[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 21 (Monday, February 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5523-5525]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01932]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Study of Teacher
Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher Effectiveness
AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of an altered 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 an altered system of records entitled ``Study of Teacher
Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher Effectiveness'' (18-13-29)
(formerly, ``Study of Promising Features of Teacher Preparation
Programs''). The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional
Assistance at the Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
awarded a contract in September 2011 to Abt Associates to conduct a
rigorous study of the effect on student learning of teachers who have
various experiences in their teacher preparation programs (e.g.,
intensive clinical practice). The original system of records notice for
this study was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2012 (77
FR 38611). This altered system of records notice reflects changes to
the study's design based on the infeasibility of efficiently
identifying a sufficient number of teachers eligible for an impact
study design.
DATES: Submit your comments on this notice of an altered system of
records or before March 4, 2015.
The Department filed a report describing the altered 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 January 20, 2015. This altered system of records
will become effective at the later date of: (1) The expiration of the
40-day period for OMB review on March 2, 2015, unless OMB waives 10
days of the 40-day review period for compelling reasons shown by the
Department, or (2) March 4, 2015, unless the system of records needs to
be changed as a result of public comment or OMB review. The Department
will publish any changes to the system of records or routine uses that
result from public comment or OMB review.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this notice of an altered 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 your comments
through the Internet, use the following address: [email protected].
You must include the phrase ``Study of Teacher Preparation
Experiences and Early Teacher Effectiveness'' in the subject line of
the electronic message.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this notice at the Department in room 502D, 555 New
Jersey Avenue NW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and
4:30 p.m., Washington, DC 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 aid, please contact the person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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 use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY),
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(e)(4) and (e)(11)) requires the
Department to publish in the Federal Register this notice of an altered
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 records about individuals that contain
individually identifying information and that are retrieved by a unique
identifier associated with each individual, such as a name or Social
Security number (SSN). 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 inc1uded to permit an evaluation of the probable
effect of the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.
In response to expert feedback, this study will examine the
relationship between student learning outcomes and teaching preparation
experiences that vary in terms of type (e.g., coursework, fieldwork,
and intensive feedback in the field) and content (e.g., classroom
management and instructional strategies). District, teacher, and
student sample sizes and teacher data elements have been revised to
allow for this analysis.
Accordingly, the Department has retitled the system of records (now
``Study of Teacher Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher
Effectiveness,'' instead of ``Study of Promising Features of Teacher
Preparation Programs'') and updated the section of the system of
records notice entitled ``CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE
SYSTEM'' to reflect that the system of records will contain records on
approximately 1,518,950 students and 8,000 novice teachers from up to
50 school districts. The system of records will include personally
identifying information on novice teachers of fourth through sixth
grade students in study
[[Page 5524]]
districts and on students in those grades. The Department also has
updated the section of the system of records notice entitled
``CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM.'' For students, the information
in the system of records will include school name; student
identification number; birth date; demographic information such as
race, ethnicity, and gender; and educational background, including
individualized education program status, primary disability code (if
applicable), English language learner status, and English language
proficiency level (if applicable); whether enrolled in the National
School Lunch Program; and scores on reading and mathematics achievement
tests. For teachers, the system of records will include name and
contact information; teacher identification number; Social Security
number; demographic information such as race and ethnicity; information
on postsecondary institution attended and teaching preparation
experiences; and scores on postsecondary entrance exams. Additionally,
the Department has updated the section of the system of records notice
entitled ``PURPOSE(S)'' to reflect the changes to the study's design
and research questions. The Department has also updated the section of
the notice entitled ``ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM,
INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES'' to
include disclosure to researchers. Finally, the Department has made
minor updates to other sections of the system notice entitled ``SYSTEM
LOCATIONS,'' ``AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM,'' ``STORAGE,''
and ``RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES.''
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: January 28, 2015.
Sue Betka,
Acting 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
(Department) publishes a notice of an altered system of records to read
as follows:
SYSTEM NUMBER:
18-13-29
SYSTEM NAME:
Study of Teacher Preparation Experiences and Early Teacher
Effectiveness.
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) Abt Associates, 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1168
(contractor).
