Federal Register, Volume 73 Issue 124 (Thursday, June 26, 2008)

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 124 (Thursday, June 26, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36305-36309]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-14534]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Institute of Education Sciences; Overview Information; Statewide
Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program; Notice Inviting Applications
for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.372A.
Dates: Applications Available: June 26, 2008 (Request for
Applications (RFA)). August 4, 2008 (application package).
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: September 25, 2008.

Full Text of Announcement

I. Funding Opportunity Description

Purpose of Program: The purpose of the grant program for statewide
longitudinal data systems is to promote the generation and accurate and
timely use of data that are needed to: (1)

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Comply with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as
amended, and other reporting requirements, and (2) facilitate analyses
and research to improve student academic achievement and close
achievement gaps. This purpose is served by providing assistance to
State educational agencies to enable them to design, develop, and
implement statewide, longitudinal data systems to manage, analyze,
disaggregate, and use individual student data. States may apply for
funds to address the following purposes: (1) Develop and implement such
statewide longitudinal data systems; (2) expand K-12 longitudinal data
systems to include preschool data, teacher data, finance data, and any
other K-12 data not yet included in their systems; (3) create
interoperability with postsecondary data systems or create consolidated
P-16 data systems, in a manner consistent with the requirements of the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act; and (4) import workforce
data from other sources. The capacity to examine longitudinal data that
include postsecondary and workforce information will enhance the
ability of State educational agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of
their elementary and secondary education programs.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 9607.

Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 77, 80, 81, 82, 84,
85, 97, 98, and 99. In addition, the regulations in 34 CFR part 75 are
applicable, except for the provisions in 34 CFR 75.100, 75.101(b),
75.102, 75.103, 75.105, 75.109(a), 75.200, 75.201, 75.209, 75.210,
75.211, 75.217, 75.219, 75.220, 75.221, 75.222, and 75.230.

II. Award Information

Type of Award: Cooperative agreements.
Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested
$100,000,000 for this program in FY 2009, of which it intends to make
available $94,000,000 for new Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems grant
awards. Although Congress has not enacted a final appropriation for FY
2009, the Institute is inviting applications for this competition now
so that it may be prepared to make awards following final action on the
Department's appropriations bill. The actual award of grants will
depend on the availability of funds.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $3,000,000 to $9,000,000 for the
entire project period.
Estimated Number of Awards: The number of awards made under this
competition will depend upon the quality of the applications received.

Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.

Project Period: Two to five years.

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants: Eligible applicants are limited to SEAs.
2. a. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not require
cost sharing or matching.
b. Supplement-Not-Supplant: This competition involves supplement-
not-supplant funding requirements. Funds made available under this
grant program are to supplement, and not supplant, other State or local
funds used for developing or improving State data systems. The grants
are expected to assist SEAs in their efforts to design, develop, and
implement statewide longitudinal data systems, but not to supplant
State and local funds. That is, the Institute of Education Sciences
expects grant funding to augment existing State and local funds devoted
to this effort.

IV. Application and Submission Information

1. RFA and Other Information: Information regarding program and
application requirements for this competition will be contained in the
NCES RFA package, which will be available on June 26, 2008, at the
following Web site: http://ies.ed.gov/funding/.
2. Application Package: The application package with forms and
instructions for applying to this competition will be available no
later than August 4, 2008, at http://www.Grants.gov (see section V of
this notice).
Individuals with disabilities can obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print,
audiotape, or computer diskette) by contacting the person listed under
Alternative Format in section IX of this notice.

Note: Interested potential applicants should periodically check
the Institute's Web site at http://ies.ed.gov/funding/.

3. Submission Requirements: Applications for grants under this
competition must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov Apply
site (Grants.gov). 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 V. Submission of
Applications in 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
in 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.

V. Submission of Applications

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 Statewide Longitudinal Data
Systems competition, CFDA Number 84.372A, must be submitted
electronically using the Governmentwide Grants.gov Apply site at http://www.Grants.gov. Through this site, you will be able to download a copy
of the application package, complete it offline, and then upload and
submit your application. You may not e-mail an electronic copy of a
grant application to us.
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.
You may access the electronic grant application for the Statewide
Longitudinal Data Systems competition at http://www.Grants.gov. You
must search for the downloadable application package for this
competition by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA number's alpha
suffix in your search (e.g., search for 84.372, not 84.372A).
Please note the following:

