PUBLIC LAW 107-279—NOV. 5, 2002 116 STAT. 1965 (D) coordinate the activities of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance with other evaluation activities in the Department; (E) review and, where feasible, supplement Federal education program evaluations, particularly those by the Department, to determine or enhance the quality and relevance of the evidence generated by those evaluations; (F) establish evaluation methodology; and (G) assist the Director in the preparation of the biennial report, as described in section 119. (2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS. —Each evaluation conducted by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— (A) adhere to the highest possible standards of quality for conducting scientifically valid education evaluation; and (B) be subject to rigorous peer-review. (b) ADMINISTRATION OF EVALUATIONS UNDER TITLE I OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965. — The Evaluation and Regional Assistance Commissioner, consistent with the mission of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance under section 171(b), shall administer all operations and contracts associated with evaluations authorized by part E of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6491 et seq.) and administered by the Department as of the date of enactment of this Act. SEC. 174. REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORIES FOR RESEARCH, 20 USC 9564. DEVELOPMENT, DISSEMINATION, AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. (a) REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORIES. —The Director shall Contracts. enter into contracts with entities to establish a networked system of 10 regional educational laboratories that serve the needs of each region of the United States in accordance with the provisions of this section. The amount of assistance allocated to each laboratory by the Evaluation and Regional Assistance Commissioner shall reflect the number of local educational agencies and the number of school-age children within the region served by such laboratory, as well as the cost of providing services within the geographic area encompassed by the region. (b) REGIONS. —The regions served by the regional educational laboratories shall be the 10 geographic regions served by the regional educational laboratories established under section 941(h) of the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994 (as such provision existed on the day before the date of enactment of this Act). (c) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.— The Director may enter into contracts under this section with research organizations, institutions, agencies, institutions of higher education, or partnerships among such entities, or individuals, with the demonstrated ability or capacity to carry out the activities described in this section, including regional entities that carried out activities under the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994 (as such Act existed on the day before the date of enactment of this Act) and title XIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (as such title existed on the day before the date of enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110)).
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