FR Doc 03-159
[Federal Register: January 6, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 3)]
[Notices]
[Page 547-548]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06ja03-49]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA NO: 84.349A]
Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed achievement indicators.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education announces proposed achievement indicators for the
Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program (ECEPD), for
fiscal year (FY) 2003 and future year grants.
This professional development program is authorized by section
2151(e) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as added
by the No Child Left Behind Act 2001, Public Law 107-110. The ECEPD
program is a discretionary grant program under which funded projects
provide high-quality, sustained, and intensive professional development
to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators who
work in high-poverty communities, particularly with disadvantaged young
children. The purpose of the professional development is to enhance the
school readiness of young children to prevent them from encountering
difficulties once they enter school, based on the best available
research on early childhood pedagogy and on child development and
learning. These grants are part of the President's early childhood
initiative, Good Start, Grow Smart, and complement the Department of
Education's early learning programs, such as Early Reading First, by
helping States and local communities strengthen early learning for
young children.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before February 5, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about these proposed achievement
indicators to Patricia McKee, U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3W106 FB-6, Washington, DC 20202-2645. If
you prefer to send your comments through the Internet, use the
following address: eceprofdev@ed.gov.
You must include the term "Comments on Early Childhood Educator
Professional Development" in the subject line of your electronic
message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia McKee. Telephone (202) 260-
0991 or via Internet: Patricia.McKee@ed.gov. Or Melanie Kadlic, U.S.
Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education,
U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3C138, FB-
6, Washington, DC 20202-2645. Telephone (202) 260-3793 or via Internet:
Melanie.Kadlic@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the TDD number at (202) 205-4475.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, or computer diskette)
on request to one of the contact persons listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment
We invite you to submit comments about these proposed achievement
indicators. To ensure that your comments have maximum effect in
developing the notice of final indicators, we urge you to be specific
about any recommended changes. We are particularly interested in
receiving comments on whether the proposed indicators are sufficiently
specific and clear.
During and after the comment period (until publication of the final
achievement indicators), you may inspect all public comments about
these proposed achievement indicators in room 3W100 FB-6, 400 Maryland
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.,
Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal
holidays. To obtain access to the building and room, please contact in
advance one of the contact persons listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking
Record
On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for this proposed priority. If you want to schedule
an appointment for this type of aid, please contact one of the
individuals listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
We will announce the final achievement indicators in a notice in
the Federal Register. We will determine those final indicators after
considering responses to this notice and other information available to
the Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing
additional indicators in the future, subject to meeting applicable
rulemaking requirements.
Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use these proposed achievement indicators, we
will invite applications through a notice in the Federal Register.
Background: The ECEPD program provides funds for projects that
carry out activities to improve the knowledge and skills of early
childhood educators working in programs that are located in high-need
communities and particularly serve disadvantaged young children. These
programs are based upon the best available research on early childhood
pedagogy and on child development and learning, including early
language and literacy development. The grants serve an important
purpose because high-quality, intensive, research-based professional
development is critical for implementing effective early childhood
programs that enhance the school readiness of young children.
ECEPD grants are made to partnerships of: providers of professional
development for early childhood educators; State or local public
agencies or private organizations; and if feasible, a provider
experienced in training early childhood educators to identify and
prevent behavior problems or work with children identified as or
suspected to be victims of abuse.
Section 2151(e)(6) of the ESEA requires the Secretary to announce
achievement indicators for the ECEPD program. These achievement
indicators must be designed: (1) To measure the quality and
accessibility of the professional development provided; (2) to measure
the impact of that professional development on the early childhood
education provided by the individuals who receive the professional
development; and (3) to provide any other measures of program impact
that the Secretary determines to be appropriate. The statute requires
each partnership receiving an ECEPD grant to report annually to the
Secretary on the partnership's progress toward attaining these
achievement indicators. In addition, the statute provides that the
Secretary may terminate an ECEPD grant if the Secretary determines that
the partnership receiving the grant is not making satisfactory progress
toward attaining the achievement indicators.
The Secretary may use these achievement indicators for the ECEPD
grant competition for FY 2003 and
[[Page 548]]
future years. The achievement indicators proposed in this notice are
the same as the achievement indicators that the Secretary announced in
the Federal Register and used for the FY 2002 ECEPD grant competition
(67 FR 37406, May 29, 2002).
Achievement Indicators: The Secretary announces the following
proposed achievement indicators for the ECEPD program, as required by
section 2151(e)(6) of the ESEA:
Indicator 1: Increasing numbers of hours of high quality
professional development will be offered. High-quality professional
development must be ongoing, intensive, classroom-focused, and based on
scientific research on cognitive and social development in early
childhood and effective pedagogy for young children.
Indicator 2: Early childhood educators who work in early childhood
programs serving low-income children will participate in greater
numbers, and in increasing numbers of hours, in high-quality
professional development.
Indicator 3: Early childhood educators will demonstrate increased
knowledge and understanding of effective strategies to support school
readiness based on scientific research on cognitive and social
development in early childhood and effective pedagogy for young
children.
Indicator 4: Early childhood educators will more frequently apply
research-based approaches in early childhood pedagogy and child
development and learning domains, including using a content-rich
curriculum and activities that promote language and cognitive
development.
Indicator 5: Children will demonstrate improved readiness for
school, especially in the areas of appropriate social and emotional
behavior and early language and literacy competencies.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies on processes developed by State
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance.
This document provides early notification of our proposed
achievement indicators for this program.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may review this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/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 (202) 512-1530.
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.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.349A, Early
Childhood Educator Professional Development Program)
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6651(e).
Dated: December 30, 2002.
Susan B. Neuman,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 03-159 Filed 1-3-03; 8:45 am]
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