Notice2022-27474
Request for Information Regarding Higher Education Act (HEA) Pooled Evaluation
Primary source
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Published
December 19, 2022
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is requesting information in the form of written comments that may include information, research, and suggestions regarding the Department's implementation of the new authority provided to the Department in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, to reserve funding from certain programs authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), for the purpose of carrying out rigorous and independent evaluations and conducting data collection and analysis of such programs. The Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development (OPEPD) solicits these comments to identify potential evaluation, data collection, and analysis activities that could be undertaken with these funds that would increase knowledge about, and improve administration of, programs authorized under the HEA, and build evidence of effective practices to improve student outcomes in these programs. To use and build evidence to support opportunities for students, the Department is particularly interested in evaluation, data collection, and analysis activities that can inform efforts to make higher education more inclusive and affordable and ensure pathways through higher education lead to successful careers. The Department is particularly interested in activities aligned to Administration priorities including but not limited to strengthening community college capacity; holistic student supports; promoting postsecondary retention and completion; and strengthening alignment across institutions of higher education, K-12, and the public workforce system.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77563-77565]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27474]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED-2022-OPEPD-0082]
Request for Information Regarding Higher Education Act (HEA)
Pooled Evaluation
AGENCY: Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development,
Department of Education.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is requesting
information in the form of written comments that may include
information, research, and suggestions regarding the Department's
implementation of the new authority provided to the Department in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, to reserve funding from certain
programs authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended
(HEA), for the purpose of carrying out rigorous and independent
evaluations and conducting data collection and analysis of such
programs. The Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
(OPEPD) solicits these comments to identify potential evaluation, data
collection, and analysis activities that could be undertaken with these
funds that would increase knowledge about, and improve administration
of, programs authorized under the HEA, and build evidence of effective
practices to improve student outcomes in these programs. To use and
build evidence to support opportunities for students, the Department is
particularly interested in evaluation, data collection, and analysis
activities that can inform efforts to make higher education more
inclusive and affordable and ensure pathways through higher education
lead to successful careers. The Department is particularly
[[Page 77564]]
interested in activities aligned to Administration priorities including
but not limited to strengthening community college capacity; holistic
student supports; promoting postsecondary retention and completion; and
strengthening alignment across institutions of higher education, K-12,
and the public workforce system.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before February 17, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. However, if you require an accommodation or
cannot otherwise submit your comments via <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>, please
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
The Department strongly encourages you to submit any comments or
attachments in Microsoft Word format. If you must submit a comment in
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), the Department strongly
encourages you to convert the PDF to ``print-to-PDF'' format, or to use
some other commonly used searchable text format. Please do not submit
the PDF in a scanned format. Using a print-to-PDF format allows the
Department to electronically search and copy certain portions of your
submissions to assist in the rulemaking process.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> 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
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Therefore, commenters should include in their
comments only information about themselves that they wish to make
publicly available. Commenters should not include in their comments any
information that identifies other individuals or that permits readers
to identify other individuals.
This is a request for information (RFI) only. This RFI is not a
request for proposals (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice
inviting applications. This RFI does not commit the Department to
contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, we are not
seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The
Department will not pay for any information or administrative costs
that you may incur in responding to this RFI. The documents and
information submitted in response to this RFI become the property of
the U.S. Government and will not be returned.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John English, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW Room 6W306, Washington, DC 20202.
Telephone: (202) 260-5787. Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fe94919690d09b909992978d96be9b9ad0999188"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fa90959294d49f949d96938992ba9f9ed49d958c">[email protected]</span></a>.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Department administers dozens of programs authorized by the
HEA. These programs include (but are not limited to): the Student
Financial Assistance Programs, including the William D. Ford Federal
Direct Loan Program, the Federal Pell Grant Program, the Teacher
Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant
Program, the Federal Work-Study Program (FWS), and the Supplemental
Educational Grant Program (FSEOG), administered by Federal Student Aid
(FSA); the Student Service programs administered by the Office of
Postsecondary Education (OPE), including the Federal TRIO Programs,
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR
UP), Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN), and Child
Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS); the Institutional
Service programs administered by OPE that are designed to increase
capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs),
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and other Minority-Serving
institutions (MSIs) to provide high-quality education to more students;
the various special focus competitions supported under the Fund for the
Improvement of Postsecondary Education and administered by OPE; the
International and Foreign Language Education Domestic Programs; and the
Special Programs for Migrant Students and Teacher Quality Partnerships
Programs administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary
Education.
