[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 8, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6585-6586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-2850]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) for the Impact 
Evaluation of the YouthBuild Program; New Collection

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL or Department), as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a 
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and 
other Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/
or continuing collections of information in accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This 
program helps to ensure that required 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.
    The Department notes that a Federal agency cannot conduct or 
sponsor a collection of information unless it is approved by the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) under the PRA, and displays a currently 
valid OMB control number, and the public is not required to respond to 
a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number. Also, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no 
person shall be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a 
collection of information if the collection of information does not 
display a currently valid OMB control number. See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 
1320.6.
    A copy of the proposed ICR can be obtained by contacting the office 
listed below in the addressee section of this notice or by accessing: 
http://www.doleta.gov/OMBCN/OMBControlNumber.cfm.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before April 9, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Eileen Pederson, U.S. Department of Labor, 
Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development 
and Research, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Frances Perkins Bldg., Room 
N-5641, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone number (202) 693-3647 (this is 
not a toll-free number). Email address: [email protected]. Fax 
number: (202) 693-2766 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Impact Evaluation of the YouthBuild Program is a seven-year, 
experimental design evaluation, funded by the Department's Employment 
and Training Administration and the Corporation for National and 
Community Service (CNCS). YouthBuild is a youth and community 
development program that addresses several core issues facing low-
income communities: Youth education, employment, criminal behavior, 
social and emotional development and affordable housing. The program 
primarily serves high school dropouts and focuses on helping them 
attain a high school diploma or general educational development 
certificate, and teaching them construction skills geared toward career 
placement. The evaluation will measure core program participant 
outcomes including educational attainment, postsecondary planning, 
employment, earnings, delinquency and involvement with the criminal 
justice system, and youth social and emotional development. The 
evaluation represents an important opportunity for DOL and CNCS to add 
to the growing body of knowledge about the impacts of ``second chance'' 
programs for youth who have dropped out of high school. Compared to 
peers who remain in school, high school dropouts are more likely to be 
disconnected from school and work, be incarcerated, be unmarried, and 
have children outside of marriage. The target population for the 
program, and correspondingly the study, is out-of-school youth, aged 
16-24, from low-income families or in foster care and who are 
offenders, migrants, disabled or children of incarcerated parents.
    The evaluation of the YouthBuild program will address the following 
research questions:
     Operation: How is YouthBuild designed in each 
participating site? What are the key implementation practices that 
affect how the program operates? How does the local context affect 
program implementation and the services available to members of the 
control group?
     Participation: What are the characteristics of youth who 
enroll in the study? How are these characteristics shaped by YouthBuild 
recruitment and screening practices?
     Impacts: What are YouthBuild's impacts on educational 
attainment, planning, and aspirations? What are YouthBuild's impacts on 
employment, earnings, and job characteristics? What are YouthBuild's 
impacts on crime and delinquency? What are the program's impacts on 
social-emotional development, identity development, and self-
regulation?
     Costs: How does the net cost per participant compare with 
the impacts the program generates?
    The contract to conduct an independent, rigorous evaluation was 
awarded in June 2010. MDRC, the prime contractor, is working with 
Mathematica Policy Research and Social Policy Research Associates, to 
design and implement the evaluation, which will continue until 2017. 
The evaluation consists of an implementation component, an impact 
component and a cost-effectiveness component. The entire universe of 
2011 DOL and CNCS-funded YouthBuild grantees will participate in the 
implementation component of the evaluation. Of the universe of 
grantees, the study team will recruit 84 randomly-selected grantees

[[Page 6586]]

(60 DOL-funded sites and 24 sites that are not funded by DOL but do 
receive funding from CNCS) for the study's impact component. DOL will 
seek to enroll 3,465 eligible participants in those sites into the 
study. Study participants will be randomly assigned to either the 
treatment group, which will be eligible for YouthBuild services, or to 
the control group which will not be eligible. Follow-up data will be 
collected from all study participants for up to four years after random 
assignment.
    This data collection request includes qualitative information about 
program operations and cost data to be collected during the proposed 
site visits to the 84 sites participating in the impact component of 
the evaluation. These visits will include classroom observations to 
assess the quality of instruction, youth focus groups, semi-structured 
in-depth interviews with program staff and collection of cost data to 
ascertain the cost of the program.
    At this time, clearance is requested for the site visit data 
collection instruments.

II. Review Focus

    Currently, the Department is soliciting comments concerning the 
above data collection for the Impact Evaluation of the YouthBuild 
Program. Comments are requested to:
     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 information collection on those 
who are to respond, including 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

    At this time, ETA is requesting clearance for the data collection 
instruments to be used during the proposed site visits to a select 
group of 2011 DOL and CNCS-funded YouthBuild grantees. In addition, ETA 
is requesting a waiver of the 60-day notice requirement for the 
participant follow-up survey package.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Type of Review: New information collection request.
    OMB Number: 1205-0NEW.
    Affected Public: Disadvantaged youth and DOL- and CNCS-funded 
YouthBuild Programs.
    Cite/Reference/Form/etc: Workforce Investment Act, Section 172.
    For the Site Visit Interview Protocols:
    Frequency: Once.
    Total Respondents: 1,008 respondents (12 respondents in each of 84 
YouthBuild sites).
    Average Time per Response: 60 minutes per respondent (1 hour).
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,008 hours (= 1,008 respondents x 1 
hour).
    For the Cost Data Collection Worksheet:
    Frequency: Once.
    Total Respondents: 84 respondents (one respondent in each of 84 
YouthBuild sites).
    Average Time per Response: 120 minutes per respondent (2 hours).
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 168 hours (= 84 respondents x 2 
hours).
    For the Youth Focus Group Questionnaire:
    Frequency: Once.
    Total Respondents: 231 respondents (an average of 5.5 respondents 
in each of 42 YouthBuild sites, one-half of the sites participating in 
the evaluation).
    Average Time per Response: 60 minutes per respondent (1 hour).
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 231 hours (= 231 respondents x 1 
hour).
    For the Individual Youth Questionnaire:
    Frequency: Once.
    Total Respondents: 84 respondents (two in each of 42 YouthBuild 
sites, one-half of the sites participating in the evaluation).
    Average Time per Response: 45 minutes per respondent (.75 hour).
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 63 hours (= 84 respondents x 45 
minutes / 60 minutes). Note that, due to rounding, the total amounts 
may differ from the sum of the components.
    Comments submitted in response to this request will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval; they will also become 
a matter of public record.

    Signed: at Washington, DC, this 2nd day of February, 2012.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2012-2850 Filed 2-7-12; 8:45 am]
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