[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 91 (Friday, May 11, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26801-26803]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-2354]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Notice of Proposed Information Collection Requests

AGENCY: Department of Education.

SUMMARY: The IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information Management 
Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed 
information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
July 10, 2007.

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 IC Clearance Official, Regulatory 
Information Management Services, Office of Management, 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)

[[Page 26802]]

Reporting and/or Recordkeeping burden. OMB invites public comment.
    The Department of Education is especially interested in public 
comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection 
necessary to the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this 
information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the 
estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this collection on 
the respondents, including through the use of information technology.

    Dated: May 8, 2007.
Angela C. Arrington,
IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information Management Services, 
Office of Management.

Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development

    Type of Review: Revision.
    Title: Annual Mandatory Collection of Elementary and Secondary 
Education Data for EDFacts.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Gov't, SEAs or LEAs.
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden:
    Responses: 59.
     Burden Hours: 105,754.
    Abstract: EDFacts is in the implementation phase of a multiple year 
effort to consolidate the collection of education information about 
States, Districts, and Schools in a way that improves data quality and 
reduces paperwork burden for all of the national education partners. To 
minimize the burden on the data providers, EDEN seeks the transfer of 
the proposed data as soon as it has been processed for State, District, 
and School use. These data will then be stored in EDFacts and accessed 
by federal education program managers and analysts as needed to make 
program management decisions. This process will eliminate redundant 
data collections while providing for the timeliness of data submission 
and use.
    Additional Information: The Department of Education (ED) is 
specifically requesting the data providers in each the State Education 
Agency (SEA) to review the proposed data elements to determine which of 
these data can be provided for the upcoming school year and which data 
would be available in later years and which data, if any, is never 
expected to be available from the SEA. If information for a data group 
is not available, please provide information beyond the fact that it is 
not available. Are there specific impediments to providing this data 
that you can describe? Is the definition for the data group unclear or 
ambiguous? Do the requested permitted values align with the way your 
state collects the data? This is very important information because ED 
intends to make the collection of these data mandatory. ED also seeks 
to know if the SEA data definitions are consistent and compatible with 
the EDEN definitions and accurately reflect the way data is stored and 
used for education by the States, Districts, and Schools. The answers 
to these questions by the data providers will influence the timing and 
content of the final EDEN proposal for the collection of this 
elementary and secondary data.
    Additional Information for State Data Providers: In addition to 
overall public comments, ED would also like state education data 
providers to respond to a number of specific questions that were 
developed during the recent data definition cycle.
    (1) Data Groups--An underlying purpose of the EDFacts Data Set is 
to inventory the data collected by ED. That inventory is organized into 
data groups and categories. In general, each table data group is its 
own file. Three data groups (Title I SWP/TAS Participation Tables ID 
548, N or D Academic Outcomes Table (LEAs) ID 629, and N or D Academic 
Outcomes Table (State agencies) ID 628) were split so that the data 
groups would meet the definition of ``a specific aggregation (i.e. 
group) of related data that is stored in EDFacts to satisfy the 
specific information need of one or more ED program office.'' Are there 
any other data groups that should be split? Are there any data groups 
that should be combined?
    (2) Categories--Data on students is collected by categories 
(characterizations used to aggregate data e.g. race/ethnicity, sex, 
grade level). In some cases, the data by these characterizations isn't 
required on all students. For example, data on the results of NCLB 
assessments is required to be aggregated by students with a disability 
status (IDEA) and by students who have been assessed as limited English 
proficient. Data is not required by statute to be aggregated by either 
students without a disability status (IDEA) or students who have not 
been assessed as limited English proficient. However, that data is 
useful to the Department for both data quality and analysis. There are 
times when data is required to be aggregated for all students. For 
example, data on the provision of educational services during expulsion 
is required by statute to be aggregated for both students with a 
disability status (IDEA) and without a disability status (IDEA). What 
is the burden for the SEA when aggregating data for only those students 
with the characteristics in comparison to aggregating for both students 
with the characteristic and without it for the following 
characteristics: Disability status (IDEA), assessed for limited English 
proficiency, homeless status, homeless served under McKinney-Vento 
status, economically disadvantaged status, and migrant status?
    (3) Status Files--The status files contain the non-table data 
groups. The non-table data groups included in the NCLB Start of School 
Year File (N/X101) are:
     District Totals, ID  460
     Improvement Status--LEA, ID 662
     Improvement Status--School, ID 34
     Integrated Technology Status, ID 524
     Persistently Dangerous Status, ID 36
     School Poverty Percentage, ID 31
     School Totals, ID 454
     Shared Time Status, ID 573
     Title I School Status, ID 22
     Magnet Status, ID 665
     Classroom Teachers (FTE), ID 644
    The non-table data groups included in the NCLB End of School Year 
File (N/X102) are:
     Economically Disadvantaged Students, ID 56
     Combined MEP Funds Status Table, ID 514
     GFSA Reporting Status, ID 603
     REAP Alternative Funding Indicator, ID 614
     Average Daily Attendance, ID 595
     Supplemental Services--Applied to Receive Services, ID 
575
     Supplemental Services--Eligible to Receive Services, ID 
578
     Supplemental Services--Received Services, ID 546
     Supplemental Services--Funds Spent, ID 651
     School Choice--Funds Spent, ID 652
     Truants, ID 664
     MEP Students Eligible Regular School Year, ID 110
    Are these status files properly organized to ensure the timely 
submission of data and reduce burden? If not, how should the non-table 
data groups be organized?
    (4) Migrant Education Program--The EDFacts data set did not 
completely align with the collection of data for the Migrant Education 
Program (MEP), Title I, Part C through the Consolidated State 
Performance Report (CSPR) and Migrant Child Count Form. The data groups

