[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 41 (Friday, March 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12449-12450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-04161]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; 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 
April 3, 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 224-84, 
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

[[Page 12450]]

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: 618.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 234.
    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: February 28, 2017.
Kate Mullan,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Office of 
the Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2017-04161 Filed 3-2-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P