[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 42 (Thursday, March 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 12161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04515]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2021-SCC-0156]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; School Pulse Panel Data Collection

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 
proposing a new information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
April 4, 2022.

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: School Pulse Panel Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-NEW.
    Type of Review: A new information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals and Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 17,280.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 4,752.
    Abstract: The School Pulse Panel (SPP) is a new data collection 
originally designed to collect voluntary responses from a nationally 
representative sample of public schools to better understand how 
schools, students, and educators are responding to the ongoing 
stressors of the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the immediate need to 
collect information from schools during the pandemic to satisfy the 
requirement of Executive Order 14000, an emergency clearance (OMB 
#1850-0963) was issued to develop and field the first several monthly 
collections of the SPP. This submission is seeking a request for a full 
review of the SPP data collection under the traditional clearance 
review process.
    The School Pulse Panel is conducted by the National Center for 
Education Statistics (NCES), part of the Institute of Education 
Sciences (IES), within the United States Department of Education. The 
purpose of the study is 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 
asks school staff about a wide range of topics, including but not 
limited to instructional mode offered; enrollment counts of subgroups 
of students using various instructional modes; strategies to address 
pandemic-related learning needs; safe and healthy school mitigation 
strategies; mental health services; use of technology; information on 
staffing, nutrition services, principal/parental/student/staff 
concerns, absenteeism, and overall principal experiences. It is planned 
that some new content will be rotated in (and some rotated out) 
monthly. This package includes items that were fielded as part of the 
January, February, and March collections, as well as proposed new 
content to be collected in April, May, and June. Subsequent new content 
area additions (estimated to take place on a quarterly basis) will take 
place as revisions with 30-day public comment periods for each 
subsequent quarterly collection and may be followed by change requests 
to further refine items for each month.
    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 is 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 principals and other 
staff in U.S. public schools. About 2,400 (1,200 in an initial sample 
and 1,200 in a reserve sample) public elementary, middle, high, and 
combined-grade schools have been initially selected to participate in a 
panel where school 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 will 
likely change monthly.

    Dated: February 28, 2022.
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. 2022-04515 Filed 3-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P