Proposed Priority and Definitions-Secretary's Supplemental Priority and Definitions on Meaningful Learning Opportunities

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION <CFR>34 CFR Part 75</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket ID ED-2025-OS-0680]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Proposed Priority and Definitions—Secretary's Supplemental Priority and Definitions on Meaningful Learning Opportunities</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> U.S. Department of Education. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed priority and definitions. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Secretary proposes one additional priority and related definitions for use in currently authorized discretionary grant programs or programs that may be authorized in the future. The Secretary may choose to use the entire priority for a grant program or a particular competition or use one or more of the priority's component parts. This priority and definitions augment the initial set of three Secretary's Supplemental Priorities on Evidence-Based Literacy, Educational Choice, and Returning Education to the States published as final priorities on September 9, 2025 (90 FR 43514), the Secretary's Supplemental Priority on Artificial Intelligence published as a proposed priority on July 21, 2025 (90 FR 34203), and the Secretary's Supplemental Priority on Promoting Patriotic Education published as a proposed priority on September 17, 2025 (90 FR 44788). In addition, this priority complements the additional Secretary's Supplemental Priority and Definitions on Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness published as a proposed priority elsewhere in this issue of the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> We must receive your comments on or before October 27, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . See the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section for more details. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Zachary Rogers, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 7W213, Washington, DC 20202-6450. Telephone: (202) 260-1144. Email: <E T="03">SSP@ed.gov.</E> If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Invitation to Comment:</E> We invite you to submit comments regarding the proposed priority and definitions. Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . However, if you require an accommodation or cannot otherwise submit your comments via <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> , please contact the program contact person listed under <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> . The Department will not accept comments by fax or by email, or comments submitted after the comment period closes. To ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. Additionally, please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments. <E T="03">Federal eRulemaking Portal:</E> Go to <E T="03">www.Regulations.gov</E> to submit your comments electronically. Information on using <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> , including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under “FAQ.” Also included on <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> is a commenter checklist that addresses how to submit effective comments. In instances where individual submissions appear to be duplicates or near duplicates of comments prepared as part of a writing campaign, the Department may choose to post to <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> one representative sample comment along with the total comment count for that campaign. The Department will consider these comments along with all other comments received. In instances where individual submissions are bundled together (submitted as a single document or packaged together), the Department will post all of the substantive comments included in the submissions along with the total comment count for that document or package to <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . Comments containing personal threats will not be posted to <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> and may be referred to the appropriate authorities. During and after the comment period, you may inspect public comments about the proposed priority and definitions by accessing <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . To inspect comments in person, please contact the person listed under <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> . <E T="03">Privacy Note:</E> The Department's policy is to generally make all comments received from members of the public available for public viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . Therefore, commenters should be careful to include in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly available. <E T="03">Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking Record:</E> On request, we will provide an appropriate accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public rulemaking record for this document. If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> . <E T="03">Program Authority:</E> 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3, 3474. <E T="03">Proposed Priority:</E> This document contains one proposed priority. <E T="03">Proposed Priority:</E> Supporting Meaningful Learning Opportunities for Students. <E T="03">Background:</E> Recent disappointing National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results highlight the need for a renewed focus on academic rigor and achievement. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> These results demonstrate that education priorities have too often shifted away from what matters most: equipping students with the essential skills and knowledge for success required to be contributing members of a free society. Instead of focusing on improving student outcomes and providing meaningful learning opportunities for students, the Biden Administration wasted billions of dollars in discretionary grant funding on harmful ideological programming when our students needed academic support the most. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/.</E> </FTNT> This Administration seeks to ensure that education programs and initiatives provide all students with access to rigorous, relevant, and engaging learning experiences. This proposed priority emphasizes the importance of designing meaningful learning experiences that promote strong core instruction, personalized and relevant learning opportunities, and support deep understanding of foundational subject areas. This priority is intended to guide the development and implementation of strategies that prepare students for success in an increasingly complex, interconnected and technology-rich world and ensure all students are prepared for employment, enrollment, enlistment, or entrepreneurship. <E T="03">Proposed Priority:</E> Projects or proposals that are designed to do one or more of the following: (a) Strengthen core instruction through one or more of the following: (i) Improving mathematics instruction to promote student achievement through one or more of the following priority areas: (1) Assisting states in developing comprehensive statewide plans to raise mathematics achievement that align with mathematics instruction based on strong, moderate, or promising evidence (as defined in 34 CFR 77.1); (2) Selecting, adopting, and/or implementing high-quality instructional materials in mathematics; (3) Developing and implementing pathways to accelerate conceptual understanding of mathematics or advanced mathematics coursework, including strategies like automatic enrollment that encourage participation in such pathways; (4) Developing and implementing strategies that provide opportunities for the early identification and support for students struggling with foundational and developmental mathematics concepts; (5) Developing and implementing strategies for the identification of gifted and talented students, including strategies for students to access higher grade-level and/or advanced placement in mathematics; (6) Offering high-quality professional development based on strong, moderate, or promising evidence (as defined in 34 CFR 77.1) in mathematics for educators; or (7) Integrating explicit and systematic teaching strategies for mathematics or programming to build subject matter expertise for mathematics into preservice training for general or special education educators. (ii) Providing or expanding access to high-quality instructional materials in one or more of the following subjects: (1) A science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) discipline, including computer science; (2) English Language Arts; or (3) Social Studies. (iii) Providing or expanding access to training on implementing high-quality instructional materials in one or more of the following subjects: (1) A STEM discipline, including computer science; (2) English Language Arts; or (3) Social Studies. (iv) Creating competency-based instructional models that provide timely and actionable insights for students, parents, and educators. (v) Creating strategic staffing models, instructional leadership roles, or developing models for teacher advancement that incentivize high-performing educators with opportunities and leverage their time, resources, and talent in innovative ways to better support student learning and achievement. 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