[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 221 (Friday, November 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64916-64917]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-25246]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2021-SCC-0158]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection

AGENCY: Office for Civil Rights (OCR), 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 to an existing information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
January 18, 2022.

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-0158. 
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 Strategic Collections and Clearance, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, LBJ, Room 6W201, Washington, DC 
20202-8240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to the 
collection activities, please contact Rosa Olmeda at [email protected] 
or (202) 245-7264.

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

[[Page 64917]]

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: Mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 1870-0504.
    Type of Review: A revision of an existing information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 17,884.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 2,165,918.
    Abstract: The collection, use, and reporting of education data is 
an integral component of the mission of the U.S. Department of 
Education (ED). ED has collected civil rights data about the nation's 
public schools via the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) since 1968. 
For school years 2009-10 and 2011-12, the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) approved the CRDC part of the EDFacts information 
collection (1875-0240). EDFacts, an ED initiative to put performance 
data at the center of ED's policy, management, and budget decision-
making processes for all preschool-grade 12 education programs, has 
transformed the way in which ED collects and uses data. For school 
years 2013-14, 2015-16, 2017-18, and 2020-21, the Office for Civil 
Rights (OCR) cleared the CRDC as a separate collection from EDFacts 
while maintaining its transformative data collection policies and 
practices. As with previous CRDC collections, the purpose of the 2021-
22 CRDC is to obtain vital data related to the civil rights laws' 
requirement that public local educational agencies (LEAs) and 
elementary and secondary schools provide equal educational opportunity. 
ED has analyzed the uses of many data elements collected in the 2015-16 
and 2017-18 CRDCs and sought advice from experts across ED to refine, 
improve, and where appropriate, add or remove data elements from the 
collection. ED also made the CRDC data definitions and metrics 
consistent with other mandatory collections across ED wherever 
possible. ED seeks OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act to 
collect from LEAs the elementary and secondary education data described 
in the sections of Attachment A. In addition to reviewing and 
commenting on the proposed changes (detailed in Supporting Statement A 
and Attachments A-1, A-2, A-3, and A-4), ED requests that LEAs and 
other stakeholders respond to the directed questions found in 
Attachment A-5.

    Dated: November 16, 2021.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of the Chief Data Officer, Office of 
Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2021-25246 Filed 11-18-21; 8:45 am]
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