[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 145 (Monday, August 2, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41463-41464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16342]



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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2021-SCC-0114]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021) Main 
Study Data Collection

AGENCY: Institute for 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 
requesting the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct an 
emergency review of an information collection.

DATES: Approval by the OMB has been requested by July 30, 2021. 
Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
September 1, 2021.

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-2021-SCC-0114. 
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. If the regulations.gov 
site is not available to the public for any reason, ED will temporarily 
accept comments at [email protected]. Please include the docket ID 
number and the title of the information collection request when 
requesting documents or submitting comments. 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 Strategic Collections and Clearance Governance and 
Strategy Division, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, 
LBJ, Room 6W208B, Washington, DC 20202-8240.

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: Progress in International Reading Literacy 
Study (PIRLS 2021) Main Study Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0645.
    Type of Review: A revision of an approved information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 31,028.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 10,716.
    Abstract: The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 
(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, with support from U.S. Department of 
Education contractors, and works with the IEA to ensure proper 
implementation of the study and adoption of practices in adherence to 
the IEA's standards. Participation in PIRLS allows NCES to meet its 
mandate of acquiring and disseminating data on educational activities 
and student achievement in the U.S. compared with foreign nations [The 
Educational Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002) 20 U.S.C. 9543]. 
PIRLS is an international assessment of fourth-grade students' 
achievement in reading. PIRLS reports on four benchmarks in reading 
achievement at grade 4 (Advanced, High, Medium, and Low) 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 U.S. 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. In preparation for the PIRLS 2021 main 
study, all countries were asked to implement a field test in 2020 in 
order 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. In selecting a school sample for this purpose, it is 
important to minimize the burden on schools, districts, and states, 
while also ensuring that the field test data are collected effectively. 
PIRLS staff will work to help respondents understand the study's value 
relative to the burden imposed, and to ensure a high level of school 
participation. Data collection for the field test in the U.S. occurred 
from March 1 through April 15, 2020 and involved a sample of 45 public 
schools and about 1,650 students (selecting two classes from each 
school). The U.S PIRLS 2021 main study involves a nationally-
representative sample of 290 schools and about 9,280 students. Main 
study data collection was originally scheduled to be completed in 
Spring 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the main study has been 
delayed and will be conducted from September through October 2021. The 
submission describing the overarching

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plan for all phases of the data collection, including the 2021 main 
study, and requesting approval for all activities, materials, and 
response burden related to the field test recruitment was approved in 
April 2019 with a change request in September 2019 (OMB #1850-0645 
v.11-12), while the submission describing all aspects of the field test 
and recruitment for the main study was approved in October 2019 (OMB 
#1850-0645 v.13). The submission for all aspects of the PIRLS 2021 main 
study, including data collection activities, with an accompanying 30-
day public comment period was approved in May 2020 (OMB #1850-0645 
v.14) with a change request in February 2021 (OMB #1850-0645 v.15). In 
summer 2021, NCES was notified by the IEA that teacher questionnaire 
data from the United States would not be included in the PIRLS 
international report or international database. At the same time, IEA 
requested changes to the school questionnaire to solicit information 
about the 2020-2021 school year. The exceptional circumstances of the 
2021 PIRLS administration in the United States and these other 
countries (assessing fifth-grade students at the beginning of the 
academic year rather than fourth-grade students at the end of the 
academic year) present challenges for reporting and interpreting some 
PIRLS questionnaire data. This issue impacts other Northern Hemisphere 
countries administering the PIRLS teacher questionnaire to the teachers 
of fifth grade students in the fall of 2021. Due to the exclusion of 
teacher questionnaire data from international reporting and limitations 
in its use for national analysis, the U.S. PIRLS 2021 administration 
will no longer include a teacher questionnaire component. In accordance 
with the IEA's guidance, the school questionnaire has been modified to 
more adequately characterize the impact of the pandemic on students in 
countries assessing students at the beginning of fifth grade rather 
than at the end of the fourth grade. Note, for example, that the school 
questionnaire now asks questions about resources available to 4th grade 
students. The aim is to evaluate students at the beginning of their 
fifth-grade year, in light of what was available to them throughout 
their fourth-grade year. These changes will facilitate the inclusion of 
U.S. data in international reports that include findings from the 
school questionnaire.
    Additional Information: An emergency clearance approval for the use 
of the system is described below due to the following conditions:
     NCES requests emergency clearance to allow us to continue 
recruiting schools for participation in a Fall 2021 data collection 
after substantive changes were required to an already approved and 
finalized data collection plan. The need for immediate clearance is due 
to the time sensitivity of this data collection, as normal clearance 
procedures would not allow NCES to follow the mandates set by the 
sponsoring international organization and make the required changes to 
the data collection while also respecting the timeline specified for 
this data collection. NCES will publish a Federal Register Notice 
soliciting 30 days of public comment on this collection concurrent with 
continued recruitment and data collection.

    Dated: July 27, 2021.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-16342 Filed 7-30-21; 8:45 am]
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