[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 134 (Friday, July 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41924-41926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16696]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Impact Evaluation of Math 
Professional Development

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 
(Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department) publishes this 
notice of a new system of records entitled ``Impact Evaluation of Math 
Professional Development'' (18-13-35). The National Center for 
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's 
Institute of Education Sciences awarded a contract in September 2012 to 
American Institutes for Research to conduct an impact evaluation of an 
intensive, content-focused math professional development (PD) program 
on teacher knowledge, teacher practices, and student achievement. The 
system of records will contain records on approximately 200 fourth-
grade teachers and their students in 6 school districts and will be 
used to conduct the study.

DATES: Submit your comments on this proposed new system of records on 
or before August 12, 2013.
    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 June 25, 2013. This system of records will become 
effective at the later date of--(1) the expiration of the 40-day period 
for OMB review on August 4, 2013, unless OMB waives 10 days of the 40-
day review period for compelling reasons shown by the Department, or 
(2) August 12, 2013, 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 system of records 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 Math Professional Development'' 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), you may 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 records about individuals that contain 
individually identifying information that are retrieved by a unique 
identifier associated with each individual, such as

[[Page 41925]]

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.''
    The Privacy Act requires the Department to publish a system of 
records notice in the Federal Register upon establishment or revision 
of the system of records.
    Whenever the Department publishes a new system of records or makes 
a significant change to an established system of records, 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: June 25, 2013.
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:
    18-13-35

SYSTEM NAME:
    Impact Evaluation of Math Professional Development.

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) The American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson St. 
NW., Washington, DC 20007 (contractor).
    (3) Harvard University, 1350 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 
02138 (subcontractor).

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will contain records on approximately 200 
fourth-grade teachers and their students in 6 school districts.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will include information about the teachers 
and students who are included in the study. The teacher-level 
information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to: 
Teacher IDs; names and IDs of the school and school district in which 
the teacher teaches; demographic information such as race, ethnicity, 
gender, and educational background (teaching experience, prior math 
coursework, college major, highest degree, professional development 
activities, and teacher certification status); and scores on a teacher 
knowledge test and classroom observation measure. The student-level 
information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to: 
Student IDs; the IDs of the student's teacher; month and year of birth; 
demographic information such as race, ethnicity, gender, and 
educational background (attendance level, grade level, free and 
reduced-price lunch status, English language learner status, and 
special education status); and assessment information and scores on 
mathematics State assessments and a computer-adaptive mathematics test.

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 this system of records will be used to 
conduct an impact evaluation of an intensive, content-focused math 
professional development (PD) program on teacher knowledge, teacher 
practices, and student achievement.
    The study will address the following two research questions: (1) 
What is the average impact of providing teachers with a specialized 
professional development intervention relative to ``business-as-usual'' 
professional development on (a) teachers' content knowledge, (b) 
teachers' classroom practices, and (c) student achievement? (2) How is 
the professional development intervention implemented? What challenges 
were encountered during the process of implementing the intervention?

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 this system of 
records under the routine uses listed here 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 identifiable 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 license 
confidential information from this system of records to qualified 
external researchers solely for the purpose of carrying out specific 
research that is compatible with the purpose(s) of this system of 
records. The researcher must maintain, under the Privacy Act and the 
ESRA, safeguards with respect to such records. When personally 
identifiable information from a student's education record will be 
disclosed to the researcher, under the Family Educational Rights and 
Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232g), the researcher must comply with 
the requirements in the applicable FERPA exception to consent.
    (2) Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity 
to perform any function that requires

[[Page 41926]]

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 
(American Institutes for Research) and subcontractor (Harvard 
University) 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 teacher or 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 subcontractor, 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 subcontractor will establish a similar set of 
procedures at their sites to ensure confidentiality of data. The 
contractor and subcontractor are required to ensure that print data 
identifying individuals are in files physically separated from other 
research data and that electronic files identifying individuals are 
separated from other electronic research data files. The contractor and 
subcontractor 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 non-working 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. The Department's, contractor's, and 
subcontractor's 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 (20 U.S.C. 9573).

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    These records are covered by a draft records schedule under 
development, ED 231 Research and Statistics Records. This schedule 
shall be submitted to the National Archives and Records Administration 
for review and approval when complete. Until such time as it is 
approved by NARA, no records shall be destroyed.

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. In addition, you must meet the 
requirements of the Department's Privacy Act regulations at 34 CFR 
5b.7, including, 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 teachers and students included 
in the Impact Evaluation of Math Professional Development. Data will be 
obtained through study data collection from teachers and students, as 
well as administrative records maintained by school districts.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2013-16696 Filed 7-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P