[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3424-3425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01954]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2018-ICCD-0131]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021) 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, ED is 
proposing a reinstatement of a previously approved information 
collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
April 15, 2019.

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-2018-ICCD-
0131. 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, 550 12th Street SW, PCP, Room 9086, 
Washington, DC 20202-0023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Kashka Kubzdela, 202-502-7411 or 
email [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: Progress in International Reading Literacy 
Study (PIRLS 2021) Field Test Recruitment.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0645.
    Type of Review: A reinstatement of a previously approved 
information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individual or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 1,515.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 295.
    Abstract: The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 
(PIRLS) is an international assessment

[[Page 3425]]

of fourth-grade students' achievement in reading. PIRLS reports on four 
benchmarks in reading achievement at grade 4 and on a variety of issues 
related to the education context for the students in the sample, 
including instructional practices, school resources, curriculum 
implementation, and learning supports outside of school. Since its 
inception in 2001, PIRLS has continued to assess students every 5 years 
(2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016), with the next PIRLS assessment, PIRLS 
2021, being the fifth iteration of the study. Participation in this 
study by the United States at regular intervals provides data on 
student achievement and on current and past education policies and a 
comparison of U.S. education policies and student performance with 
those of the U.S. international counterparts. In PIRLS 2016, 58 
education systems participated. The United States will participate in 
PIRLS 2021 to continue to monitor the progress of its students compared 
to that of other nations and to provide data on factors that may 
influence student achievement. PIRLS is coordinated by the 
International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement 
(IEA), an international collective of research organizations and 
government agencies that create the assessment framework, the 
assessment instrument, and background questionnaires. The IEA decides 
and agrees upon a common set of standards and procedures for collecting 
and reporting PIRLS data, and defines the studies' timeline, all of 
which must be followed by all participating countries. As a result, 
PIRLS is able to provide a reliable and comparable measure of student 
skills in participating countries. In the U.S., the National Center for 
Education Statistics (NCES) conducts this study. In preparation for the 
PIRLS 2021 main study, all countries are asked to implement a field 
test in 2020. The purpose of the PIRLS field test is to evaluate new 
assessment items and background questions, to ensure practices that 
promote low exclusion rates, and to ensure that classroom and student 
sampling procedures proposed for the main study are successful. Data 
collection for the field test in the U.S. will occur from March through 
April 2020 and for the main study from March through June 2021. This 
submission describes the overarching plan for all phases of the data 
collection, including the 2021 main study and requests approval for all 
activities, materials, and response burden related to the field test 
recruitment, scheduled to begin in May 2019.

    Dated: February 7, 2019.
Kate Mullan,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Office of 
the Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2019-01954 Filed 2-11-19; 8:45 am]
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