NATIONAL CENTER OR CENTERS FOR RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

SEC. 405. NATIONAL CENTER OR CENTERS FOR RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. Section 404 of the Act is amended to read as follows: “SEC. 404. NATIONAL CENTER OR CENTERS FOR RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. “(a) General Authority.— (1) In order to address the purposes of this Act through the involvement of a broad array of individuals, including both vocational and academic teachers and administra-104 STAT. 810tors, the Secretary is authorized to award a grant or grants for the establishment of 1 or 2 national centers in the areas of— “(A) applied research and development; and “(B) dissemination and training. “(2) (A) Each entity selected to establish and operate a Center pursuant to paragraph (1) shall operate such Center for a period of 5 years. “(B) Beginning after December 31, 1992, the Secretary shall award an annual grant to the National Center or Centers selected pursuant to paragraph (1) for each of the 5 years such National Center is operated. After the third year in which the National Center or Centers receive a grant under this section the Secretary shall review the research priorities of the National Center or Centers. “(3) Of the amount available pursuant to section 451(a)(1) for purposes of carrying out this section, at least 2/3 of such amount shall be available for applied research and development. “(4) (A) The Secretary shall hold a competition at the same point in time for the grant or grants for the activities described in paragraph (1). Any institution of higher education or consortium of such institutions may compete for either or both sets of activities. “(B) For the purpose of this section the term ‘institution of higher education’ has the same meaning as provided by section 435(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. “(5) If an institution or consortium demonstrates that it can effectively carry out both activities either directly or through contracting, such institution or consortium shall be given a preference in the grant selection. If no institution or consortium demonstrates such capability and 2 grants are awarded, the Secretary must assure coordination of the activities under both grants. “(6) Not more than 10 percent of each year’s budget for the Center or for each of the Centers may be used to respond to field-initiated needs unanticipated prior to the annual funding period and which are in the mission of the Center but not part of the scope of work of the grant. “(7) The National Center in existence on the date of the enactment of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990 shall continue to operate through its 5-year cycle ending December 31, 1992. “(b) Activities.— (1) The applied research and development activities shall include— “(A) economic changes that affect the skills which employers seek and entrepreneurs need; “(B) integration of academic and vocational education; “(C) efficient and effective practices for addressing the needs of special populations; “(D) efficient and effective methods for delivering vocational education; “(E) articulation of school and college instruction with high quality work experience; “(F) recruitment, education, and enhancement of vocational teachers and other professionals in the field; “(G) accountability processes in vocational education, to include identification and evaluation of the use of appropriate performance standards for student, program, and State-level outcomes; “(H) effective practices that educate students in all aspects of the industry the students are preparing to enter, 104 STAT. 811 “(I) effective methods for identifying and inculcating literacy and other communication skills essential for effective job preparation and job performance; “(J) identification of strategic, high priority occupational skills and skills formation approaches needed to maintain the competitiveness of the United States workforce, sustain high-wage, high-technology jobs and which address national priorities such as technical jobs needed to protect and restore the environment; “(K) identification of practices and strategies that address entrepreneurial development for minority-owned enterprises; and “(L) upon negotiation with the Center, and if funds are provided pursuant to subsection (d), such other topics as the Secretary may designate. “(2) The Center conducting the activities described in paragraph (1) shall annually prepare a study on the research conducted on approaches that lead to effective articulation for the education-to-work transition, including tech-prep programs, cooperative education or other work-based programs, such as innovative apprentice-ship or mentoring approaches, and shall submit copies of such study to the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives. “(c) Dissemination and Training.— (1) The dissemination and training activities shall include— “(A) teacher and administrator training and leadership development; “(B) technical assistance to assure that programs serving special populations are effective in delivering well-integrated and appropriately articulated vocational and academic offerings for secondary, postsecondary, and adult students; “(C) needs assessment, design, and implementation of new and revised programs with related curriculum materials to facilitate vocational-academic integration; “(D) evaluation and follow-through to maintain and extend quality programs; “(E) assistance in technology transfer and articulation of program offerings from advanced technology centers to minority enterprises; “(F) assistance to programs and States on the use of account-ability indicators, including appropriate and innovative performance standards; “(G) delivery of information and services using advanced technology, where appropriate, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer; “(H) development of processes for synthesis of research, in cooperation with a broad array of users, including vocational and non-vocational educators, employers and labor organizations; “(I) dissemination of exemplary curriculum and instructional materials, and development and publication of curriculum materials (in conjunction with vocational and non-vocational constituency groups, where appropriate); “(J) technical assistance in recruiting, hiring, and advancing minorities in vocational education; and 104 STAT. 812 “(K) upon negotiation with the Center and if funds are provided pursuant to subsection (d), such other topics as the Secretary may designate. “(2) The Center conducting the activities described in paragraph (1) shall annually prepare a study on the dissemination and training activities described in paragraph (1) and shall submit copies of such study to the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives. “(d) Authorization of Other Research.— There are authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for the fiscal year 1991 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995 to carry out such additional activities assigned by the Secretary to the National Center in existence on the date of enactment of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990 until the termination of its grant on December 31, 1992 and to carry out the provisions of subsections (b)(1)(L) and (c)(1)(K).”.