Office of Educational Research and Improvement

 Dear Colleague:

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement's

(OERI) Office of Research is inviting applications to

establish a National Reading Research Center to conduct

research and associated activities in reading and related

areas.

Enclosed please find a copy of "Application for A Grant

Under the Educational Research and Development Center

Program" (OMB No. 1850-0602).  This document contains (a)

Application Instructions, (b) Center Mission, (c)

Guidance for Preparing An Application,  (d) Required

Forms, and (e) Code of Federal Regulations 34 CFR Parts

706 and 708.  Other regulations applicable to this

program are contained in the Education Department General

Administrative Regulations, 34 CFR Parts 74, 75, 77,  81,

82, 85, and 86.

Please note that the Secretary gives an absolute

preference to applications that meet the following

priority:  English Literacy, including reading, writing,

and language skills (34 CFR 706.3(b)(19)).  Estimated

funding levels for this cooperative agreement over a five

year project period are listed in the Federal Register

Notice Inviting Applications.  Applications for an

institutional award must be postmarked by October 18,

1991.

The enclosed information has been prepared to assist you

with the preparation of your grant application.  If you

need additional assistance, please write to Dr. Anne P.

Sweet at the U.S. Department of Education, Office of

Educational Research and Improvement, 555 New Jersey

Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20208-5648 or contact her

by telephone at (202) 219-2021.

We look forward to receiving and reviewing your

application.

                              Sincerely,

                              Milton Goldberg

                              Director

                              Office of Research

                  FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE

4000-01

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

(CFDA No.:  84.117A)

Educational Research and Development Centers Program 

Notice inviting applications for a new award for fiscal

year (FY) 1992.  

PURPOSE OF PROGRAM:  To support a national research and

development center to conduct research and related

activities in the area of reading.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS:  The following parties are eligible

to apply for an award for a Research and Development

Center:  institutions of higher education, institutions

of higher education in consort with public agencies or

private nonprofit organizations, and interstate agencies

established by compact that operate subsidiary bodies

established to conduct postsecondary educational research

and development.

DEADLINE FOR TRANSMITTAL OF APPLICATIONS:   October 18,

1991. 

APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE:  July 17, 1991

AVAILABLE FUNDS:  This Center will be awarded as a

cooperative agreement.  Funding for the first year of the

National Reading Research Center will be up to $1.2

million.  The following table indicates the estimated

funding levels over the five-year project period.  The

funding levels for years 2 through 5 are estimates

depending upon the availability of funds and needs as

reflected in the approved application.

First Year Funding       $1.2  Million (up to) Second

Year Funding      $1.5  Million

Third Year Funding       $1.6  Million

Fourth Year Funding      $1.7  Million

Fifth Year Funding       $1.8  Million

Five Year Total          $7.8  Million.

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF AWARDS:  1.

PROJECT PERIOD:  Up to 60 months.

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS:  (a) The Education Department

General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR

Parts 74, 75, 77, 81, 82, 85, and 86; and (b)  The

regulations for this program in 34 CFR Parts 706 and 708.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  On April 30, 1991, the

Secretary published a notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER

soliciting written comments on a research agenda for

reading, content, and related areas.  The Secretary has

decided to fund a National Reading Research Center to

address many of the issues raised by commenters in

response to the notice.  

     The mission statement describing the areas of

research the Secretary is particularly interested in

supporting under the National Reading Research Center

will be found in the application package.  These areas of

research include:  instructional strategies for at-risk

students; evaluation of instructional approaches;

alternative assessments of student learning; teacher

education and instructional interventions; reading and

learning from school textbooks and other content

materials; reading acquisition and cognition; and the

sociocultural contexts within which reading takes place. 

PRIORITY:  Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) and 34 CFR 706.3(b),

the Secretary gives an absolute preference to

applications that meet the following priority.  The

Secretary funds under this competition only an

application that meets this absolute priority.

     Research on Reading and Literacy.  (English

Literacy, including reading, writing, and language skills

(34 CFR 706.3(b)(19)). 

