[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 170 (Tuesday, September 7, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 50094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19158]



[[Page 50094]]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2021-SCC-0130]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; School 
Pulse Panel 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: The Department has requested emergency processing from OMB for 
this information collection request by September 3, 2021. The 
information collection will simultaneously follow the regular clearance 
process where the Department will provide the public with the 
opportunity to comment. Interested persons are invited to submit 
comments on or before October 7, 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-0130. 
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: School Pulse Panel Preliminary Activities.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0963.
    Type of Review: A revision of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local or Tribal Govt.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 17,280.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 26,352.
    Abstract: The School Pulse Panel is a new study conducted by the 
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the Institute 
of Education Sciences (IES), within the United States Department of 
Education, to collect extensive data on issues concerning the impact of 
the COVID-19 pandemic on students and staff in U.S. public primary, 
middle, high, and combined-grade schools. The survey will ask school 
district staff and sampled school principals about topics such as 
instructional mode offered; enrollment counts of subgroups of students 
using various instructional modes; learning loss mitigation strategies; 
safe and healthy school mitigation strategies; special education 
services; use of technology; use of federal relief funds; and 
information on staffing. Because this data collection is extremely high 
priority and time sensitive, it will undergo Emergency Clearance. The 
administration of the School Pulse Panel study is in direct response to 
President Biden's Executive Order 14000: Supporting the Reopening and 
Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education 
Providers. It will be one of the nation's few sources of reliable data 
on a wealth of information focused on school reopening efforts, virus 
spread mitigation strategies, services offered for students and staff, 
and technology use, as reported by school district staff and principals 
in U.S. public schools. About 1200 public elementary, middle, high, and 
combined-grade schools will be selected to participate in a panel where 
school and district staff will be asked to provide requested data 
monthly during the 2021-22 school years. This approach provides the 
ability to collect detailed information on various topics while also 
assessing changes in reopening efforts over time. Given the high demand 
for data collection during this time, the content of the survey may 
change on a quarterly basis.
    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 comply with the 
January 21, 2021 Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and 
Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers 
which states that the Department of Education must ``coordinate with 
the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences to facilitate, 
consistent with applicable law, the collection of data necessary to 
fully understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students and 
educators, including data on the status of in-person learning. These 
data shall be disaggregated by student demographics, including race, 
ethnicity, disability, English-language-learner status, and free or 
reduced lunch status or other appropriate indicators of family 
income.'' Normal clearance procedures would not allow IES to comply 
with the intent of this E.O. Because this data collection is extremely 
high priority and time sensitive, the Department is requesting 
emergency processing.

    Dated: August 31, 2021.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-19158 Filed 9-3-21; 8:45 am]
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