[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 18, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2567-2569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-795]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Collection of Information for the Job Corps Process 
Study; New Collection

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a 
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and 
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program 
helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired 
format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, 
collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of 
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
    Currently, ETA is soliciting comments on a new information 
collection for the Job Corps Process Study (Process Study). A copy of 
the proposed information collection request can be obtained by 
contacting the office listed below in the addresses section of this 
notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before March 19, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to Dan Ryan, Employment and Training 
Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Room N-5641, Washington, 
DC 20210. Telephone number: (202) 693-3649 (this is not a toll-free 
number). Fax number: (202) 693-2766. Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Job Corps is a comprehensive program designed to assist eligible 
disadvantaged youth aged 16 to 24 through intensive education and 
training services. A total of 125 primarily residential Job Corps 
centers operate in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto 
Rico. Job Corps provides academic instruction to improve students' 
reading and math abilities and prepare students for obtaining General 
Educational Development certificates or high school diplomas, career 
technical training in over 100 programs, and development of

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social skills. In addition, Job Corps provides dormitory-style housing, 
meals, medical care, and counseling. Finally, the program assists its 
enrollees with career transitions through placement in jobs, higher 
education, and the military. Over the course of its 45 years of 
operation, Job Corps has served almost 3 million youth.
    In the fall of 2010, ETA contracted with IMPAQ International, LLC 
(with subcontracts to the Battelle Memorial Institute and Decision 
Information Resources, Inc.--henceforth, the IMPAQ team) to conduct 
this Process Study to address the following broad questions:
     What center practices appear to be associated with center 
performance or particular dimensions of performance and what is the 
nature of such associations?
     How do interactions among center practices and 
characteristics mediate these associations? Put differently, do some 
strategies or practices work especially well (or especially badly) for 
certain kinds of centers?
    ETA is requesting clearance for the IMPAQ team to carry out two 
principal research activities, integral to the Process Study: (1) Site 
visits to 16 Job Corps centers with interviews with senior center and 
operator management, instructors, staff, and partners and focus groups 
with students and (2) a Web-based survey of all Job Corps center 
directors.
    The centers for visits will be selected in a purposive fashion to 
represent diversity of performance, using established Job Corps 
performance metrics on student outcomes both during and after program 
enrollment, adjusted for participant and local labor market 
characteristics, supplemented by additional measures of job placement 
and student satisfaction. Practices identified during the visits will 
also be examined through the survey. The ultimate use of the 
information collection is to associate practices with performance 
outcomes, an analysis which should be useful for programmatic 
improvement.

II. Review Focus

    The Department is particularly interested in comments, which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submissions of responses.

III. Current Actions

    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Title: Job Corps Process Study.
    OMB Number: 1205-0NEW.
    Affected Public: Job Corps center management and staff; Job Corps 
students; Job Corps partner organizations' staff; and Job Corps center 
operators' staff.
    Total Respondents: 637.
    Frequency: Twice for directors of the 16 visited centers and once 
for all other respondents.
    Total Responses: 653.
    Average Time per Response: 85 minutes.\1\
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    \1\ This is the average across all types of information 
collection activities.
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    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 927.
    Total Other Burden Cost for Respondents: $0.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Total burden
                                                            hours for
  Data collection activity (interview unless noted as     position type
                        survey)                            across all
                                                             centers
                                                            Concerned
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Center Directors......................................                32
Human Resources Managers..............................                 8
Academic Instruction Managers.........................                24
Career Technical Training (CTT) Managers..............                24
Work-Based Learning Coordinators......................                16
Career Preparation Period Managers....................                16
Counseling Managers...................................                24
Peer Leadership Coordinators..........................                 8
Social Development Managers...........................                16
Center Safety Officers................................                16
Academic Instructors..................................                48
CTT Instructors.......................................                48
Residential Advisors..................................                48
Senior Administration Staff, Including from Operators.                32
Business and Community Liaisons.......................                16
Organizational Partners: Outreach and Admissions and                  32
 Career Technical Services............................
Community Partners, Other than Employers..............                32
Employer Partners.....................................                32
Regional Office Project Managers......................                16
Students..............................................                64
Center Director Survey................................               375
                                                       -----------------
    TOTAL.............................................               927
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    Comments submitted in response to this comment request will be 
summarized and/or included in the request for the Office of Management 
and Budget approval of the information

[[Page 2569]]

collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: Signed in Washington, DC, on this 11th day of January, 
2012.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2012-795 Filed 1-17-12; 8:45 am]
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