[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 198 (Friday, October 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82594-82597]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23517]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2024-IES-0078]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the U.S. Department of Education (Department) publishes 
this notice of a new system of records titled ``Impact Evaluation of 
Training in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Reading (MTSS-R) in 
Early Elementary School'' (18-13-48). This system contains personally 
identifiable information provided by school districts, schools, and 
individuals who participate in the impact evaluation of training in 
MTSS-R. The records in this system will be used to measure the 
effectiveness of two promising ways of providing technical assistance 
(TA) to improve the quality of reading instruction and how struggling 
elementary school students are identified and provided with extra help.

DATES: Submit your comments on this notice of a new system of records 
on or before November 12, 2024. This new system of records will become 
applicable upon publication in the Federal Register on October 11, 
2024, unless it needs to be changed as a result of public comment. The 
routine uses outlined in the section titled ``ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS 
MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF 
SUCH USES'' will become effective on the expiration of the 30-day 
period of public comment on November 12, 2024, unless they need to be 
changed as a result of public comment. The Department will publish any 
significant changes to the system of records or routine uses resulting 
from public comment.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation or 
cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please 
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments submitted by fax or by 
email, or comments submitted after the comment period closes. To ensure 
that the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please submit 
your comments only once. In addition, please include the Docket ID at 
the top of your comments.
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under ``FAQ''.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available.
    Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request, the Department will provide an 
appropriate accommodation or auxiliary aid 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 accommodation or auxiliary 
aid, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teresa Cahalan, SORN coordinator, 
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Potomac 
Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW, Room 4126, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: 202-245-7299. Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#662f2335393529342826030248010910"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="68212d3b373b273a26280d0c460f071e">[email protected]</span></a>.
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, 
please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The records maintained in this system will 
be used to measure the effectiveness of two promising ways of providing 
TA to improve the quality of reading instruction and how struggling 
elementary school students are identified and provided with extra help. 
The information contained in the records maintained in this system will

[[Page 82595]]

be used to address the following study research questions:
    <bullet> Does the training and TA affect students' reading skills 
and achievement, both initially and over time? Does it help students 
identified as struggling in reading make more significant gains? Do the 
effects differ across the two strategies?
    <bullet> Are the effects on reading related to elementary schools' 
experiences implementing the MTSS-R strategies, including the extent to 
which they carry out the strategies as intended and their use of key 
instructional practices?
    <bullet> In what ways do these strategies affect the identification 
of special education students? What are their outcomes?
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact listed under 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities can 
obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, 
braille, large print, audiotape, compact disc, or other accessible 
format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site, you can view this 
document, as well as all other Department documents published in the 
Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site.
    You may also access Department documents published in the Federal 
Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

Matthew Soldner,
Acting Director, Institute of Education Sciences.

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Acting Director of 
the Institute of Education Sciences, of the U.S. Department of 
Education, publishes a notice of a new system of records to read as 
follows:

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    Impact Evaluation of Training in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support 
for Reading (MTSS-R) in Early Elementary School (18-13-48).

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education 
(Department), 550 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20202. (This is the 
location of the IES Data Center.)
    American Institutes for Research (AIR), 1400 Crystal Drive, 10th 
Floor, Arlington, VA 22202. (AIR is a Department contractor that will 
collect personally identifiable information regarding school staff, 
district-based coaches (namely, study-supported district staff who 
support MTSS-R team leaders, teachers, and interventionists in their 
practices), and students in participating districts and store these 
records until uploaded through secure transfer to the IES Data Center.)
    School Readiness Consulting, 912 Thayer Avenue, Suite 209, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910. (School Readiness Consulting is a Department 
subcontractor that will collect personally identifiable information 
regarding school staff and district-based coaches in participating 
districts and store these records until uploaded through secure 
transfer to the IES Data Center.)

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
    Associate Commissioner, Evaluation Division, National Center for 
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education 
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 550 12th Street SW, Washington, 
DC 20202.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    This study is authorized by section 664 of the Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. 1464), and section 8601 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as amended by 
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 20 U.S.C. 7981).

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    The records maintained in this system will be used to measure the 
effectiveness of two promising ways of providing technical assistance 
(TA) to improve the quality of reading instruction and how struggling 
elementary school students are identified and provided with extra help. 
The information contained in the records maintained in this system will 
be used to address the following study research questions:
    <bullet> Does the training and TA affect students' reading skills 
and achievement, both initially and over time? Does it help students 
identified as struggling in reading make more significant gains? Do the 
effects differ across the two strategies?
    <bullet> Are the effects on reading related to elementary schools' 
experiences implementing the MTSS-R strategies, including the extent to 
which they carry out the strategies as intended and their use of key 
instructional practices?
    <bullet> In what ways do these strategies affect the identification 
of special education students? What are their outcomes?

