[Federal Register: August 31, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 169)]
[Notice]
[Page 50343-50346]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31au07-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Evaluation of Conversion
Magnet Schools
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 Conversion
Magnet Schools'' (18-13-18). The National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of
Education Sciences (IES) commissioned this evaluation. IES awarded a
contract to American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Berkeley Policy
Associates (BPA) in September 2006 to conduct this evaluation. IES has
been collaborating with the Department's Office of Innovation and
Improvement (OII) to plan and implement the study of the relationship
between magnet school conversion and student outcomes at the elementary
school level.
The study will occur in two phases during which the following
questions will be addressed:
(1) Are sufficient data available from the 2004 and 2007 Magnet
Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grantees to conduct an evaluation of
elementary conversion magnet schools and provide descriptive analyses
of such schools?
(2) What is the relationship of magnet school conversion to (i) The
educational achievement of students attending the magnet schools that
are their neighborhood schools (resident students); (ii) the reduction
of minority group isolation in the magnet schools and corresponding
district; and, (iii) the educational achievement of non-resident
students who apply for admission to over-subscribed magnet programs?
The system will contain information about elementary school
students who attend approximately (i) 50 conversion magnet schools and
(ii) 100 elementary schools that are not magnet schools that will serve
as comparison elementary schools for the purposes of this study. The
total number of elementary school students included in this system of
records will be approximately 15,000 per year for the years 2004-2005
through 2009-2010 and approximately 7,500 per year for the years 2001-
2002 through 2003-2004. The 50 magnet schools in the study are drawn
from
[[Page 50344]]
school districts that were awarded MSAP grants by OII in 2004 and/or
2007. For each conversion magnet school and its comparison schools,
data will be collected for the three years before and for at least the
three years after the conversion date.
The system of records will include information about students who
attend the elementary schools participating in the evaluation including
demographic information (such as race/ethnicity, gender, age, and
language status); attendance zone; grade level; and annual English
language arts and mathematics test scores.
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
October 1, 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 (OMB) on August 28, 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 October 9, 2007 or (2) October 1, 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: http://comments@ed.gov.
You must include the term ``Evaluation of Conversion Magnet
Schools'' 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: http://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: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/
nara/index.html.
Dated: August 28, 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:
18-13-18
SYSTEM NAME:
Evaluation of Conversion Magnet Schools.
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) American Institutes for Research, 1070 Arastradero Road, Suite
200, Palo Alto, CA 94304.
(3) Berkeley Policy Associates, 440 Grand Avenue, Suite 500,
Oakland, CA 94610-5085.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
This system contains records on elementary school students
attending an elementary school in school districts that are recipients
of Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grants in 2004 and/or 2007.
The system will contain information about students who attend
approximately (i) 50 conversion magnet schools and (ii) 100 elementary
schools that are not magnet schools that will serve as comparison
elementary schools for the purposes of this study. The total number of
elementary school students included in this system of records will be
approximately 15,000 per year for the years 2004-2005 through 2009-2010
and approximately 7,500 per year for the years 2001-2002
[[Page 50345]]
through 2003-2004. The 50 magnet schools in the study are drawn from
school districts that were awarded MSAP grants by the U.S. Department
of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement in 2004 and/or
2007. For each conversion magnet school and its comparison schools,
data will be collected for the three years before or for at least the
three years after the conversion date.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
The system of records will include information about the elementary
school students participating in the evaluation including student
demographic information (such as race/ethnicity, gender, age, and
language status); attendance zone; grade level; and annual English
language arts (ELA) and mathematics test scores.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
The MSAP, the program being evaluated, is authorized under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, Title V,
Part C; 20 U.S.C. 7231-7231j. Sections 5301-5311 of the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) most recently amended this program. Section
5310 of the NCLB statute authorizes the Secretary of Education to use
MSAP monies to evaluate the program. 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).
PURPOSE(S):
The goal of this study is to assess the relationship between magnet
school conversion and student outcomes at the elementary school level.
In particular, this system is necessary to provide information about
whether and how students' educational achievement and minority group
isolation change when elementary schools convert to magnet schools.
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 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 must 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; 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 in 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 in 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 in 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of
identity.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
The system will contain records that are obtained from (i) 50
conversion magnet schools and (ii) 100 elementary schools that are not
magnet schools that will serve as comparison elementary schools for the
purposes of this study. These data, including students' annual English
language arts and mathematics
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test scores, will be collected from school district databases.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
[FR Doc. E7-17367 Filed 8-30-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P