[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 198 (Friday, October 12, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62228-62231]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25186]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Impact Evaluation of Race 
to the Top and School Improvement Grants

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, 5 
U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department) 
publishes this notice of a new system of records entitled ``Impact 
Evaluation of Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants'' (18-13-
32). The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional 
Assistance at

[[Page 62229]]

the Department's Institute of Education Sciences awarded a contract in 
September 2010 to Mathematica Policy Research to conduct an 
implementation and impact evaluation of two of the Department's grant 
programs: Race to the Top and Title I School Improvement Grants. The 
system of records will contain records on students in tested grades 
from approximately 61 school districts in 21 states and the District of 
Columbia, and will be used to conduct the study.

DATES: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act, the 
Department seeks comments on the new system of records described in 
this notice and in particular on the proposed routine uses for the new 
system of records. We must receive your comments on or before November 
13, 2012.
    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 9, 2012. 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 19, 2012, unless OMB waives 10 days of the 
40-day review period for compelling reasons shown by the Department, or 
(2) November 13, 2012, unless the system of records needs to be changed 
as a result of public comment or OMB review. The Department will 
publish any changes to the system of records or routine uses that 
result from public comment or OMB review.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about the proposed routine uses to Dr. 
Audrey Pendleton, Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National 
Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of 
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue 
NW., Room 502D, Washington, DC 20208-0001. Telephone: (202) 208-7078. 
If you prefer to send your comments through the Internet, use the 
following address: [email protected]. You must include the term ``Impact 
Evaluation of Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants'' in the 
subject line of the electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this notice at the Department in Room 502D, 555 New 
Jersey Avenue NW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 
4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, Monday through Friday of each week 
except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking 
Record

    On request we will provide an appropriate accommodation or 
auxiliary aid 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 accommodation or auxiliary aid, please contact the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Audrey Pendleton, Associate 
Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National Center for Education 
Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, 
U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., Room 502D, 
Washington, DC 20208-0001. Telephone: (202) 208-7078. 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.
    Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an 
accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact 
disc) on request to the contact person listed in this section.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires the Department to publish 
in the Federal Register this notice of a new system of records (5 
U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (e)(11)). The Department's regulations 
implementing the Privacy Act are contained in the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) at 34 CFR part 5b.
    The Privacy Act applies to information about individuals that 
contains individually identifying information and that 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.''
    Whenever the Department publishes a new system of records or makes 
a significant change to an established system of records, the Privacy 
Act requires it to publish a system of records notice in the Federal 
Register. The Department is also required to submit reports to the 
Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at 
OMB, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs, and the Chair of the House of Representatives 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. These reports are 
intended 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: 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.

    Dated: October 9, 2012.
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 
(Department) publishes a notice of a new system of records to read as 
follows:
SYSTEM NUMBER:
    18-13-32

SYSTEM NAME:
    Impact Evaluation of Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATIONS:
    (1) Evaluation Division, National Center for Education Evaluation 
and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. 
Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., Room 502D, 
Washington, DC 20208-0001.
    (2) Mathematica Policy Research, 600 Alexander Park, Suite 100, 
Princeton, NJ 08540 (contractor).
    (3) The American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson St.

[[Page 62230]]

NW., Washington, DC 20007 (subcontractor).
    (4) Social Policy Research Associates, 1330 Broadway, Suite 1426, 
Oakland, CA 94612 (subcontractor).

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    The system will contain records on students in tested grades from 
approximately 61 school districts in 21 states and the District of 
Columbia.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will include information about the students 
who are included in the study. This student-level information will 
include, but will not necessarily be limited to, student IDs; the names 
and IDs of the school and school district that the student attends; 
year of birth; demographic information such as race, ethnicity, gender, 
and educational background (grade level, free and reduced-price lunch 
status, English language learner status, and special education status); 
whether the student graduated from high school and enrolled in college; 
and assessment information and scores on reading and mathematics state 
assessments.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The study is authorized under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 
2002, Part D, Section 171(b)(2) (20 U.S.C. 9561(b)(2)), which 
authorizes the IES to ``conduct evaluations of Federal education 
programs administered by the Secretary (and as time and resources 
allow, other education programs) to determine the impact of such 
programs (especially on student academic achievement in the core 
academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science).''

