[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 241 (Monday, December 20, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71879-71880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27476]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2021-SCC-0169]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; School 
Pulse Panel Data Collection Winter Collections Revision

AGENCY: Institute of Educational Science (IES), 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 a new information collection.

DATES: Approval by the OMB has been requested by or before [December 
17, 2021]. Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or 
January 19, 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-0169. 
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 20202-4537.

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 Data Collection Activities.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0963.
    Type of Review: A revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 17,280.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 4,752.
    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. 
Because this data collection is extremely high priority and time 
sensitive, it will undergo Emergency Clearance. It will not go through 
a 60-day public comment period and will only undergo a 30-day public 
comment period after clearance has been granted. NCES has also 
submitted a parallel ICR package to undergo the usual 60-day and 30-day 
clearance processes so that data collection can continue beyond the 
expiration of the 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 1,200 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.
    Emergency Justification: In October 2021, the SPP was suspended for 
the months of October, November, and December due to low response rates 
for the first month of the collection (OMB 1850-0963 v6). During that 
pause, the Institute of Education Sciences used that time to redesign 
the study to improve response rates. A primary strategy for that was to 
reduce burden in each month's collection and to rotate content to 
address data needs of the agencies across months. Additionally, we are 
actively recruiting schools in a more comprehensive manner in order to 
start the January collection with a more robust, committed panel of 
schools. This submission includes planned communication materials and 
items to be collected in January, February, and March. The SPP study 
itself is extremely important particularly now that COVID-19 has not 
waned, and the pulse model is one that the agency will need after the 
pandemic subsides for other quick-turnaround data needs.


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    Dated: December 15, 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. 2021-27476 Filed 12-17-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P