[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 107 (Monday, June 4, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32959-32962]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13473]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID: ED-2012-OVAE-0014]


Request for Information on Strategies for Improving Outcomes for 
Disconnected Youth

AGENCY: Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The President's FY 2013 Budget (FY 2013 budget) included a 
request for authority to implement ``Performance Partnership Pilots'' 
that would improve outcomes for disconnected youth. In order to inform 
the Administration's development of that initiative, this request for 
information (RFI) seeks recommendations on effective approaches for 
improving outcomes for disconnected youth by working across Federal, 
State, and local community programs and systems that provide services 
to disconnected youth. The input we receive will inform the 
deliberations of the Federal Interagency Forum on Disconnected Youth 
about the best use of the authority requested in the FY 2013 budget for 
the Performance Partnership Pilots and on other actions the 
Administration might take to improve outcomes for disconnected youth. 
In addition, responses may also be used to identify opportunities for 
flexibility within existing authorities.

DATES: Responses must be received by July 5, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via U.S. mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments by fax or by email. To ensure that we do not receive 
duplicate copies, please submit your comments only one time. In 
addition, please include the Docket ID and the term ``Performance 
Partnership Response'' at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under ``How to Use This Site.''
     U.S. Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments, address them to Annie Blackledge, 
Attention: Improving Outcomes for Disconnected Youth RFI, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., room 11089, Potomac 
Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-7241.
     Privacy Note: The Department's policy for comments 
received from members of the public (including comments submitted by 
mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery) is to make these 
submissions available for public viewing in their entirety on the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, 
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only 
information that they wish to make publicly available on the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Meg Massey by email: 
[email protected]; or Annie Blackledge by email: 
[email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose

    This request for information offers States, tribal governments, 
local entities, community-based and other non-profit organizations, 
private-sector partners, philanthropic organizations, faith-based 
organizations, researchers, and other interested individuals and 
entities the opportunity to provide recommendations on effective 
approaches for improving outcomes for disconnected youth by working 
across programs and systems that provide relevant services to them. For 
the purposes of this RFI, ``to improve outcomes for disconnected 
youth'' means to increase the rate at which young people ages 14 to 24 
who are homeless, in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice 
system, or are neither employed nor enrolled in an educational 
institution achieve success in meeting educational, employment, and 
other key lifelong development goals.
    The public input provided in response to this notice will inform 
the deliberations of the Interagency Forum on Disconnected Youth about 
determining the best use of the authority requested in the President's 
FY 2013 budget for the Performance Partnership Pilots.\1\ If 
legislation provides this authority, these pilots would create 
innovative and comprehensive reengagement strategies that encourage 
additional academic and non-academic supports and support multiple 
pathways to prepare disconnected youth for college and career success. 
Responses to the RFI will also inform how the Department of Education 
(ED), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the 
Department of Labor (DOL) could deploy other resources for disconnected 
youth that have been requested in the FY 2013 budget. In addition, the 
Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) are interested in how their programs

[[Page 32960]]

serving disconnected youth could contribute to Performance Partnership 
Pilots and other efforts to improve outcomes for this population.
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    \1\ The Budget for Fiscal Year 2013--Section 737 of the General 
Provisions Government-wide, Performance Partnerships Pilots (see 
www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/ggp.pdf).
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Background

