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[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 123 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29768-29769]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13709]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2018-ICCD-0051]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; International Early Learning Study (IELS) 2018 Main Study

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

ACTION: Notice.

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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 
July 26, 2018.

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-2018-ICCD-
0051. 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. 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, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, LBJ, Room 206-04, 
Washington, DC 20202-4537.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Kashka Kubzdela, 202-245-7377 or 
email [email protected].

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

[[Page 29769]]

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: International Early Learning Study (IELS) 2018 
Main Study.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0936.
    Type of Review: A revision of an existing information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 8,091.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 4,461.
    Abstract: The International Early Learning Study (IELS), scheduled 
to be conducted in 2018, is a new study sponsored by the Organization 
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental 
organization of industrialized countries. In the United States, the 
IELS is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics 
(NCES). The IELS focuses on young children and their cognitive and non-
cognitive skills and competencies as they transition to primary school. 
The IELS is designed to examine: Children's early learning and 
development in a broad range of domains, including social and cognitive 
skills; the relationship between children's early learning and 
children's participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC); 
the role of contextual factors, including children's individual 
characteristics and their home backgrounds and experiences, in 
promoting young children's growth and development; and how early 
learning varies across and within countries prior to beginning, or in 
the early stages of primary school. In 2018, in the participating 
countries, including the United States, the IELS will assess 
nationally-representative samples of 5-year-old children enrolled in 
public and private schools that offer kindergarten in the United States 
through direct and indirect measures, and will collect contextual data 
about their home learning environments, ECEC histories, and demographic 
characteristics. The IELS will measure young children's knowledge, 
skills, and competencies in both cognitive and non-cognitive domains, 
including language and literacy, mathematics and numeracy, executive 
function/self-regulation, and social emotional skills. This assessment 
will take place as children are transitioning to primary school and 
will provide data on how U.S. children entering kindergarten compare 
with their international peers on skills deemed important for later 
success. To prepare for the main study, which will be conducted from 
October to December 2018, the IELS countries conducted a field test in 
the fall of 2017 to evaluate newly developed assessment instruments and 
questionnaires and also to test the study operations, and main study 
respondent recruitment began in September 2017. The request to conduct 
the 2017 IELS field test data collection and the IELS 2018 main study 
recruitment was approved in September 2017 (OMB #1850-0936 v.3-4). This 
request is to conduct the IELS 2018 main study.

    Dated: June 21, 2018.
Kate Mullan,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Office of 
the Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2018-13709 Filed 6-25-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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