PURPOSE(S):
    The information contained in the records maintained in this system 
will be used to conduct an implementation and impact evaluation of two 
of the Department's grant programs: Race to the Top and Title I School 
Improvement Grants.
    The study will address the following four research questions: (1) 
How are Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants implemented at 
the State, district, and school levels? (2) Are Race to the Top reforms 
related to improvement in student outcomes? (3) Does receipt of School 
Improvement Grants funding to implement a school turnaround model 
affect outcomes for low-performing schools? (4) Is the implementation 
of school turnaround models, and strategies within those models, 
related to improvement in student outcomes?

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 under the routine uses listed 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 case-by-case disclosures or, if the 
Department has complied with the computer matching requirements of the 
Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a), under a 
computer matching agreement. Any disclosure of individually identifying 
information from a record in this system must also comply with the 
requirements of section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) 
(20 U.S.C. 9573), which provides confidentiality standards that apply 
to all collection, reporting, and publication of data by IES.
    (1) Research Disclosure. The Director of IES may disclose 
information from this system of records to qualified researchers solely 
for the purpose of carrying out specific research that is compatible 
with the purpose of this system of records. The researcher shall be 
required to maintain under the Privacy Act and the ESRA safeguards with 
respect to such records. When individually identifying information from 
a student's education record will be disclosed to the researcher under 
the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. 1232g (FERPA), 
the researcher also shall be required to comply with the requirements 
of a written agreement between the researcher and IES pursuant to the 
written agreement requirements under FERPA.
    (2) Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity 
to perform any function that requires disclosing records in this system 
to the contractor's employees, the Department may disclose the records 
to those employees who have received the appropriate level of security 
clearance from the Department. Before entering into such a contract, 
the Department will require the contractor to establish and maintain 
the safeguards required under the Privacy Act (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:
    The Department maintains records on CD-ROM, and the contractor 
(Mathematica Policy Research) and subcontractors (The American 
Institutes for Research and Social Policy Research Associates) maintain 
data for this system on computers and in hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a unique random 
number assigned to each individual that is cross-referenced by the 
individual's unique State- or district-assigned student ID on a 
separate list.

SAFEGUARDS:
    All physical access to the Department's site and to the sites of 
the Department's contractor and subcontractors, where this system of 
records is maintained, is controlled and monitored by security 
personnel. 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 individual users' ability to access and 
alter records within the system.
    The contractor and subcontractors will establish a similar set of 
procedures at their sites to ensure confidentiality of data. The 
contractor and subcontractors are required to ensure that print data 
identifying individuals are in files physically separated from other 
research data and electronic files identifying individuals are 
separated from other electronic research data files. The contractor and 
subcontractors will maintain security of the complete set of all master 
data files and documentation. Access to individually identifying data 
will be strictly controlled. At each site, all print data will be kept 
in locked file cabinets during nonworking hours and work on hardcopy 
data will take place in a single room, except for data entry.
    Physical security of electronic data will also be maintained. 
Security features that protect project data include: Password-protected 
accounts that authorize users to use the contractor's system but to 
access only specific network directories and network software; user 
rights and directory and file attributes that limit those who can use 
particular directories and files and determine how they can use them; 
and additional security features that the network administrators will 
establish for projects as needed.

[[Page 62231]]

The Department's, contractor's, and subcontractors' employees who 
``maintain'' (collect, maintain, use, or disseminate) data in this 
system must comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act and the 
confidentiality standards in section 183 of the ESRA.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records are maintained and disposed of in accordance with the 
Department's Records Disposition Schedules ED 068.a (NARA Job Number: 
N1-441-08-18).

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
    Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National Center for 
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education 
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., Room 
502D, Washington, DC 20208-0001.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you in 
the system of records, contact the system manager at the address listed 
under SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS. Your request must meet the 
requirements of the Department's Privacy Act regulations at 34 CFR 
5b.5, including proof of identity.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to gain access to a record about you in this system of 
records, contact the system manager at the address listed under SYSTEM 
MANAGER AND ADDRESS. Your request must meet the requirements of the 
Department's Privacy Act regulations at 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 at the address listed 
under SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS. Your request for access to a record 
must meet the requirements of the Department's Privacy Act regulations 
at 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of identity, specification of the 
particular record you are seeking to have changed, and the written 
justification for making such a change.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    This system will contain records on students included in the Impact 
Evaluation of Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants. Data will 
be obtained through student records maintained by states or school 
districts.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.
[FR Doc. 2012-25186 Filed 10-11-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P