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on approximately 20 district-based 
coaches; school staff including 150 MTSS-R team leaders, 900 teachers, 
and 450 interventionists; and 22,500 students.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    For district-based coaches (namely, study staff who support MTSS-R 
team leaders, teachers, and interventionists in their practices), 
records maintained in this system include name, work email, and work 
phone number, and the support that they provide to school staff 
including training, coaching, and problem-solving.
    For MTSS-R team leaders (namely, school staff who oversee and 
support the MTSS-R program), records maintained in this system include 
name, work email, and work phone number (if available), activities as 
an MTSS-R team leader, and professional development experiences.
    For teachers, records maintained in this system include name, work 
email, and work phone number (if available), educational background, 
professional development experiences, coaching experiences, and 
activities related to classroom instruction.
    For interventionists (namely, school staff who administer 
supplemental support to struggling students), records maintained in 
this system include name, work email, and work phone number (if 
available), educational background, professional development 
experiences, coaching experiences, and activities related to the 
provision of supplemental supports for struggling students.
    For students, records maintained in this system include name; 
demographic information such as race, date of birth, ethnicity, and 
gender; school information, such as the student's grade level, school 
name, teacher name, free or reduced-price lunch status, English learner 
status, special education status, and performance information on 
school-administered English language arts and mathematics state 
assessments; school-administered reading screening tests; and study-
administered reading assessments.

[[Page 82596]]

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information in this system will be obtained through teacher and 
student records maintained by school districts and schools; surveys of 
MTSS-R team leaders, teachers, and interventionists; interviews of 
MTSS-R team leaders and district-based coaches; and direct assessments 
of students' reading skills.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record in 
this system under the routine uses listed in this system of records 
without the consent of the individual if the disclosure is compatible 
with the purpose for which the record was collected. The Department may 
make these disclosures on a case-by-case basis or, if the Department 
has complied with the computer matching requirements of the Privacy Act 
of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a), under a computer 
matching agreement. Any disclosure of personally identifiable 
information from a record in this system must also comply with the 
requirements of section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 
2002 (ESRA) (20 U.S.C. 9573) providing for confidentiality standards 
that apply to all collections, reporting, and publication of data by 
IES. Any disclosure of personally identifiable information from student 
education records that were obtained from schools or school districts 
must also comply with the confidentiality requirements of the (Family 
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 CFR 
part 99), which protect the privacy of student education records, and, 
as applicable, the confidentiality requirements of the Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (20 U.S.C. 1401 et seq; 34 CFR part 
300), which protect the privacy of education records of children 
referred to and served under the IDEA.
    (1) 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. As part of such a 
contract, the Department will require the contractor to agree to 
maintain safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of the 
records in the system.
    (2) Research Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to a 
qualified researcher if the Department determines that the individual 
or organization to which the disclosure would be made is qualified to 
carry out specific research that is compatible with the purpose(s) of 
this system of records. The researcher must agree to safeguards, 
consistent with section 183(c) of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573(c)), to 
protect the security and confidentiality of the records disclosed from 
this system. If the Department discloses, without prior written consent 
under FERPA, personally identifiable information from a student's 
education record to the researcher, the researcher also must agree to 
comply with the requirements in the applicable exception to FERPA's 
general written consent requirement (20 U.S.C. 1232g(b) and 34 CFR 
99.31).

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    Records in this system are maintained in a secure, password-
protected electronic system. The Department also maintains records on 
CD-ROM, and the contractor (AIR) and sub-contractor (School Readiness 
Consulting) maintain data for this system on computer systems and in 
hard copy.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Records in this system are indexed and retrieved by a unique number 
assigned to each individual that is cross-referenced by the 
individual's name on a separate list.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    The Department submitted a retention and disposition schedule that 
is intended to cover the records contained in this system to the 
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in June 2022 for 
NARA's review. The records will not be destroyed until such a time as 
NARA approves said schedule.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Security protocols for this system of records meet all required 
security standards. All physical access to the Department's site and to 
the site 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 
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 the 
confidentiality of data. The contractor's and subcontractor's systems 
are required to ensure that information identifying individuals is in 
files physically separated from other research data. The contractor and 
subcontractor will maintain the security of the complete set of all 
master data files and documentation. Access to personally identifiable 
information will be strictly controlled. All information 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.
    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 system 
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).

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    If you wish to gain access to your record, you must contact the 
system manager at the address listed above. Your request must provide 
necessary particulars of your full name, address, telephone number, and 
any other identifying information requested by the Department, to 
distinguish between individuals with the same name. Your request must 
meet the requirements of regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you, you 
must contact the system manager at the address listed above. Requests 
must contain your full name, address, telephone number, and any other 
identifying information requested by the Department to distinguish 
between individuals with the same name. Your request must meet the 
requirements of the regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you, you 
must contact the systems manager at the address listed above. Your 
request must provide necessary particulars, such as your full name, 
address, telephone number, and any other identifying

[[Page 82597]]

information requested by the Department while processing the request, 
to distinguish between individuals with the same name. Your request 
must meet the requirements of regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

HISTORY:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2024-23517 Filed 10-10-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P


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