
resources (OER).
Through this competition, the Department intends to promote
telecommunications innovations that support effective teaching.
Examples of using telecommunications innovations to support effective
teaching include the distribution of digital professional development
content through cell phone applications, or the creation of new games,
simulations, or other electronic applications that improve the academic
achievement of high-need students and are available as open educational
resources through the Internet, online portals, or other digital media
platforms.
In addition, the Secretary encourages applicants to consider
developing rigorous research and evaluation strategies to increase
knowledge about the impact of educational technology on improving
teaching practices and student outcomes.
Statutory Requirements: Under the requirements for this program in
section 5477 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as
amended (ESEA), to be eligible to receive a Ready to Teach General
Programming Grant, an applicant must submit an application that--
a. Demonstrates that the applicant will use the public broadcasting
infrastructure, the Internet, and school digital networks, where
available, to deliver video and data in an integrated service to train
teachers in the use of materials and learning technologies for
achieving challenging State academic content and student academic
achievement standards;
b. Ensures that the project will be conducted in cooperation with
appropriate State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and
State or local nonprofit public telecommunications entities; and
c. Ensures that a significant portion of the benefits available for
elementary schools and secondary schools from the project will be
available to schools of local educational agencies that have a high
percentage of children counted under Part A of Title I of the ESEA.
Priorities: This competition includes two invitational priorities
and one competitive preference priority.
Invitational Priorities: Under this competition we are particularly
interested in applications that address the following priorities. For
FY 2010 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list
of unfunded applicants from this competition, these priorities are
invitational priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) we do not give an
application that meets these invitational priorities a competitive or
absolute preference over other applications.
These priorities are:
Invitational Priority 1. Applications that use innovative
strategies to deliver professional development content (such as through
the Internet, online portals, learning modules, games, simulations,
cell phones, and other technological
[[Page 13746]]
applications or emerging digital media platforms) to teachers serving
high-need students, including early learners, in the persistently
lowest-achieving schools (as defined in the final requirements for the
School Improvement Grants program, 74 FR 65618; 75 FR 3375).
Invitational Priority 2. Applications that propose to develop and
disseminate products and project results through OER. OER are teaching,
learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or
have been released under an intellectual property license that permits
their free use or repurposing by others. This invitational priority
encourages applications that include plans that describe how the
applicants will make the grant products and resources developed with
these grant funds freely available through various media platforms, in
an effort to share digital professional development methodologies,
proven teaching strategies, and lessons learned in implementing RTT
projects with other educators, including early learning professionals.
Note: Each applicant addressing this priority is encouraged to
include plans for how the applicant will disseminate resources, for
example, through a Web site that is freely available to all users.
Each applicant is also encouraged to include plans specifying how
the project will identify quality resources, such as lesson plans,
primary source activities, reading lists, teacher reflections, and
videos of quality teaching and student learning in action, for
presentation to other educators.
Competitive Preference Priority: This priority is from the notice
of final priority for Scientifically Based Evaluation Methods,
published in the Federal Register on January 25, 2005 (70 FR 3586). For
FY 2010 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list
of unfunded applicants from this competition, this priority is a
competitive preference priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i) we award
up to an additional 20 points to an application, depending on how well
the application meets this priority. These points are in addition to
any points the application earns under the selection criteria.
When using the priority to give competitive preference to an
application, we will review the applications using a two-stage review
process. In the first stage, we will review the applications without
taking the competitive preference priority into account. In the second
stage of the process, we will review the applications rated highest in
the first stage of the process to determine whether they will receive
the competitive preference points. We will consider awarding
competitive preference points only to those applicants with top-ranked
scores based on the selection criteria.
This priority is:
The Secretary establishes a priority for projects proposing an
evaluation plan that is based on rigorous, scientifically based
research methods to assess the effectiveness of a particular
intervention. The Secretary intends that this priority will allow
program participants and the Department to determine whether the
project produces meaningful effects on student achievement or teacher
performance.
Evaluation methods using an experimental design are best for
determining project effectiveness. Thus, when feasible, the project
must use an experimental design under which participants--e.g.,
students, teachers, classrooms, or schools--are randomly assigned to
participate in the project activities being evaluated or to a control
group that does not participate in the project activities being
evaluated.
If random assignment is not feasible, the project may use a quasi-
experimental design with carefully matched comparison conditions. This
alternative design attempts to approximate a randomly assigned control
group by matching participants--e.g., students, teachers, classrooms,
or schools--with non-participants having similar pre-program
characteristics.
