[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 202 (Friday, October 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72446-72448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23164]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2023-IES-0146]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the U.S. Department of Education (Department) publishes 
this notice of a new system of records titled ``Connecting Adults to 
Success: Evaluation of Career Navigator Training'' (18-13-46). This 
system contains personally identifiable information provided by adult 
learners and staff at adult education sites who participate in the 
Connecting Adults to Success: Evaluation of Career Navigator Training 
(the Study). The information in this system will be used to assess 
whether providing career navigators with training leads to improved 
education and employment outcomes among adult learners. The Study will 
examine whether outcomes measured at 18 and 30 months after beginning 
participation in the Study differ on average between learners in the 
Study's sites who are assigned by lottery to receive the Study's career 
navigator training and learners in the Study's sites who are assigned 
by lottery to a control group.

DATES: Submit your comments on this notice of a new system of records 
on or before November 20, 2023. This new system of records will become 
applicable upon publication in the Federal Register on October 20, 
2023, unless it needs to be changed as a result of public comment. The 
routine uses outlined in the section titled ``ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS 
MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF 
SUCH USES'' will become effective on the expiration of the 30-day 
period of public comment on November 20, 2023, unless they need to be 
changed as a result of public comment. The Department will publish any 
significant changes to the system of records or routine uses resulting 
from public comment.

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 will not accept comments submitted by fax or by 
email, or comments submitted after the comment period closes. To ensure 
that the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please submit 
your comments only once. In addition, please include the Docket ID at 
the top of your comments.
     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 the ``FAQ'' tab.
    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 be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available.
    Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate 
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who 
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the 
public rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an 
appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please 
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teresa Cahalan, SORN coordinator, 
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Potomac 
Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW, Room 4126, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: 202-245-7299. Email: [email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, 
please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The records maintained in this system will 
be used to measure the effectiveness of training for career navigators 
in improving the education and employment outcomes of adult learners.
    The records maintained in this system will be used to address the 
following research questions:
     Can providing training to career navigators improve adult 
learners' college enrollment and credential attainment rates?
     Can providing training to career navigators improve adult 
learners' employment rates and earnings?
     What types of services do career navigators typically 
provide, and does the training provided to career navigators change the 
nature or intensity of such services in ways that explain any impacts 
on adult learners' postsecondary and employment outcomes?
    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, 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.

Mark Schneider,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Director of the 
Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education 
(Department),

[[Page 72447]]

publishes a notice of a new system of records to read as follows:

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    Connecting Adult to Success: Evaluation of Career Navigator 
Training (18-13-46).

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION(S):
    Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 550 
12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20202. (This is the location of the IES 
Data Center.)
    Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 600 Alexander Park, Princeton, 
NJ 08540-6346 (contractor). (Mathematica will collect personally 
identifiable information regarding staff and adult learners at 
participating adult education sites and store these records until 
uploaded through secure transfer to the IES Data Center.)

SYSTEM MANAGER:
    Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National Center for 
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education 
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 550 12th Street SW, Washington, 
DC 20202.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    This system of records is authorized under 29 U.S.C. 3332(b) and 
(c) (sections 242(b) and 242(c) of title II of the Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act (Pub. L. 113-128)) and section 173 of the Education 
Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) (Pub. L. 107-279). The collection of 
Social Security numbers (SSNs) is authorized under Executive Order 9397 
(November 22, 1943), as amended by Executive Order 13478 (November 18, 
2008).

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    The records maintained in this system will be used to measure the 
effectiveness of training for career navigators in improving the 
education and employment outcomes of adult learners. The records 
maintained in this system will be used to address the following 
research questions:
     Can providing training to career navigators improve adult 
learners' college enrollment and credential attainment rates?
     Can providing training to career navigators improve adult 
learners' employment rates and earnings?
     What types of services do career navigators typically 
provide, and does the training provided to career navigators change the 
nature or intensity of such services in ways that explain any impacts 
on adult learners' postsecondary and workforce outcomes?

