funds available for the State-administered part under section 135 cannot be used to support the Commissioner's Vocational Education Certification Fellowship Program. No change is made in the regulation.

§ 105.431 Teacher or educators.

Comment. Two commenters recommended that in § 105.431 the term "vocational educator" should be changed each time it occurs to "vocational teacher."

Response. Although there is merit in the suggestion for use of the more widely used term, teacher, the recommendation is not accepted. The Congress used "educator" in the statute, and without compelling reasons to the contrary, the Commissioner prefers that the regulation use the terminology of the statute. No change is made in the regulation.

§ 105.431 Emphasis on shortage of teachers.

Comment. A commenter recommended that § 105.431(a) be changed to read “* * * if those teachers have skills and experience in vocational fields for which there is a need for vocational teachers and for which they can be trained .." The rationale for adding the clause for which there is a need for vocational teachers is that there are some fields of vocational education which have a surplus of teachers and for which no additional ones should be trained. The commenter wanted the same change in § 105.432(a)(1), for the same reason.

Response. The recommendation is accepted. Although the statute does not require that there be a need for vocational teachers in reference to applicants for fellowships who are certified teachers, it does contain this requirement with respect to applicants who are employed in industry. That both classes of applicants should be treated alike in this respect is supported at two points in the statute: first, section 172(c)(1) states that the fellowship program exists "in order to meet the need to provide adequate numbers of teachers * and thereby establishes the overall criterion of need; and second, section 172(c)(7) requires the Commissioner to determine, annually, the areas of teaching where there is need of additional teachers and to award the fellowships, preferentially, for study in those areas. The amendments will help to assure that the limited funds available to the fellowship program are used where they are most needed.

§ 105.432 Categories of fellows.

Comment. A commenter advised that in paragraph (a) of § 105.432 the word "including" be changed to "other than" on the grounds that if a person has already been certified to teach vocational education, there is no need for additional training.

Response. There is nothing in the statute or its history to suggest that a person who has been a teacher of vocational education in a field where there is no longer employment could not apply for a certifiction fellowship in order to be able to work in a field where there is need for teachers. Therefore, no change is made in the regulation.

Comment. Another commenter urged that the parenthetical expression in paragraph (a) of § 105.442 be changed to read "(including other thirteenth and fourteenth year programs)." The rationale was that there are hundreds of educational programs at the thirteenth and fourteenth year levels which are not in community or junior colleges and where there are teachers in a variety of fields who should be eligible for consideration as applicants for certification fellowships.

Response. The recommendation is accepted. It seems reasonable to include as potential beneficiaries teachers in all programs at the thirteenth and fourteenth grade levels, rather than only those designated as junior or community colleges. The recommendation is particularly valid because many of the "other" programs are in technical and vocational education. The regulation is changed accordingly.

§ 105.434 Role of the State boards.

Comment. A commenter feared that State boards might be inclined to favor certified teachers, and recommended therefore that a more objective procedure be adopted for reviewing applications.

Response. All applications will be objectively reviewed by the Commissioner, who customarily uses teams of persons drawn from both inside and outside the Office of Education for this purpose. The review by the State board (with advice from the State advisory council and other agencies and representative individuals) will provide valuable additional input to the Commissioner's review of the applications. No change is made in the regulation.

§ 105.434 Advice from others.

§ 105.305(b), that the State board should transmit to the Commissioner the full statements of advice about applications rather than a mere summary of that advice, was found to be equally applicable to the certification fellowships program. Accordingly, § 105.434(b) is amended to correspond to the changes made in § 105.305(b).

§ 105.440 Eligibility of institutions.

Comment. A commenter asked generally about the difference in stringency of criteria for eligibility of institutions to participate in the Leadership Development Program and the Certification Fellowships Program.

Response. The requirements for institutional participation in the Leadership Development Program (§ 105.311) are for work at the level of graduate study and are therefore much more demanding than the requirements for the baccalaureate level fellowships program.

§ 105.441 Priority to areas of need.

Comment. A commenter noted the omission in the regulation of the language in section 172(c)(7) which requires the Commissioner to give priority in the awarding of fellowships to those which are focused on the designated areas of need for vocational education teachers. The commenter requested that the omission be corrected.

Response. In view of the omission, the recommendation is accepted. Section 105.441(a) is amended by the addition of this language: "and will, to the maximum degree possible, award fellowships under § 105.432 to applicants seeking to become teachers in the areas identified."