SELECTION CRITERIA:  In evaluating applications for

grants under this program competition, the Secretary uses

the selection criteria in 34 CFR 708.11.

     The program regulations in 34 CFR 706.20(b) and (d)

provide that the Secretary may award up to 100 points for

the selection criteria, including a reserved 10 points. 

For this competition, the 10 points are added to plan of

operation (34 CFR 708.11(c)), for a possible total of 25

points.

 FOR APPLICATIONS OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:  Dr.

Anne P. Sweet, U.S. Department of Education, OERI, Office

of Research, Room 606D, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20208-5648.  Telephone:  (202) 219-2021. 

Deaf and hearing impaired  individuals may call the

Federal Dual Party Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 (in

the Washington, D.C. 202 area code, telephone 708-9300)

between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Eastern time. PROGRAM

AUTHORITY  20 U.S.C. 1221e.

Dated:  July 8, 1991

                                   

                                   Bruno V. Manno         

                          Acting Assistant Secretary for  

                                 Educational Research and 

                                  Improvement

National Reading Research Center

                        Mission Statement

Initial Year Funding:  $1.2 Million   

Duration of Award:  5 Years               

Type of Award:  Cooperative Agreement

I.   Introduction

Reading is a foundation for learning across the school

curriculum.  The ability to read enables people to

function independently in the everyday world and to

engage in lifelong learning.  How do our students measure

up in terms of their reading proficiency for acquiring

content knowledge in school and for independent living

and learning after they graduate from high school?  Trend

data (1971-88) showing the results of NAEP reading

assessments of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students show

that overall, for students across the three ages, reading

performance was as good as, if not slightly better than

it was two decades earlier.  Nonetheless, the levels of

reading proficiency show that the greatest gains have

occurred in lower-level skills, while the greatest

decline has occurred in higher level applications.  In

other words, although most students appear to have

developed the ability to read at a literal level of

understanding as they progress through school, it seems

that they have not overcome difficulties in analyzing and

synthesizing what they read.  By age 17, fewer than half

of the students tested in the 1988 NAEP assessment were

able to consistently understand, summarize, and explain

relatively complex information.  

President Bush and the Nation's governors met at a

historic education summit in Charlottesville where it was

declared that "the time has come, for the first time in

United States history, to establish clear national

performance goals, goals that will make us

internationally competitive."  Six national goals emerged

as a first step in carrying out this imperative. 

Becoming a competent reader underlies these goals. 

On April 18, 1991, President Bush unveiled his Education

Strategy.  AMERICA 2000 is a long-range plan to move

every community in America toward achieving the national

education goals adopted by the President and the

Governors last year.  Students' ability to read and

American schools' ability to teach our children to read

permeate AMERICA 2000's four related themes: (1) Creating

better and more accountable schools for today's students;

(2) Creating a New Generation of American Schools for

tomorrow's students; (3) Transforming America into a

Nation of students; and (4) Making our communities places

where learning will happen.    

The current generation must become literate enough to

meet the demands of the future, as we enter the twenty-

first century.  The admonition set forth by the National

Academy of Education's Commission on Reading in its

landmark report, Becoming a Nation of Readers (1985),

rings true as urgently today as it did when these words

were first written.

     "The world is moving into a technological-

     information age in which full participation in

     education, science, business, industry, and the

     professions requires increasing levels of     

     literacy.  What was a satisfactory level of literacy

     in 1950 probably will be marginal by the year 2000."

It is clear that the pace toward reaching substantially

higher levels of reading proficiency must be accelerated

dramatically if we are to achieve the national education

goals within the time-lines specified.

All of those involved with improving education count on

education research to guide them in their judgements. 

Education research contributes to the improvement of

teaching and learning in schools, and research on reading

has provided the basis for some of the most significant

contributions.  These contributions interface with the

cognitive revolution that has unfolded during the

previous two decades.  An explosion of knowledge has

accrued about how people learn, remember, and reason.  We

have learned much about the knowledge and abilities that

distinguish experts from novices.  We have learned much

about how people learn in school as compared to the real

world.  We have learned much about self-regulation and

how it is a key aspect of skilled reading.  There remains

much more to be learned about these and related

understandings, and the unique role each one plays in

More <[Y],N,C,A,J>? {

                      

students' acquisition of reading proficiency.  