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When you enter the Grants.gov site, you will find
information about submitting an application electronically through the
site, as well as the hours of operation.
Applications received by Grants.gov are date and time
stamped. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted, and
must be date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than
4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date.
Except as otherwise noted in this section, we will not accept your
application if it is received--that is, date and time stamped by the
Grants.gov system after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the
application deadline date. We do not consider an application that does
not comply with the deadline requirements. When we retrieve your
application from Grants.gov, we will notify you if we are rejecting
your application because it was date and time stamped by the Grants.gov
system after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application
deadline date.
The amount of time it can take to upload an application
will vary depending on a variety of factors including the size of the
application and the speed of your Internet connection. Therefore, we
strongly recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline
date to begin the submission process through Grants.gov.
You should review and follow the Education Submission
Procedures for submitting an application through Grants.gov that are
included in the application package for this competition to ensure that
you submit your application in a timely manner to the Grants.gov
system. You can also find the Education Submission Procedures
pertaining to Grants.gov at http://e-Grants.ed.gov/help/GrantsgovSubmissionProcedures.pdf.
To submit your application via Grants.gov, you must
complete all steps in the Grants.gov registration process (see http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp). These steps include (1)
registering your organization, a multi-part process that includes
registration with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR); (2)
registering yourself as an Authorized Organization Representative
(AOR); and (3) getting authorized as an AOR by your organization.
Details on these steps are outlined in the Grants.gov 3-Step
Registration Guide (see http://www.grants.gov/section910/Grants.govRegistrationBrochure.pdf). You also must provide on your
application the same D-U-N-S Number used with this registration. Please
note that the registration process may take five or more business days
to complete, and you must have completed all registration steps to
allow you to submit successfully an application via Grants.gov. In
addition you will need to update your CCR registration on an annual
basis. This may take three or more business days to complete.
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:
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. Please note that two of these forms--the SF 424 and the
Department of Education Supplemental Information for SF 424--have
replaced the ED 424 (Application for Federal Education Assistance).
You must attach any narrative sections of your application
as files in .PDF (Portable Document) format. If you upload a file type
other than the file type 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.
After you electronically submit your application, you will
receive from Grants.gov an automatic notification of receipt that
contains a Grants.gov tracking number. (This notification indicates
receipt by Grants.gov only, not receipt by the Department.) The
Department then will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send
a second notification to you by e-mail. This second notification
indicates that the Department has received your application and has
assigned your application a PR/Award number (an ED-specified
identifying number unique to your application).
We may request that you provide us original signatures on
forms at a later date.
Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of Technical Issues
with the Grants.gov System: If you are experiencing problems submitting
your application through Grants.gov, please contact the Grants.gov
Support Desk, toll free, at 1-800-518-4726. You must obtain a
Grants.gov Support Desk Case Number and must keep a record of it.
If you are prevented from electronically submitting your
application on the application deadline date because of technical
problems with the Grants.gov system, we will grant you an extension
until 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, the following business day to
enable you to transmit your application electronically or by hand
delivery. You also may mail your application by following the mailing
instructions described elsewhere in this notice.
If you submit an application after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC
time, on the application deadline date, please contact the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT in section VIII in this
notice and provide an explanation of the technical problem you
experienced with Grants.gov, along with the Grants.gov Support Desk
Case Number. We will accept your application if we can confirm that a
technical problem occurred with the Grants.gov system and that that
problem affected your ability to submit your application by 4:30:00
p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. The
Department will contact you after a determination is made on whether
your application will be accepted.

Note: The extensions to which we refer in this section apply
only to the unavailability of, or technical problems with, the
Grants.gov system. We will not grant you an extension if you failed
to fully register to submit your application to Grants.gov before
the application deadline date and time or if the technical problem
you experienced is unrelated to the Grants.gov system.

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 the Grants.gov system because--
You do not have access to the Internet; or
You do not have the capacity to upload large documents to
the Grants.gov system; 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
prevent 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

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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: Elizabeth Payer, U.S.
Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., room 602C,
Washington, DC 20208. FAX: (202) 219-1466.
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 applicable
following address:
By mail through the U.S. Postal Service:
U.S. Department of Education, Application Control Center,
Attention: (CFDA Number: 84.372A), 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20202-4260;
or
By mail through a commercial carrier:
U.S. Department of Education, Application Control Center, Stop
4260, Attention: (CFDA Number: 84.372A), 7100 Old Landover Road,
Landover, MD 20785-1506.
Regardless of which address you use, 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: 84.372A), 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 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--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 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.

VI. Application Review Information

Selection Criteria: Information regarding selection criteria and
review procedures for this competition will be provided in the RFA
package.

VII. 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 Notice
(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 in this notice.
We reference the regulations outlining the terms and conditions of
an award in the Applicable Regulations section in 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. 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.
4. Performance Measures: To evaluate the overall success of this
program, the Institute will determine at the end of each grant whether
the SEA has in operation a statewide longitudinal data system. Grantees
will be expected to report in annual and final reports on the status of
their development and implementation of these systems.
5. Grant Administration: Applicants should budget for a two-day
meeting for project directors to be held in Washington, DC.

VIII. Agency Contact

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tate Gould, U.S. Department of
Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 K Street,
NW., room 9023, Washington, DC 20006-5651. Telephone: (202) 219-7080 or
via Internet: [email protected].
If you use a TDD, call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

IX. Other Information

Alternative Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document and a copy of the application package in an alternative 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 VIII in 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. 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

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Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.

Dated: June 20, 2008.
Grover J. Whitehurst,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.
[FR Doc. E8-14534 Filed 6-25-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P