§ 105.442 Emphasis on areas of need.

Comment.

A commenter wanted

§ 105.442(a)(2) amended to recognize the emphasis on areas or fields of vocational education where additional vocational educators are needed (as required by § 105.441). The amended text would read, "Past or current skills and experiences in the vocational field(s) in which there is a need for additional educators and ** an

The same commenter requested the addition of an item (3) to § 105.442: "inability to find employment in his or her field of previous certification." The rationale was that section 172(c)(1) includes that qualification, which must therefore have been omitted by inadvertence.

Response. Both recommendations are accepted. The change in § 105.442(a)(2) serves to emphasize the requirement of § 105.441 of the regulation, and a new subsection (3) under $105.442(a) has been added which reads "inability to find employment in his or her field of previous certification."

§ 105.443 Emphasis on the handicapped.

Comment. A commenter recommended that the application review criterion related to national need (paragraph (e) of § 105.443) be strengthened by adding special education for the handicapped to paragraph (e) of § 105.440 as a part of the undergraduate program of vocational education.

Response. The Act requires that the undergraduate program of vocational education have adequate support services and disciplines, but does not go beyond suggesting which support services and disciplines shall be included. Since special education for the handicapped is a critical program element, the recommendation is accepted and § 105.440(e) is changed accordingly.

§ 105.443 Additional review criteria.

Comment. A commenter recommended that a fourth category, "women," be added to the list of groups meriting special attention under paragraph (e) of § 105.443, National need.

Response. Because of the strong emphasis in the Act on eliminating sex bias and sex stereotyping, the recommendation is accepted. The initial sentence of the paragraph is modified to read “* * * with particular reference to the elimination of sex stereotyping and to working with the following populations." Further support for this change is found in § 105.441, which provides that the Commissioner will identify areas of teaching in vocational education where there are or will be shortages of personnel. Also a reasonable assumption may be made that there is a shortage of women teachers and of persons capable of teaching women in many areas of vocational education.

Comment. A commenter asks that a fourth category be added to paragraph (f) of §105.443 to favor applicants who desire to be trained in a "nontraditional" teaching field.

Response. The recommendation is accepted. H.R. Report No. 94-1085, p. 55, supports this non-traditional emphasis which may be interpreted to mean women (or men) teaching in fields traditionally reserved to the other sex, and also to mean any person teaching in a new field or a field not commonly taught. The new fourth item has been added to § 105.443(f) which reads as follows: "(4) The applicant's intention to become certified in a vocational field not traditionally open to persons of the applicant's sex, or to become certified in a new field or one not commonly taught."

§ 105.443 Weighting of review criteria.

Comment. Two commenters urged that the weight assigned to criterion (a) Academic ability be increased to 30 points and the weights for criterion (b) Vocational skills be increased to 40 points, with corresponding reductions in the weights assigned to other criteria. The rationale was that criteria (a) and (b) are by far the most important.

Response. Due to the overall importance of criteria (a) and (b) the regulation is revised to increase criterion (a) to 25 points and criterion (b) to 35 points, and criterion (c) Communication skills is reduced to 15 points.

SUBPART 4-EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR REMODELING AND RENOVATING OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FACILITIES

$105.502 Eligible applicants for emergency assistance for remodeling.

Comment. Commenters indicated that the legislative history does not sustain the argu

ment made on page 18549 of the preamble to the NPRM that the bill, as enacted into law, was expanded to include all LEAS as eligible applicants; to the contrary, they maintain that only LEAS "in urban and rural areas" are eligible and recommend that § 105.502 be amended accordingly.

Response. The recommendation is accepted. Congressional intent indicates that only urban and rural LEAS are eligible under this program, and that suburban LEAs are not eligible. Section 105.502 is amended to limit eligibility to LEAS in urban and rural areas and definitions on "urban" and "rural" have been added. Since these definitions apply only to the emergency facilities program, they are not repeated among the definitions of general applicability in Appendix A.

§ 105.504 Functions of the State board in relation to applications for emergency assistance for remodeling.

Comment. A commenter asked what the State board must do in relation to applications by LEAs for emergency assistance for remodeling and renovation. The commenter questioned whether the State board makes the decision on funding in the State and suggested that the State board's functions be specified in the regulation.

