[Federal Register: October 4, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 193)]
[Notices]
[Page 62307-62309]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04oc02-110]
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Part III
Department of Education
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Experimental and Innovative Training; Notice
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Experimental and Innovative Training
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed priority.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services proposes a priority under the Experimental
and Innovative Training program. The Assistant Secretary may use this
priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2003 and later years. We
take this action to focus on training in an identified area of national
need. We intend the priority to develop and disseminate rehabilitation
training curriculum modules designed to increase student contact with
individuals with disabilities that may be incorporated into
rehabilitation training programs. The purpose of the curriculum modules
is to enhance students' understanding of disability culture and
counselor skills that support the empowerment of vocational
rehabilitation (VR) customers with disabilities.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before November 4, 2002.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this proposed priority to Edward
Smith, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave, SW., Switzer
Building, room 3325, Washington, DC 20202-2649. If you prefer to send
your comments through the Internet, use the following address:
Edward.Smith@ed.gov.
You must include the term ``Experimental and Innovative Training''
in the subject line of your electronic message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward Smith. Telephone: (202) 205-
8926 or via Internet: Edward.Smith@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the TDD number at (202) 205-8133.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation To Comment
We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed priority.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific requirements
of Executive Order 12866 and its overall requirement of reducing
regulatory burden that might result from this proposed priority. Please
let us know of any further opportunities we should take to reduce
potential costs or increase potential benefits while preserving the
effective and efficient administration of the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this proposed priority in room 3414, Switzer Building,
330 C Street, 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.
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 the person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
The Experimental and Innovative Training program provides financial
assistance--
(1) To develop new types of training programs for rehabilitation
personnel and to demonstrate the effectiveness of those new types of
training programs for rehabilitation personnel in providing
rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities; and
(2) To develop new and improved methods of training rehabilitation
personnel so that there may be a more effective delivery of
rehabilitation services by State and other rehabilitation agencies.
We propose this priority to increase the knowledge and skills of
rehabilitation personnel in disability culture and customer
empowerment. This proposed priority would support the development of
rehabilitation training curriculum modules that provide students with
the opportunity to interact with individuals with disabilities in a
non-hierarchical (student counselor to consumer) relationship. This
will help to foster an increase in the students' knowledge of and
skills regarding the unique social and cultural experiences of
individuals with disabilities and of the behaviors that enhance
empowerment from the perspective of individuals with disabilities.
We will announce the final priority in a notice in the Federal
Register. We will determine the final priority after considering
responses to this notice and other information available to the
Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing or funding
additional priorities, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking
requirements.
Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use this proposed priority, we invite
applications through a notice in the Federal Register. When inviting
applications we designate the priority as absolute, competitive
preference, or invitational. The effect of each type of priority
follows:
Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority, we consider only
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference
priority, we give competitive preference to an application by either
(1) awarding additional points, depending on how well or the extent to
which the application meets the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or
(2) selecting an application that meets the priority over an
application of comparable merit that does not meet the priority (34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority, we are
particularly interested in applications that meet the invitational
priority. However, we do not give an application that meets the
priority a competitive or absolute preference over other applications
(34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Priority: Proposed Priority: Curriculum Modules: Experiential
Activities to Enhance Rehabilitation Empowerment
Background: Over the history of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended, groups of individuals with disabilities have expressed concern
through public hearings regarding the expertise of counselors of the
public VR system to understand the experience of individuals with
disabilities and to provide assistance to those individuals to develop
the skills of empowerment. The concept of empowerment is defined in a
number of ways in the professional literature. For the purposes of this
priority, empowerment is defined as individuals having the information,
education, training, confidence, and high expectations needed to make
effective employment and life-related decisions.
One method of increasing the VR counselor's understanding of
individuals with disabilities is to provide opportunities for
individuals preparing for careers in rehabilitation to interact with
people with disabilities in a variety of settings. A review of
rehabilitation counseling training
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programs funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)
indicates that few programs provide curriculum modules that enable
students to interact with individuals with disabilities in settings
that do not involve a counseling relationship.
Priority: This priority supports projects that provide experiential
activities that increase the amount of personal contact and experience
of VR students with individuals with disabilities in non-counseling
settings. This priority is intended to support the design, piloting,
evaluation, and dissemination of course modules to be incorporated into
rehabilitation training program curricula that enhance student
understanding of the culture of individuals with disabilities and of
the behaviors that enhance empowerment from the perspective of
individuals with disabilities.
Projects funded under this priority must incorporate experiential
activities in which students interact directly with persons with
disabilities in situations other than traditional and hierarchical
student counselor to consumer relationships.
Projects must include an evaluation of the impact of the course
module or modules and a dissemination plan to be carried out in the
last year of the project period.
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 specific plans and
actions for this program.
Applicable Program Regulations: 34 CFR parts 385 and 387.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view 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:
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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 84.263 Experimental and
Innovative Training)
Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 772.
Dated: October 1, 2002.
Robert H. Pasternack,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 02-25326 Filed 10-3-02; 8:45 am]
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