[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 8, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60844-60845]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23958]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2014-ICCD-0139]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices Phase I

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences/National Center for Education 
Statistics (IES), Department of Education (ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. chapter 3501 et seq.), ED is proposing a new information 
collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
December 8, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice should be 
submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
http://www.regulations.gov by selecting Docket ID number ED-2014-ICCD-
0139 or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the 
regulations.gov site is not available to the public for any reason, ED 
will temporarily accept comments at [email protected]. Please note 
that comments submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the 
comment period will not be accepted; ED will ONLY accept comments 
during the comment period in this mailbox when the regulations.gov site 
is not available. Written requests for information or comments 
submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the 
Director of the Information Collection Clearance Division, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., LBJ, Mailstop L-OM-2-
2E319, Room 2E105, Washington, DC 20202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Yumiko Sekino, 202-219-2046.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Education (ED), in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with 
an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed 
information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The 
Department of Education is especially interested in public comment 
addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to 
the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be 
processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden 
accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the 
Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, 
including through the use of information technology. Please note that 
written comments received in response to this notice will be considered 
public records.
    Title of Collection: Evaluation of Preschool Special Education 
Practices Phase I.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-NEW.
    Type of Review: A new information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 1,251.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 609.
    Abstract: The main objective of the Evaluation of Preschool Special 
Education Practices, Phase I study is to assess the feasibility of 
conducting a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation 
of one or more curricula or interventions that are used with preschool 
children with disabilities to promote their learning of language, 
literacy, social-emotional skills, and/or appropriate behavioral skills 
for school. The feasibility assessment will consider the core features 
of an evaluation design, including the following: (1) Curricula and/or 
interventions to be evaluated; (2) Study context and participants; and 
(3) Key design elements, such as the counterfactual condition, unit of 
assignment, target minimum detectable effects (MDEs), sample size, and 
data collection plans.
    Data to inform the feasibility assessment will be obtained through 
surveys of school district preschool special education coordinators and 
state Section 619 coordinators, the subject of the current submission. 
Preschool special education coordinators in school districts and state 
Section 619 coordinators will provide information to address the 
study's overarching research question--whether there are promising 
curricula and interventions for preschool children with disabilities 
for which a large-scale effectiveness trial would be feasible and add 
value to the field. The district survey will be administered in a 
nationally representative sample of 1,200 school districts serving 
preschool children with disabilities as a 30-minute web survey. The 
state survey will be administered in all 50 states and the District of 
Columbia as a 10-minute editable PDF survey. Data collection for each 
survey will begin in April 2015.
    The feasibility assessment will also be informed by use of extant 
data and conduct of an evidence review. In addition to collected survey 
data, extant data will provide information about preschool special 
education programs, the curricula and interventions that are available 
and supported by these programs, and the context in which curricula and 
interventions are delivered to inform decisions about key design 
elements. The evidence review will identify promising curricula and 
interventions for preschool children with disabilities and features 
about their implementation in schools.
    Information obtained as part of the data collection for Phase I 
will be used to develop a publicly available report to provide 
educators and policymakers with nationally representative descriptive 
information about current preschool special education programs. If the 
Institute of Education Sciences (IES) decides to sponsor an RCT 
following the feasibility assessment, separate OMB packages will be 
submitted that request clearance for recruitment and data collection 
activities for the RCT.


[[Page 60845]]


    Dated: October 2, 2014.
Stephanie Valentine,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, 
Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2014-23958 Filed 10-7-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P