(3) Education Analytics, 555 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI
53703-2615 (subcontractor).
(4) Westat, 1600 Research Boulevard, Rockville, MD 20850-3129
(subcontractor).
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
The system will contain records on approximately 1,518,950 fourth
through sixth grade students and 8,000 novice teachers from up to 50
school districts.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
The system of records will include information about the students
and teachers who participate in the study. For students, this
information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to,
school name; student identification number; birth date; enrolled grade;
demographic information such as race, ethnicity, and gender; and
educational background information, including individualized education
program status, primary disability code (if applicable), English
language learner status, and English language proficiency level (if
applicable); whether enrolled in the National School Lunch Program; and
scores on reading and mathematics achievement tests. For teachers, this
information will include, but will not necessarily be limited to, name
and contact information; teacher identification number; Social Security
number; demographic information such as race and ethnicity; information
on postsecondary institution attended and teaching preparation
experiences; scores on postsecondary entrance exams.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
The study is authorized under sections 171(b) and 173 of the
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA)(20 U.S.C. 9561(b) and
9563) and section 9601 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965, as amended (ESEA)(20 U.S.C. 7941).
PURPOSE(S):
The information contained in the records maintained in this system
will be used to conduct a rigorous study of the relationship between
student learning outcomes and teachers' preparation experiences.
The study will address the following central research question:
What are the relationships between teacher preparation experiences and
teacher effectiveness?
Secondary research questions for the study are:
What are the relationships between teacher preparation experiences
and teacher effectiveness with English learners? Do relationships
between teachers' preparation experiences and teacher effectiveness
differ depending on teachers' assessments of the usefulness of the
preparation experiences?
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 use listed here 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 individually identifiable
information from a record in this system must also comply with the
requirements of section 183 of ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573), which provides
confidentiality standards that apply to all collection, reporting, and
publication of data by IES. In disclosing personally identifiable
information from students' education records, the Department must also
comply with the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy
[[Page 5525]]
Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 CFR part 99), which protects the
privacy of students' education records.
1. Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity
to perform any function that requires disclosing records in this system
to the contractor's employees, the Department may disclose the records
to those employees who have received the appropriate level of security
clearance from the Department. Before entering into such a contract,
the Department will require the contractor to establish and maintain
the safeguards required under the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(m)) with
respect to the records in the system.
2. Research Disclosure. The Director of IES may license
confidential information from this system of records to qualified
external researchers solely for the purpose of carrying out specific
research that is compatible with the purpose(s) of this system of
records. The researcher must maintain, under the Privacy Act and
section 183(c) of the ESRA, safeguards with respect to such records.
DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
None.
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 (Abt
Associates Inc.) and sub-contractors (Education Analytics, Westat)
maintain data for this system on computers and in hard copy.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a unique 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 sites of
the Department's contractor and subcontractors, 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 subcontractors have established a similar set of
procedures at their sites to ensure confidentiality of data. The
contractor and subcontractors are required to ensure that print data
identifying individuals are in files physically separated from other
research data and electronic files identifying individuals are
separated from other electronic research data files. The contractor and
subcontractors maintain security of the complete set of all master data
files and documentation. Access to individually identifiable data is
strictly controlled. At each site, all hardcopy data are kept in locked
file cabinets during nonworking hours and work on hardcopy data takes
place in a single room, except for data entry.
Physical security of electronic data is also 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 Department's, contractor's, and
subcontractors' employees who ``maintain'' (collect, maintain, use, or
disseminate) data in this system must comply with the requirements of
the Privacy Act, FERPA, and the confidentiality 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 (GRS 23, Item 8).
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 system manager. Your request must
meet the requirements of the Department's Privacy Act regulations at 34
CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
If you wish to gain access to a record about you in this system of
records, contact the system manager. Your request must meet the
requirements of the Department's Privacy Act 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 for access
to a record must meet the requirements of the Department's Privacy Act
regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of identity.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
This system will contain records on teachers, and students
participating in a study of teaching preparation experiences and
teacher effectiveness. Data will be obtained through human resource and
student records maintained by the school districts and surveys of
teachers.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
[FR Doc. 2015-01932 Filed 1-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P