[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 178 (Monday, September 15, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54971-54974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-21850]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Study of Enhanced College 
Advising in Upward Bound

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 ``Study of Enhanced College 
Advising in Upward Bound'' (18-13-36). The National Center for 
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's 
Institute of Education Sciences awarded a contract in September 2012 to 
Abt Associates Inc. to conduct an impact evaluation of a strategy to 
enhance college advising within Upward Bound--consisting of a 
professional development program for Upward Bound staff that includes a 
set of tools and resources for staff and students. The system of 
records will contain records on approximately 136,000 Upward Bound 
students and 200 Upward Bound project staff and will be used to conduct 
the study.

DATES: Submit your comments on this proposed new system of records on 
or before October 15, 2014.
    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,

[[Page 54972]]

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on September 3, 2014. This system 
of records will become effective at the later date of: (1) The 
expiration of the 40-day period for OMB review on October 13, 2014, 
unless OMB waives 10 days of the 40-day review period for compelling 
reasons shown by the Department, or (2) October 15, 2014, unless the 
system of records needs to be changed as a result of 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 phrase ``Study of Enhanced College Advising in 
Upward Bound'' 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. Marsha Silverberg. Telephone: 
(202) 208-7178. 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 
maintained by the Department. The Department's regulations implementing 
the Privacy Act are contained in part 5b of title 34 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR).
    The Privacy Act applies to any record about an individual that is 
maintained in a system of records from which individually identifying 
information is retrieved by a unique identifier associated with each 
individual, such as a name or Social Security Number (SSN). 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 each agency to publish a notice of a 
system of records in the Federal Register and to prepare and send a 
report to OMB whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or 
makes a significant change to an established system of records. Each 
agency is also required to send copies of the report to the Chair of 
the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and 
the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 
These reports are included 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: September 9, 2014.
Sue Betka,
Deputy Director for Administration and Policy, 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: 18-13-36

SYSTEM NAME:
    Study of Enhanced College Advising in Upward Bound.

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) Abt Associates, 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 
02138-1168 (contractor).
    (3) Decision Information Resources, Inc., 2600 Southwest Freeway, 
Suite 900, Houston, Texas 77098-4610 (subcontractor).
    (4) Survey Research Management, 5777 Central Ave., Suite 225, 
Boulder, Colorado 80301-2853 (subcontractor).

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will contain records on approximately 136,000 
Upward Bound students and 200 Upward Bound project staff.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will include information about the 200 
project staff and 6,000 students who are participating in the study, as 
well as a group of students who previously participated in Upward Bound 
(high school juniors in school years 2005-2006 through 2010-2011) and 
for whom information was collected and is maintained through the 
Department's annual performance reporting process. The project staff-
level information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to: 
Names; educational background (college major, highest degree, and 
professional development activities); and college advising activities. 
The student-level information will include, but will not necessarily be 
limited to: Student names; student SSNs; dates of birth; demographic 
information such as race, ethnicity, and gender; college entrance exam 
scores; educational experiences (GPA, AP/IB course-taking); and college 
application and enrollment plans and behavior, including application 
and receipt of financial aid.

[[Page 54973]]

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The Study of Enhanced College Advising in Upward Bound is 
authorized under section 403(h) of the 2008 Higher Education 
Opportunity Act (HEOA), Public Law 110-315 (20 U.S.C. 1070a-18), which 
requires the Department to conduct a rigorous study of a promising 
practice that has the potential to improve key outcomes for Upward 
Bound participants. Section 403(h)(3) of the HEOA provides that ``[f]or 
the purpose of improving the effectiveness of the programs and projects 
assisted under this chapter the Secretary shall make grants to, or 
enter into contracts with, institutions of higher education and other 
public and private institutions and organizations to rigorously 
evaluate the effectiveness of the programs and projects assisted under 
this chapter . . . .''
    Further, part D, section 171(b)(2) of the Education Sciences Reform 
Act of 2002, Public Law 107-279 (20 U.S.C. 9561(b)(2)) authorizes the 
Institute of Education Sciences (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 . . . .''

PURPOSE(S):
    The information contained in the records maintained in this system 
will be used to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of a 
professional development strategy for Upward Bound staff (with related 
advising tools and resources for staff and students).
    The study will address the following three research questions: (1) 
To what extent do the professional development package and tools have 
an effect--above and beyond the services Upward Bound grantees already 
provide--on important student outcomes? (2) How fully was the strategy 
implemented (e.g., in terms of staff participation in training and 
student use of the tools) and to what extent did it lead to differences 
in the Upward Bound college advising provided? (3) Is there variation 
in the impacts of the enhanced college advising strategy and to what 
extent is the variation associated with Upward Bound project features 
or characteristics of participating students? Are differences in the 
implementation of the enhanced college advising strategy associated 
with differences in impacts?
    Information about students who participated previously in Upward 
Bound will be analyzed to identify potential points in the college 
advising and enrollment process where improvements can be made using 
the professional development and tools.

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 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 disclosures on a case-by-case basis, 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. In addition, if 
confidential information from this system of records constitutes 
personally identifiable information from a student's education record 
that is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 
(FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232g), the researcher also must comply with the 
requirements in the applicable FERPA exception to consent.
    2. Research Disclosure to Obtain Necessary Records to Conduct the 
Study. Under data sharing agreements that will protect student privacy 
and confidentiality, the Department may disclose the identity of 
students participating in the study to the study's partners (the 
College Board, the ACT, and the National Student Clearinghouse) in 
order to obtain information on students' college entrance exams or 
their enrollment and persistence in college as important outcomes to be 
examined in the study.
    3. 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:
    Not applicable to this system of records.

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 (Abt 
Associates, Inc.) and subcontractors (Decision Information Resources, 
Inc. and Survey Research Management) maintain data for this system on 
computers and in hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a number 
assigned to each individual that is cross-referenced by the 
individual's name 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's and subcontractor's systems are required to ensure that 
information identifying individuals is in files physically separated 
from other research data. 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 hardcopy 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

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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. Employees 
of the Department, as well as employees of its contractor and 
subcontractors 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 
(NARA) 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. 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. 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. Your request 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, the written justification for making such a change, 
and proof of identity.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    This system contains records on project staff and students 
participating in the Study of Enhanced College Advising in Upward 
Bound, as well as a group of students who previously participated in 
Upward Bound (high school juniors in school years 2005-2006 through 
2010-2011) and for whom information was collected and is maintained 
through the Department's annual performance reporting process. Data 
will be obtained through study data collection directly from staff and 
students, administrative records maintained by Upward Bound project 
staff including Annual Performance Reports submitted to the Department, 
data extracts from the Department's Office of Federal Student Aid, and 
data extracts from the College Board, the ACT, and the National Student 
Clearinghouse under data sharing agreements.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2014-21850 Filed 9-12-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P