    Several reports indicate that there are millions of disconnected 
young people in the U.S. who are out of school, have not attained a 
high school diploma, and are out of work.\2\ The consequences of being 
disconnected are serious for both the individual and society, as these 
young people not only fail to meet their personal potential, but also 
cost the Nation billions of dollars every year in lost earnings, crime/
incarceration, and expenditures on social and other services.\3\
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    \2\ Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16- to 24-Year Olds Who Are 
Not Working or In School, Congressional Research Service, Adrienne 
L. Fernandes, Thomas Gabe April 22, 2009 www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40535.pdf.
    \3\ www.serve.gov/new-images/council/pdf/econ_value_opportunity_youth.pdf.
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    Youth who are living in poverty, low-income households, or foster 
care, or who are homeless or transitioning back to the community from 
incarceration, are disproportionately at risk of poor educational 
achievement, unemployment, or underemployment. Disconnected youth are 
not a homogenous group. Disconnected youth struggle with a range of 
barriers to positive education, employment, and other life-goal 
outcomes including, but not limited to single parenthood, lack of 
adequate housing, lack of secondary education, lack of job-skills 
training, physical or mental health challenges, substance abuse, and 
learning disabilities. Addressing the needs of these disconnected youth 
is critical to America's economic future.
    The Administration's discussions with States and local entities 
following the February 28, 2011, release of the presidential memorandum 
on administrative flexibility, lower costs, and better results for 
State, local, and tribal governments \4\ suggests these young people 
might not be receiving the full benefits of the Federal, State, and 
local community programs, services, and resources available. The 
Administration's discussions with States and local entities focused on 
five overarching challenges to the systems serving this population:
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    \4\ www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/28/presidential-memorandum-administrative-flexibility.
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     Limited evidence about effective models and strategies 
that support positive outcomes;
     Lack of knowledge about the evidence that exists;
     A relative lack of attention to this population at the 
Federal, State, and local levels;
     Lack of coordination in addressing this population's 
needs; and,
     The need for more comprehensive approaches that meet the 
multi-faceted needs of this population.
    The President's FY 2013 budget proposes a Government-wide authority 
to establish up to 13 Performance Partnership Pilots to improve 
outcomes for disconnected youth involving up to $130 million in 
existing discretionary Federal resources.\5\ The proposed authority 
would enable States and local entities to seek Federal approval to 
blend funds from multiple funding sources and obtain waivers, such as 
for program design, performance, and other requirements, that enable 
more effective uses of funding from programs serving disconnected 
youth. This proposal responds to requests from States and local 
entities for greater flexibility in managing resources provided by 
multiple Federal programs.\6\ The pilot would allow flexibility if 
communities can demonstrate how they will achieve better results for 
the high-need disconnected youth population. A State or local community 
could not propose to achieve its goals by reducing services to youth, 
particularly those who have multiple barriers to employment and 
education and are consequently the most difficult to serve.
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    \5\ See section 737 (page 14) of the Government-wide General 
Provisions in the President's FY 2013 budget appendix: 
www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/ggp.pdf. The Performance Partnerships provision also includes 
authority for pilots in neighborhood revitalization, which is not 
the subject of this RFI.
    \6\ These Performance Partnership Pilots would involve 
discretionary Federal resources only--not mandatory funding for 
entitlement programs, such as Medicaid.
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    The FY 2013 budget does not request dedicated funding for 
Performance Partnership Pilots as they are designed to facilitate 
flexibility in use of existing program funds. However, outside of the 
Performance Partnerships authority, the Budget proposes program 
authority for new approaches to streamlining and improving delivery 
systems to provide better services to assist disconnected youth, 
including $5 million at ED, $5 million at HHS, and a $10 million set-
aside within the DOL's Workforce Innovation Fund. These funds, if 
approved by Congress, could potentially be used to enhance and support 
the State and local community activities undertaken in a Performance 
Partnership Pilot, such as activities that provide better information 
and tools to enable communities to direct their resources to strategies 
that work and to measure and evaluate successful practices.
    To further develop ideas on how the Performance Partnerships 
authority and the FY 2013 funding request for disconnected youth could 
support innovative approaches that improve service delivery, the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB), ED, HHS, DOL, DOJ, and HUD have 
established an Interagency Forum on Disconnected Youth to:
     Align evidence standards across Federal agencies and 
programs;
     Disseminate to policymakers and practitioners tools for 
measuring and evaluating outcomes for disconnected youth served by 
multiple systems;
     Share best practices for effectively coordinating multiple 
systems and programs serving disconnected youth at the Federal, State, 
and local levels;
     Solicit ideas from a broad array of stakeholders on 
strategies for improving outcomes for disconnected youth, including on 
how to facilitate comprehensive, multi-systems approaches and on how to 
use existing resources more effectively;
     Assess the potential for the development of public-private 
partnerships through which foundations and other private-sector 
partners could support promising pilot projects and focus attention on 
the disconnected youth population; and
     Work with States and local entities to align State and 
Federal rules and regulations in order to support implementation of the 
pilot projects and better outcomes for disconnected youth.
    The work of the Interagency Forum on Disconnected Youth will build 
on existing work done by the White House Council on Community Solutions 
\7\ during 2011 and 2012 in order to identify effective collaborations 
and support educators and employers in reaching out to disconnected 
youth. It will also build on the work of the longstanding Interagency 
Working Group on Youth Programs \8\ and various related initiatives.
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    \7\ www.serve.gov/council_home.asp.
    \8\ http://findyouthinfo.gov/.
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Request for Information

