[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 98 (Monday, May 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43839-43840]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10973]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2024-SCC-0032]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; School Pulse Panel 2024-25 Data Collection

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of 
Education (ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 
the Department is proposing a revision of a currently approved 
information collection request (ICR).

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
June 20, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for proposed 
information collection requests should be submitted within 30 days of 
publication of this notice. Click on this link www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain to access the site. Find this information collection request 
(ICR) by selecting ``Department of Education'' under ``Currently Under 
Review,'' then check the ``Only Show ICR for Public Comment'' checkbox. 
Reginfo.gov provides two links to view documents related to this 
information collection request. Information collection forms and 
instructions may be found by clicking on the ``View Information 
Collection (IC) List'' link. Supporting statements and other supporting 
documentation may be found by clicking on the ``View Supporting 
Statement and Other Documents'' link.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Carrie Clarady, (202) 245-6347.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department 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 2024-25 Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0969.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 53,955.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 10,175.
    Abstract: The School Pulse Panel (SPP) is a data collection that 
was originally designed to collect voluntary responses from a 
nationally representative sample of public schools to better understand 
how schools, students, and educators were 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 was issued 
to develop and field the first several monthly collections of the SPP 
in 2021 and a full review of the SPP data collection was performed 
under the traditional clearance review process in 2022 (OMB#1850-0969). 
SPPs innovative design and timely dissemination of findings have been 
used and cited frequently among Department of Education senior 
leadership, the White House Domestic Policy Council, the USDAs Food and 
Nutrition Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
Congressional deliberations, and the media. The ongoing, growing 
interest by stakeholders resulted in the request for dedicated funding 
to create an established NCES quick-turnaround data collection vehicle 
to become a mainstay for NCES. Funding for a mainstay collection was 
approved in late 2022, and NCES conducted a new collection during the 
2023-24 school year. The purpose of this request is for a full review 
of the 2024-25 SPP data collection under the traditional clearance 
review process.
    For the 2024-25 school year, the survey will ask school staff about 
a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, staffing, 
learning recovery, tutoring, usage of federal funds, facilities, 
transportation, school environment issues, and overall principal and 
staff experiences, in addition to repeating items from the previous 
collections. It is planned that some new content will be rotated in 
(and some rotated out) monthly. This package includes details regarding 
the methodology and operations, as well as potential content areas and 
an item bank of potential items that can be asked any month.
    The School Pulse Panel study is one of the few reliable, nationally 
representative, quick-turnaround studies that produces data on U.S. 
public schools. The sample design for the 2024-25 collection will 
roughly be the same as the 2023-24 collection, with 4,000 public 
elementary, middle, high, and combined-grade schools in an initial 
sample and 4,000 public elementary, middle, high, and combined-grade 
schools in a reserve sample. These schools will be selected via a 
random stratified sampling approach.
    This submission has undergone a 60-day public comment period and is 
now submitted for an additional 30-day public comment period. We have 
made revisions to all documents that are part of this request. We have 
added instruments for the August, September, and October 2024 surveys 
(Appendix C1) and split the Item Bank into two parts; Appendix B1 will 
be an item bank for the current administration SPP 2024-2025, while 
Appendix B2 contains all questionnaires from previous administrations, 
including all items that may be revived in future months of SPP 2024-
25. Items in Appendix C1 are currently being tested and are considered 
draft until the testing is complete; final items will be submitted to 
OMB through a change request. Subsequent quarterly instruments will 
also be posted for 30-day comment in the months immediately preceding 
their administration, potentially followed by change requests to allow 
for small changes in items as deemed necessary by cognitive testing.


[[Page 43840]]


    Dated: May 15, 2024.
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. 2024-10973 Filed 5-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P