[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 13, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 89923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29749]



[[Page 89923]]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2016-ICCD-0138]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
International Early Learning Study (IELS) 2018 Field Test Recruitment

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 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 
February 13, 2017.

ADDRESSES: To access and review all the documents related to the 
information collection listed in this notice, please use http://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2016-ICCD-
0138. Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted 
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting the Docket ID number or via postal 
mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. Please note that comments 
submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the comment period 
will not be accepted. 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, Room 2E-347, 
Washington, DC 20202-4537.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact NCES Information Collections at 
[email protected].

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: International Early Learning Study (IELS) 2018 
Field Test Recruitment.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-NEW.
    Type of Review: A new information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 404.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 152.
    Abstract: The International Early Learning Study (IELS), scheduled 
to be conducted in 2018, is a new study sponsored by the Organization 
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental 
organization of industrialized countries. In the United States, the 
IELS is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics 
(NCES). The IELS focuses on young children and their cognitive and non-
cognitive skills and competencies as they transition to primary school. 
The IELS is designed to examine: children's early learning and 
development in a broad range of domains, including social emotional 
skills as well as cognitive skills; the relationship between children's 
early learning and children's participation in early childhood 
education and care (ECEC); the role of contextual factors, including 
children's individual characteristics and their home backgrounds and 
experiences, in promoting young children's growth and development; and 
how early learning varies across and within countries prior to 
beginning primary school. In 2018, in the participating countries, 
including the United States, the IELS will assess nationally-
representative samples of children ages 5.0-5.5 years (in kindergarten 
in the United States) through direct and indirect measures, and will 
collect contextual data about their home learning environments, ECEC 
histories, and demographic characteristics. The IELS will measure young 
children's knowledge, skills, and competencies in both cognitive and 
non-cognitive domains, including language and literacy, mathematics and 
numeracy, executive function/self-regulation, and social emotional 
skills. This assessment will take place as children are transitioning 
to primary school and will provide data on how U.S. children entering 
kindergarten compare with their international peers on skills deemed 
important for later success. To prepare for the main study that will 
take place in September-November 2018, the IELS countries will conduct 
a field test in the fall of 2017 to evaluate newly developed assessment 
instruments and questionnaires and to test the study operations. The 
U.S. IELS field test data collection will occur from September to 
October, 2017. In order to meet the international data collection 
schedule for the fall 2017 field test, field test respondent recruiting 
activities must begin by May 2017. This request is to conduct 
recruitment activities for the 2017 IELS field test.

    Dated: December 7, 2016.
Kate Mullan,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Office of 
the Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2016-29749 Filed 12-12-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P