[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 205 (Monday, October 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65704-65706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27337]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

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 ``IES Research Training 
Program Surveys: Predoctoral Survey, Postdoctoral Survey, Special 
Education Postdoctoral Survey'' (18-13-25).
    The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Research Training Program 
Surveys: Predoctoral Survey, Postdoctoral Survey, Special Education 
Postdoctoral Survey system will be used: (1) To assess the satisfaction 
of fellows who have participated in the Education Research Training 
programs funded by the IES' National Center for Education Research 
(IES/NCER) and National Center for Special Education Research (IES/
NCSER) in order to determine whether there are program areas that need 
improvement; and (2) to track the fellows' professional accomplishments 
both during and following their fellowship years in order to assess how 
well the individual programs are fulfilling the mission of the IES 
training programs, which is to increase the supply of young researchers 
trained and ready to do rigorous research in education. The Pre- and 
Postdoctoral Fellowship Customer Satisfaction Survey system will 
contain records containing information such as IES-funded fellows' 
names, e-mail addresses, and citizenship status.

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 about the proposed routine 
uses for the system of records referenced in this notice on or before 
November 23, 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 October 4, 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 November 14, 2011; or (2) November 23, 2011, unless 
the system of records needs to be changed as a result of public comment 
or OMB review.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this new system of records to Dr. 
Meredith Larson, Associate Research Scientist, National Center for 
Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of 
Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Room 618, Washington, DC 20208-
5500. If you prefer to send comments through the Internet, use the 
following address: [email protected].
    You must include the term ``IES Research Training Program Surveys'' 
in the subject line of your electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all comments 
about this notice at the National Center for Education Research, 
Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education, 6th Floor, 
555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 
a.m. and 5:00 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. Meredith Larson. Telephone number: 
(202) 219-2025. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-
8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative

[[Page 65705]]

format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on 
request to the contact person listed in the preceding paragraph.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)) 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 a record about an individual that is 
maintained in a system of records from which individually identifying 
information 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 system of records 
notice in the Federal Register and to submit, whenever the agency 
publishes a new system of records or makes a significant change to an 
established system of records, a report to the Administrator of the 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB. Each agency is also 
required to send copies of the report to the Chair of the House 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and to the Chair of the 
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. These 
reports are inc1uded to permit an evaluation of the probable effect of 
the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.
    Electronic Access to This Document: 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. At this site 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). To 
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: http://www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Dated: October 18, 2011.
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:
System Number:
    18-13-25

System Name:
    IES Research Training Program Surveys: Predoctoral Survey, 
Postdoctoral Survey, Special Education Postdoctoral Survey.

Security Classification:
    None.

System Locations:
    National Center for Education Research, Program Officer Staff, 
Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education 
(Department), 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Suite 618, Washington, DC 
20208-5530.

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System:
    The system contains records on pre- and postdoctoral fellows who 
have been funded through the IES Pre- and Postdoctoral Education 
Research Training Grants and the IES Postdoctoral Special Education 
Research Training Grants.

Categories of Records in the System:
    The system contains records regarding fellows': (1) Names; (2) e-
mail addresses; (3) personal characteristics, such as gender, race/
ethnicity, and citizenship status; (4) information on the training 
program attended including the average GRE scores of program 
participants and fellows per program; (5) responses to survey items 
regarding the quality of the training program they attended; (6) 
academic information including past field of study, Ph.D. completion 
and year of Ph.D., completion of fellowship program, research conducted 
during and after attending the training program including the number 
and type of publications and presentations made; and (7) information on 
positions held and type of research done after completing the training 
program including plans to or submission of a grant proposal.

Authority for Maintenance of the System:
    The evaluation is authorized under sections 131 through 134 and 
section 189 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) (20 
U.S.C. 9531-34 and 9579).

Purpose(s):
    The information contained in the records maintained in this system 
is used for the following purposes: (1) To assess the satisfaction of 
the fellows with their IES training programs in order to determine 
whether there are program areas that need improvement; and (2) to track 
the fellows' professional accomplishments both during and following 
their fellowship years in order to assess how well the individual 
programs are fulfilling the mission of the IES training programs, which 
is to increase the supply of young researchers trained and ready to do 
rigorous research in education.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories 
of Users and the Purposes of Such Uses:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record 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. The Department may make these disclosures on a case-by-case 
basis, or, if the Department has complied with the computer matching 
requirements of the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 
1988, as amended, 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 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:
    None.

Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, 
and Disposing of Records in the System:
Storage:
    Records are maintained in a database on the Department's secure 
servers. No paper records will be kept as part of this system.

[[Page 65706]]

Retrievability:
    Records are retrieved by the fellows' names.

Safeguards:
    Access to the records is limited to authorized personnel only. All 
physical access to the Department's site where this system of records 
is maintained, is controlled and monitored by security personnel who 
check each individual entering the buildings for his or her employee or 
visitor badge.
    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 an individual user's ability to access and 
alter records within the system. All users of this system of records 
are given a unique user identification. The Department's Information 
Security Privacy Policy requires the enforcement of a complex password 
policy. In addition, users are required to change their password at 
least every 60 to 90 days in accordance with the Department's 
information technology standards.

Retention and Disposal:
    The records associated with predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows' 
progress will be maintained as long as they are professionally active 
in education research. Records will be maintained and disposed of in 
accordance with the Department's Records Disposition Schedules. These 
records are currently unscheduled. A records retention schedule will be 
developed and submitted to the National Archives and Records 
Administration (NARA) for approval. No records will be destroyed until 
a NARA-approved records retention schedule is in place.

System Manager(s) and Address:
    Dr. Meredith Larson is the Program Officer for the IES Research 
Training Program Surveys, and her address is Institute of Education 
Sciences, Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Suite 
618, Washington, DC 20208-5530.

Notification Procedure:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you 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.

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

Record Source Categories:
    Information maintained in this system of records is obtained from 
both the fellows and their training programs. Fellows provide 
information on their individual characteristics, e-mail addresses, 
views on the quality of the training program, and information on their 
dissertation, papers, positions, and follow-on research. The training 
programs provide information on the programs themselves and the 
fellows' status within the programs, initial student e-mail addresses 
at the university (students then provide their preferred e-mail 
addresses), and information on student dissertations and paper.

Exemptions Claimed for This System:
    None.
[FR Doc. 2011-27337 Filed 10-21-11; 8:45 am]
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