1 **Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC )**  **Summary of Public Comments on Proposed Changes to the 2012 Annual Performance Report (APR)** 

**Following 60**
**- Day Review Period** 
On November 20, 2 0 12, the Department of Education (Department) published a Notice of Proposed Information Collection Request (Notice) in the Federal Register inviting comments by January 22, 2012, on the proposed annual performance report (APR) for the Educational Opportunity

Centers (EOC) program. Changes to the EOC APR were necessitated by change s to the EOC program resulting from the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008, the amendments to the EOC program regulations published on October 26, 2010, and the new standardized project objectives implemented under the FY 2011 competition for new grants. Twenty

- four respondents submitted approximately 66 individual comments (i.e., multiple comments from respondents). A summary and analy sis of the comments as well as informati on on changes to the proposed EOC APR in response to these comment s follows. Suggestions for minor changes (generally those of a technical nature) are not discussed below, but in response to those suggestions, some clarifications and technical alterations have been made in the revised form and/or instructions.

**Section II: Demographic**  **Profile of Project Participants Comments:**  Numerous commenters recommended deleting the section of the APR that requests information on EOC participants served by another federal

- funded program. The commenters believe that to require EOC pr ojects to collect these data is an undue burden on projects since participants may not be able to distinguish between funding sources of projects in which they participate or who may not be forthcoming on their participation in other projects. Another commenter noted that TRI O Student Support Services (SSS) is not listed under this category even though EOC participants would be more likely to participate in this programs that the other programs listed in this section. **Discussion:** The requirement for repo rting participants who are served b y another federally funded program was part of a stated goal in the HEOA to “provide coordination and cohesion among Federal, State, and local governmental and private efforts that provide financial assistance to help low

income students attend an institution of higher education.” Therefore, this requirement was addres sed in the new EOC regulations and the details of the provision was crafted based on significant feedback from the public during the negotiated rulemaking process that preceded the implementation of the regulations (See 34 CFR 644.32, “ What other requirements must a grantee meet? ” ). The grantee is required to maintain a record of: “to the extent practicable, an y s ervices the EOC participant receives during th e project ye ar from another f ederal TRI O program or another federally

funded program that serves populations simi lar to those served under the EOC program
. Further, in preparing the application for an EOC grant and establishing a need for the project in the target ar ea, the project should be aware of other projects in the target area that are2

serving the same population and therefore should be working with those other proj ects to coordinate the delivery

of services. Also, per EOC regulat io ns ( See 34 CFR 6 44.11, "What assurance must an applicant submit?") at the time that the project applied for grant funds, the grantee provide d an assurance that the project w ould collaborate with othe r Federal TRIO projects, or programs servi ng similar populations or targe t area in order to minimize the duplication of services and promote collaborations so that more students can be served. Because an EOC project primarily serves participants not yet enrolled in a program of postsecondary

education, the list of other federa l programs onl y included some of the Department’s pre

- college programs. However, we recognize that it is permissible for an EOC project to serve students already enrolled in a program of postsecondary education (see 34 CFR 644.3(a)(3)), therefore, we agre e with the commenter that some EOC participants may also be receiving services from a SSS project. **Action Taken by ED:** Student Support Services has been added to the list of federal program that also may be serving EOC participants.
**Competitive Prefere nce Priority**  Military

- Connected Student s **Comments:** Several commenters recommended that veterans be included in the “ military

- connected student s” demographic since veteran is included in the definition in the FY 2011 Notice Inviting Applications for EOC grants

. **Discussion:** The Secretary ’s intention is not to exclude eligible veterans from being counted in the total number of military

- connected student served

. In the draft APR , “Vet erans served ” was listed as a separate part F. However, since the definiti on of “ military connected students” includes “a student who is a veteran of the uniformed services” , the Department will include a category for veterans served b y EOC projects in the “military connected students” part of the APR. **Action Taken by ED:** A li ne for veterans has been added to the “military connected students” section of the APR. In addition, “ Veterans served ” (S ection II, F of the clearance draft of the APR) has been dropped as a separate category

