2020-19965. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2021 Materials Update

AGENCY:

Department of Education (ED).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

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

DATES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before October 13, 2020.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for proposed information collection requests should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection request by selecting “Department of Education” under “Currently Under Review,” then check “Only Show ICR for Public Comment” checkbox.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For specific questions related to collection activities, please contact Carrie Clarady, 202-245-6347.

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: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2021 Materials Update.

OMB Control Number: 1850-0928.

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

Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 329,909.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 180,233.

Abstract: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is a federally authorized survey of student achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12 in various subject areas, such as mathematics, reading, writing, science, U.S. history, civics, geography, economics, technology and engineering literacy (TEL), and the arts. The National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (Pub. L. 107-279 Title III, section 303) requires the assessment to collect data on specified student groups and characteristics, including information organized by race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, disability, and limited English proficiency. It requires fair and accurate presentation of achievement data and permits the collection of background, noncognitive, or descriptive information that is related to academic achievement and aids in fair reporting of results. The intent of the law is to provide representative sample data on student achievement for the nation, the states, and subpopulations of students and to monitor progress over time. The request to conduct NAEP 2021, including operational assessments and pilot tests: Operational national/state/TUDA Digitally Based Assessments (DBA) in mathematics and reading at grades 4 and 8, and Puerto Rico in mathematics at grades 4 and 8; and operational national DBA in U.S. history and civics at grade 8 was approved in April 2020, with a further update to the materials approved in July 2020. This request is to conduct NAEP operational assessments in 2021 and will follow the traditional NAEP design which assesses each student in 60-minutes for one cognitive subject. Given the COVID-19 outbreak, NAEP requires personal protective equipment for field staff and must plan for additional sessions given that students may attend school on a staggered schedule. NAEP was not able to secure additional funding from Congress to cover the additional costs for personal protective equipment, necessary increases in field staff, and other operational costs that would be required to assess the full sample. As such, this Amendment reflects the elimination of the national-only assessments (grade 8 U.S. History and Civics, and age 17 Long-Term Trend), a smaller sample of students within each state for reading and mathematics, and the elimination of TUDAs from the 2021 sample. This Amendment also includes the addition of an online version of the student questionnaires that will be available to sampled students who are remote and not able to be assessed in-person, as well as the addition of some questionnaire items on teacher, student, and school experiences conditioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The final Materials Update #3 is scheduled for October of 2020. The NAEP results will be reported to the public through the Nation's Report Card as well as other online NAEP tools.

Dated: September 4, 2020.

Stephanie Valentine,

PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.