[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 150 (Friday, August 5, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45378-45380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15535]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Impact Evaluation of 
Teacher Preparation Models

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department) publishes this 
notice of a new system of records entitled Impact Evaluation of Teacher 
Preparation Models (18-13-10). The system contains information about 
teachers from selected teacher preparation programs and their students. 
The selected teacher preparation programs are a sample of 10 programs 
with low entrance requirements--5 of which also have minimal course 
requirements and 5 of which also have substantial course requirements. 
To identify the 10 programs, the contractor selected from 165 programs 
in 12 states with low entrance selectivity requirements. The study 
sample consists of teachers in districts and schools where there is 
both an alternatively certified teacher and a traditionally certified 
teacher with similar amounts of prior teaching experience who teach in 
the same grade. A pair of new teachers in the same grade was formed at 
each of 80 schools included in the study, with 1 teacher having taken 
the traditional route and 1 the alternative route to certification.
    The system includes the teachers' social security numbers; the 
teachers' demographic information--such as race/ethnicity, age, and 
educational background; information from two classroom observations; 
and the results of the teachers' standardized test scores (e.g., 
existing SAT or ACT scores) as well as their students' standardized 
test scores. The Department seeks comment on this new system of records 
described in this notice, in accordance with the requirements of the 
Privacy Act.

DATES: We must receive your comments on the proposed routine uses for 
the system of records described in this notice on or before September 
6, 2005.
    The Department filed a report describing the new system of records 
covered by this notice with the Chair of the Senate Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Chair of the House 
Committee on Government Reform, and the Administrator of the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) on August 2, 2005. This system of records will become effective 
at the later date of: (1) The expiration of the 40 day period for OMB 
review on September 12, 2005 or (2) September 6, 2005, unless the 
system of records needs to be changed as a result of public comment or 
OMB review.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about the proposed routine uses to Dr. 
Ricky Takai, Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National 
Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of 
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey 
Avenue, NW., room 502D, Washington, DC 20208-0001. Telephone: (202) 
208-7083. If you prefer to send comments through the Internet, use the 
following address: [email protected]. You must include the term ``Impact 
Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Models'' in the subject line of the 
electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all comments 
about this notice in room 310, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Eastern time, Monday 
through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking 
Record

    On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or 
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs 
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public 
rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an 
appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Ricky Takai. Telephone: (202) 208-
7083. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you 
may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed under this section.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires the Department to publish 
in the Federal Register this notice of a new system of records 
maintained by the Department. The Department's regulations implementing 
the Privacy Act are contained in part 5b of title 34 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR).
    The Privacy Act applies to information about individuals that 
contains individually identifiable information that is retrieved by a 
unique identifier associated with each individual, such as a name or 
social security number. The information about each individual is called 
a ``record,'' and the system, whether manual or computer-based, is 
called a ``system of records.'' The Privacy Act requires each agency to 
publish notices of new or altered systems of records in the Federal 
Register and to submit reports to the Administrator of the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, the Chair of the Senate 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Chair 
of the House Committee on Government

[[Page 45379]]

Reform, whenever the agency publishes a new or altered system of 
records.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other documents of this 
Department that are published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister news/fedregister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498, or in 
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the CFR is available on 
GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html html.


    Dated: August 2, 2005.
Grover Whitehurst,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.
    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Director of the 
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 
publishes a notice of a new system of records to read as follows:
18-13-10

SYSTEM NAME:
    Impact Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Models.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    (1) Evaluation Division, National Center for Education Evaluation 
and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. 
Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., room 502D, 
Washington, DC 20208-0001.
    (2) Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR), 600 Alexander Park, 
Princeton, NJ 08540.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on teachers who have taken traditional 
and alternative routes to certification programs and who are 
participating in the Impact Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Methods. 
The system contains information about teachers from selected teacher 
preparation programs and their students. The selected teacher 
preparation programs are a sample of 10 programs with low entrance 
requirements--5 of which also have minimal course requirements and 5 of 
which also have substantial course requirements. To identify the 10 
programs, the contractor selected from 165 programs in 12 states with 
low entrance selectivity requirements. The study sample consists of 
teachers in districts and schools where there is both an alternatively 
certified teacher and a traditionally certified teacher with similar 
amounts of prior teaching experience who teach in the same grade. A 
pair of new teachers in the same grade was formed at each of 80 schools 
included in the study, with 1 teacher having taken the traditional 
route and 1 the alternative route to certification. Participation of 
both teachers and their students in the evaluation is voluntary.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system includes the teachers' social security numbers; the 
teachers' demographic information--such as race/ethnicity, age, and 
educational background; information from two classroom observations 
(e.g., lesson content; student and teacher activities during the 
lesson; student engagement, nature of teacher/student interactions, 
learning environment); and the results of the teachers' standardized 
test scores (e.g., existing SAT or ACT scores) as well as the teachers' 
students' standardized test scores.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The evaluation being conducted is authorized under sections 171(b) 
and 173 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) (20 U.S.C. 
9561(b) and 9563) and section 9601 of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind 
Act of 2001 (NCLB) (20 U.S.C. 7941). The authority for using ESEA funds 
to support the underlying teacher preparation programs that are being 
evaluated is Title II, Part A, subparts 1 and 2 of ESEA (20 U.S.C. 
6611-6623).

