[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 21 (Monday, February 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5523-5525]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01932]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Study of Teacher 
Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher Effectiveness

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of an altered 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 an altered system of records entitled ``Study of Teacher 
Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher Effectiveness'' (18-13-29) 
(formerly, ``Study of Promising Features of Teacher Preparation 
Programs''). The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional 
Assistance at the Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) 
awarded a contract in September 2011 to Abt Associates to conduct a 
rigorous study of the effect on student learning of teachers who have 
various experiences in their teacher preparation programs (e.g., 
intensive clinical practice). The original system of records notice for 
this study was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2012 (77 
FR 38611). This altered system of records notice reflects changes to 
the study's design based on the infeasibility of efficiently 
identifying a sufficient number of teachers eligible for an impact 
study design.

DATES: Submit your comments on this notice of an altered system of 
records or before March 4, 2015.
    The Department filed a report describing the altered 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 January 20, 2015. This altered system of records 
will become effective at the later date of: (1) The expiration of the 
40-day period for OMB review on March 2, 2015, unless OMB waives 10 
days of the 40-day review period for compelling reasons shown by the 
Department, or (2) March 4, 2015, 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 this notice of an altered 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 Teacher Preparation 
Experiences and Early Teacher Effectiveness'' 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 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(e)(4) and (e)(11)) requires the 
Department to publish in the Federal Register this notice of an altered 
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 records about individuals that contain 
individually identifying information and that are 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 inc1uded to permit an evaluation of the probable 
effect of the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.
    In response to expert feedback, this study will examine the 
relationship between student learning outcomes and teaching preparation 
experiences that vary in terms of type (e.g., coursework, fieldwork, 
and intensive feedback in the field) and content (e.g., classroom 
management and instructional strategies). District, teacher, and 
student sample sizes and teacher data elements have been revised to 
allow for this analysis.
    Accordingly, the Department has retitled the system of records (now 
``Study of Teacher Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher 
Effectiveness,'' instead of ``Study of Promising Features of Teacher 
Preparation Programs'') and updated the section of the system of 
records notice entitled ``CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE 
SYSTEM'' to reflect that the system of records will contain records on 
approximately 1,518,950 students and 8,000 novice teachers from up to 
50 school districts. The system of records will include personally 
identifying information on novice teachers of fourth through sixth 
grade students in study

[[Page 5524]]

districts and on students in those grades. The Department also has 
updated the section of the system of records notice entitled 
``CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM.'' For students, the information 
in the system of records will include school name; student 
identification number; birth date; demographic information such as 
race, ethnicity, and gender; and educational background, including 
individualized education program status, primary disability code (if 
applicable), English language learner status, and English language 
proficiency level (if applicable); whether enrolled in the National 
School Lunch Program; and scores on reading and mathematics achievement 
tests. For teachers, the system of records will include name and 
contact information; teacher identification number; Social Security 
number; demographic information such as race and ethnicity; information 
on postsecondary institution attended and teaching preparation 
experiences; and scores on postsecondary entrance exams. Additionally, 
the Department has updated the section of the system of records notice 
entitled ``PURPOSE(S)'' to reflect the changes to the study's design 
and research questions. The Department has also updated the section of 
the notice entitled ``ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, 
INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES'' to 
include disclosure to researchers. Finally, the Department has made 
minor updates to other sections of the system notice entitled ``SYSTEM 
LOCATIONS,'' ``AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM,'' ``STORAGE,'' 
and ``RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES.''
    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: January 28, 2015.
Sue Betka,
Acting 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 an altered system of records to read 
as follows:
SYSTEM NUMBER:
    18-13-29

SYSTEM NAME:
    Study of Teacher Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher 
Effectiveness.

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, MA 02138-1168 
(contractor).
    (3) Education Analytics, 555 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 
53703-2615 (subcontractor).
    (4) Westat, 1600 Research Boulevard, Rockville, MD 20850-3129 
(subcontractor).

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    The system will contain records on approximately 1,518,950 fourth 
through sixth grade students and 8,000 novice teachers from up to 50 
school districts.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records will include information about the students 
and teachers who participate in the study. For students, this 
information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to, 
school name; student identification number; birth date; enrolled grade; 
demographic information such as race, ethnicity, and gender; and 
educational background information, including individualized education 
program status, primary disability code (if applicable), English 
language learner status, and English language proficiency level (if 
applicable); whether enrolled in the National School Lunch Program; and 
scores on reading and mathematics achievement tests. For teachers, this 
information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to, name 
and contact information; teacher identification number; Social Security 
number; demographic information such as race and ethnicity; information 
on postsecondary institution attended and teaching preparation 
experiences; scores on postsecondary entrance exams.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The study is authorized under sections 171(b) and 173 of the 
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA)(20 U.S.C. 9561(b) and 
9563) and section 9601 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965, as amended (ESEA)(20 U.S.C. 7941).

PURPOSE(S):
    The information contained in the records maintained in this system 
will be used to conduct a rigorous study of the relationship between 
student learning outcomes and teachers' preparation experiences.
    The study will address the following central research question: 
What are the relationships between teacher preparation experiences and 
teacher effectiveness?
    Secondary research questions for the study are:
    What are the relationships between teacher preparation experiences 
and teacher effectiveness with English learners? Do relationships 
between teachers' preparation experiences and teacher effectiveness 
differ depending on teachers' assessments of the usefulness of the 
preparation experiences?

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 use 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 ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573), which provides 
confidentiality standards that apply to all collection, reporting, and 
publication of data by IES. In disclosing personally identifiable 
information from students' education records, the Department must also 
comply with the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and 
Privacy

[[Page 5525]]

Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 CFR part 99), which protects the 
privacy of students' education records.
    1. 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.
    2. 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 
section 183(c) of the ESRA, safeguards with respect to such records.

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 (Abt 
Associates Inc.) and sub-contractors (Education Analytics, Westat) 
maintain data for this system on computers and in hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a unique 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 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 have established 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 maintain security of the complete set of all master data 
files and documentation. Access to individually identifiable data is 
strictly controlled. At each site, all hardcopy data are kept in locked 
file cabinets during nonworking hours and work on hardcopy data takes 
place in a single room, except for data entry.
    Physical security of electronic data is also 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 
subcontractors' employees who ``maintain'' (collect, maintain, use, or 
disseminate) data in this system must comply with the requirements of 
the Privacy Act, FERPA, and the confidentiality standards in section 
183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573).

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records are maintained and disposed of in accordance with the 
Department's Records Disposition Schedules (GRS 23, Item 8).

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 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.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    This system will contain records on teachers, and students 
participating in a study of teaching preparation experiences and 
teacher effectiveness. Data will be obtained through human resource and 
student records maintained by the school districts and surveys of 
teachers.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2015-01932 Filed 1-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P