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system will maintain records on career navigators and adult 
learners from across 64 adult education provider sites. The adult 
education provider sites will be recipients of funds under the 
Department's adult education formula grant program that volunteer to 
participate in the Connecting Adults to Success: Evaluation of Career 
Navigator Training (the Study) and that meet the Study's selection 
criteria including that they employ career navigators, do not already 
provide training to such navigators that is similar to the Study's 
training, and routinely collect SSNs from learners as part of program 
intake.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Records maintained in this system on career navigators include, but 
are not limited to, name; email address; work and training experience; 
education background; demographic information such as race, age, 
ethnicity, and gender; types and intensity of career navigation 
services that the navigator provides; records of the navigator's 
participation in the Study's training; and the navigator's perceptions 
of the Study's training.
    Records maintained in this system on adult learners include, but 
are not limited to, name; mailing address; email address; date of 
birth; SSN; work experience; education background; English learner 
status; demographic information such as race, ethnicity, and gender; 
course enrollment at the adult education site; participation in career 
navigation services; performance on tests of basic literacy skills; 
educational attainment; and employment and earnings.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Data in this system will be obtained through student records 
maintained by the adult education providers; surveys of adult learners, 
career navigators, and adult education site directors; and the 
administrative records of the National Student Clearinghouse, high 
school equivalency test vendors, the U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services' National Directory of New Hires, and the Department's 
Office of Federal Student Aid.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record in 
this system of records under the routine uses listed in this system of 
records without the consent of the individual if the disclosure is 
compatible with the purposes for which the record was collected. The 
Department may make these disclosures on a case-by-case basis or, if 
the Department has complied with the computer matching requirements of 
the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a), 
under a computer matching agreement. Any disclosure of personally 
identifiable information from a record in this system must also comply 
with the requirements of section 183 of ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573) providing 
for confidentiality standards that apply to all collections, reporting, 
and publication of data by IES. Any disclosure of personally 
identifiable information from student education records that were 
obtained from school districts must also comply with the requirements 
of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 
1232g; 34 CFR part 99), which protects the privacy of student education 
records.
    (1) Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity 
for the purposes of performing any function that requires disclosure of 
records in this system to employees of the contractor, the Department 
may disclose the records to those employees. As part of such a 
contract, the Department will require the contractor to agree to 
maintain safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of the 
records in the system.
    (2) Research Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to a 
researcher if the Department determines that the individual or 
organization to which the disclosure would be made is qualified to 
carry out specific research related to the functions or purposes of 
this system of records. The Department may disclose records from this 
system of records to that researcher solely for the purpose of carrying 
out that research related to the functions or purposes of this system 
of records. The researcher must agree to safeguards, consistent with 
section 183(c) of ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573(c)), to protect the security and 
confidentiality of the records disclosed from this system. If the 
Department discloses personally identifiable information from a 
student's education record covered by FERPA to the researcher, the 
researcher also must agree to comply with applicable FERPA 
requirements.
    (3) Obtaining Participants' Academic and Employment Records. The 
Department may disclose records from this system of records to the 
National Student Clearinghouse, testing vendors for high school 
equivalency credentials, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services in order to obtain

[[Page 72448]]

participants' academic and labor records.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    The Department maintains secured, password-protected records on the 
IES Data Center, and the Department's contractor, Mathematica Policy 
Research, Inc., maintains records for this system on the Department's 
behalf on secured, password-protected computer systems and in hard copy 
form until uploaded to the IES Data Center. Hard copy records will be 
kept in locked file cabinets during nonworking hours and work on hard 
copy records will take place in a single room, except for data entry.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Records in this system are indexed by a unique number assigned to 
each individual, which can be cross-referenced when needed (such as for 
data matching) with the separately stored direct identifiers.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    The Department has submitted a retention and disposition schedule 
that is intended to cover the records contained in this system to the 
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in June 2022 for 
NARA's review. The records will not be destroyed until such a time as 
NARA approves said schedule.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Security protocols for this system of records meet all required 
security standards. All physical access to the Department's site and to 
the site of the Department's contractor, where this system of records 
is also maintained, is controlled and monitored by security personnel. 
The computer system employed by the Department offers a high degree of 
resistance to tampering and circumvention with the use of firewalls, 
encryption, and password protection. This system limits data access to 
Department and contract staff on a need-to-know basis and controls 
individual users' ability to access and alter records within the 
system. The contractor will establish a similar set of procedures at 
its site to ensure the confidentiality of data. The contractor's 
systems are required to ensure that personally identifiable information 
is in files physically separated from other research data. The 
contractor will maintain security of the complete set of all master 
data files. Access to personally identifiable information will be 
strictly controlled. Access to information by contractor staff will be 
granted on a need-to-know basis, and individual staff's ability to 
alter records within the system will be controlled.
    Security features that protect project data include: password-
protected accounts that authorize users to use the contractor's system 
but to access only specific network directories and network software; 
user rights and directory and file attributes that limit those who can 
use particular directories and files and determine how they can use 
them; and additional security features that the network administrators 
will establish for projects as needed. The contractor's employees who 
``maintain'' (collect, maintain, use, or disseminate) data in this 
system shall comply with the requirements of the confidentiality 
standards in section 183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573).

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to gain access to a record in this system, contact the 
system manager at the address listed above. Your request must provide 
necessary particulars of your full name, address, telephone number, and 
any other identifying information requested by the Department, to 
distinguish between individuals with the same name. Your request must 
meet the requirements of regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you, you 
must contact the system manager at the address listed above. Requests 
must contain your full name, address, and telephone number. Your 
request must meet the requirements of the regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you, you 
must contact the systems manager at the address listed above. Your 
request must provide necessary particulars, such as your full name, 
address, telephone number, and any other identifying information 
requested by the Department while processing the request, to 
distinguish between individuals with the same name. Your request must 
meet the requirements of regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

HISTORY:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2023-23164 Filed 10-19-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P