PURPOSE(S):
    The information in this system is used for the following purposes: 
(1) To support evaluation and research of teacher quality; and (2) to 
provide information on effective practices in teacher pre-service for 
the purpose of improving teacher preparation programs.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSE OF SUCH USES:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record in 
this system of records under the routine uses listed in this system of 
records without the consent of the individual if the disclosure is 
compatible with the purposes for which the record was collected. These 
disclosures may be made on a case-by-case basis or, if the Department 
has complied with the computer matching requirements of the Act, under 
a computer matching agreement. Any disclosure of individually 
identifiable information from a record in this system must also comply 
with the requirements of section 183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573) 
providing for confidentiality standards that apply to all collections, 
reporting and publication of data by the Institute of Education 
Sciences (IES).
    (1) Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity 
for the purposes of performing any function that requires disclosure of 
records in this system to employees of the contractor, the Department 
may disclose the records to those employees. Before entering into such 
a contract, the Department shall require the contractor to maintain 
Privacy Act safeguards as required under 5 U.S.C. 552a(m) with respect 
to the records in the system.
    (2) Research Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to a 
researcher if an appropriate official of the Department determines that 
the individual or organization to which the disclosure would be made is 
qualified to carry out specific research related to functions or 
purposes of this system of records. The official may disclose records 
from this system of records to that researcher solely for the purpose 
of carrying out that research related to the functions or purposes of 
this system of records. The researcher shall be required to maintain 
Privacy Act safeguards with respect to the disclosed records.
    (3) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advice Disclosure. The 
Department may disclose records to the U.S. Department of Justice and 
the Office of Management and Budget if the Department concludes that 
disclosure is desirable or necessary in determining whether particular 
records are required to be disclosed under the FOIA.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
    Not applicable to this system notice.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    The Department maintains records on CD-ROM, and the contractor 
maintains data for this system on computers and in hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are indexed by a number assigned to each 
individual

[[Page 45380]]

that is cross referenced by the individual's name on a separate list.

SAFEGUARDS:
    All physical access to the Department's site, and the site of the 
Department's contractor where this system of records is maintained, is 
controlled and monitored by security personnel. The computer system 
employed by the Department offers a high degree of resistance to 
tampering and circumvention. This computer system limits data access to 
Department and contract staff on a ``need to know'' basis, and controls 
individual users'' ability to access and alter records within the 
system.
    The contractor, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR), has 
established a set of procedures to ensure confidentiality of data. The 
system ensures that information identifying individuals is in files 
physically separated from other research data. MPR will maintain 
security of the complete set of all master data files and 
documentation. Access to individually identifiable data will be 
strictly controlled. All data will be kept in locked file cabinets 
during nonworking hours, and work on hardcopy data will take place in a 
single room, except for data entry. Physical security of electronic 
data will also be maintained. Security features that protect project 
data include: Password-protected accounts that authorize users to use 
the MPR system but to access only specific network directories and 
network software; user rights and directory and file attributes that 
limit those who can use particular directories and files and determine 
how they can use them; e-mail passwords that authorize the user to 
access mail services; and additional security features that the network 
administrator establishes for projects as needed. The contractor 
employees who maintain (collect, maintain, use or disseminate) data in 
this system must comply with the requirements of the confidentiality 
standards in section 183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573).

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records are maintained and disposed of in accordance with the 
Department's Records Disposition Schedules (ED/RDS) in Part 3 (Research 
Projects and Management Study Records) and Part 14 (Electronic 
Records).

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
    Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National Center for 
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education 
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., 
room 502D, Washington, DC 20208-0001.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you in 
the system of records, contact the systems manager. Your request must 
meet the requirements of regulations in 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of 
identity.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to gain access to your record in the system of records, 
contact the system manager. Your request must meet the requirements of 
regulations in 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you in the 
system of records, contact the system manager. Your request must meet 
the requirements of regulations in 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of 
identity.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    The system includes information that is taken from teachers 
directly, such as the teachers' social security numbers; the teachers' 
demographic information--such as race/ethnicity, age, and educational 
background. It also includes information obtained from two classroom 
observations of the teachers from trained researchers; the results of 
the teachers' standardized test scores (e.g., existing SAT or ACT 
scores), which are obtained from the College Board or ACT with the 
teachers' consent; and the standardized test scores of the teachers' 
students, which are obtained directly from the students in the 
teachers' classes.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 05-15535 Filed 8-4-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P