. “M ilitary

- connected student s” has been relabe led as part F. All subsequent parts have also been relabeled as follows: G: Participants with L imited English Proficiency ; H: EOC participants also served during the reporting year b y another federally funded program I: Target Schools; J: Invitational Prio rities (if applicable). **Comments:** Other commenters were concerned that the term “active duty” was not included in the Federal Register notice and therefore should not be included in APR.3

**Discussion:** The term “active dut y” was included in the definition of “ military

- connected student s ” in the N otice Inviting Applications which was published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2011 (pp 19063

- 19067 )

. **Action Taken by Ed:** None

**Section III: Educational Status of EOC**  **Participants Comments:**  One commenter requested that the changes to the E ducational S tatus categories in Section III of the APR not be implemented until the third year of the 2011

- 16 grant cycle because grantees were not advised of the changes in the data fields before the start of the grant c ycl e. The commenter recommended using the same categories as used on the APR for the 2006

- 11 grant cycle

. **Discussion:** The E ducational S tatus categories in Section III were revised to align with the changes to the EOC program objectives and outcome measures as required b y the H EOA and to permit a grantee to report on all participants served b y the EOC project

. Because the new standardized objectives for the 2011

- 16 grant cycle are used to ass ess a grantee’s progress in meeting its approved objectives and wi ll be used to award prior experience (PE) points in program years two, three and four of the grant cycle , the APR data fields must align with the program objectives

. U sing the APR data fields from the prior grant cycle (2006

- 11) without change would not s uffice, because some of the fields do not align with the new objectives for the 2011

- 16 grant cycle. **Action Taken by ED:** None

**Comments:** One comment er recommended that section III A5 (postsecondary dropout with out a secondary school diploma or credenti als ) and A7 (postsecondary student) , be combined in the APR for the 2006

- 11 grant cycle. **Discussion:** We believe there may

be a ty pographical error in the comment regarding which fields should be combined. The APR used for the 2006

- 11 grant cycle had separate fields for postsecondary dropout and postsecondary student. The change in the new APR is to have two fields for postsecondary

dropouts; one for postsecondary dropout with a secondary school diploma or credential (A4) and another field for a postseco ndary dropout without a secondary school diploma or credential (A5).4

The Department need s to collect data on participants with and without a secondary school diploma at the time of first service because the data collected in these categories will be used to establ ish the denominator for the following EOC program objectives used to award PE points. The denominator s for O bjective B ( F inancial A id Applications) ; O bjective C ( P ostsecondary E ducation A dmission s) , and O bjective D ( P ostsecondary Education E nroll ment) include the data collected in field A4 (postsecondary dropout with a secondary school diploma or credential). The denominator for Objective A (S ec ondary School D iploma) includes data collected in field A5 (postsecondary

dropout without a secondary sc hool diploma or credential). **Action Taken by ED:** None **Comments:** One commenter s tated that collecting data on middle school aged participants (S ection III, B1 of clearance draft of APR) is not related to the EOC objectives and should therefore be deleted

. **Discussion:** 34 CFR 644.3(a)(2)(ii) of the EOC p rogram regulations states that an EOC project may serve individuals less than 19 years of age who cannot be appropriatel y served b y a Talent Search (TS) project under 34 CFR 643. Although some EOC project s serve high school students, few, if an y, EOC projects do not serve middle school students . We agree with the commenter that this category is unnecessary

. Inthe unusual situation whereby an EOC project serve s a middle school population , these participants can be reported in the “O ther participants not older than 18 ye ars ” category

. **Action Taken by ED:** We have removed the “Middle school” category ( Section III, B1 of draft APR). All subsequent categories have been relabeled as follows: Section III, B1 : H igh school non

- senior (9 th

- 11 th grade); B2: High school senior or in alternative education program (12 th grade only); B3 : Secondary

school dropout (not older than 18 y ears); B4 : Other participants not older than 18 ye ars ; and B5 : Total. **Comments:** Many c ommenters asked that the Department add a category for participants 19 years or older that are enrolled as a high school senior or in an alternative program at an academic level equivalent to that of a high school senior

. **Discussion:** A project should repor

t p articipant s who are 19 years or older who do not have a secondary school credential at the time of first service , in S ection III , A1

. We agree with the commenters that a participant 19 ye ars or older may , in unusual situ ations, be enrolled in high scho ol; therefore, we have revised S ection III, A1 to address this possibility

