[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18741-18743]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-8067]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Evaluation of Teacher
Residency Programs
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 ``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.
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 5,
2011.
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 March 31, 2011. 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 10, 2011, unless OMB waves 10 days of the 40-day
review period for compelling reasons shown by the Department, or (2)
May 5, 2011, 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.
Audrey Pendleton, Acting 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 ``Evaluation of Teacher Residency
[[Page 18742]]
Programs'' 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 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. Audrey Pendleton. Telephone: (202)
208-7078. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD),
you may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, 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 identifying 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 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.
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
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) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister. To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat
Reader, which is available free at this site.
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 via the Federal Digital System at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys.
Dated: March 31, 2010.
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:
18-13-24
SYSTEM NAME:
Evaluation of Teacher Residency Programs.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
None.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
(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 (contractor).
(3) Decision Information Resources, Inc., 2600 Southwest Freeway,
Suite 900, Houston, TX 77098 (subcontractor).
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
This system contains records on approximately 255 residents and 270
mentors from approximately 15 teacher residency programs and 800
teachers and 20,000 students from 8 districts.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
The system of records will include personally identifying
information about the students in the participating teacher classrooms,
including demographic information such as race, ethnicity, gender, age,
and educational background; information on attendance and disciplinary
incidences; and scores on reading and mathematics achievement tests.
The system of records will also include personally identifying
information about the mentors, residents and teachers participating in
the evaluation, including demographic information, such as race,
ethnicity, gender, and educational background, and teaching experience.
The system of records will also include employment information on the
teachers participating in the evaluation.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
The evaluation 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 202(h)(1) of the Higher Education Act, as amended by
the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEA) (20 U.S.C.
1022a(h)). The grant programs that are the subject of this evaluation
are authorized under Part A of Title II of the HEA (sec. 201-204) (20
U.S.C. 1022-1022c).
PURPOSE(S):
The information contained in the records maintained in this system
is used for the following purpose:
To describe Teacher Residency Programs (TRPs) and summarize the
teacher retention and student achievement outcomes of TRP participants.
The study will address the following research questions:
(1) What are the characteristics of TRPs?
(2) What are the characteristics of participants in TRPs?
(3) What is the average performance of novice TRP teachers as
measured by value-added estimates benchmarked against novice and all
teachers in the district?
(4) What are the retention rates of novice TRP teachers and their
novice colleagues who did not go through TRPs?
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
[[Page 18743]]
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 identifying
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
(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 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 a similar set of procedures at their sites to ensure
confidentiality of data. The contractor and subcontractor 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 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; 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 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:
Acting 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.
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 residents, mentors, teachers, and
students participating in an evaluation of teacher residency programs.
Data will be obtained through student records maintained by the school
districts, assessments administered to students, and surveys of
residents, mentors, and teachers.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
[FR Doc. 2011-8067 Filed 4-4-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P