[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 241 (Friday, December 14, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74517-74518]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30222]



[[Page 74517]]

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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; 
Education and Human Resources Project Monitoring Clearance

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 
(44 USC U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), and as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the National Science Foundation 
invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this 
opportunity to comment on this information collection. This is the 
second notice for public comment; the first was published in the 
Federal Register at 77 FR 33774 and no comments were received. NSF is 
forwarding the proposed submission to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for clearance simultaneously with the publication of this 
second notice. The full submission may be found at: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

DATES: Comments regarding these information collections are best 
assured of having their full effect if received by OMB within 30 days 
of publication in the Federal Register.

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 
22230, or by email to [email protected]. Copies of the submission may be 
obtained by calling (703) 292-7556.
    For Additional Information: Contact Suzanne Plimpton, the NSF 
Reports Clearance Officer, phone (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).
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB 
control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to 
respond to the collection of information that such persons are not 
required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title of Collection: Education and Human Resources Program 
Monitoring Clearance.
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-NEW.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to establish an 
information collection.
    Abstract: The National Science Foundation (NSF) requests 
establishment 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.
    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 this information collection request will primarily 
cover descriptive information gathered from education and training 
projects that are funded by NSF. NSF will primarily use the data from 
this collection 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 will 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 this collection will primarily be 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 this collection will 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 this collection 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: 9,3335.
    Burden on the Public: NSF estimates that a total reporting and 
recordkeeping burden of 62,909 hours will result from activities to 
monitor EHR STEM education programs. The calculation is shown in table 
1.

[[Page 74518]]



 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                                           Annual hour
            Collection title                 respondents           Number of  responses              burden
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Centers of Research Excellence in                        37  37..............................              1,374
 Science and 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               1,626  1,626...........................              3,941
 (GK-12) Monitoring System.
Integrative Graduate Education and                    4,658  4,658...........................             12,156
 Research Traineeship Program (IGERT)
 Monitoring System.
Informal Science Education (ISE)                        157  157.............................              2,047
 Monitoring System.
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority                     518  518.............................             17,094
 Participation (LSAMP) Monitoring System.
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority                      50  50..............................              3,600
 Participation Bridge to the Doctorate
 (LSAMP-BD) Monitoring System.
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program                294  294.............................              3,822
 (Noyce) Monitoring System.
Research in Disabilities Education (RDE)                 43  43..............................              1,743
 Monitoring System.
Scholarships in Science, Technology,                    500  1,000 (500 respondents x 2                    6,000
 Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-                     responses/yr.).
 STEM) Monitoring System.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and                   242  242.............................              6,292
 Mathematics Talent Expansion Program
 (STEP) Monitoring System.
Transforming Undergraduate Education in               1,210  1,210...........................              4,840
 Science, Technology, Engineering, and
 Mathematics (TUES) Monitoring System.
Additional Collections not Specified....                900  900.............................              1,200
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    Total...............................              9,335  9,835...........................             62,909
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    The total estimate for this collection is 62,909 annual burden 
hours. 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.

    Dated: December 11, 2012.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2012-30222 Filed 12-13-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P