12 2 STA T .34 41 PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 31 5— AU G .14 , 200 8‘ ‘ (A)INGE NE RAL.—Froma mo unts a p propr i at ed under su b se c tion ( h ) f or a fisca ly ear , the S ecretary is authori z ed toa w ard g rants to four State educational agencies to enable the State educational agencies to pay the administrati v e e x penses incurred in participating in the demonstration program under this section by carrying out a demonstration pro j ect under which eighth grade students described in subsection (b)( 1 )( B ) receive a commitment early in the stu - dents ’ academic careers to receive a Federal P ell G rant. ‘‘(B) EQU ALA MO UN TS .— T he Secretary shall award grants under this section in e q ual amounts to each of the four participating State educational agencies. ‘‘(b) D EMONSTRAT I ON PRO J E C T R EQUIREMENTS.—Each of the four demonstration projects assisted under this section shall meet the following requirements
‘‘(1) PARTICI P ANTS.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The State educational agency shall ma k e participation in the demonstration project available to two cohorts of students, which shall consist of— ‘‘(i) one cohort of eighth grade students who begin participating in the first academic year for which funds have been appropriated to carry out this section
and ‘‘(ii) one cohort of eighth grade students who begin participating in the academic year succeeding the aca- demic year described in clause (i). ‘‘(B) STU D ENTS IN EAC H COHORT.—Each cohort of stu- dents shall consist of not more than 1 0 ,000 eighth grade students who qualify for a free or reduced price school lunch under the Richard B. Russell N ational School L unch Act ( 42U .S. C . 1 75 1 et seq.) or the Child Nutrition Act of1 96 6 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.). ‘‘(2) STUDENT DATA.—The State educational agency shall ensure that student data from local educational agencies serving students who participate in the demonstration project, as well as student data from local educational agencies serving a comparable group of students who do not participate in the demonstration project, are available for evaluation of the dem- onstration project, and are made available in accordance with the requirements of section 444 of the General Education Provi- sions Act (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974). ‘‘( 3 ) FEDERAL PELL GRANT COMMITMENT.—Each student who participates in the demonstration project receives a commit- ment from the Secretary to receive a Federal Pell Grant during the first academic year that the student is in attendance at an institution of higher education as an undergraduate, pro- vided that the student applies for Federal financial aid (via the FAFSA or E Z FAFSA) for such academic year. ‘‘(4) APPLICATION PROCESS.—Each State educational agency shall establish an application process to select local educational agencies within the State to participate in the demonstration project in accordance with subsection (d)(2). ‘‘(5) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENC Y PARTICIPATION.—Subject to the 10,000 statewide student limitation described in para- graph (1), a local educational agency serving students, not less than 50 percent of whom are eligible for a free or reduced price school lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Sta t e a ndloc al g o v e r n m ent s.
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