[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 247 (Thursday, December 27, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66687-66688]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27933]



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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID Number ED-2018-IES-0126]


Proposed 2020 Update to the Classification of Instructional 
Programs (CIP) and Request for Comment

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of 
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary of Education announces proposed updates to the 
CIP for 2020 and provides a 60-day period for members of the public to 
review and comment on the changes.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before February 25, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the 
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
    If you are submitting comments electronically, we strongly 
encourage you to submit any comments or attachments in Microsoft Word 
format. If you must submit a comment in Adobe Portable Document Format 
(PDF), we strongly encourage you to convert the PDF to print-to-PDF 
format or to use some other commonly used searchable text format. 
Please do not submit the PDF in a scanned format. Using a print-to-PDF 
format allows the Department of Education (Department) to 
electronically search and copy certain portions of your submissions.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under ``Help.''
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: The 
Department strongly encourages commenters to submit their comments 
electronically. However, if you mail or deliver your comments about the 
proposed regulations, address them to Commissioner, National Center for 
Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department 
of Education, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW, 4th Floor, 
Washington, DC 20202-4160.

    Privacy Note:  The Department's policy is to make comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing on 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, 
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only 
information that they wish to make publicly available.

    Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Comments: On request, we will supply an appropriate accommodation or 
auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who needs assistance 
to review the comments or other documents related to 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: Michelle Coon, U.S. Department of 
Education, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW, 4th floor, 
Washington, DC 20202-4160. Telephone: (202) 245-6689. Email: 
[email protected].
    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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CIP is a taxonomic coding scheme of 
instructional programs. Its purpose is to facilitate the organization, 
collection, and reporting of fields of study and program completions. 
The CIP is the accepted Federal government statistical standard on 
instructional program classifications and is used in a variety of 
education information surveys and databases by Federal and State 
agencies, national associations, academic institutions, and employment 
counseling services for collecting, reporting, and analyzing 
instructional program data.
    The vast majority of CIP titles correspond to academic and 
occupational instructional programs offered for credit at the 
postsecondary level. These programs result in recognized completion 
points and awards, including degrees, certificates, and other formal 
awards. The CIP also includes other types of instructional programs, 
such as residency programs in various dental, medical, podiatric, 
nursing, physician assistant, pharmacy, and veterinary specialties that 
may lead to advanced professional certification; personal improvement 
and leisure programs; and instructional programs that lead to diplomas 
and certificates at the secondary level only.
    The CIP was originally developed in 1980 by the NCES within the 
Department, with revisions occurring in 1985, 1990, 2000, and 2010. The 
2020 edition of the CIP (CIP-2020) is the fifth revision of the CIP and 
presents an updated taxonomy of instructional program classifications 
and descriptions. In order to develop the CIP-2020, NCES completed a 
comprehensive, multi-stage process over a two-year period, including 
extensive background research and analysis; solicitation of suggestions 
from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) keyholders; 
and guidance, input, and review from a Technical Review Panel. The main 
focus of the CIP-2020 update has been adding new and emerging programs 
of study. In the CIP-2020 update, we avoided movement of existing 
programs to minimize burden on IPEDS-reporting institutions and to 
maintain consistency with prior versions of the CIP, and existing CIP 
codes were only deleted if absolutely necessary.
    This notice announces a 60-day public comment period to review and 
comment on the proposed 2020 update to the CIP. The proposed updates 
are posted on the NCES website at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode/files/CIP_Revision_2020.docx. We are seeking public comment in part 
because we recognize that CIP codes are increasingly used not only by 
institutions of higher education but also by many other public and 
private entities, and that changes to the CIP may have ramifications 
for those entities' work. In addition, to ensure that new codes are 
warranted, NCES is only establishing new codes for CIP-2020 where we 
identified at least five and preferably ten postsecondary institutions 
offering the program. If you are suggesting an addition to the CIP, 
please provide a description of the program of study and list at least 
five--but preferably ten--postsecondary institutions offering it.
    We will consider comments received in response to this notice in 
making final decisions for the CIP-2020. NCES expects to approve and 
publish the CIP-2020 by the end of summer 2019.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department

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published in the Federal Register, in text or 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: December 19, 2018.
Mark Schneider,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.
[FR Doc. 2018-27933 Filed 12-26-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P