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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3819-3820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00781]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2025-SCC-0005]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; School 
Pulse Panel 2025-26 Data Collection Activities

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 (PRA) of 1995, 
the Department is proposing a revision of a currently approved 
information collection request (ICR).

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
MARCH 17, 2025.

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-2025-SCC-0005. 
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. If the regulations.gov 
site is not available to the public for any reason, the Department will 
temporarily accept comments at [email protected]. Please include the 
docket ID number and the title of the information collection request 
when requesting documents or submitting comments. Please note that 
comments 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 Manager of the Strategic 
Collections and Clearance Governance and Strategy Division, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, LBJ, Room 4C210, 
Washington, DC 20202-1200.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Carrie Clarady, 202-245-6347.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department, 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

[[Page 3820]]

Department's information collection requirements and provide the 
requested data in the desired format. The Department is soliciting 
comments on the proposed information collection request (ICR) that is 
described below. The Department 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: School Pulse Panel 2025-26 Data Collection 
Activities.
    OMB Control No.: 1850-0975.
    Type of Review: A revision of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 53,955.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 10,175.
    Abstract: The School Pulse Panel (SPP) is a data collection that 
was originally designed to collect voluntary responses from a 
nationally representative sample of public schools to better understand 
how schools, students, and educators were responding to the ongoing 
stressors of the coronavirus pandemic. The School Pulse Panel is 
conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part 
of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), within the United States 
Department of Education. Initially, the purpose of the study was to 
collect extensive data on issues brought to light by the COVID-19 
pandemic, as well as other important education-related issues that 
could inform data-driven policy decisions, in U.S. public schools. Due 
to the immediate need to collect pandemic-era information from schools 
as described in Executive Order 14000, an emergency clearance was 
issued to develop and field the first several monthly collections of 
the SPP in 2021 and a full review of the SPP data collection was 
performed in 2022 (OMB# 1850-0969). SPP's innovative design and timely 
dissemination of findings have been used and cited frequently among 
Department of Education senior leadership, the White House Domestic 
Policy Council, the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, Congressional deliberations, and the 
media. The growing interest from stakeholders resulted in a request for 
funding to create an established NCES quick-turnaround data collection 
vehicle to become a mainstay for NCES. Funding for a mainstay 
collection was approved in late 2022, and NCES conducted a new 
collection during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
    The School Pulse Panel study is one of the few reliable, nationally 
representative, quick-turnaround studies that produces data on U.S. 
public schools. The sample design for the 2025-26 collection will 
roughly be the same as the 2023-24 and 2024-25 collections with 4,000 
public schools randomly selected to an initial sample and 4,000 in a 
reserve sample. It is expected these schools will come from roughly 
3,000 districts. The goal is national representation from about 1,200 
responding schools each month in order to report out national 
estimates. School staff will be asked to provide requested data monthly 
during the 2025-26 school year. This approach provides the ability to 
collect detailed information on various topics while also assessing 
changes over time for items that are repeated from year to year. Given 
the demand for data collection, the content of the survey is expected 
to change monthly. For the 2025-26 school year, the survey may ask 
school staff about a wide range of topics, including but not limited to 
staffing; learning recovery; absenteeism; usage of federal funds; 
facilities; transportation; technology; and overall principal and staff 
experiences.
    This submission will undergo a 60-day public comment period, 
followed by an additional 30-day public comment period. We continue to 
make revisions to the communication materials (Appendix A) and will 
present final versions for the 30-day comment period. Items in the Item 
Bank (Appendix B) that have not already been approved are consider 
draft and will undergo cognitive testing and revision before final 
administration. Final instruments for the August, September, and 
October 2025 surveys (Appendix C1) will be added to this package during 
the 30-day public comment, to be posted in spring 2025. Final items 
will be submitted to OMB through a change request. Subsequent quarterly 
instruments will also be posted for 30-day comment in the months 
immediately preceding their administration, potentially followed by 
change requests to allow for small changes in items as deemed necessary 
by cognitive testing. Materials for SPP are cleared under two OMB 
Number sequences. Materials for SPP 2022 and SPP 2024-25 were cleared 
under OMB# 1850-0969, while SPP 2023-24 and now SPP 2025-26 are cleared 
under OMB# 1850-0975.

    Dated: January 10, 2025.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of Planning, 
Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2025-00781 Filed 1-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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