[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 14615]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05452]



[[Page 14615]]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2021-SCC-0038]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 
(PIAAC) Cycle II 2022 Operational Field Test

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences (IES), 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 revision of a currently approved information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
April 16, 2021.

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 information collection request by selecting ``Department of 
Education'' under ``Currently Under Review,'' then check ``Only Show 
ICR for Public Comment'' checkbox. Comments may also be sent to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Carrie Clarady, (202) 245-6347.

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: Program for the International Assessment of 
Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Cycle II 2022 Operational Field Test.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0870.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 1,250.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 293.
    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 2022 through March 2023. In preparation 
for the main study collection, PIAAC Cycle II begins with a Field Test 
in Spring of 2021 in which 33 countries will participate with the goal 
of evaluating newly developed assessment and questionnaire items and to 
test the operations for the PIAAC 2023 Main Study (2022-2023). PIAAC 
2022 defines four core competency domains of adult cognitive skills 
deemed 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, financial literacy 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. 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). As described in the previously approved amendment in September 
2020 (OMB# 1850-0870 v.9), the 2020 PIAAC Cycle II Field Test, 
scheduled to begin in April 2020, was postponed due to the 2020 novel 
coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. The OECD has delayed both the 
Field Test and Main Study by 12 months, meaning that the Field Test was 
due to be carried out in respondent homes beginning in April 2021. In 
recognition of the continued constraints that countries face in meeting 
the current Field Test goals and timeline during the continuing global 
pandemic, the OECD has relaxed the current field test standards to 
allow for a smaller Operational Field Test of survey implementation. 
Currently, none of the 13 areas of the U.S. in the PIAAC field test 
sample has low enough rates of new daily cases of COVID-19 for safe and 
productive field interviews. After several months of careful monitoring 
of new daily case rates and considering OECD guidance, NCES has elected 
to conduct an Operational Field Test. Therefore, this request updates 
the package to reflect the change to an Operational Field Test. 
Additionally, NCES has imposed new requirements on study nomenclature 
that require changes to the U.S. outreach and recruitment materials and 
program nomenclature in the instruments. The revisions made do include 
changes to respondent burden and the cost to the federal government.

    Dated: March 11, 2021.
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. 2021-05452 Filed 3-16-21; 8:45 am]
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