II,@M½Á•z™UË‹W–.HP,]Z»ities

The National Reading Research Center will engage in

research aimed at improving reading proficiency for all

students, and thereby improving the Nation's level of

literacy.  The Center will strive to develop a broad,

comprehensive model of reading acquisition that

integrates the various cognitive, social, motivational,

cultural, and instructional elements that play a role in

the reading process and learning to read.  

Within this framework, the Center's primary objective

will be to understand more fully how students learn to

read, the strategies they use as they become better

readers, their use of acquired reading skills in learning

content knowledge, and the myriad of factors that

influence the acquisition and development of reading

proficiency, including the context in which reading takes

place.   A second objective will be to understand more

fully the nature of the reading process particularly as

it pertains to students at-risk for reading failure, the

relevance of reading to learning content subjects, and

the relationship between reading and writing, and other

literacy skills.  A third objective will be to understand

more fully the phenomenon of current instructional trends

and interventions, including issues related to the

education of teachers

 ¸he implementation of new teaching

models and instructional strategies, and the evaluation

of instruction and student progress.

The National Reading Research Center will engage in (1)

systematic, longer term research aimed at broadening our

understanding of the many aspects of reading and

expanding the theories upon which future research may be

based; and (2) shorter term research aimed at improving

the teaching and learning of reading in American schools. 

The student populations to be studied include students

from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds at all

grade levels, pre-kindergarten through high school.

III. Illustrative Center Activities

Through a thorough and extended planning process, OERI

identified the specific research activities listed below

as particularly important and appropriate to the National

Reading Research Center's mission.  In order to meet the

Nation's most pressing educational needs, OERI is

encouraging applicants to be responsive to these

activities, especially those marked with an asterisk (*). 

This list, however, is neither exhaustive nor exclusive. 

Applicants may choose not to incorporate all the topics

in their proposals, just as they may propose alternative

topics consistent with the Center's mission.  Applicants

should be sure to include a detailed rationale for how

the studies incorporated in their proposals form a

coherent research agenda for this Center.  Applicants

should also list and describe in detail each study

proposed.

Learning

The ability to read is key to enabling students to

achieve success in and outside of the school setting.  An

important prerequisite  for improving the literacy level

of all learners is to understand the ways in which

students acquire and develop proficiency in reading. 

Areas of inquiry critical to improving students' ability

to read and related literacy skills include:

     * o  the ways in which knowledge is acquired in

          school subjects through reading content texts 

     * o  early literacy learning and the influence

          brought to bear by home, school and community

          environments 

       o  the role of composing and writing in the

          acquisition of reading proficiency

  

       o  reading processes and the dynamics that unfold

          during the acquisition of reading proficiency

       o  the ways in which alternate forms of reading,

          writing, and communicating through

          technological means bear upon the development

          of reading proficiency

       o  the ways in which motivational and

          environmental factors affect the acquisition

          and development of students' reading

          proficiency

       o  the ways in which neuroscience can contribute

          to our understanding of the reading process and

          how students learn to read and read to learn

Instruction

Effective reading instruction involves teaching students

higher-order cognitive learning and reasoning, whereby

students develop the ability to acquire new knowledge in

other school subjects.  An important prerequisite for

raising the reading proficiency level of all students is

to understand how best to engage them in learning to read

and reading to learn.  Areas of inquiry critical to

promoting the effective teaching of reading include:

     * o  the ways in which new instructional approaches

          (i.e., whole language, phonemic awareness

          training) affect beginning readers,

          particularly at-risk learners 

     * o  instructional strategies that facilitate

          learning from text and textbooks in content

          area school subjects

     * o  models that connect effective teaching

          practices and the education of teachers, both

          preservice and inservice

       o  the ways in which new models of teaching and  

          instructional organization (e.g., cognitive     

          apprenticeship, cooperative learning,

          conversational discussion) impact students'

          reading proficiency

       o  instructional interventions and strategies

          aimed at the prevention of reading failure that

          take into account the needs of culturally and

          linguistically diverse students

       o  instructional strategies that use technological 

          advances to teach reading to students at all

          grade levels

       o  instructional strategies that take into account

          the contexts in which reading takes place and

          related factors that influence the development

          of reading proficiency

     

