[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 82 (Friday, April 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25152-25155]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10237]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--National Longitudinal
Transitions Study--2012
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 Department of Education (Department) publishes this
notice of a new system of records entitled ``National Longitudinal
Transitions Study--2012'' (18-13-27). The National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of
Education Sciences (IES) commissioned this study as part of the
congressionally mandated national assessment of Individuals with
Disability Education Act (IDEA). It will be conducted under a contract
that IES awarded in September 2010.
The central research questions that the study will address are: How
do the characteristics, courses of study, receipt of services and
accommodations, school experiences, and key outcomes for transition-age
students with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) differ from
transition-age students with a plan that provides accommodations under
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504 Plan) and
from transition-age students without a Section 504 Plan or an IEP? How
have these facets changed over time for students with IEPs?
The system will contain records from 500 school districts on
approximately 15,000 students and their parents, 15,000 teachers, and
2,000 principals.
DATES: The Department seeks comment on the new system of records
described in this notice, in accordance with the requirements of the
Privacy Act. We must receive your comments on the proposed routine uses
for the system of records referenced in this notice on or before May
29, 2012.
The Department filed a report describing the new system of records
covered by this notice with the Chair of the Senate Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Chair of the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Administrator of
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) on April 24, 2012. This system of records will become
effective at the later date of--(1) The expiration of the 40-day period
for OMB review on June 4, 2012, unless OMB waives 10 days of
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the 40-day review period for compelling reasons shown by the
Department, or (2) May 29, 2012, unless the system of records needs to
be changed as a result of public comment or OMB review.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this new system of records to Dr.
Audrey Pendleton, Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National
Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue
NW., room 502D, Washington, DC 20208-0001. Telephone: (202) 208-7078.
If you prefer to send comments through the Internet, use the following
address: [email protected].
You must include the term ``National Longitudinal Transitions
Study--2012'' in the subject line of the electronic message.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all comments
about this notice at the U.S. Department of Education in room 502D, 555
New Jersey Avenue NW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:00 a.m.
and 4:30 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each week except
Federal holidays.
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: Dr. Audrey Pendleton. Telephone: (202)
208-7078. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD),
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an
accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact
disc) on request to the contact person listed in this section.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires the Department to publish
in the Federal Register this notice of a new system of records
maintained by the Department. The Department's regulations implementing
the Privacy Act are contained in part 5b of title 34 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR).
The Privacy Act applies to any record about an individual that is
maintained in a system of records from which individually identifying
information is retrieved by a unique identifier associated with each
individual, such as a name or Social Security number. The information
about each individual is called a ``record,'' and the system, whether
manual or computer-based, is called a ``system of records.''
The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish a notice of a
system of records in the Federal Register and to prepare and send a
report to OMB whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or
makes a significant change to an established system of records. Each
agency is also required to send copies of the report to the Chair of
the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and
the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
These reports are included to permit an evaluation of the probable
effect of the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free
Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. 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 Adobe 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.
Dated: April 24, 2012.
John Q. Easton,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Director of the
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education,
publishes a notice of a new system of records to read as follows:
SYSTEM NUMBER:
18-13-27.
SYSTEM NAME:
National Longitudinal Transitions Study--2012.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
None.
SYSTEM LOCATIONS:
(1) Evaluation Division, National Center for Education Evaluation
and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S.
Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., room 502D,
Washington, DC 20208-0001.
(2) Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 600 Alexander Park,
Princeton, NJ 08540-6346 (contractor).
(3) Decision Information Resources, Inc., 2600 Southwest Freeway,
Suite 900, Houston, TX 77098-4610 (subcontractor).
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
The system will contain records from 500 districts on approximately
15,000 students and their parents, 15,000 teachers, and 2,000
principals.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
The system of records includes individually identifying information
about the students who agree to participate. This information includes
name, birth date, and contact information; demographic information such
as race, ethnicity, gender, age, and educational background;
information on accommodations and services received; information on
attendance and disciplinary incidences; information on employment
history and postsecondary institution attended; and scores on reading
and mathematics achievement tests. The system of records also includes
students' school transcripts. It is also our intention to include in
this system of records students' Social Security numbers (SSNs). In
order to ensure that the information on the students' employment and
earnings can be obtained, the students' SSNs are needed because other
methods (i.e., self-reporting) have proven to be infeasible. This
method will place a low burden on students and be of low cost to the
Federal government. The system of records will also include
individually identifying information about the parents and teachers of
participating students, including name and contact information;
demographic information such as race and ethnicity; and teaching
experience. The system of records will also include the name and
contact information of principals of participating students and
information that they provide about the school's programs, policies,
and environment.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
The study is authorized under Part D, Subpart 2, Section 664 of the
[[Page 25154]]
Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1464.