. Participants not older than 18 years of age can be counted in section III: B 4 (Other participants not older than 18 years)

.5

**Action Taken by ED:** Section III, A1 has been revised as follows: Adult without any secondary

school credential who is enrolled as a high school senior or who is enrolled in an alternative education programs at an academic level equivalent to that of a high school senior. **Comments:** Many commenters suggeste d adding an “Other participants 19 ye ars or older” category to allow reporting of individuals that do not fall into section III: A1

- A7. **Discussion:** Based on making the change to S ection III, A1 to include those adults (19 y ears or older) who are enroll ed in high school as a senior , we believe the categories (Section III A1

- A7) provided will allow the project to accuratel y report the Educational Status of all adult EOC participants

. **Action Taken by ED:** None

**Section IV: Educational Status of EOC Parti cipants** 

**(at end of budget period or for the following fall term) A.**  **Objective: Secondary School Diploma Comments:**  Many commenters request ed removing Section III , B2 : high school non

- senior s and B4 : secondary school dropout s from the denominator, as those fields are inconsistent with the wording of the denominator on page 7 of the clearance draft of the APR which stated: “the denominator is the number of participants, at the time of first service in the reporting year, who were high school seniors or in an alternative programs”. A few commenters recommend including “ Other participants not older than 18 years ” (S ection III, B5 of clearance draft of the APR) , in the denominator.

**Discussion:** Upon review of the commenters ’ concern, the Department identified a t yp ographical error in the desc ription of the denominator for O bjective A: Secondary School Diploma, on page 7 for the clearance draft of the APR. The words “who were high school seniors or in alternative education program” incorrectly

described the edu cational status of all participants that should be included in the denominator. To be consistent with the wording of the standardized objective, the denominator for O bjective A includes all participants served during the project year that did not have a s econdary

school diploma or its equivalent at this time of first service in the project year. Therefore, we also agree with the commenters that “Other participants not older than 18 years” should be included in the denominator for this objective.6

In clearing the application package for FY 2011 EOC grant competition, the Department received numerous comments from the public on the standardized objectives. With regard to objective A: Secondary

School Diploma, commenters asked for clarifications regarding whi ch EOC participants would be included in this objective and if it included EOC participants currentl y enrolled in grades 9 through 11 of high school

. The Department responded as follows:

“ Although the EOC program primaril y serves adults (e.g., 19 and olde r), we know that many EOC projects provide services to high school students if there is no Talent Search project in the target area. Therefore, the denominator for this objective would include all EOC participants served during the project year who did no t have a secondary school diploma or its equivalent at the time of first service. Therefore, high school students served during the project y ear would be included in the denominator.” **Action Taken by ED:** We have corrected the typographical error on the AP R form in the description of the denominator by

removing the words “who were high school seniors or in an alternative program” and replacing those words with “who did not have a secondary school diploma or its equivalent”. Further, a s noted above, based o n a commenter ’ s recommendation, we have removed “middle school aged participants” from the categories in s ection III , B. Therefore, we have renumbered the categories in s ection III , B as follows: B1, High school non

- senior (9 th

– 11 th grade); B2, High sch ool senior or in alternative education program (12 th grade onl y); and B3, Secondary school dropout (not older than 18 y ears), and B4 (Other participants not older than 18 years). Based on the above changes, the den ominator for this objective consis t s of the sum of the following: Section III: A1 (Adults without any secondary

school credentials, enrolled in an alternative education program at an academic level equivalent to that of a high school senior), A2 (Adult without any

secondary

school credentials, and not enrolled in an alternative education program), A5 (Postsecondary dropout without a secondary school diploma or credentials) , B1 (High school non

- senior), B2 (High school senior or in alternative education program (12 th grade only), B3 (Secondary

sc hool dropout), and B4 (Other participants not older than 18 y ears). **Comments:** A few commenters recommended removing S ection III , A2 from the denominator because a participant classified as an adult without a high school credential and not enrolled when first served should not be expected to complete a secondary program and graduate in the program ye ar. **Discussion:** In clearing the application package for FY 2011 EOC grant competition, the Department received numerous comments from potential applicants who expressed the same concern that participants not enrolled in an alternative education program at time of first service in the project ye ar should not be expected to complete a secondary program during the project y ear
. As the Department previously

stated in response to public comments on the application package, the objective does not state that participants who receive EOC project services must enroll and complete a program of secondary education within a single reporting year. Rather, the objective spec ifies that a project will count only current