Response. Section 193(a) of the Act requires that the LEA send its application to the Commissioner through the State board. This requirement is repeated in § 105.504 of the regulation. Section 193(a) of the Act requires that the application contain "such other information as the State board determines to be appropriate." This requirement is repeated in § 105.503(g) of the regulation. Thus, the Act and the regulation require the application to be sent to the State board and require that when the application is sent on by the State board to the Commissioner, it contain whatever additional information the State board considers necessary. The State board should review the application and ask the applicant to add to its application any information which the Commissioner will need for decision. The decisions on awards must be made by the Commissioner. Since § 105.503(g) follows the Act and gives the State board wide leeway in requesting any additional information it considers appropriate, no change is made in the regulation.

§ 105.505 Emergency assistance for remodeling.

Comment. A commenter asked what is meant by "emergency assistance for remodeling" and whether the program is limited to assistance after a natural disaster or to assistance for renovation were local tax efforts have been insufficient.

Response. The program of "emergency assistance" is not limited to assistance for remodeling after a natural disaster. The pro

gram is a special four-year program of assistance for remodeling in urban and rural areas which was added after Congress heard testimony of "the inadequacy of facilities in urban and rural areas.” (Senate Report No. 94-882, p. 88.) As to assistance where local tax efforts have been insufficient, section 193(b)(1) of the Act stresses as the first criterion the need for Federal assistance. Applications will, under § 105.505, be ranked according to the relative need for assistance as determined by the criteria in § 105.505(b). No change is made in the regulation.

§ 105.505(b) (8) Criteria for award of emergency assistance for remodeling.

Comment. Cemmenters suggested that criterion (8) in § 105.505(b) for review of applications submitted to the Commissioner for emergency assitance for remodeling should be deleted; five points should not be given for evidence that the proposed facilities "complied with the law and did not result in sex discrimination or bias against the handicapped."

Response. The recommendation is accepted. Criterion (8) is deleted and the five points are added to ceiterion (1), giving a maximum of 17 points for evidence of the age or obsolescence of the facilities for which Federal assistance is sought. Since it is a requirement of law that educational facilities not discriminate on the basis of sex or discriminate against the handicapped, it is not reasonable to give five points for evidence in the application that these requirements of law have been met. For that reason, criterion (8) is deleted. Applications will be reviewed, of course, to make sure that the proposed remodeled facilities do not result in discrimination on the basis of sex or handicap.

SUBPART 5-BILINGUAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

§ 105.604(a) Submission of applications.

Comment. A commenter suggested that in order not to delay the submission of applications they should be submitted simultaneously to the Office of Education and to the State Board for Vocational Education, and that the State board be given 30 days following the closing date for applications to submit its comments to the Office of Education.

Response. The comment is accepted. The procedure set forth in § 105.604(a) is for the applicant to submit a copy of the application to the State board for comment. Since a copy would be submitted to the board, it was implicit in this regulation that the original application be submitted directly to the Commissioner. The regulation reflects this procedure. In addition, the regulation is amended to require that the State board submit its comments to the Commissioner

within 30 days following the closing date for applications.

105.611 Bilingual Vocational Instructor Training Program.

Comment. A commenter recommended that the Commissioner make an effort to simplify the various teacher training programs within the Vocational Education Act and also to develop an effective means of coordinating these programs with similar teacher training programs administered by the Office of Education. This commenter contended that, without simplification and coordination, American education will be confronted with overlapping and ineffective management.

Response. The Vocational Education Act contains three separate authorities for teacher training programs.

The Vocational Education Personnel Training set forth in § 104.771 is a State-administered program. The Bilingual Vocational Instructor Training Program in § 105.611 addresses a specific need to improve the overall Bilingual Vocational Training Program. The Vocational Education Leadership Development Program in § 105.301 allows experienced vocational educators to spend full time in advanced study of vocational education. In view of the fact that one program lies exclusively within the domain of the State, and the other two discretionary programs address separate objectives in-as a general rule-separate institutions, it is not feasible to consolidate or simplify the three programs. Therefore, no change is made in the regulation.

APPENDIX A

DEFINITION

Comment. One commenter strongly supported a comment recorded in response to the NOI that the definition of vocational education should be broadened to include guidance elements and thus reduce the need for funding guidance as a supportive service.