In cases where random assignment is not possible and participation
in the intervention is determined by a specified cut-off point on a
quantified continuum of scores, regression discontinuity designs may be
employed.
For projects that are focused on special populations in which
sufficient numbers of participants are not available to support random
assignment or matched comparison group designs, single-subject designs
such as multiple baseline or treatment-reversal or interrupted time
series that are capable of demonstrating causal relationships can be
employed.
Proposed evaluation strategies that use neither experimental
designs with random assignment nor quasi-experimental designs using a
matched comparison group nor regression discontinuity designs will not
be considered responsive to the priority when sufficient numbers of
participants are available to support these designs. Evaluation
strategies that involve too small a number of participants to support
group designs must be capable of demonstrating the causal effects of an
intervention or program on those participants.
The proposed evaluation plan must describe how the project
evaluator will collect--before the project intervention commences and
after it ends--valid and reliable data that measure the impact of
participation in the program or in the comparison group.
Points awarded under this priority will be determined by the
quality of the proposed evaluation method. In determining the quality
of the evaluation method, we will consider the extent to which the
applicant presents a feasible, credible plan that includes the
following:
(1) The type of design to be used (that is, random assignment or
matched comparison). If matched comparison, include in the plan a
discussion of why random assignment is not feasible.
(2) Outcomes to be measured.
(3) A discussion of how the applicant plans to assign students,
teachers, classrooms, or schools to the project and control group or
match them for comparison with other students, teachers, classrooms, or
schools.
(4) A proposed evaluator, preferably independent, with the
necessary background and technical expertise to carry out the proposed
evaluation. An independent evaluator does not have any authority over
the project and is not involved in its implementation.
In general, depending on the implemented program or project, under
a competitive preference priority, random assignment evaluation methods
will receive more points than matched comparison evaluation methods.
We encourage applicants to take advantage of the competitive
preference priority if their model allows them to do so.
Definitions:
As used in the competitive preference priority in this notice--
Scientifically based research (section 9101(37) of the ESEA, 20
U.S.C. 7801(37)):
(A) Means research that involves the application of rigorous,
systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid
knowledge relevant to education activities and programs; and
(B) Includes research that--
(i) Employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation
or experiment;
(ii) Involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the
stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn;
(iii) Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide
reliable and valid data across evaluators and observers, across
multiple measurements and observations, and
[[Page 13747]]
across studies by the same or different investigators;
(iv) Is evaluated using experimental or quasi-experimental designs
in which individuals, entities, programs, or activities are assigned to
different conditions and with appropriate controls to evaluate the
effects of the condition of interest, with a preference for random-
assignment experiments, or other designs to the extent that those
designs contain within-condition or across-condition controls;
(v) Ensures that experimental studies are presented in sufficient
detail and clarity to allow for replication or, at a minimum, offer the
opportunity to build systematically on their findings; and
(vi) Has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a
panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective,
and scientific review.
Random assignment or experimental design means random assignment of
students, teachers, classrooms, or schools to participate in a project
being evaluated (treatment group) or not participate in the project
(control group). The effect of the project is the difference in
outcomes between the treatment and control groups.
Quasi-experimental designs include several designs that attempt to
approximate a random assignment design.
Carefully matched comparison groups design means a quasi-
experimental design in which project participants are matched with non-
participants based on key characteristics that are thought to be
related to the outcome.
Regression discontinuity design means a quasi-experimental design
that closely approximates an experimental design. In a regression
discontinuity design, participants are assigned to a treatment or
control group based on a numerical rating or score of a variable
unrelated to the treatment such as the rating of an application for
funding. Eligible students, teachers, classrooms, or schools above a
certain score (``cut score'') are assigned to the treatment group and
those below the score are assigned to the control group. In the case of
the scores of applicants' proposals for funding, the ``cut score'' is
established at the point where the program funds available are
exhausted.
Single subject design means a design that relies on the comparison
of treatment effects on a single subject or group of single subjects.
There is little confidence that findings based on this design would be
the same for other members of the population.
Treatment reversal design means a single subject design in which a
pre-treatment or baseline outcome measurement is compared with a post-
treatment measure. Treatment would then be stopped for a period of
time, a second baseline measure of the outcome would be taken, followed
by a second application of the treatment or a different treatment. For
example, this design might be used to evaluate a behavior modification
program for disabled students with behavior disorders.
Multiple baseline design means a single subject design to address
concerns about the effects of normal development, timing of the
treatment, and amount of the treatment with treatment-reversal designs
by using a varying time schedule for introduction of the treatment and/
or treatments of different lengths or intensity.