- ye ar participants who complete a secondary7

school program or equivalent during the reporting year for this objective. A participant may have begun the secondary school program one or more y ears previousl y but r emained a current EOC participant in the ye ar that he or she completed the program by receiving one or more services from the project. Therefore, A2 (Adults without any secondary

school credential, and not enrolled in an alternative education program), is be included in the denominator for this objective

. The Department further advised applicants: “ Insetting the target for the objective, the applicant is expected to propose objectives that are ambitious and attainable given the plan they develop to address the needs of the target population in their application. The applicant’s objective should consider those individuals that may be served that would not likely complete secondary school during the project year (e.g., 10 th graders) and known barriers to succ ess for adult participants, such as waitlists for participation in adult education programs in the applicant’s target area. ” **Action Taken by ED:** None **Comments:** Several commenter s suggest ed adding a category to S ection IV, A (Educational status of EOC Participants at the end reporting ye ar) for participants who were enrolled in high school program but and did not complete. **Discussion:** We agree with this recommendation. **Action Taken by ED:** We have added to S ection IV, A, a category of participants “enro lled in high school but did not complete” as A3. We also revised the “Not enrolled” category as follows: “Not enrolled in high school or an alternative education program”. We renumbered the following categories: A3: Enrolled in high school but did not co mplete; A4: Not enrolled in high school or an alternative education program; A5: Deceased; A6: Unknown; and A7: Total.

**B. Objective: Financial Aid Applications** 

**and C.**  **Objective: Postsecondary Education Admissions Comments:**  One commenter noted that some EOC projects serve postsecondary students, but these projects are not permitted to count the se participants in this objective. The commenter recommended adding A7 Postsecondary Student ( S ection III , A7 ), to denominator for the Financial Aid Application object ive. **Discussion:** The purpose of the EOC program is to provide information regarding financial and academic assistance available for individuals who desire to pursue a program of postsecondary education8

(see 34 CFR 644.1(a))

. Because an EOC project primari ly serves participants not yet enrolled in a program of postsecondary education, this objective was written for that population. The standardized objectives for the EOC program for the 2011

- 16 grant cycle are written so that it was clear to applicants what participants would be included in the denominator and the numerator for each objective so that applicants would be able to set ambitious and attainable objectives for their projects. The Financial Aid Applications objective clearly states that this object ive only

includes “participants who at the time of first service in the project year were not already enrolled in a program of postsecondary educatio n”. Therefore, the Department will not change the wording of th is objective to address the recommendation o f the commenter. **Action Taken by ED:** None

**Comments:** One commenter noted what appear to be conflicting information in the draft APR instruction as to what constitutes the denominator for F inancial A id (O bjective B) and Postsecondary Education Admissions ( Objective C). The commenter is recommending that Section III, A1, A3, A4, A6, and B3 , be included in the denominator for th ese objective s
. **Discussion:** Upon review of the commenter ’ s concern, we were unable to find any discrepancy in the fields that cons titute the denominator for th ese objective s. The denominator include s all participants who at the time of first service in the project year were not already enrolled in a postsecondary education program and who: 1) were high school seniors or equivalents in alternative education programs; 2) were high school graduates; or 3) had obtained a high school equivalency certificate

. The onl y change we have made to the data fields to be included in the denominator is the relabeling of the fields in Section III, Part B. The field number for high school senior has been changed from B3 to B2. Therefore, the denominator for the se objective s is the sum of Section III: A1, A3, A4, A6, and B 2

. **Action Taken by ED:** None **Comments:** One commenter recommended that the des cription of the de nominator for Objectives B (page 8 of the clearance draft of the APR) be changed from “received a secondary diploma” to 'who have received' or 'who have earned' or 'who possess' a secondary diploma . The commenter felt the wording implie d that only those who completed the high school credential in this program year are in this group. **Discussion:** Upon review of the commenter ’ s concern, we agree with the commenter that the description of the denominator for Objectives B and C on the clear ance draft of the APR form was not precise and might imply

that “only

those who completed the high school credential in the program year” are part of the denominator.9