Response. While there is merit in the comment, the definition of vocational education in the Act (Sec. 195(1)) does not include vocational guidance and counseling. No change is made in the regulation.

APPENDIX-"COOPERATIVE EDUCATION." Comment. A commenter recommended expanding the definition of "cooperative education" to add two requirements that the program:

(1) "employs and compensates studentlearners in conformity with Federal, State, and local laws and regulations in a manner not resulting in exploitation of the studentlearner for private gain, and

(2) "is conducted in accordance with written training agreements between local educational agencies and employers."

Response. While the recommendation raises two very important points, the definition of "cooperative education" comes directly from section 195(18) of the Act and is not changed. The recommendations are added as requirements in the Cooperative Vocational Education Programs in § 104.531 as new paragraphs (c) and (d).

APPENDIX-"CURRICULUM MATERIALS."

Comment. A commenter suggested as an alternative definition of "curriculum materials" the following:

"Curriculum materials" means instructional resources both print and non-print, used in any teaching and learning process designed to prepare persons for employment or to upgrade the competencies of persons previously or presently employed in any occupational field."

Response. While the proposed definition has much merit, particularly is not limiting curriculum materials to printed materials, the definition in the Appendix comes from section 195(19) of the Act with only slight modification. No change is made in the regulation.

APPENDIX-“FINANCIAL ABILITY."

Comment. A commenter recommended that a definition of "financial ability" be added, to define the term as used in section 106(a)(5)(B)(i) of the Act.

Response. The recommendation is accepted. A definition of "financial ability," taken from the House Report (H. Rept. No. 941085, p. 34) is added.

APPENDIX-"HANDICAPPED."

Comment. Many commenters objected to that part of the definition of handicapped which included "learning disabilities to the extent the disability is a health impairment," pointing out that most learning disabilities (LD) are not health-related problems at all, but are learning-related problems (perceptual handicaps, brain injury, dyslexia or developmental ophasis). Commenters recommended that the definition in the Appendix to the Vocational Education Act should conform to the definition in the Education of the Handicapped Act, Pub. L. 94-142 and the regulations thereunder.

Response. The Technical Amendments (Pub. L. 95-40) conformed the definition of "handicapped" in the Vocational Education Act to that in the Education of the Handicapped Act. The amended definition includes "specific learning disabilities" as a handicapping condition. The definition of "specific learning disabilities" will be consistent with the definition finally promulgated by the Commissioner under the Education of the Handicapped Act. It will be necessary to look to the regulations under the Education of the Handicapped Act as

published in final form for the definition of "specific learning disabilities."

APPENDIX-“HIGH SCHOOL."

Comment. A commenter recommended a definition of "high school" be added to replace that of "secondary programs."

Response. The recommendation has been accepted by adding the definition of "high school program" and revising the definition of "secondary program" as follows:

"High school program" means vocational education for persons in grades 9 through

12.

"Secondary program" means vocational education for persons in secondary grades as defined by State law.

APPENDIX-"INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY."

Comment. A commenter objected that the definitions do not include a definition of "instructional technology" since instructional technology "is playing an ever increasing role in the armed services, industry, government, medicine and the whole of education." No proposed definition was included in the comment.

Response. While there are many terms which could be defined, the Appendix contains only definitions of terms which must be defined for interpretation of the Act or the regulation. A definition of "instructional technology" is not necessary for interpretation of the Act or regulation, and for that reason, is not added to the Appendix. No change is made in the regulation.

APPENDIX-"LIMITED ENGLISH-SPEAKING

ABILITY."

Comment. Several commenters have recommended that a definition of "limited English-speaking ability" to be added, to define in the Appendix the term as it is used in §§ 104.303(b) (2) and 104.317(a) (2) as to the 20 percent set-aside part of which is used for persons of limited English-speaking ability.

Response. The recommendation is accepted. A definition of "limited English-speaking ability" (LESA) has been added in its alphabetical order in the Appendix. The definition is that used in section 703(a) (1) of the Bilingual Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 880b1. This definition will explain the term as used in §§ 104.303(b) (2), 104.313(a) (2) and 105.601.

APPENDIX-"POSTSECONDARY PROGRAMS"-
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

Comment. Many commenters suggested adding to the definition of "postsecondary programs" those programs leading to a certificate of completion of hours of study or certificate of completion of a series of courses.