[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 22, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44123-44125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21121]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Department of Education.
SUMMARY: The Leader, Regulatory Information Management Group, Office of 
the Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for 
OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
September 21, 2001.

[[Page 44124]]


ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Lauren Wittenberg, 
Acting Desk Officer, Department of Education, Office of Management and 
Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Room 10235, New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503 or should be electronically mailed to 
the internet address [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires that the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) provide interested Federal agencies and the public an 
early opportunity to comment on information collection requests. OMB 
may amend or waive the requirement for public consultation to the 
extent that public participation in the approval process would defeat 
the purpose of the information collection, violate State or Federal 
law, or substantially interfere with any agency's ability to perform 
its statutory obligations. The Leader, Regulatory Information 
Management Group, Office of the Chief Information Officer, publishes 
that notice containing proposed information collection requests prior 
to submission of these requests to OMB. Each proposed information 
collection, grouped by office, contains the following: (1) Type of 
review requested, e.g. new, revision, extension, existing or 
reinstatement; (2) Title; (3) Summary of the collection; (4) 
Description of the need for, and proposed use of, the information; (5) 
Respondents and frequency of collection; and (6) Reporting and/or 
Recordkeeping burden. OMB invites public comment.

    Dated: August 16, 2001.
John Tressler,
Leader, Regulatory Information Management, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.

Office of Postsecondary Education

    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) Guidelines for 
Annual Performance Reports with Auxiliary Collection Instruments (JS).
    Frequency: Annually other: Enrollment.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions.
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden:
      Responses: 40.
      Burden Hours: 1600.
    Abstract: The current Annual Progress Report format for the LAAP 
grant program was used for formative evaluation last year. With that 
experience we have refined the GPRA indicators and the measures for 
collecting data across projects that is comparable, consistent, and 
reliable. We have also taken a modular approach to structuring the 
narrative of the report, so that the collection is less burdensome to 
respondents, yet more useful to program evaluation. Finally, we have 
augmented the Annual Report data collection by doing a follow-up 
telephone interview to validate and enrich data, as well as a software 
evaluation protocol for assessing the quality of the educational 
software products that may result from the grant projects.
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, or should be addressed to 
Vivian Reese, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 
4050, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, DC 20202-4651. Requests 
may also be electronically mailed to the internet address 
[email protected] or faxed to 202-708-9346. Please specify the complete 
title of the information collection when making your request.
    Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity 
requirements should be directed to SCHUBART at (202) 708-9266. 
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

Office of Student Financial Assistance Programs

    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Federal Register Notice Inviting Applications for the 
Participation in the Quality Assurance (QA) Program (JS).
    Frequency: Other: One time.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions (primary), businesses 
or other for-profit, Federal Government.
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden:
      Responses: 125.
      Burden Hours: 125.
    Abstract: With this notice, the Secretary invites institutions of 
higher education to send a letter of application to partcipate in the 
Department of Education's Quality Assurance (QA) Program. This Program 
is intended to allow and encourage participating institutions to 
develop and implement their own comprehensive programs to verify 
student financial aid application data. It also encourages alternative 
management approaches in areas of institutional processing and 
disbursement of Title IV funds, and entrance and exit counseling.
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, or should be addressed to 
Vivian Reese, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 
4050, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, DC 20202-4651. Requests 
may also be electronically mailed to the internet address 
[email protected] or faxed to 202-708-9346. Please specify the complete 
title of the information collection when making your request.
    Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity 
requirements should be directed to Joe Schubart at (202) 708-9266. 
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

Office of Student Financial Assistance Programs

    Type of Review: New collection.
    Title: Federal Perkins Loan/NDSL Promissory Notes (JS).
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Affected Public: Individuals or household (primary), businesses or 
other for-profit, not-for-profit institutions.
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden:
      Responses: 690,000.
      Burden Hours: 345,000.
    Abstract: The promissory note is the means by which a borrower 
applies for a Federal Perkins Loan or National Direct Student Loan and 
promises to repay the loan.
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, or should be addressed to 
Vivian Reese, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 
4050, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, DC 20202-4651. Requests 
may also be electronically mailed to the internet address 
[email protected] or faxed to 202-708-9346. Please specify the complete 
title of the information collection when making your request. Comments 
regarding burden and/or the collection activity requirements should be 
directed to Joe Schubart at (202) 708-9266. Individuals who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

Office of the Undersecretary

    Type of Review: New collection.
    Title: Study of State Administration of Even Start and Statewide 
Family Literacy Initiative Grants (JM).
    Frequency: On occasion.

[[Page 44125]]

    Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Gov't, SEAs or LEAs 
(primary).
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden:
      Responses: 94.
      Burden Hours: 240.
    Abstract: The Study of State Administration of Even Start and 
Statewide Family Literacy Initiative Grants will systematically 
describe the structure and processes associated with all major areas of 
Even Start administration at the state level. This information is 
needed by the U.S. Department of Education to enhance its capacity to 
monitor the development and improvement of the Even Start program and 
provide guidance and assistance to the states. This study will involve 
two data collection components: (1) Survey of State Even Start 
Coordinators which will include Even Start state coordinators and (2) 
State Even Start Case Study Interviews (telephone interviews with six 
state coordinators, and site visit interviews with six additional state 
coordinators and up to five additional state staff per each of these 
six states).
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, or should be addressed to 
Vivian Reese, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 
4050, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, DC 20202-4651. Requests 
may also be electronically mailed to the internet address 
[email protected] or faxed to 202-708-9346. Please specify the complete 
title of the information collection when making your request.
    Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity 
requirements should be directed to Montague at (202) 708-5359. 
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

Office of the Chief Financial Officer

    Type of Review: Reinstatement.
    Title: Streamlined Process for Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) Approved Grant Applications (JM).
    Frequency: Annually.
    Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Gov't, SEAs or LEAs, 
businesses or other for-profit, not-for-profit institutions.
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden:
      Responses: 1.
      Burden Hours: 1.
    Abstract: Since April 1997, EDGAR's menu of selection criteria 
become effective. For each competition, the Secretary would select one 
or more criteria that best enable the Department to identify the 
highest quality applications consistent with the program purpose, 
statutory requirements, and any priorities established. This allows the 
Secretary the flexibility to weigh the criteria according to the needs 
of each individual program. This menu of selection criteria will 
provide the Department the flexibility to choose a set of criteria 
tailored to a given competition and obviate the need to create specific 
selection criteria through individual program regulations. ED is 
requesting a streamlined clearance process for programs of approved 
applications who choose to change: (1) Criteria from the same EDGAR 
menu; (2) old EDGAR to new EDGAR criteria, or (3) program criteria to 
EDGAR criteria.
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, or should be addressed to 
Vivian Reese, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 
4050, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, DC 20202-4651. Requests 
may also be electronically mailed to the internet address 
[email protected] or faxed to 202-708-9346. Please specify the 
complete title of the information collection when making your request. 
Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity requirements 
should be directed to Montague at (202) 708-5359. Individuals who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

[FR Doc. 01-21121 Filed 8-21-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U