Department of Education April 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Secretary of Education amends the regulations governing the Impact Aid Discretionary Construction program, authorized under section 8007(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended. This program provides competitive grants for emergency repairs and modernization of school facilities to certain eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive Impact Aid formula funds. These final regulations amend a requirement for applying for these Impact Aid funds and will improve the administration and distribution of funds under this program. These final regulations apply to grant competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2012 and later years.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).

This notice invites the public to make oral comments concerning the agencies/institution scheduled for review at the NACIQI's June 8-10, 2011 meeting. This notice is required under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and Section 114(d)(1)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).

The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) has set a goal for the United States to lead the world in completion of postsecondary education by 2020. The Department recognizes that the most significant in-school-factor in a student's education is his or her teacher, and wants to encourage a large and diverse group of high-performing individuals to pursue a career in teaching. As one strategy to reach this goal, the Department launched the TEACH Campaigna national teacher recruiting effort with the goal of contributing to a high-performing and more diverse teaching force by linking prospective teachers to opportunities for preparation, licensure, and employment. Through a contract, the Department launched the TEACH Campaign using traditional media, digital media, social networking, and direct outreach and follow-up activities with potential and current teachers, and supported it with a Web-based portal (https://www.teach.gov, and associated social networking accounts with YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, collectively referred to as the ``Web Portal'') that is available for use by potential and currently employed teachers for free. The TEACH Campaign (i) targets individuals between the ages of 18 and 25, especially those who are potential high- performers and are among populations under-represented in the teaching profession or are individuals interested in teaching English learners, students with disabilities, or in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in underserved communities (the targeted populations), (ii) strives to enhance public perception of teachers, and (iii) develops support for new and already-practicing teachers. The TEACH Campaign, which is supported through the Web Portal, is based on a comprehensive strategic communications plan, which includes a clear and identifiable ``brand,'' celebrity and teacher public service announcements that are disseminated through multiple formats (e.g., traditional media, digital media, and social networks), and direct outreach and follow-up activities with potential teachers. The Web Portal is designed to improve the recruitment, training, mentoring, retention, and placement of teachers. The Department plans to transfer ownership and operation of the TEACH Campaign, including the recruiting effort and the Web Portal, to an entity or to a group of entities that enter into an agreement to collaborate, form a consortium, or establish a partnership (entity) that works outside of the Federal Government and that would, with its own resources, execute and continuously improve an excellent and effective teacher recruiting effort, continuously improve a highly visible and useful Web Portal, and continue to make the Web Portal available at all times to potential and currently employed teachers for free. Through this notice, we are inviting proposals from entities interested in owning and operating the TEACH Campaign, including the recruiting effort and the Web Portal.

The Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education announces priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria under the Enhanced Assessment Instruments Grant program, also called the Enhanced Assessment Grants (EAG) program. The Assistant Secretary may use one or more of these priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and later years. We take these actions to focus Federal financial assistance on the pressing need to improve the assessment instruments and systems used by States to accurately measure student academic achievement and growth under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA).

The Department of Education (Department) gives notice that on December 15, 2010 an arbitration panel rendered a decision in the matter of Richard Thelen v. Michigan Commission for the Blind, Case no. R-S/08-7. This panel was convened by the Department under 20 U.S.C. 107d-1(a), after the Department received a complaint filed by the petitioner, Richard Thelen.

On April 13, 2011, the Department of Education published a 30- day comment period notice in the Federal Register (Page 20635, Column 3) seeking public comment for an information collection entitled, ``Study of the Distribution of Teacher Effectiveness.'' The title is hereby corrected to ``Teacher Quality Distribution Study.'' The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, hereby issues a correction notice as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).

The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).

On October 29, 2010, the Department of Education published in the Federal Register (75 FR 66832) final regulations for improving integrity in the programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), by amending the regulations for Institutional Eligibility Under the HEA, the Secretary's Recognition of Accrediting Agencies, the Secretary's Recognition Procedures for State Agencies, the Student Assistance General Provisions, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program, the Federal Pell Grant Program, and the Academic Competitiveness Grant (AGC) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National Smart Grant) Programs. This document makes several corrections to the October 29 final regulations, including in the preamble discussion and the regulatory text.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Information Management and Privacy Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).

The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools proposes priorities, requirements, and definitions under the Safe and Supportive Schools program. The Assistant Deputy Secretary may use one or more of these priorities, requirements, and definitions for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and later years. The Assistant Deputy Secretary intends to use the priorities, requirements, and definitions to awards grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) to support statewide measurement of, and targeted programmatic interventions to improve, conditions for learning in order to help schools improve student safety and health.

The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations implementing section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act, which is also known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (FERPA). These proposed amendments are necessary to ensure that the Department's implementation of FERPA continues to protect the privacy of education records, as intended by Congress, while allowing for the effective use of data in statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) as envisioned in the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act (COMPETES Act) and furthermore supported under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Improved access to data contained within an SLDS will facilitate States' ability to evaluate education programs, to build upon what works and discard what does not, to increase accountability and transparency, and to contribute to a culture of innovation and continuous improvement in education. These proposed amendments would enable authorized representatives of State and local educational authorities, and organizations conducting studies, to use SLDS data to achieve these important outcomes while protecting privacy under FERPA through an expansion of the requirements for written agreements and the Department's enforcement mechanisms.

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 ``Evaluation of Teacher Residency Programs'' (18-13-24). The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) commissioned this evaluation. It will be conducted under a contract that IES awarded in February 2010. The central research questions that the study will address are: What are the characteristics of Teacher Residency Programs (TRPs)? What are the characteristics of participants in TRPs? What is the average performance of novice TRP teachers as measured by value-added estimates benchmarked against novice and all teachers in the district? What are the retention rates of novice TRP teachers and their novice colleagues who did not go through TRPs? The system will contain information on approximately 255 residents and 270 mentors from 15 teacher residency programs and approximately 800 teachers and 20,000 students from 8 districts.

On March 18, 2011, we published in the Federal Register (76 FR 14954-14959) a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2011 for the National Professional Development Program. This notice makes corrections to the CFDA number referenced in the March 18 notice and extends the deadline date for transmittal of applications. We are extending the deadline date for this competition because the CFDA numbers identified in the March 18, 2011 notice were incorrect.