2011-8067. 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.

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: [phone]. If you prefer to send comments through the Internet, use the following address: [e-mail].

You must include the term “Evaluation of Teacher Residency 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: [phone]. 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 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.