**Action Taken by ED:** We have revised the desc ription of the denominator for O bjectives B and C as follows: The denominator is the number of participants who at the time of first service in the project year were not already enrolled in a postsecondary education program and who: 1) were high school seniors or equivalents in alternative educat ion programs; 2) were high school graduates; or 3) had obtained a high school equivalency certificate (Section III, A1, A3, A4, A6, and B2). As discussed previousl y, the field number for high school senior has been changed from B3 to B2. **Comments:** One commenter requested clarification on which participants to include in the objective when participants complete the financial aid worksheet but do not submit an online application. **Discussion:** The Department will only count the number of participants that actu all y applied for financial aid during the reporting period. Receiving services related to financial aid from the project is insufficient grounds for including a participant in Section IV. The individual must have actuall y applied for the aid ( 34 CFR 644.2 2(d) ( 4) )

. **Action Taken by ED:** None **Comments:** A few commenters are concerned and unclear why the Department states “and applied for financial aid” in the denominator (section IV) . It implies that only participants who apply

for financial aid are eligible to be counted. **Discussion:** We agree with the commenter that “and applied for financial aid” in the denominator was a ty po graphical error in the clearance draft of the APR form

. **Action Taken by ED:** The word s “and applied for financial aid” have been deleted from the description of the denominator for this objective. The denominator for this objective now reads : The denominator is the number of participants who at the time of first service in the project year were not already enrolled in a postsecondary education program and who: 1) were high school seniors or equivalents in alternative education programs; 2) were high school graduates; or 3) had obtained a high school equivalency certificate (sum of Section III, A1, A3, A4, A6, and B2).

**D. Objective: Pos**  **tsecondary Enrollment Comments:**  One c ommenter recommended S ection III , B3 ( high school senior or in an alternative education program (12 th grade onl y) ) , be included in the denominator if the first option is selected since the participants are in the 12 th grade or senior equivalents and under 18 and are college rea dy

.10

**Discussion:** With the deletion of B1 middle school students, Section III B3 ( high school senior or in an alternative education program ) is now Section III B2 The denominator for option 1 includ es all participants who received a secondary school diploma or its equivalent during the project year (Section IV, A1). Th erefore, th ose participants reported in Section IV, A1 would include those participants who were high school seniors at the beginning of the reporting who graduated during the project ye ar. To add Section III B2 to the denominator would result in double counting of participants. **Action Taken by ED:** None **Comments:** One commenter noted a discrepancy in the APR instruction s with regard to which data fields are included in in the denominator for the second option of the Postsecondary Enrollment objective. **Discussion:** Upon review of the comment, we determined that there was a t ypo graphical error on the APR instructions . The denominator for o ption 2 is the sum of the following: Section IV, A1 (participants that received a secondary school diploma or its equivalent during the project year), Section III, A3 (high school graduates or high school equivalency graduates not already enrolled in a po stsecondary

education), Section III A4 (postsecondary dropout with a secondary school diploma or credential, and Section III A6 (postsecondary transfer). The denominator for option 1 only includes Section IV, A1 (participants that received a secondary sc hool diploma or its equivalent during the project year)

. **Action Taken by ED:** We have corrected the typographical errors. **Comments:** One commenter noted that the following two categories are different: “Other” and “Unknown” and , therefore, recommended that an “Other” category be added to Section IV, Part D. **Discussion:** We agree with the commenter that “Other” and “Unknown” are not the same. However, we believe that the four categories provided will permit a grantee to accurately report on the postsecondary

enrollment status of participants that are secondary school graduates

. **Action Taken by ED:** None11 **E. Postsecondary Placements: Types of Institutions**  **Comments:** One commenter asked if a “for profit” school would be included in Section IV, E6 ( Proprietary school )

. **Discussion:** Yes. A proprietary

school is a private, for profit institution. The U. S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Sy stem (IPEDS) uses the following definition (see: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/supnotes/2012

- n01.asp ). Private for

-

profit institutions: Institutions in which the individual(s) or agency in control receives compensation other than wages, rent, or other expenses for the assumption of risk (e.g., proprietary

schools). **Action Taken by ED:** We added the IPEDS definition of a private for

- profit institution to the APR instructions.