[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18741-18743]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-8067]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Evaluation of Teacher 
Residency Programs

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 ``Evaluation of Teacher 
Residency Programs'' (18-13-24). The National Center for Education 
Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of 
Education Sciences (IES) commissioned this evaluation. It will be 
conducted under a contract that IES awarded in February 2010.
    The central research questions that the study will address are: 
What are the characteristics of Teacher Residency Programs (TRPs)? What 
are the characteristics of participants in TRPs? What is the average 
performance of novice TRP teachers as measured by value-added estimates 
benchmarked against novice and all teachers in the district? What are 
the retention rates of novice TRP teachers and their novice colleagues 
who did not go through TRPs?
    The system will contain information on approximately 255 residents 
and 270 mentors from 15 teacher residency programs and approximately 
800 teachers and 20,000 students from 8 districts.

DATES: The Department seeks comment on the new system of records 
described in this notice, in accordance with the requirements of the 
Privacy Act. We must receive your comments on the proposed routine uses 
for the system of records referenced in this notice on or before May 5, 
2011.
    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 Oversight and Government Reform, and the Administrator of 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) on March 31, 2011. This system of records will become 
effective at the later date of--(1) the expiration of the 40-day period 
for OMB review on May 10, 2011, unless OMB waves 10 days of the 40-day 
review period for compelling reasons shown by the Department, or (2) 
May 5, 2011, 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. 
Audrey Pendleton, Acting 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) 208-7078. If you prefer to send comments through the Internet, 
use the following address: [email protected].
    You must include the term ``Evaluation of Teacher Residency

[[Page 18742]]

Programs'' in the subject line of the electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all comments 
about this notice at the U.S. Department of Education in room 502D, 555 
New Jersey Avenue, NW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:00 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. Audrey Pendleton. Telephone: (202) 
208-7078. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), 
you may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, 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 in 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 identifying information and 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 a notice of a 
system of records in the Federal Register and to prepare and send a 
report to OMB whenever the agency publishes a new system of records. 
Each agency is also required to send copies of the report to the Chair 
of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 
and the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform. These reports are included to permit an evaluation of the 
probable effect of the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You can view this document, as well as all other documents of this 
Department 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. To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat 
Reader, which is available free at this site.

    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 Code of Federal 
Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys.


    Dated: March 31, 2010.
John Q. Easton,
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:
18-13-24

SYSTEM NAME:
    Evaluation of Teacher Residency Programs.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    (1) Evaluation Division, National Center for Education Evaluation 
and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. 
Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., room 502D, 
Washington, DC 20208-0001.
    (2) Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 600 Alexander Park, 
Princeton, NJ 08540 (contractor).
    (3) Decision Information Resources, Inc., 2600 Southwest Freeway, 
Suite 900, Houston, TX 77098 (subcontractor).

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on approximately 255 residents and 270 
mentors from approximately 15 teacher residency programs and 800 
teachers and 20,000 students from 8 districts.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will include personally identifying 
information about the students in the participating teacher classrooms, 
including demographic information such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, 
and educational background; information on attendance and disciplinary 
incidences; and scores on reading and mathematics achievement tests. 
The system of records will also include personally identifying 
information about the mentors, residents and teachers participating in 
the evaluation, including demographic information, such as race, 
ethnicity, gender, and educational background, and teaching experience. 
The system of records will also include employment information on the 
teachers participating in the evaluation.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The evaluation 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 202(h)(1) of the Higher Education Act, as amended by 
the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 
1022a(h)). The grant programs that are the subject of this evaluation 
are authorized under Part A of Title II of the HEA (sec. 201-204) (20 
U.S.C. 1022-1022c).

PURPOSE(S):
    The information contained in the records maintained in this system 
is used for the following purpose:
    To describe Teacher Residency Programs (TRPs) and summarize the 
teacher retention and student achievement outcomes of TRP participants. 
The study will address the following research questions:
    (1) What are the characteristics of TRPs?
    (2) What are the characteristics of participants in TRPs?
    (3) What is the average performance of novice TRP teachers as 
measured by value-added estimates benchmarked against novice and all 
teachers in the district?
    (4) What are the retention rates of novice TRP teachers and their 
novice colleagues who did not go through TRPs?

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    The Department of Education (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

[[Page 18743]]

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 Privacy Act, under a computer 
matching agreement. Any disclosure of individually identifying 
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 IES.
    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.

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 
(Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.) and sub-contractor (Decision 
Information Resources, Inc.) maintain data for this system on computers 
and in hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a number 
assigned to each individual that is cross-referenced by the 
individual's name on a separate list.

SAFEGUARDS:
    All physical access to the Department's site and to the sites of 
the Department's contractor and subcontractor, 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 security 
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 and subcontractor will 
establish a similar set of procedures at their sites to ensure 
confidentiality of data. The contractor and subcontractor are required 
to ensure that information identifying individuals is in files 
physically separated from other research data. The contractor and 
subcontractor will maintain security of the complete set of all master 
data files and documentation. Access to individually identifying 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 contractor's and subcontractor's systems 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; and 
additional security features that the network administrators will 
establish for projects as needed. The contractor's and subcontractor's 
employees who ``maintain'' (collect, maintain, use, or disseminate) 
data in this system shall 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, Part 3, Item 2b and 
Part 3, Item 5a).

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
    Acting 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.

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 at 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 at 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 the regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of 
identity.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    This system contains records on residents, mentors, teachers, and 
students participating in an evaluation of teacher residency programs. 
Data will be obtained through student records maintained by the school 
districts, assessments administered to students, and surveys of 
residents, mentors, and teachers.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2011-8067 Filed 4-4-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P