    Through this RFI, the Interagency Forum on Disconnected Youth and 
participating Federal agencies are soliciting ideas and information 
from a broad array of stakeholders on strategies for improving outcomes 
for disconnected youth, including on how to facilitate comprehensive, 
multi-system approaches and on how to use existing resources in more 
coordinated and comprehensive ways. Responses to

[[Page 32961]]

this RFI will inform the work of the Interagency Forum on Disconnected 
Youth on the design, logistics, and feasibility of Performance 
Partnership Pilots.
    This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and should 
not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of 
the Interagency Forum on Disconnected Youth or participating Federal 
agencies.
    We ask respondents to address the following questions, where 
possible, in the context of the discussion in this document. You do not 
need to address every question and should focus on those where you have 
relevant expertise. You may also address the questions in the context 
of a detailed pilot proposal outlining how a State, local, or tribal 
government could use the Performance Partnership authority to implement 
a comprehensive strategy for achieving better outcomes for disconnected 
youth.
    To the extent possible, please clearly indicate which question(s) 
you address in your response.
    Key Questions:
    1. What programs and strategies at the State or local level have 
shown great promise or have been proven to improve educational, 
employment, or other key outcomes for disconnected youth?
    2. How can we better align resources and administrative, 
regulatory, and statutory requirements to allow for more effective use 
of existing resources serving disconnected youth and stronger 
partnerships across levels of government and the private and non-profit 
sectors?
    3. What key outcomes or indicators for individuals and communities 
are most important for measuring both short- and long-term progress for 
disconnected youth?
    Detailed Questions:

I. Effective or Promising Practices and Strategies

    1. What Federal, State, and local programs or community 
collaborative efforts have improved outcomes for disconnected youth? 
What is the objective evidence of their success (e.g., evidence from 
rigorous evaluations using, for instance, random assignment and 
regression discontinuity design)?
    2. What program designs have great promise of improving 
educational, employment, or other key outcomes for disconnected youth? 
What is the best evidence to support these program designs (e.g., 
correlational or longitudinal outcomes analyses)?
    3. What discrete interventions, strategies, or practices would need 
to be included in pilot designs or innovative programs to increase the 
likelihood of their success, particularly untested designs?
    4. What are the best ways to involve youth in planning and 
implementation in order to help ensure that projects will be effective 
in meeting their needs?

II. Public and Private Partnerships

    1. Which State, local, non-profit, and business partners have been 
involved in the successful initiative(s) addressing the needs of 
disconnected youth that you may have described in response to one or 
more of the questions in this RFI? Which partners should be involved in 
the future?
    2. What role did or what role could philanthropic organizations 
play in supporting these types of initiatives you may have described in 
response to one or more of the questions in this RFI?
    3. How were the partnerships involved in those initiatives 
structured (e.g., governance models, provision of services, shared 
funding, collaborative professional development)?
    4. Which Federal programs should be involved in performance 
partnership pilots for disconnected youth?
    5. What has been your experience with other Federal initiatives 
that address issues related to disconnected youth by facilitating 
comprehensive, multi-system approaches and using existing resources in 
more coordinated and comprehensive ways, such as Promise Neighborhoods 
and Choice Neighborhoods within the Neighborhood Revitalization 
Initiative? \9\
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    \9\ www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oua/initiatives/neighborhood-revitalization.
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    6. Do you see an opportunity to use the Pay for Success\10\ model 
which is currently being pursued under existing authority by the 
Departments of Labor and Justice, but which could potentially be 
expanded to other areas such as programs serving disconnected youth?
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    \10\ www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/24/pay-success-new-results-oriented-federal-commitment-underserved-americans/.
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III. Outcomes, Data, and Evaluation Design

    1. What are the key outcomes that pilots should measure, and what 
indicators should be used to track intermediate and long-term success 
for youth?
    2. What existing data collection mechanisms can be harnessed to 
track indicators, outcomes, and participant characteristics?
    3. What are examples of frameworks and protocols for sharing data 
efficiently across programs while meeting privacy and confidentiality 
requirements? What should be the specifications for additional 
frameworks or protocols for effective sharing of information?
    4. What are the best examples of communities and programs using 
data to track progress, inform course corrections, and evaluate program 
effectiveness?
    5. What evaluation designs should be used to demonstrate improved 
outcomes or improved cost-effectiveness of Performance Partnership 
Pilots?
    6. How do the Federal Government, States, and local entities ensure 
that the flexibility provided through the pilots does not have any 
adverse effect on the most vulnerable populations?

