[Federal Register: September 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 182)]
[Notices]
[Page 54982-54983]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20se06-44]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Notice of Extension of Project Period and Waiver for the Center
on Learning Disabilities
AGENCY: Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education.
SUMMARY: The Secretary waives the requirements in the Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), in 34 CFR 75.250
and 75.261(a), respectively, that generally prohibit project periods
exceeding five years and extensions of project periods involving the
obligation of additional Federal funds. This extension of project
period and waiver will enable the currently funded Center on Learning
Disabilities to receive funding from October 1, 2006 through September
30, 2007.
DATES: This extension of project period and waiver are effective
September 20, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Renee Bradley, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 4105, Potomac Center Plaza,
Washington, DC 20202-2641. Telephone: (202) 245-7277.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
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:
Background
On July 6, 2001, the Department published a notice in the Federal
Register (66 FR 35746) inviting applications for a new award for fiscal
year (FY) 2001 for a Center on Learning Disabilities (Center). Based on
that notice, the Department made one award for a period of 60 months to
Vanderbilt University to establish and operate the Center to conduct
follow-up research, provide training, disseminate
[[Page 54983]]
synthesized research validated information, and to provide national
technical assistance on issues in the area of identification and
assessment of children with learning disabilities. This Center was
designed from its inception to conduct both research and technical
assistance activities with a shift over the project period from
primarily research to a larger proportion of dissemination and
technical assistance activities.
Extension and Waiver
The Center's current project period is scheduled to end on
September 30, 2006. However, with the recent release of the Federal
regulations implementing Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, as reauthorized by the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2004, there is an urgent need to continue
certain of the Center's data analysis, dissemination, and technical
assistance activities for an additional year. The new procedures in the
regulations regarding the identification of children with learning
disabilities are one of the major implementation challenges that States
and local school districts will face in implementing the new
regulations. In order to ensure that continued assistance is available
to assist States and local school districts, the Secretary is waiving
the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250 and 75.261(a) and intends to issue a
continuation award to the existing grantee for an additional twelve-
month period.
The Center will continue its dissemination and technical assistance
activities, including further development and implementation of a
technical assistance and dissemination approach that links research to
practice and promotes the use of current knowledge and ongoing research
findings. Under this approach, the Center works with other Department
of Education technical assistance providers to communicate research
findings and distribute products; and prepares the research findings
and products in formats that are useful for specific audiences,
including general education researchers, and local, State, and national
policymakers, as well as education practitioners. In addition to this
broad dissemination of information, the Center will continue its work
with the previously identified implementation sites, local schools and
districts that the Center has been working with over the past three
years, assisting them in their efforts to implement response to
intervention and to evaluate and document progress of those efforts.
Based on the knowledge gained, the Center will continue to develop
materials to assist in effective large-scale implementation of response
to intervention and the identification of children with learning
disabilities. The Center also will be continuing work to develop
additional technical assistance products on specific learning
disabilities and complete an Implementation Resource Kit on Learning
Disabilities.
Finally, the Center will complete final analysis of data from the
longitudinal identification studies in math and reading that the Center
conducted to investigate the impact of various identification models on
the number of students identified with a specific learning disability.
Data from these studies also will be analyzed to inform the Center's
development of products to assist with the implementation of response
to intervention and the identification of students with learning
disabilities.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking and Delayed Effective Date
Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) (APA) the
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to
comment on an extension of project period and waiver under 34 CFR
75.250 and 75.261(a). The APA provides that an agency is not required
to conduct notice and comment rulemaking when the agency for good cause
finds that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. We have determined
that conducting rulemaking on the proposed extension and waiver would
be impracticable because the Department cannot both conduct rulemaking
and issue a continuation award to the Center by September 30, 2006.
Further, it is essential that the Department make the continuation
award to ensure that the critical work being conducted by the Center
continues, including providing significant technical assistance to
States and local school districts as they begin implementation of the
provisions of IDEA and the Part B regulations regarding response to
intervention and the identification of children with specific learning
disabilities. Rulemaking was not conducted on this matter at an earlier
time because the critical need for assistance on this issue was not
realized until the issuance of the Part B regulations on August 3, 2006
and the subsequent OSEP Leadership meeting with all of the State
Directors of Special Education on August 21-23, 2006.
The APA also provides that a substantive rule may not take effect
within 30 days from publication unless the agency for good cause finds
that a delayed effective date would not be in the public interest. For
the reasons described in the preceding paragraph, we also are waiving
the APA's requirement that this extension and waiver be published at
least 30 days before the effective date.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the extension of the project period
and waiver will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. The only entity that will be affected is the
Center on Learning Disabilities.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This extension of project period and waiver does not contain any
information collection requirements.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is not subject to the requirements of Executive Order
12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may 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. 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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html
.
Dated: September 14, 2006.
Andrew J. Pepin,
Executive Administrator, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services.
[FR Doc. E6-15578 Filed 9-19-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P