Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Evaluation of the Impact of Supplemental Literacy Interventions in Freshman Academies; Notice of a new system of records [IES]

FR Doc 05-12590
[Federal Register: June 24, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 121)]
[Notices]               
[Page 36575-36577]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

 
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Evaluation of the Impact 
of Supplemental Literacy Interventions in Freshman Academies

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, the 
Department of Education (Department) publishes this notice of a new 
system of records entitled ``Evaluation of the Impact of Supplemental 
Literacy Interventions in Freshman Academies'' (18-13-12). This 
evaluation, which is also called the Adolescent Literacy Project, has 
been commissioned by the National Center for Education Evaluation and 
Regional Assistance at the Department's Institute of Education Sciences 
(IES). It is being conducted by MDRC in collaboration with the American 
Institutes for Research (AIR). IES has been collaborating with the 
Department's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) to 
coordinate the study of supplemental literacy interventions within 
OVAE's Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program.
    The study will address the following questions:
    (1) Do specific supplemental reading programs that support 
personalized and intensive instruction for striving ninth-grade readers 
significantly improve reading proficiency?
    (2) What are the effects of supplemental reading programs on in-
school outcomes such as attendance and course-taking behavior, and on 
longer-term outcomes such as student performance on State assessments 
in the tenth or eleventh grade?
    (3) Which students benefit most from participation in the programs?
    The system will contain information about two cohorts of 
approximately 3,200 high school freshmen each in SLCs in eight to 
twelve school districts yet to be determined. Half of these students 
will be participants in a supplemental literacy program, and half will 
be in a control group. The system will include these students' names, 
addresses, demographic information such as race/ethnicity, age, gender, 
and educational background, their results on literacy assessments, some 
of their school records data such as attendance, state test results, 
course performance, and classes taken, and their responses to a survey 
about their attitude toward reading and their reading and writing 
activities during the school year. The system will also include 
responses to survey and interview questions from teachers of these 
students, and possibly other school staff working with the literacy 
classes, about their backgrounds and the supplemental literacy 
interventions.

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 July 
25, 2005.
    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 Government Reform, and the Administrator of the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) on June 21, 2005. This system of records will become effective at 
the later date of--(1) the expiration of the 40 day period for OMB 
review on August 1, 2005 or (2) July 25, 2005, 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, 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. 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 ``Supplemental Literacy Interventions'' 
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

[[Page 36576]]

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) (Privacy Act) 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 Act are contained in the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) in 34 CFR part 5b.
    The Privacy Act applies to information about individuals that 
contain 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.
    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: June 21, 2005.
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:
18-13-12

SYSTEM NAME:
    Evaluation of the Impact of Supplemental Literacy Interventions in 
Freshman Academies (The Adolescent Literacy Project).

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) MDRC, 16 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016.
    (3) American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20007.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on adolescents, teachers, and project 
staff participating in the literacy interventions in the Adolescent 
Literacy Project. The goal of this study is to establish and evaluate 
the effects of two supplemental literacy programs for students who 
enter ninth grade with reading skills well below grade level. A 
distinctive aspect of this project is that the schools mounting the 
literacy programs will be ones that already operate Smaller Learning 
Communities (SLCs) that address the transition freshman students are 
making into high school, sometimes referred to as ``Freshman 
Academies.'' Freshman Academies should provide a more supportive 
environment within which the supplemental literacy interventions can be 
implemented and sustained for this study.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    This system consists of information about two cohorts of 
approximately 3,200 high school freshmen each, one in the 2005-2006 
school year and the other in the 2006-2007 school year, in SLC in eight 
to twelve school districts yet to be determined. Half of these students 
will be participants in supplemental literacy program, and half will be 
in a control group. The system will include these students' names, 
addresses, demographic information such as race/ethnicity, age, gender, 
and educational background, their results on literacy assessments, some 
of their school records data such as attendance, state test results, 
course performance, and classes taken, and their attitude toward 
reading and their reading and writing activities during the school 
year. The system will also include responses to survey and interview 
questions from teachers of these students, and possibly other school 
staff working with the literacy classes. These surveys and interviews 
will request information about the teachers' backgrounds, professional 
experience, and training, as well as their observations and impressions 
of the supplemental literacy interventions.

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 SLC program is authorized under Title V, Part D, 
Subpart 4 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) 
(20 U.S.C. 7249), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 
(Pub. L. 107-110).

PURPOSE(S):
    The information in this system is used for the following purpose: 
To study promising organizational and instructional strategies that 
will be used in the SLC program, as authorized by the ESEA, as amended. 
In particular, this system is necessary to provide information for 
analyses of the effectiveness of specific literacy interventions for 
ninth graders that will be used in SLCs.

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

[[Page 36577]]

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.
    (1) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advice Disclosure. The 
Department may disclose records to the U.S. Department of Justice and 
the Office of Management and Budget if the Department concludes that 
disclosure is desirable or necessary in determining whether particular 
records are required to be disclosed under the FOIA.
    (2) 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.
    (3) Research Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to a 
researcher if an appropriate official of the Department determines that 
the individual or organization to which the disclosure would be made is 
qualified to carry out specific research related to functions or 
purposes of this system of records. The official may disclose records 
from this system of records to that researcher solely for the purpose 
of carrying out that research related to the functions or purposes of 
this system of records. The researcher shall be required to maintain 
Privacy Act safeguards with respect to the disclosed records.

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, MDRC, and its 
subcontractor, AIR, have established similar sets of procedures at 
their sites to ensure confidentiality of data. Their systems ensure 
that information identifying individuals is in files physically 
separated from other research data. They 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 MDRC or AIR 
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; e-mail passwords that authorize the user to access 
mail services and additional security features that the network 
administrators 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, Part 3, Items 2b and 5a.

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.

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 PROCEDURES:
    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 PROCEDURES:
    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 consists of information about two cohorts of 
approximately 3,200 high school freshmen each in SLCs in eight to 
twelve school districts yet to be determined. The system will include 
information taken directly from the students. It will also include 
information from the students' education records, such as attendance, 
State test results, course performance, and classes taken. The system 
will also include responses to survey and interview questions from 
teachers of these students, and possibly other school staff working 
with the literacy classes.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 05-12590 Filed 6-23-05; 8:45 am]

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