2014-23641. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and approval; Comment Request; Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2016) and ePIRLS Online Reading 2016 Assessment ...

AGENCY:

Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics (IES-NCES), Department of Education (ED).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 3501 et seq.), ED is proposing a reinstatement of a previously approved information collection.

DATES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before November 3, 2014.

ADDRESSES:

Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting Docket ID number ED-2014-ICCD-0101 or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the regulations.gov site is not available to the public for any reason, ED will temporarily accept comments at [e-mail]. Please note that comments submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the comment period will not be accepted; ED will ONLY accept comments during the comment period in this mailbox when the regulations.gov site is not available. Written requests for information or comments submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the Director of the Information Collection Clearance Division, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., LBJ, Mailstop L-OM-2-2E319, Room 2E105, Washington, DC 20202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For specific questions related to collection activities, please contact Kashka Kubdzela, 202-502-7411.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Department of Education (ED), 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, revised, and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The Department of Education is especially interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of information technology. Please note that written comments received in response to this notice will be considered public records.

Title of Collection: Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2016) and ePIRLS Online Reading 2016 Assessment Field Test and Recruitment for Main Study.

OMB Control Number: 1850-0645.

Type of Review: A reinstatement of a previously approved information collection.

Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or households.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 3,745.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 5,772.

Abstract: We are announcing a second 30-day comment period for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 Field Test to include ePIRLS as a new extension to PIRLS in 2016. The additional ePIRLS assessment makes it possible for countries to understand how successful they are in preparing fourth grade students to read, comprehend, and interpret online information as compared to students in other participating countries. We propose to utilize the 2015 field test to determine feasibility of including ePIRLS during the PIRLS 2016 main study.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 is coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and in the U.S. administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Since its inception in 2001, PIRLS has continued to assess students every five years (2001, 2006, 2011, 2016). It is typically administered in more than 40 countries and provides data for internationally benchmarking U.S. performance in fourth-grade reading. PIRLS also collects background information on students, parents, teachers, schools, curricula, and official education policies. Each successive round of participation in PIRLS provides trend information about U.S. 4th-grade students' knowledge and abilities in reading relative to other countries, and about the cultural environments, teaching practices, curriculum goals, and institutional arrangements that are associated with student achievement, and how these change over time in different countries. This submission describes the overarching plan for all phases of the data collection, including the field test and the main study. The field test will take place in March-April, 2015, and the main study in the spring of 2016. The purpose of the PIRLS field test is to evaluate new assessment items and background questions to ensure that classroom and student sampling procedures proposed for the main study are successful. This submission requests approval for recruiting for the 2015 field test and 2016 main study; conducting the 2015 field test data collection; and a description of the overarching plan for all of the phases of the data collection, including the 2016 main study.

Dated: September 30, 2014.

Stephanie Valentine,

Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management.