Interrupted time series design means a quasi-experimental design in
which the outcome of interest is measured multiple times before and
after the treatment for program participants only.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7257-7257b; 7257d.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
(b) The notice of final priority for Scientifically Based
Evaluation Methods, published in the Federal Register on January 25,
2005 (70 FR 3586).
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants
except federally recognized Indian tribes.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to institutions
of higher education only.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
Estimated Available Funds: $10,650,000.
Estimated Range of Awards: $2,662,000-$5,325,000 for the first year
of the project. Funding for the second, third, and fourth years is
subject to the availability of funds and the approval of continuation
awards (see 34 CFR 75.253).
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $2,662,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 2-4.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: To be eligible to receive a General
Programming Grant, an applicant must be a nonprofit telecommunications
entity or partnership of such entities.
Note: If more than one non-profit telecommunications entity
wishes to form a consortium and jointly submit a single application,
they must follow the procedures for group applications described in
34 CFR 75.127 through 75.129 of EDGAR.
2. Cost Sharing or Matching: An applicant submitting an application
under this competition for General Programming Grants (84.286A) is not
required to provide matching funds.
IV. Application and Submission Information
1. Address to Request Application Package: ED Pubs, U.S. Department
of Education, P.O. Box 22207, Alexandria, VA 22304. Telephone, toll
free: 1-877-433-7827. FAX: (703) 605-6794. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call, toll free: 1-877-
576-7734.
You can contact ED Pubs at its Web site, also: http://www.EDPubs.gov
or at its e-mail address: edpubs@inet.ed.gov.
If you request an application package from ED Pubs, be sure to
identify this program as follows: CFDA number 84.286A.
Individuals with disabilities can obtain a copy of the application
package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape,
or computer diskette) by contacting the person listed under Accessible
Format in section VIII 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 program.
Notice of Intent to Apply: The Department will be able to develop a
more efficient process for reviewing grant applications if it has a
better understanding of the number of entities that intend to apply for
funding under this program. Therefore, the Secretary strongly
encourages each potential applicant to notify the Department by sending
a short e-mail message indicating the applicant's intent to submit an
application for funding. The e-mail need not include information
regarding the content of the proposed application, only the applicant's
intent to submit it. This e-mail notification should be sent to Sharon
Harris at readytoteach@ed.gov.
Applicants that fail to provide this e-mail notification may still
apply for funding.
Meeting for Prospective Applicants: The Ready to Teach program will
hold a webinar for prospective applicants on April 15, 2010 from 2:00
p.m.-3:00 p.m.
[[Page 13748]]
Washington, DC time. The conference will offer information about how to
apply for a Ready to Teach grant. For information and to register,
please send an e-mail to Sharon.Harris@ed.gov.
Page Limit: The application narrative is where you, the applicant,
address the selection criteria that reviewers use to evaluate your
application. Applicants are strongly encouraged to limit the
application narrative (Part III) to the equivalent of no more than 40
single-sided pages, using the following standards:
A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only, with 1'' margins at
the top, bottom, and both sides.
Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch)
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings,
footnotes, quotations, references, and captions, as well as all text in
charts, tables, figures, and graphs.
Use a font that is either 12 point or larger or no smaller
than 10 pitch (characters per inch).
Use one of the following fonts: Times New Roman, Courier,
Courier New, or Arial. An application submitted in any other font
(including Times Roman or Arial Narrow) will not be accepted.
The page limit does not apply to Part I, the cover sheet; Part II,
the budget section, including the narrative budget justification; Part
IV, the assurances and certifications; or the one-page abstract, the
resumes, the bibliography, or the letters of support. However, the page
limit does apply to all of the application narrative section (Part
III).
3. Submission Dates and Times:
Applications Available: March 23, 2010.
Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: April 22, 2010.
Date of Meeting for Prospective Applicants: April 15, 2010.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: May 24, 2010.
Applications for grants under this competition must be submitted
electronically using the Electronic Grant Application System (e-
Application) accessible through the Department's e-Grants site. For
information (including dates and times) about how to submit your
application electronically, or in paper format 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 of this notice.
We do not consider an application that does not comply with the
deadline requirements.
Individuals with disabilities who need an accommodation or
auxiliary aid in connection with the application process should contact
the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT in section VII
of this notice. If the Department provides an accommodation or
auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability in connection with the
application process, the individual's application remains subject to
all other requirements and limitations in this notice.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 21, 2010.