As reflected in the Department's Strategic Plan and Learning Agenda
(available at <a href="https://evaluation.gov">https://evaluation.gov</a>), high-quality evaluation, data
collection, and analysis are important priorities. They are key to the
Department's administration of programs and essential to Congress's and
the public's understanding of these programs. In addition, high-quality
program evaluation can help identify effective strategies that can be
disseminated and scaled more broadly. Very few HEA-authorized programs
allow the Department to use program funding for evaluation, technical
assistance, or data collection and analysis, resulting in missed
opportunities for the Department to be able to increase knowledge of
effective practices in higher education.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103),
includes a new HEA Pooled Evaluation authority that authorizes the
Secretary to reserve up to 0.5 percent from the appropriation for any
HEA-authorized program--excluding the Pell Grant Program and Student
Aid Administration--for the purpose of carrying out rigorous and
independent evaluations and to collect and analyze outcome data for any
program authorized by the HEA. Fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding that is
reserved for HEA Pooled Evaluation is available for obligation through
September 30, 2024. To date, the Department has reserved $6,904,996
under the HEA Pooled Evaluation authority. The Department must report
to the House and Senate Appropriations and Authorizing Committees on
the activities to be carried out under this authority, as well as the
funding used and the impact on grantees, 30 days prior to obligation of
funds. This authority was requested in the President's Budget in
previous years but was included in the Department's appropriations
legislation for the first time in FY 2022. The Administration has
requested the authority again in the FY 2023 President's Budget request
and hopes Congress continues to include this authority in future
appropriations. The Department will contemplate comments received from
this RFI when planning to use future funding it may receive from future
appropriations under this authority.
The Department is committed to using this authority in a way that
minimizes the impact on our grantees and students while also allocating
funding to the highest priority evaluation, data collection, and
analysis activities. To ensure that we harness the enormous potential
of this new authority, we are, through this RFI, requesting information
from the public on ideas for how best to use these funds. Our hope is
to identify and consider the widest possible range of ideas. Note that
we see this as a long-term effort; as such, ideas for evaluation, data
collection, and analysis that are not funded initially may continue to
be considered, pending the reservation of funds and whether
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this authority is retained in future Department appropriations acts.
When submitting ideas for potential uses of HEA Pooled Evaluation
funding, please note that funding must be used in connection with
evaluation, data collection, and analysis of an HEA-authorized program,
including the student financial aid programs. When responding to this
RFI, please address one or more of the following questions related to
your proposed activity:
1. What is the goal of this evaluation, or data collection, and
analysis activity? How would this activity build evidence that supports
strategies that promote student success, make education more inclusive
and affordable, and ensure pathways through higher education lead to
successful careers?
2. What specific research question or questions is this evaluation,
data collection, and analysis activity designed to answer?
3. How would the proposed activity help evaluate, or otherwise
provide important information on, an HEA program or programs?
4. If the activity proposed is an evaluation, are you aware of
other evaluations on this topic? If so, please identify the relevant
evaluations.
5. Does the proposed activity involve new data collection and
analysis or the analysis of existing data?
6. Are there any additional benefits of conducting this activity
that have not been previously identified?
We will review every comment, and the comments in response to this
RFI will be publicly available on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Please note that the Department will not directly
respond to comments.
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person 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, or 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 <a href="http://www.govinfo.gov">www.govinfo.gov</a>. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department 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 documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Program Authority: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022.
Roberto Rodriguez,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy
Development.
[FR Doc. 2022-27474 Filed 12-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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