Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records-Impact Evaluation of Mandatory-Random Student Drug Testing, 15129-15131 [E7-5933]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 61 (Friday, March 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15129-15131]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5933]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Impact Evaluation of 
Mandatory-Random Student Drug Testing

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 ``Impact Evaluation of 
Mandatory-Random Student Drug Testing'' (18-13-16). This evaluation was 
commissioned by the National Center for Education Evaluation and 
Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of Education Sciences 
(IES). It will be conducted under a contract that was awarded by IES in 
July 2005. IES has been collaborating with the Department's Office of 
Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) to coordinate the study of 
mandatory-random drug testing interventions in schools.
    The study will address the following questions:
    (1) Do high school students who are subject to mandatory-random 
drug testing (e.g., athletes, participants in competitive extra-
curricular activities, etc.) report less use of tobacco, alcohol, and 
illicit substances compared to comparable students in high schools 
without mandatory-random drug testing policies?
    (2) Do students in high schools with mandatory-random drug testing 
policies, but who are not subject to such testing (e.g., non-athletes, 
students who do not participate in competitive extra-curricular 
activities, etc.), report less use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit 
substances compared to comparable students in high schools without 
mandatory-random drug testing policies?
    The system will contain information about two cohorts of 
approximately 200 high school students in each of (i) 26 high schools 
operating the mandatory-random drug testing program, and (ii) 26 high 
schools that will not operate the program but that will serve as 
control high schools for the purposes of this evaluation. The total 
number of high school students included in this system of records will 
be approximately 10,400 for each of school years 2006-07 and 2007-08. 
The 52 participating high schools will be from school districts that 
are recipients of the Mandatory-Random Drug Testing Program grants that 
were announced in September 2006 by OSDFS. The system of records will 
include information about the high school students participating in the 
evaluation, including the students' names; addresses; demographic 
information such as race/ethnicity, gender, age, educational 
background; and attitudes and beliefs concerning substance use, and 
substance use itself.

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 April 
30, 2007.
    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

[[Page 15130]]

(OMB) on March 27, 2007. This system of records will become effective 
at the later date of--(1) the expiration of the 40-day period for OMB 
review on May 7, 2007 or (2) April 30, 2007, unless the system of 
records needs to be changed as a result of public comment or OMB 
review.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about the proposed routine uses to Dr. 
Ricky Takai, Director, 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. Telephone: (202) 208-7083. If you 
prefer to send comments through the Internet, use the following 
address: comments@ed.gov.
    You must include the term ``Impact Evaluation of Mandatory-Random 
Student Drug Testing'' in the subject line of the electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all comments 
about this notice in room 502D, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC, between the hours of 8 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 supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or print 
magnifier, 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 aid, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Ricky Takai. Telephone: (202) 208-
7083. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you 
may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) 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 information about individuals that 
contains individually identifiable information and that 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 notices of systems of records in the Federal Register and to 
prepare reports to the OMB and Congress whenever the agency publishes a 
new 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 intended to permit 
an evaluation of the probable effect of the proposal on the privacy 
rights of individuals.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may 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) on the Internet at the following site: https://
www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in 
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

    Note: 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 on GPO Access at: https://www.gpoaccess.gov/
nara/.


    Dated: March 27, 2007.
Grover Whitehurst,
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:
18-13-16

SYSTEM NAME:
    Impact Evaluation of Mandatory-Random Student Drug Testing.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    (1) 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.
    (2) RMC Research Corporation, 111 SW Columbia Street, Suite 1200, 
Portland, OR 97201.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on high school students attending a 
high school in school districts that receive grants for School-Based 
Student Drug-Testing Programs. The goal of this study is to determine 
if students in high schools with mandatory-random drug testing policies 
report less use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substances compared to 
comparable students in high schools without mandatory-random student 
drug testing policies.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system will contain information about two cohorts of 
approximately 200 high school students each of (i) 26 high schools 
operating the mandatory-random drug testing program, and (ii) 26 high 
schools that will not operate the program but that will serve as 
control high schools for this evaluation. The total number of high 
school students included in this system of records will be 
approximately 10,400 for each of school years 2006-07 and 2007-08. The 
52 participating high schools will be from school districts that are 
recipients of the grants for School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs 
that were announced in September, 2006 by OSDFS. The system of records 
will include information about the high school students participating 
in the evaluation, including the students' names; addresses; 
demographic information such as race/ethnicity, gender, age, 
educational background; and attitudes and beliefs concerning substance 
use, and substance use itself.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The evaluation being conducted 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). The grants for School-Based Student Drug-Testing 
Programs are authorized under section 4121 of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 7131).

PURPOSE(S):
    The information in this system is used for the following purposes: 
To study the

[[Page 15131]]

impact of mandatory-random drug testing policies in high schools and to 
determine if mandatory-random drug testing policies result in less 
reported use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substances among a group 
of students in participating high schools compared to a comparable 
group of students in high schools that do not operate a mandatory-
random drug testing program.

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. 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, 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 ESRA (20 U.S.C. 
9573) providing for confidentiality standards that apply to all 
collections, reporting, and publication of data by IES.
    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.

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 and 
subcontractor maintain data for this system on computers and in hard 
copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are indexed 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 sites 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 similar sets of procedures at their sites to ensure 
confidentiality of data. Their 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 identifiable data will be 
strictly controlled. At each site 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 and subcontractor's systems 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; e-mail 
passwords that authorize the user to access mail services; and 
additional security features that the network administrators will 
establish for projects as needed. The contractor and subcontractor 
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).

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records are maintained and disposed of in accordance with the 
Department's Records Disposition Schedules (Section Ed/RDS, Part 3, 
Item 2b and Part 3, Item 5a).

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
    Director, 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.

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:
    The system will contain information about two cohorts of 
approximately 200 high school students each of (i) 26 high schools 
operating the mandatory-random drug testing program and (ii) 26 high 
schools that will not operate the program but that will serve as 
control high schools for this evaluation. The total number of high 
school students included in this system of records will be 
approximately 10,400 in each of school years 2006-07 and 2007-08. The 
52 participating high schools will be from school districts that are 
recipients of the grants for School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs 
that were announced in 2006 by OSDFS.
    The system of records will include information about the high 
school students participating in the evaluation including the students' 
names; addresses; demographic information such as race/ethnicity, 
gender, age, and educational background; and attitudes and beliefs 
concerning substance use, and substance use itself.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

 [FR Doc. E7-5933 Filed 3-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P