[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 105 (Thursday, May 31, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32144-32146]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13196]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; 
Generic Survey Clearance for the Directorate of Education and Human 
Resources (EHR)

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to 
request renewed clearance of this collection. In accordance with the 
requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, we are providing opportunity for public comment on this action. 
After obtaining and considering public comment, NSF will prepare the 
submission requesting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance 
of this collection for no longer than 3 years.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information on respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

DATES: Written comments should be received by January 3, 2011 to be 
assured of consideration. Comments received after that date will be 
considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Written comments regarding the information collection and 
requests for copies of the proposed information collection request 
should be addressed to Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, 
National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Rm. 295, Arlington, VA 
22030, or by email to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne Plimpton at (703) 292-7556 or 
send email 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, which is accessible 
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (including federal 
holidays).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title of Collection: Generic Clearance of 
Education and Human Resources Monitoring of Grantee Projects.
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-0136.
    Expiration Date of Approval: July 31, 2012.
    Abstract: The National Science Foundation (NSF) requests renewal of 
program accountability data collections that describe and track the 
impact of NSF funding that focuses on the Nation's science, technology, 
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and STEM workforce. NSF 
funds grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to colleges, 
universities, and other eligible institutions, and provides graduate 
research fellowships to individuals in all parts of the United States 
and internationally.

[[Page 32145]]

    The Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), a unit 
within NSF, promotes rigor and vitality within the Nation's STEM 
education enterprise to further the development of the 21st century's 
STEM workforce and public scientific literacy. EHR does this through 
diverse projects and programs that support research, extension, 
outreach, and hands-on activities that service STEM learning and 
research at all institutional (e.g., pre-school through postdoctoral) 
levels in formal and informal settings; and individuals of all ages 
(birth and beyond). EHR also focuses on broadening participation in 
STEM learning and careers among United States citizens, permanent 
residents, and nationals, particularly those individuals traditionally 
underemployed in the STEM research workforce, including but not limited 
to women, persons with disabilities, and racial and ethnic minorities.
    The scope of the EHR Generic Clearance primarily covers descriptive 
information gathered from education and training projects that are 
funded by NSF. NSF primarily uses the data from the EHR Generic 
Clearance for program planning, management, and audit purposes to 
respond to queries from the Congress, the public, NSF's external merit 
reviewers who serve as advisors, including Committees of Visitors 
(COVs), the NSF's Office of the Inspector General and as a basis for 
either internal or third-party evaluations of individual programs.
    The collections generally include three categories of descriptive 
data: (1) Staff and project participants (data that are also necessary 
to determine individual-level treatment and control groups for future 
third-party study or for internal evaluation); (2) project 
implementation characteristics (also necessary for future use to 
identify well-matched comparison groups); and (3) project outputs 
(necessary to measure baseline for pre- and post- NSF-funding-level 
impacts).
    Use of the Information: This information is required for effective 
administration, communication, program and project monitoring and 
evaluation, and for measuring attainment of NSF's program, project, and 
strategic goals, and as identified by the President's Accountability in 
Government Initiative; GPRA, and the NSF's Strategic Plan. The 
Foundation's FY 2011-2016 Strategic Plan may be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/news/strategicplan/nsfstrategicplan_2011_2016.pdf.
    Since the EHR Generic Clearance research is primarily used for 
accountability and evaluation purposes, including responding from 
queries from COVs and other scientific experts, a census rather than 
sampling design typically is necessary. At the individual project level 
funding can be adjusted based on individual project's responses to some 
of the surveys. Some data collected under the EHR Clearance serve as 
baseline data for separate research and evaluation studies.
    NSF-funded contract or grantee researchers and internal or external 
evaluators in part may identify control, comparison, or treatment 
groups for NSF's ET portfolio using some of the descriptive data 
gathered through OMB 3145-0136 to conduct well-designed, rigorous 
research and portfolio evaluation studies.
    Respondents: Individuals or households, not-for-profit 
institutions, business or other for profit, and Federal, State, local 
or tribal government.
    Number of Respondents: 9,341.
    Burden on the Public: NSF estimates that a total reporting and 
recordkeeping burden of 63,947 hours will result from activities to 
monitor EHR STEM education programs. The calculation is shown in table 
1.

 Table 1--Anticipated Programs That Will Collect Data on Project Progress and Outcomes Along With the Number of
                              Respondents and Burden Hours per Collection per Year
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                                                             Number of          Number of         Annual hour
                    Collection title                        respondents         responses            burden
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Centers of Research Excellence in Science and                           37                 37              1,374
 Technology (CREST) and Historically Black Colleges and
 Universities Research Infrastructure for Science and
 Engineering (HBCU-RISE) Monitoring System.............
Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)                      1,626              1,626              3,941
 Monitoring System.....................................
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship              4,658              4,658             12,156
 Program (IGERT) Monitoring System.....................
Informal Science Education (ISE) Monitoring System.....                157                157              2,047
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation                      518                518             17,094
 (LSAMP) Monitoring System.............................
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation                       50                 50              3,600
 Bridge to the Doctorate (LSAMP-BD) Monitoring System..
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce)                       294                294              3,822
 Monitoring System.....................................
Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) Monitoring                     49                 49              2,781
 System................................................
Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and                  500           \1\1,000              6,000
 Mathematics Program (S-STEM) Monitoring System........
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics                      242                242              6,292
 Talent Expansion Program (STEP) Monitoring System.....
Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science,                     1,210              1,210              4,840
 Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (TUES)
 Monitoring System.....................................
Additional Collections not Specified...................                900                900              1,200
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................................             10,241             10,741             65,147
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\1\ (500 respondents x 2 responses/yr.).

    The total estimate for this collection is 63,947 annual burden 
hours. This figure is based on the previous 3 years of collecting 
information under this clearance and anticipated collections. The 
average annual reporting burden is between 1.5 and 72 hours per 
``respondent,'' depending on whether a respondent is a direct 
participant who is self-reporting or representing a project and 
reporting on behalf of many project participants. This is a reduction 
from the prior clearance of approximately 2,000 hours per year.


[[Page 32146]]


    Dated: May 24, 2012.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2012-13196 Filed 5-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P