Assessment

The assessment of students' ability to read will continue

to play a dominant role in society's need to gauge the

effectiveness of reading instruction in American schools,

students' aptitude for academic learning up through post-

secondary education, and students' readiness to enter the

work force.  Given the variety of decisions that are made

about students, schools, and schooling, based upon

reading test scores, it is critical that assessments of

reading proficiency reflect our current understanding

about what reading is.  Areas of inquiry critical to

promoting the development of authentic reading

proficiency measures include:

     * o  the effectiveness of current and new measures

          of reading proficiency

     * o  measures of reading proficiency that align

          instruction with assessment in ecologically

          valid ways and take into account multiple

          purposes and audiences 

       o  outcome measures for new forms of reading

          instruction (e.g., Reading Recovery; whole

          language)

       o  measures of reading proficiency that

          distinguish reading competence from background

          and content knowledge and that take into

          account factors such as motivation and interest

       o  authentic assessments that measure students'

          growth in reading proficiency within prescribed

          instructional programs

       o  alternative assessments of reading proficiency

          that take into account culturally and

          linguistically diverse students

       o  assessments of teaching strategies that take

          into account the dynamics of classroom

          "cultures"

IV.  Anticipated Benefits

The National Reading Research Center will disseminate the

results of its research to a wide audience--education

practitioners, parents, researchers, policymakers,

textbook publishers, and other members of the business

community--with an end toward heightening students'

literacy level.  The anticipated benefits of the Center's

work are two-fold:

     o    Broadening the foundation for future research.  

          Expanding current theories on reading and

          building new ones will add significantly to our

          knowledge-base about reading and literacy

          learning.  The insights that we gain from

          sustained research efforts will ultimately    

          lead to improvements and refinements in the way

          we teach reading in our Nation's schools.  The

          net result will undoubtedly be made apparent by

          marked rises in students' level of reading

          proficiency.

     o    Improving classroom practice.  We have accrued

          a rich knowledge-base that is ripe with

          practicable research findings, and there are

          some specific strategies that teachers can use

          to enable their students to acquire reading

          proficiency more readily.  Although the

          Center's longer term aim is to affect broad     

          improvements in classroom practice, the

          Center's shorter term objective should be

          directed at initiating immediate changes and

          easing transitions in the ways that reading is

          taught in American classrooms.  

V.   Special Instructions

The National Reading Research Center (NRRC) is expected

to embrace the belief that theory must be grounded in

practice. Moreover, researchers and practitioners may

assume alternating roles--that is, researchers and

practitioners are equally teacher and learner, leader and

follower.  Collaborations among teacher-researcher

colleagues will increase the likelihood that the fruits

of the Center's research will be assimilated readily into

everyday practice in classrooms.

The Center is also expected to exhibit a commitment to

nurturing a program of research that is multidimensional

and interdisciplinary.  The Center will integrate

divergent views and study the development of reading

proficiency from multiple perspectives--cognitive,

linguistic, sociocultural, and contextual.

Moreover, the Center is expected to coordinate its

research efforts with the Writing and Literacy Center and

other OERI R&D Centers whose programs of research include

studies on aspects of reading and literacy.  In addition,

the National Reading Research Center is expected to work

cooperatively with OERI's Regional Laboratories, the ERIC

Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, and

the National Diffusion Network to disseminate research

findings and other products.  

Finally, the Center is encouraged to maintain an

appropriate professional affiliation with such

organizations as the International Reading Association,

the National Reading Conference, the National Council of

Teachers of English, the Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development, the National Association of

Elementary School Principals, and the American

Educational Research Association.

Read what bulletin(s), L)ist, S)ince, N)ews ([ENTER] = none)? 

 39 min left

MAIN command <?,B,C,E,F,H,I,J,K,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X>?