3048 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 8 / Thursday, January 12, 1995 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Elementary and Secondary

Education

Records Transfer for Mobile Students

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Request for comments on

records transfer for mobile students.

SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for

Elementary and Secondary Education

requests comments on (1) current

methods for transferring educational

and health records and enrolling highly

mobile students, especially migrant

students, at the appropriate grade level

and documenting their course

completion; and (2) how the Federal

Government can best work with State

educational agencies (SEAs) and local

educational agencies (LEAs) to improve

existing systems and technologies for

transferring records between school

districts. The Department will review

and analyze information obtained

through this notice and will use it to

consider what, if any, Federal actions

might be useful to those who provide

direct services to children.

DATES: Comments are requested by

February 27, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

addressed to LorilAhmady, U.S.

Department of Education, 600

Independence Ave., SW, Room 4100

Portals, Washington, DC 20202–6135.

Comments sent by courier should be

addressed to Lori Ahmady, 1250

Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 4100,

Washington, DC 20024. Comments may

also be sent via the Internet to

LorilAhmady@ed.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lori

Ahmady, at the above addresses or by

telephone at 202–260–1391. Individuals

who use a telecommunications device

for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–

800–877–8339 between 8 a.m. and 8

p.m., Eastern time, Monday through

Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For

purposes of this discussion, ‘‘highly

mobile students’’ includes specific

groups targeted by programs the

Department administers, i.e., children of

migrant agricultural or fishing workers,

homeless children, and military

dependents, as well as other children

whose education is adversely affected

by frequent moves (children from poor

urban families and children of other

itinerant workers). Also, for purposes of

this discussion, a ‘‘student record’’

consists of a body of information

transferred from one school to another,

electronically, by telephone, or in hard

copy, to assist in the enrollment and

appropriate placement of the student in

the new school. These records may

include official transcripts, report cards,

cumulative files, health records, and

other related information. The content

of a student record may differ

substantially between elementary and

secondary schools, between public and

private schools, and among States and

localities.

The Department’s current interest in

records transfer is prompted by a

number of factors, including the high

rate of mobility within our society as a

whole, and the effects of that mobility

on educating school-age children. A

recent report by the General Accounting

Office (GAO), stated that ‘‘The United

States has one of the highest mobility

rates of all developed countries. * * *

One in six of the Nation’s children who

are third-graders—over a half million—

have changed school frequently,

attending at least three different schools

since the beginning of first grade. Unless

policymakers focus greater attention on

the needs of children who have changed

schools frequently—often low-income,

inner city, migrant, and limited English

proficient (LEP)—these children may

continue to be low achieving. * * *’’

Studies such as this one have focused

public attention on the need to provide

timely and comparable records to help

mobile children, who are less likely to

receive federally funded services than

their more stable peers, get the help they

need. This study also questioned the

utility and adequacy of current records

transfer efforts on behalf of children

who move frequently from one district

(or even one school) to another. The

GAO study reports that ‘‘* * * the most

commonly used mode of transferring

student records—by mail—can be

cumbersome and time-consuming. In

one State, local officials reported it often

takes 2 to 6 weeks before a new child’s

records arrive. In a school with a high

mobility rate, teachers rarely used

records to place children * * * because

these records usually arrived days or

weeks after the children transferred or

not at all. * * *’’ These delays may

prove particularly limiting for those

subpopulations of students who are

highly mobile, such as the children of

migrant agricultural workers, children

of other itinerant workers, homeless

children, children from poor urban

families, and military dependents.

In response to recommendations from

several groups that the Department

explore the potential of new

technologies (e.g., FAX technology and

electronic data interchange (EDI)) to

improve records transfer for all children

and particularly for highly mobile

student subpopulations, Department

staff have, over the past year, initiated

conversations with the Council of Chief

State School Officers about its SPEEDE/

ExPRESS data transfer protocols,

commissioned a report of available data

on alternatives to the current Migrant

Student Record Transfer System and

convened a Departmental workgroup to

study records transfer issues. The

Department has also discussed issues

related to records transfer for mobile

students with some SEA and LEA

representatives. These initial efforts

have indicated, in part, that even with

new technologies for linking all State

educational records systems and new

momentum to expand the automation of

SEA and LEA student data systems, the

costs of applying technology to records

transfer, while unknown, are likely to be

considerable.