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: Under section 5485 of the ESEA (20 U.S.C.
7257d), an entity that receives a General Programming Grant may not use
more than five percent of the amount received under the grant for
administrative purposes. We reference regulations outlining additional
funding restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of 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 the Ready to Teach Program--CFDA
Number 84.286A must be submitted electronically using e-Application,
accessible through the Department's e-Grants Web site at:
http://e-grants.ed.gov.
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.
While completing your electronic application, you will be entering
data online that will be saved into a database. You may not e-mail an
electronic copy of a grant application to us.
Please note the following:
You must complete the electronic submission of your grant
application by 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application
deadline date. E-Application will not accept an application for this
competition after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application
deadline date. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not wait
until the application deadline date to begin the application process.
The hours of operation of the e-Grants Web site are 6:00
a.m. Monday until 7:00 p.m. Wednesday; and 6:00 a.m. Thursday until
8:00 p.m. Sunday, Washington, DC time. Please note that, because of
maintenance, the system is unavailable between 8:00 p.m. on Sundays and
6:00 a.m. on Mondays, and between 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and 6:00 a.m.
on Thursdays, Washington, DC time. Any modifications to these hours are
posted on the e-Grants Web site.
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 you typically provide on the following forms: The
Application for Federal Assistance (SF 424), the Department of
Education Supplemental Information for SF 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 in this paragraph 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.
Prior to submitting your electronic application, you may
wish to print a copy of it for your records.
After you electronically submit your application, you will
receive an automatic acknowledgment that will include a PR/Award number
(an identifying number unique to your application).
Within three working days after submitting your electronic
application, fax a signed copy of the SF 424 to the Application Control
Center after following these steps:
(1) Print SF 424 from e-Application.
[[Page 13749]]
(2) The applicant's Authorizing Representative must sign this form.
(3) Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the
hard-copy signature page of the SF 424.
(4) Fax the signed SF 424 to the Application Control Center at
(202) 245-6272.
We may request that you provide us original signatures on
other forms at a later date.
Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of e-Application
Unavailability: If you are prevented from electronically submitting
your application on the application deadline date because e-Application
is unavailable, we will grant you an extension of one business day to
enable you to transmit your application electronically, by mail, or by
hand delivery. We will grant this extension if--
(1) You are a registered user of e-Application and you have
initiated an electronic application for this competition; and
(2)(a) E-Application is unavailable for 60 minutes or more between
the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the
application deadline date; or
(b) E-Application is unavailable for any period of time between
3:30 p.m. and 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application
deadline date.
We must acknowledge and confirm these periods of unavailability
before granting you an extension. To request this extension or to
confirm our acknowledgment of any system unavailability, you may
contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in this notice under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT (see VII. Agency Contact) or (2) the e-
Grants help desk at 1-888-336-8930. If e-Application is unavailable due
to technical problems with the system and, therefore, the application
deadline is extended, an e-mail will be sent to all registered users
who have initiated an e-Application. Extensions referred to in this
section apply only to the unavailability of e-Application.
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 e-Application because--
You do not have access to the Internet; or
You do not have the capacity to upload large documents to
e-Application; 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
prevents 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: Sharon Harris, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 4W216,
Washington, DC 20202-5980. FAX: (202) 205-5720.
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 following address:
U.S. Department of Education, Application Control Center, Attention:
(CFDA Number 84.286A), LBJ Basement Level 1, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20202-4260.
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.
(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.
(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 84.286A), 550 12th Street, SW., Room 7041, Potomac Center
Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-4260.
The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily
between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30:00 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 11 of the SF 424 the CFDA number, including
suffix letter, if any, of the competition under which you are
submitting your application; and
(2) The Application Control Center will mail to you a
notification of receipt of your grant application. If you do not
receive this grant notification within 15 business days from the
application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of
Education Application Control Center at (202) 245-6288.
V. Application Review Information
Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this competition are
from 34 CFR 75.210. The maximum score for all the selection criteria is
100 points. The maximum score for each criterion is indicated in
parentheses. Each criterion also includes the factors that the
reviewers will consider in determining how well an application meets
the criterion. The Note following selection criterion (6) is guidance
to help applicants prepare their applications; it is not required by
statute or regulations. The selection criteria are as follows:
(1) Need for project (15 points). The Secretary considers the need
for the proposed project by considering the following factors:
(a) The extent to which the proposed project will provide services
or otherwise address the needs of students at risk of educational
failure.
(b) The extent to which specific gaps or weaknesses in services,
infrastructure, or opportunities have been identified and will be
addressed by the proposed project, including the nature and magnitude
of those gaps or weaknesses.