IV. Barriers

    1. What are the legislative, regulatory, or other barriers that 
impede a community's ability to implement the most cost-effective 
strategies to assist disconnected youth?
    2. Are the barriers created at the Federal, State, or local level?
    3. Could the barriers be overcome through administrative action?
    4. Would overcoming the barriers require changes in Federal or 
State laws?

V. Alternative Pilot Designs

    1. Which of the following design models would best enable effective 
pilots at the community level?
     Formula Grant Model: Communities would carve out a portion 
of funds from multiple formula grants serving youth and use the funds 
for a coherent, focused strategy to improve outcomes for disconnected 
youth. The community, the State, and Federal agencies would negotiate 
an agreement that would include a limited set of key outcomes and 
performance measures, a streamlined set of reporting requirements, and 
a strong evaluation strategy.
     Competitive Grant Model: The Federal Government would 
issue a joint solicitation for grant applications that would pool funds 
from multiple competitive programs for outcome-focused projects.
     Hybrid Model: The Federal Government would use a joint 
solicitation for grant applications to fund competitive grants for 
pilots. Competitive preference would be given to applicants proposing 
to achieve better results by blending their formula funds to support a 
more effective service strategy.
    2. What is the recommended duration of the performance partnership 
pilot projects for the model or models you selected as effective?

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Guidance for Submitting Documents

    We ask that each respondent include the name and address of his or 
her institution or affiliation, and the name, title, mailing and email 
addresses, and telephone number of a contact person for his or her 
institution or affiliation, if any.

Rights to Materials Submitted

    By submitting material (e.g., descriptions of strategies for 
improving outcomes for disconnected youth) in response to this RFI, you 
agree to grant the Administration a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, 
irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use the material, and to post it. 
Further, you agree that you own, have a valid license, or are otherwise 
authorized to provide the material to the Administration.
    The Administration will not provide any compensation for material 
submitted in response to this RFI.

Request for Metadata Tags

    To make the best use of the information submitted in response to 
this RFI and to make it easier for interested parties to search, the 
Administration will include specific words or phrases--also known as 
``keywords'' or metadata ``tags''--with the material submitted. 
Therefore, you are strongly encouraged to use keywords or tags to 
identify components of the strategies described in your responses. The 
keywords or tags should be linked to, and accurately reflect 
substantial components of, the strategies, practices, programs, or 
other activities described in your submission. To simplify searches of 
the responses, Appendix A of this RFI provides a list of standard 
keywords and tags. You are encouraged to select from among these 
standard keywords and tags to the greatest extent possible. In the 
event that none of the words or phrases in Appendix A is sufficiently 
precise for the strategy that is the subject of your response, you may 
substitute other keywords or tags. Please do not provide more than 
eight keywords or tags for each strategy.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    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: 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: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Authority:  20 U.S.C. 3401 and 3402, and 20 U.S.C. 9253.

    Dated: May 30, 2012.
Brenda Dann-Messier,
Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education.

Appendix A: Standard Keywords and Tags

Population Descriptors

 Disconnected Youth
 Youth
 Disadvantaged Youth
 Out-of-School Youth
 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth
 Youth in Adult Education
 Young Adults
 Vulnerable
 Homeless Youth
 Foster Youth
 Runaway Youth
 Human Trafficking Victims
 Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Victims
 Dropouts
 At-Risk Youth
 Gang-Involved Youth
 Youth in Single-Parent Households

Service Descriptors

 Youth Development
 Youth Workforce Development
 Youth and Basic Skills
 Basic Skills
 Adult Education
 Workforce Investment Act Youth Services
 Youth Service
 Alternative Settings
 Alternative High School
 Adult High School
 Youth Career Pathways
 Career Pathways
 Trauma Behavioral Health
 Social and Emotional Well-Being

Strategy and Practice Descriptors

 Partnerships
 Outreach
 Alignment
 Transition
 Articulation
 Dual Enrollment
 Wrap-Around
 Support
 Holistic
 Integrated
 Team Teaching
 Collaboration
 Professional Development
 Shared
 Performance-Based Funding
 Pay-for-Success Funding
 Innovation

Evidence Descriptors

 Cohort
 Random Assignment
 Longitudinal
 Evaluation
 Action
 Research
 Impact
 Documentation
 Performance
 Outcomes
 Goal Achievement
 Research-Based

[FR Doc. 2012-13473 Filed 6-1-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P