(a) Leadership, evaluation, and peer review
(1) Reservation of funds
The Secretary may reserve not more than 5 percent of the amount made available to carry out this subpart for a fiscal year for national leadership, evaluation, and peer review activities, which the Secretary may carry out directly or through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements.
(2) Leadership Funds reserved for leadership activities under paragraph (1) may be used for
(A) disseminating information, including lists and descriptions of services available from grant recipients under this subpart; and
(B) other activities designed to enhance the quality of distance learning activities nationwide.
(3) Evaluation Funds reserved for evaluation activities under paragraph (1) may be used to conduct independent evaluations of the activities assisted under this subpart and of distance learning in general, including
(A) analyses of distance learning efforts (including such efforts that are, or are not, assisted under this subpart); and
(B) comparisons of the effects (including
student outcomes) of different technologies in distance learning efforts.
(4) Peer review Funds reserved for peer review activities under paragraph (1) may be used for peer review of
(A) applications for grants under this subpart; and
(B) activities assisted under this subpart.
(b) Coordination
The Department, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and any other Federal department or agency operating a telecommunications network for educational purposes, shall coordinate the activities assisted under this subpart with the activities of such department or agency relating to a telecommunications network for educational purposes.
(c) Funds from other agencies
The Secretary may accept funds from other Federal departments or agencies to carry out the purposes of this subpart, including funds for the purchase of equipment.
(d) Availability of funds
Funds made available to carry out this subpart shall remain available until expended.
(e) Closed captioning and descriptive video The Secretary shall encourage each entity receiving funds under this subpart to provide
(1) closed captioning of the verbal content of the entitys programming, as appropriate; and
(2) descriptive video of the visual content of the entitys programming, as appropriate.