PURPOSE(S):
The information contained in the records maintained in this system
will be used to describe the characteristics of, receipt of services
by, and outcomes of transition-age students. The study will address the
following research questions:
Describe Transition-Age Students With an Individualized Education
Plan (IEP)
What are the personal, family, and school characteristics of this
group?
What are their courses of study, services and accommodations
received to support learning, and preparation for transition? What
barriers and challenges do they encounter?
What are the key academic, social, and economic outcomes in school
and after leaving school for youth with disabilities?
How do services received, courses of study, barriers, and outcomes
vary for subgroups defined by the nature of the student's disability,
age, sex, race/ethnicity, or characteristics of the student's school or
community?
How do academic, social, and economic outcomes for students with
disabilities vary by their course of study and receipt of services and
accommodations, accounting for preexisting youth characteristics?
Compare Current Transition-Age Students With an IEP to Their Peers
in Prior Cohorts
How do the receipt of services and accommodations and the outcomes
of the current cohort of special education students differ from those
of previous cohorts of special education students?
Compare Transition-Age Students With an IEP to Their Peers Who Do
Not Have an IEP
What are the characteristics, school and transition experiences,
and postsecondary outcomes of students with a plan that provides
accommodations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(Section 504 Plan)?
How do characteristics, courses of study, receipt of services and
accommodations, and key outcomes for transition-age students with an
IEP differ from transition-age students with a Section 504 Plan and
from transition-age students with no Section 504 Plan and no IEP?
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
The Department of Education (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. These disclosures may be made 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),
under a computer matching agreement. Any disclosure of individually
identifiable information from a record in this system must also comply
with the requirements of section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform
Act of 2002 (ESRA) (20 U.S.C. 9573) providing for confidentiality
standards that apply to all collections, reporting, and publication of
data by IES.
(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. Before entering into such
a contract, the Department shall require the contractor to maintain
Privacy Act safeguards as required under 5 U.S.C. 552a(m) with respect
to the records in the system.
(2) Federal Agency Disclosure. The Department may disclose records
from this system of records to another Federal agency for the purposes
of allowing that agency to provide assistance to the Department with
the evaluation of a federally supported education program. Under the
requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),
20 U.S.C. 1232g and 34 CFR part 99, the Department will enter into an
interagency agreement with the other Federal agency designating that
agency as the Department's authorized representative before disclosing
any personally identifiable information from any students' education
records to that Federal agency. Under the terms of such an interagency
agreement, the Federal agency will not be permitted to redisclose any
personally identifiable information obtained from students' education
records, and will be required to destroy any personally identifiable
information from students' education records when no longer needed for
the purposes of the evaluation as well as to maintain safeguards to
protect the confidentiality of any personally identifiable information
disclosed.
DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
Not applicable to this system notice.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
The Department maintains records on CD-ROM, and the contractor
(Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.) and sub-contractor (Decision
Information Resources, Inc.) maintain data for this system on computers
and in hard copy.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a number
assigned to each individual that is cross-referenced by the
individual's name on a separate list.
SAFEGUARDS:
All physical access to the Department's site and to the site of the
Department's contractor and subcontractor, where this system of records
is 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. This security 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 and subcontractor will establish a
similar set of procedures at its site to ensure confidentiality of
data. The contractor's and subcontractor's systems are required to
ensure that information identifying individuals is in files physically
separated from other research data. The contractor and subcontractor
will maintain security of the complete set of all master data files and
documentation. Access to individually identifying data will be strictly
controlled. All data will be kept in locked file cabinets during
nonworking hours, and work on hardcopy data will take place in a single
room, except for data entry. Physical security of electronic data will
also be maintained. 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 and subcontractor's employees who ``maintain'' (collect,
maintain, use, or disseminate) data in this system shall comply with
the requirements of the confidentiality
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standards in section 183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573).
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
Records are maintained and disposed of in accordance with the
Department's Records Disposition Schedules (ED/RDS, Part 3, Item 2b and
Part 3, Item 5a).
SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National Center for
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., Room
502D, Washington, DC 20208-0001.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you in
the system of records, contact the systems manager. Your request must
meet the requirements of regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of
identity.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
If you wish to gain access to your record in the system of records,
contact the system manager. Your request must meet the requirements of
regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you in the
system of records, contact the system manager. Your request must meet
the requirements of the regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of
identity.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
This system contains records on students, their parents, teachers,
and principals participating in the National Longitudinal Transitions
Study 2012. Data will be obtained through student records maintained by
the school districts, assessments administered to students, and surveys
of students, their parents, teachers, and principals. Information on
principals will be obtained from publicly available information and
information that they submit in response to surveys about their
schools' programs, policies, and environment
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
[FR Doc. 2012-10237 Filed 4-26-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P