[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 9 (Friday, January 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2257-2258]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00593]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Intent To Seek Approval To Establish an Information 
Collection System; Computer Science for All--Evaluation and Systematic 
Review of Grantee Documents

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the 
National Science Foundation (NSF) is inviting the general public or 
other Federal agencies to comment on this proposed continuing 
information collection.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by March 12, 
2024, to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to address 
below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance 
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 
E7400, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone (703) 292-7556; or send 
email to [email protected]. Individuals who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 
days a week, 365 days a year (including federal holidays).
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Foundation, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Foundation's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: Computer Science for All--Evaluation and 
Systematic Review of Grantee Documents.
    OMB Number: 3145-NEW.
    Expiration Date of Approval: Not applicable.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to establish an 
information collection for post-award output and outcome monitoring 
system.
    Abstract: Computer Science for All Researcher Practitioner 
Partnership (RPP) grantees are required to submit Annual Reports and 
Project Outcome reports to NSF that summarize the outputs, outcomes, 
and impact of their funded work. NSF is required by Congress to 
demonstrate the long-term outcomes for the CSforAll RPP initiative, 
defined as those that occur at least 5 years since grantees received 
funding. the first year where these long-term outcomes can be 
documented for the first CSforAll RPP cohort, funded in 2017, was 2023. 
This multi-year evaluation is focused on documenting the long-term 
outcomes for the first three cohorts of the initiative--2017, 2018, and 
2019. There are a total of 73 funded grants from the three cohorts. To 
effectively extract and analyze the needed information to document 
long-term outcomes for these 73 RPP grants, a systematic review of all 
grantee reports of outputs, outcomes, and impacts will be conducted, 
following these steps:
    Develop a document review form. The researchers conducting the 
evaluation of these long-term outcomes for the three cohorts of 
grantees will develop and use a document review form that will include 
fields for recording information needed for this evaluation, guided by 
the required outputs, outcomes, and impacts that NSF must document in a 
report to Congress. The form will include all information that the 
researchers were able to glean from the grantees' reports and will 
highlight where information is missing about each grant's outputs and 
outcomes during the period of performance, and up to at least 5 years 
after the grant was funded. The review form will focus on the relevant 
outputs, outcomes, and impacts related to each of the three strands of 
the CSforAll RPPs initiative (preK-8, high school, and multi-grade 
pathways) to document the long-term outcomes for each of those strands.
    Review all grantee documents using the review form. The document 
review form will be completed and compiled by trained researchers who 
conduct a primary and secondary review of all relevant grantee 
documents related to the funded RPP, including the grantees' reports to 
NSF, as well as any related publications and websites, to help ensure 
thoroughness, consistency, and accuracy. The researchers will

[[Page 2258]]

document all outputs, outcomes, and impacts they can find in their 
document reviews. These will be aligned with the list of required 
outputs, outcomes, and impacts that NSF must report to Congress (e.g., 
number and demographics of teachers, number and demographics of 
students served by the grant).
    Produce grantee profile memos for grantee verification. After the 
researchers complete the document review forms for each funded RPP 
grant to the best of their ability, the information will be summarized 
in a memo to be shared with each grantee for their review and to gather 
any missing information. PIs will be asked to provide any missing 
information, focused on known outputs, outcomes, and impacts up to at 
least 5 years after funding was received. After they have had time to 
review the form and gather the missing information, each PI will be 
invited to participate in 30-60 minute interview conducted via 
videoconferencing. The interview will be conducted by a member of the 
research team, with the purpose of confirming the outputs, outcomes, 
and impacts in the document review form, and following up with any 
remaining questions about the impact of the grant on preK-12 computer 
science education in the education systems that were served by the 
grant.
    Finalize grantee-provided data and identify additional primary data 
collections. Any additional information provided by grantees will be 
added to the review document forms to finalize existing grantee data 
and to determine what additional data are needed to address research 
questions, the most appropriate method for collecting that information 
(e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups), and from whom (e.g., 
district or school administration, teachers). Because this evaluation 
project involves providing NSF with insights about other relevant 
outcomes and impacts they may not have anticipated for this evaluation, 
the information collected from grantees' completion of the document 
review form and their interviews will be used to identify those 
additional outcomes and impacts.

Use of the Information

    Much of the data needed for this collection will come from a review 
of the Annual Reports, Final Reports, Evaluation Reports, and Project 
Outcome Reports that grantees are required to submit to NSF. After a 
systematic review of all grantee documents for the 73 funded grants, 
necessary information will be extracted from the documents and reviewed 
by grantee PIs, following the steps outlined in the abstract.

                                            Estimate of Public Burden
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                                                                      Annual number of responses/   Annual hour
            Collection title                 Number of respondents            respondent              burden
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Verification of Document Review Form      73 grantee PIs............  2 (1 hour for document                 146
 Information by RPP Grantees.                                          review and up to 1 hour
                                                                       for follow-up call).
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Respondents

    The respondents are the Principal Investigator and/or program 
evaluator of each grant. They will be asked to review their grantee-
specific memo, determine whether their data are accurately represented, 
and provide any additional available information during a 30-60-minute 
call.

Estimates of Annualized Cost to Respondents for the Hour Burdens

    The overall annualized cost to the respondents is estimated to be 
$8,085.48. The following table shows the annualized estimate of costs 
to PIs/designee respondents, who are generally university research 
faculty members. This estimated hourly rate is based on the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics from May 
2022, for ``Education Administrators, Postsecondary.'' According to 
these estimates, the mean hourly wage for a postsecondary education 
administrator was $55.38.

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                                                     Number of     Burden hours   Average hourly     Estimated
                 Respondent type                    respondents   per respondent       rate         annual cost
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grantees/PIs....................................              73               2          $55.38       $8,085.48
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              73  ..............  ..............        8,085.48
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Source: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes119033.htm.

Estimated Number of Responses per Report

    Data collection involves all 73 grantees for the funded CSforAll 
RPP grants in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 cohorts.

    Dated: January 9, 2024.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2024-00593 Filed 1-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P