Request for Comments

The Assistant Secretary, in particular,

requests comments from knowledgeable

education personnel in LEAs and SEAs,

especially from those teachers,

counselors, school administrators, and

other school personnel who are

responsible for placement and credit

acceptance decisions in schools and

LEAs that have a high mobility rate

among students. Parents of mobile

children are also requested to comment.

In order to determine whether and

how the Federal Government might

assist States and localities in developing

strategies for transferring records for

highly mobile students, the Department

is seeking public comment about

current practices and barriers to the

transfer of student records. In addition,

information obtained through this

notice will contribute to the preparation

of a report of findings and

recommendations on records transfer to

be submitted to the Committee on Labor

and Human Resources of the Senate and

the Committee on Education and Labor

of the House of Representatives as

required in section 1308(b)(2) of the

Elementary and Secondary Education

Act, as amended by Pub. L. 103–382.

The Department will consider all timely

comments received and does not require

commenters to identify themselves. The

information requested in this notice

regarding characteristics of the

commenter is needed for analysis only.

Commenter Characteristics

1. Indicate either the type of

organization you represent or your

occupation, e.g., parent, teacher,

counselor, local program or school

administrator, State educational agency

management information systems

specialist, advocacy organization, State
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 8 / Thursday, January 12, 1995 / Notices 3049

or local educational agency staff, or

other.

2. Indicate the nature of the mobility

you deal with most frequently, (e.g.,

within district, across districts within

your State, or across States), the kind of

mobile students you or your

organization deals with the most (e.g.,

migrant children, homeless children,

military dependents), and the amount of

mobility you deal with (e.g., the

approximate percentage of students in

your school, district or State who move

each year).

Questions for Commenters

1. How, in your experience, are

students’ educational and health records

currently transferred across schools,

districts and States (e.g., by mail, FAX,

telephone, electronic transfer)?

2. For newly arriving students, what

information do school personnel and

classroom teachers use to enroll

students, assign them to a grade level or

class, and grant credit for coursework

completed at previous schools? Where

does this information come from (e.g.,

teacher observations, the student’s

cumulative files, migrant student

records, formal or informal needs

assessments, or other information

obtained from the student, the student’s

family, or the students’ previous

schools)?

3. To what extent do schools and

teachers rely upon records transferred

from other schools to make or confirm

enrollment, placement, programming

and other educational or support service

decisions including the transfer of

credits for high school graduation?

(Commenters are asked to characterize

how much they rely on student records

in making or confirming these

decisions, and how comfortable they are

in doing so, as compared to other

information sources like those listed in

Question #2.)

4. Are existing methods of transferring

student records from school to school

adequate? If not, what problems or

barriers exist and what are their ensuing

consequences for highly mobile

students, including migrant students?

How prevalent are these problems and

their subsequent effects on mobile

students? Are there particular situations

in which problems occur most

frequently?

5. What can States, school districts,

and individual schools do to improve

the transfer of student records? What

can parents do to ensure that their

children’s records move from school to

school?

6. Should the Federal Government

work to advance the development of

more effective State and local methods

of transferring student records? How?

Invitation to Comment

All comments submitted in response

to this notice will be available during

and after the comment period in room

4100, Portals Building, 1250 Maryland

Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C.,

between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30

p.m., Monday, through Friday of each

week except Federal holidays.

Dated: January 6, 1995.

Thomas W. Payzant,

Assistant Secretary, Elementary and

Secondary Education.

[FR Doc. 95–810 Filed 1–11–95; 8:45 am]

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