[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77563-77565]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27474]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2022-OPEPD-0082]


Request for Information Regarding Higher Education Act (HEA) 
Pooled Evaluation

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, 
Department of Education.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is requesting 
information in the form of written comments that may include 
information, research, and suggestions regarding the Department's 
implementation of the new authority provided to the Department in the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, to reserve funding from certain 
programs authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended 
(HEA), for the purpose of carrying out rigorous and independent 
evaluations and conducting data collection and analysis of such 
programs. The Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development 
(OPEPD) solicits these comments to identify potential evaluation, data 
collection, and analysis activities that could be undertaken with these 
funds that would increase knowledge about, and improve administration 
of, programs authorized under the HEA, and build evidence of effective 
practices to improve student outcomes in these programs. To use and 
build evidence to support opportunities for students, the Department is 
particularly interested in evaluation, data collection, and analysis 
activities that can inform efforts to make higher education more 
inclusive and affordable and ensure pathways through higher education 
lead to successful careers. The Department is particularly

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interested in activities aligned to Administration priorities including 
but not limited to strengthening community college capacity; holistic 
student supports; promoting postsecondary retention and completion; and 
strengthening alignment across institutions of higher education, K-12, 
and the public workforce system.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before February 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation or 
cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please 
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.
    The Department strongly encourages you to submit any comments or 
attachments in Microsoft Word format. If you must submit a comment in 
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), the Department strongly 
encourages you to convert the PDF to ``print-to-PDF'' format, or to use 
some other commonly used searchable text format. Please do not submit 
the PDF in a scanned format. Using a print-to-PDF format allows the 
Department to electronically search and copy certain portions of your 
submissions to assist in the rulemaking process.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit 
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov, 
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting 
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under 
``FAQ.''
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should include in their 
comments only information about themselves that they wish to make 
publicly available. Commenters should not include in their comments any 
information that identifies other individuals or that permits readers 
to identify other individuals.
    This is a request for information (RFI) only. This RFI is not a 
request for proposals (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice 
inviting applications. This RFI does not commit the Department to 
contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, we are not 
seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The 
Department will not pay for any information or administrative costs 
that you may incur in responding to this RFI. The documents and 
information submitted in response to this RFI become the property of 
the U.S. Government and will not be returned.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John English, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW Room 6W306, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 260-5787. Email: [email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Department administers dozens of programs authorized by the 
HEA. These programs include (but are not limited to): the Student 
Financial Assistance Programs, including the William D. Ford Federal 
Direct Loan Program, the Federal Pell Grant Program, the Teacher 
Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant 
Program, the Federal Work-Study Program (FWS), and the Supplemental 
Educational Grant Program (FSEOG), administered by Federal Student Aid 
(FSA); the Student Service programs administered by the Office of 
Postsecondary Education (OPE), including the Federal TRIO Programs, 
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR 
UP), Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN), and Child 
Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS); the Institutional 
Service programs administered by OPE that are designed to increase 
capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), 
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and other Minority-Serving 
institutions (MSIs) to provide high-quality education to more students; 
the various special focus competitions supported under the Fund for the 
Improvement of Postsecondary Education and administered by OPE; the 
International and Foreign Language Education Domestic Programs; and the 
Special Programs for Migrant Students and Teacher Quality Partnerships 
Programs administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary 
Education.
    As reflected in the Department's Strategic Plan and Learning Agenda 
(available at https://evaluation.gov), high-quality evaluation, data 
collection, and analysis are important priorities. They are key to the 
Department's administration of programs and essential to Congress's and 
the public's understanding of these programs. In addition, high-quality 
program evaluation can help identify effective strategies that can be 
disseminated and scaled more broadly. Very few HEA-authorized programs 
allow the Department to use program funding for evaluation, technical 
assistance, or data collection and analysis, resulting in missed 
opportunities for the Department to be able to increase knowledge of 
effective practices in higher education.
    The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103), 
includes a new HEA Pooled Evaluation authority that authorizes the 
Secretary to reserve up to 0.5 percent from the appropriation for any 
HEA-authorized program--excluding the Pell Grant Program and Student 
Aid Administration--for the purpose of carrying out rigorous and 
independent evaluations and to collect and analyze outcome data for any 
program authorized by the HEA. Fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding that is 
reserved for HEA Pooled Evaluation is available for obligation through 
September 30, 2024. To date, the Department has reserved $6,904,996 
under the HEA Pooled Evaluation authority. The Department must report 
to the House and Senate Appropriations and Authorizing Committees on 
the activities to be carried out under this authority, as well as the 
funding used and the impact on grantees, 30 days prior to obligation of 
funds. This authority was requested in the President's Budget in 
previous years but was included in the Department's appropriations 
legislation for the first time in FY 2022. The Administration has 
requested the authority again in the FY 2023 President's Budget request 
and hopes Congress continues to include this authority in future 
appropriations. The Department will contemplate comments received from 
this RFI when planning to use future funding it may receive from future 
appropriations under this authority.
    The Department is committed to using this authority in a way that 
minimizes the impact on our grantees and students while also allocating 
funding to the highest priority evaluation, data collection, and 
analysis activities. To ensure that we harness the enormous potential 
of this new authority, we are, through this RFI, requesting information 
from the public on ideas for how best to use these funds. Our hope is 
to identify and consider the widest possible range of ideas. Note that 
we see this as a long-term effort; as such, ideas for evaluation, data 
collection, and analysis that are not funded initially may continue to 
be considered, pending the reservation of funds and whether

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this authority is retained in future Department appropriations acts.
    When submitting ideas for potential uses of HEA Pooled Evaluation 
funding, please note that funding must be used in connection with 
evaluation, data collection, and analysis of an HEA-authorized program, 
including the student financial aid programs. When responding to this 
RFI, please address one or more of the following questions related to 
your proposed activity:
    1. What is the goal of this evaluation, or data collection, and 
analysis activity? How would this activity build evidence that supports 
strategies that promote student success, make education more inclusive 
and affordable, and ensure pathways through higher education lead to 
successful careers?
    2. What specific research question or questions is this evaluation, 
data collection, and analysis activity designed to answer?
    3. How would the proposed activity help evaluate, or otherwise 
provide important information on, an HEA program or programs?
    4. If the activity proposed is an evaluation, are you aware of 
other evaluations on this topic? If so, please identify the relevant 
evaluations.
    5. Does the proposed activity involve new data collection and 
analysis or the analysis of existing data?
    6. Are there any additional benefits of conducting this activity 
that have not been previously identified?
    We will review every comment, and the comments in response to this 
RFI will be publicly available on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Please note that the Department will not directly 
respond to comments.
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities 
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, 
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible 
format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To 
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.
    Program Authority: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022.

Roberto Rodriguez,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy 
Development.
[FR Doc. 2022-27474 Filed 12-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P