2019-23665. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Program for International Student Assessment 2021 (PISA 2021) Main Study Recruitment and Field Test

AGENCY:

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of Education (ED).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is proposing a revision of an existing information collection.

DATES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before November 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

To access and review all the documents related to the information collection listed in this notice, please use http://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2019-ICCD-0110. Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting the Docket ID number 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 include the docket ID number and the title of the information collection request when requesting documents or submitting comments. Please note that comments submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the comment period will not be accepted. 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, 550 12th Street SW, PCP, Room 9089, Washington, DC 20202-0023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For specific questions related to collection activities, please contact Kashka Kubzdela, 202-502-7411 or email [e-mail].

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: Program for International Student Assessment 2021 (PISA 2021) Main Study Recruitment and Field Test.

OMB Control Number: 1850-0755.

Type of Review: A revision of an existing information collection.

Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 11,733.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 5,461.

Abstract: The Program for International Student Assessments (PISA) is an international assessment of 15-year-olds which focuses on assessing students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy. PISA was first administered in 2000 and is conducted every three years. The United States has participated in all of the previous cycles and is participating in 2021 in order to track trends and to compare the performance of U.S. students with that of students in other education systems. PISA 2021 is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the United States, PISA is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education. In each administration of PISA, one of the subject areas (reading, mathematics, or science literacy) is the major domain and has the broadest content coverage, while the other two subjects are the minor domains. PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of mandatory schooling (aged 15 years), and students' knowledge and skills gained both in and out of school environments. PISA 2021 will focus on mathematics literacy as the major domain. Reading and science literacy will also be assessed as minor domains, with additional assessment of financial literacy. In addition to the cognitive assessments described above, PISA 2021 will include questionnaires administered to school principals and assessed students. To prepare for the main study in 2021, PISA countries will conduct a field test in the spring of 2020, primarily to evaluate newly developed assessment and questionnaire items but also to test the assessment operations. The PISA 2021 field test data collection will occur in the U.S.A. from March-April 2020 and the main study data collection from September-November 2021. This submission requests approval for: All recruitment and data collection activities related to the 2020 field test, and the overarching plan and recruitment of schools for the PISA 2021 main study.

Dated: October 25, 2019.

Stephanie Valentine,

PRA Coordinator, Information Collection Clearance Program, Information Management Branch, Office of the Chief Information Officer.