[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 145 (Tuesday, July 28, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45411-45412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16268]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2020-SCC-0121]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; International Study of Adult Skills and Learning (ISASL) 
[Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 
Cycle II]

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 change to an existing information collection request.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
August 27, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for proposed 
information collection requests should be sent within 30 days of 
publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find 
this particular information collection request by selecting 
``Department of Education'' under ``Currently Under Review,'' then 
check ``Only Show ICR for Public Comment'' checkbox.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please call Carrie Clarady, 202-245-6347 or send 
an email to [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 Study of Adult Skills and 
Learning (ISASL) [Program for the International Assessment of Adult 
Competencies (PIAAC) Cycle II].
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0870.
    Type of Review: Change to an existing information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 5,611.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 1,258.
    Abstract: The Program for the International Assessment of Adult 
Competencies (PIAAC) is a cyclical, large-scale study of adult skills 
and life experiences focusing on education and employment. PIAAC is an 
international study designed to assess adults in different countries 
over a broad range of abilities, from simple reading to complex 
problem-solving skills, and to collect information on individuals' 
skill use and background. PIAAC is coordinated by the Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and developed by 
participating countries with the support of the OECD. In the United 
States, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the 
U.S. Department of Education (ED) conducts PIAAC. The U.S. participated 
in the PIAAC Main Study data collection in 2012 and conducted national 
supplement data collections in 2014 and 2017. All three of these 
collections are part of PIAAC Cycle I. A new PIAAC cycle is to be 
conducted every 10 years, and PIAAC Cycle II Main Study data collection 
will be conducted from August 2021 through March 2022. In preparation 
for the main study collection, PIAAC Cycle II will begin with a Field 
Test in 2020, in which 34 countries are expected to participate with 
the primary goal of evaluating newly developed assessment and 
questionnaire items and to test the PIAAC 2022 planned operations. 
PIAAC 2022 defines four core competency domains of adult cognitive 
skills that are seen as key to facilitating the social and economic 
participation of adults in advanced economies: (1) Literacy, (2) 
numeracy, (3) reading and numeracy components, and (4) adaptive problem 
solving. The U.S. will administer all four domains of the PIAAC 2022 
assessment to a nationally representative sample of adults, along with 
a background questionnaire with questions about their education 
background, work history, the skills they use on the job and at home, 
their civic engagement, and sense of their health and well-being. The 
results are used to compare the skills capacities of the workforce-aged 
adults in participating countries, and to learn more about 
relationships between educational background, employment, and other 
outcomes. In addition, in PIAAC 2022, a set of financial literacy 
questions will be included in the background questionnaire. As in Cycle 
I, a user-friendly name for PIAAC Cycle II was created--the 
International Study of Adult Skills and Learning (ISASL)--to represent 
the program to the public, and will be used on all public-facing 
materials and reports. As this international program is well-known 
within the federal and education research communities, we continue to 
use ``PIAAC'' in all internal and OMB clearance materials and 
communications, and use the ``PIAAC'' name throughout this submission; 
however all recruitment and communication materials refer to the study 
as ISASL. The request to conduct the PIAAC Cycle II Field Test in 
April-June 2020 was approved by OMB in December 2019 (OMB# 1850-0870 
v.7-8). This request updates Part A of the package to reflect a one-
year delay in all data collections, due to the global coronavirus 
pandemic.


[[Page 45412]]


    Dated: July 22, 2020.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of Planning, 
Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2020-16268 Filed 7-27-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P