[[Page 26803]]

collecting data on the MEP Program have been revised accordingly. The 
chart below displays the relationship among the data groups for 
students.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Type of MEP count
       Type of MEP student        ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            12-month            Regular school  year      Summer/  intersession
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eligible.........................  634 (SEA)................  110 (school)............  ........................
Served (no Schoolwide)...........  .........................  636 (SEA)...............  637 (SEA)
Eligible and Served..............  .........................  ........................  635 (SEA)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Are the revised definitions and comments sufficient to describe the 
data that should be collected?
    (5) School Operational Status--The data group School Operational 
Status (ID 531) has the following permitted values: Open, closed, new, 
added, changed agency, inactive, future school, reopened. Is a new 
permitted value needed for restructured under NCLB? Do SEAs create new 
schools when a school is restructured under NCLB? Are new state school 
identification numbers assigned when a school is restructured under 
NCLB? Do schools that are restructured under NCLB met the definition of 
open which is ``no significant change in instructional levels and 
programs?''
    (6) GEPA--As discussed in Attachment B-4, the General Education 
Provisions Act (GEPA), Section 424 mandates reporting on the 
distribution of federal education funds to school districts and other 
entities, such as libraries, colleges and universities, state agencies, 
individual schools and private recipients. In the past, the data for 
the GEPA report has been collected through a separate collection. For 
the GEPA report on FYs 2006 and 2007, the data will be obtained for 
state administered grants to LEAs through EDFacts. How will this change 
impact SEAs? What must ED do to make this transition successful? How 
should ED collect data on state administered grants that do not go to 
SEAs or LEAs?
    (7) Reading NCLB State Assessments--EDFacts collects data on 
participation and results of NCLB state assessments. Data is collected 
on mathematics, reading, and science. The data on participation is 
collected in one file (N/X081) using permitted values to differentiate 
between the academic subjects. The data on the results of NCLB state 
assessments is collected in separate files. For mathematics and 
science, the participation file has one permitted value for each and 
both have one file to collect the results of state assessments. For 
reading, the participation file has three permitted values and the 
results of state assessments are collected using three files. The three 
values and files are entitled reading, reading/language arts, and 
language arts. Can the reading participation and results of state 
assessments be collected using only one permitted value (reading) and 
one file (reading)?
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, by selecting the ``Browse 
Pending Collections'' link and by clicking on link number 3334. When 
you access the information collection, click on ``Download 
Attachments'' to view. Written requests for information should be 
addressed to U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 
Potomac Center, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20202-4700. Requests may also 
be electronically mailed to [email protected] or faxed to 202-245-
6623. Please specify the complete title of the information collection 
when making your request.
    Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity 
requirements should be electronically mailed to [email protected]. 
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. 07-2354 Filed 5-10-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4001-01-P