(2) Significance (10 points). The Secretary considers the
significance of the proposed project by considering the likely utility
of the products (such as
[[Page 13750]]
information, materials, processes, or techniques) that will result from
the proposed project, including the potential for their being used
effectively in a variety of other settings.
(3) Quality of the project design (25 points). The Secretary
considers the quality of the design of the proposed project by
considering the following factors:
(a) The extent to which the design of the proposed project reflects
up-to-date knowledge from research and effective practice.
(b) The extent to which the proposed project is part of a
comprehensive effort to improve teaching and learning and support
rigorous academic standards for students.
(c) The extent to which the proposed project is designed to build
capacity and yield results that will extend beyond the period of
Federal financial assistance.
(4) Quality of project personnel (10 points). The Secretary
considers the quality of the personnel who will carry out the proposed
project by considering the extent to which the applicant encourages
applications for employment from persons who are members of groups that
have traditionally been underrepresented based on race, color, national
origin, gender, age, or disability. In addition, the Secretary
considers the qualifications, including relevant training and
experience, of key project personnel.
(5) Quality of the management plan (20 points). The Secretary
considers the quality of the management plan for the proposed project
by considering the following factors:
(a) The adequacy of the management plan to achieve the objectives
of the proposed project on time and within budget, including clearly
defined responsibilities, timelines, and milestones for accomplishing
project tasks.
(b) The extent to which the time commitments of the project
director and principal investigator and other key project personnel are
appropriate and adequate to meet the objectives of the proposed
project.
(c) The adequacy of procedures for ensuring feedback and continuous
improvement in the operation of the proposed project.
(6) Quality of the project evaluation (20 points). The Secretary
considers the quality of the evaluation to be conducted of the proposed
project by considering the following factors:
(a) The extent to which the methods of evaluation include the use
of objective performance measures that are clearly related to the
intended outcomes of the project and will produce quantitative and
qualitative data to the extent possible.
(b) The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide
performance feedback and permit periodic assessment of progress toward
achieving intended outcomes.
Note on Factors Applicants May Wish to Consider in Developing an
Evaluation Plan: The quality of the evaluation plan is one of the
selection criteria by which applications in this competition will be
judged. A strong evaluation plan should be used, as appropriate, to
shape the development of the project from the beginning of the grant
period. The evaluation plan should include benchmarks to monitor
progress toward specific project objectives and also outcome
measures to assess the impact on teaching and learning, or other
important outcomes for project participants. More specifically, the
plan should identify the individual or organization that has agreed
to serve as evaluator for the project and describe the
qualifications of that evaluator. The plan should describe the
evaluation design, indicating: (1) What types of data will be
collected; (2) when various types of data will be collected; (3)
what methods will be used; (4) what instruments will be developed
and when these instruments will be developed; (5) how the data will
be analyzed; (6) when reports of results and outcomes will be
available; and (7) how the applicant will use the information
collected through the evaluation to monitor progress of the funded
project and to provide accountability information both about success
at the initial site and about effective strategies for replication
in other settings. Applicants are encouraged to devote an
appropriate level of resources to project evaluation.
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 notify you informally, also.
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. Grant Administration: Applicants should budget for a one-day
meeting for project directors to be held in Washington, DC.
4. Reporting: At the end of your project period, you 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 directed by the Secretary
under 34 CFR 75.118. The Secretary may also require more frequent
performance reports under 34 CFR 75.720(c). For specific requirements
on reporting, please go to
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/appforms/appforms.html.
5. Performance Measures: The Department has established the
following Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)
performance measure for the Ready to Teach Grant Program: The
percentage of digital professional development products deemed to be of
high quality by a panel of experts in the field.
This measure constitutes the Department's indicator of success for
this program. Consequently, we advise an applicant for a grant under
this program to give careful consideration to the GPRA measure in
conceptualizing the approach and evaluation for its proposed project.
Each grantee will be required to provide, in its annual performance and
final reports, data about its progress in meeting the Department's
indicator.
VII. Agency Contact
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon Harris, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 4W216, Washington, DC 20202-
5980. Telephone: (202) 205-5880 or by e-mail: readytoteach@ed.gov.
If you use a TDD, call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
VIII. Other Information
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document and a copy of the application package in an accessible format
(e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on
request to the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT in section VII of this notice.
Electronic Access to This Document: You can 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.
[[Page 13751]]
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: March 17, 2010.
James H. Shelton, III,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 2010-6286 Filed 3-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P