Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMSSION

INTRODUCTION

The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) provides grants to establish, improve, or expand innovative foreign language programs for elementary and secondary school students. The primary focus of projects funded under FLAP is foreign language learning.

A. JUSTIFICATION

A1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Information in the FLAP for LEAs Annual Performance Report (APR) is being collected in compliance with Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, Title V, Part D, Subpart 9, Secs. 5491-5493; 20 U.S.C. 7259 - 7259(b) (shown in appendix A), the Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, Section 4 (1115) (shown in appendix B), and the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), 34 CFR 75.253. EDGAR states that recipients of multi-year discretionary grants must submit an APR demonstrating that substantial progress has been made towards meeting the approved objectives of the project. In addition, discretionary grantees are required to report on their progress toward meeting the performance measures established for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) grant program.

The overall goal of FLAP is to assist local and state educational agencies in establishing, improving or expanding foreign language study for elementary and secondary school students. There are three GPRA performance objectives for FLAP LEAs and five performance measures associated with the objectives. They are:

Objective 1: To expand foreign language study in non-critical languages for students served by FLAP.

Measure 1.1 of 2: The number of students participating in foreign language instruction in the non-critical language(s) funded by FLAP.

Measure 1.2 of 2: The average number of minutes per week of foreign language instruction in the non-critical language(s) funded by FLAP.

Objective 2: To expand foreign language study in critical languages for students served by FLAP.

Measure 2.1 of 2: The number of students participating in critical language(s) funded by FLAP.

Measure 2.2 of 2: The average number of minutes per week of foreign language instruction in the critical language(s) funded by FLAP.

Objective 3: To improve the foreign language proficiency of students served by FLAP.

Measure 3.1 of 1: The number of students in FLAP projects who meet ambitious project objectives for foreign language proficiency. (For grants awarded 2008 onward)

A customized APR that goes beyond the ED 524B APR is requested to facilitate the collection of more standardized and comprehensive data to address the program’s GPRA measures, to improve the overall quality of data collected, and to increase the quality of data that can be used to inform policy decisions.

A2. Purposes and Uses of the Data

In 1993, GPRA was passed that requires federally funded agencies to develop and implement an accountability system based on performance measurement. Grantees are required to report on their progress toward meeting the objectives and goals established for each ED grant program.

The purpose of this data collection is to obtain the data necessary for GPRA reporting and project monitoring. FLAP LEA grantees will submit these data semi-annually to the OELA program office. In the first data collection, grantees will provide targets for their performance data and progress towards reaching their targets. In the second collection, grantees report actual performance data. The same form will be used for each data collection.

The program office staff will aggregate and report the actual GPRA performance data to ED’s Budget Service. The Budget Service will use this information when making program budget recommendations to Congress. The aggregated actual performance data will also be included in ED’s annual Program Performance Report.

The program office staff will also examine each grantee’s performance data against project objectives and targets to determine the grantee’s progress toward meeting its own goals. Grantees are also to report budget information at both collections, which the program office uses for monitoring purposes. The proposed data collection form will facilitate the collection of more standardized and comprehensive data for project monitoring. For grantees in their final year of funding, the proposed data collection form also serves as their final performance report.

A3. Use of Technology to Reduce Burden

The APR will be available to be completed and submitted electronically. This may improve the timeliness of submission, accuracy of data, and reduce cost or burden associated with regular mail.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

There is no duplication of reporting. The information requested for this reporting is not collected or reported elsewhere.

A5. Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Entities

The data collection does not involve small businesses or other small entities.

A6. Consequences of Not Collecting Data

Annual or periodic performance reporting is stipulated in GPRA 1993, Section 4. Currently, the FLAP grantees provide information semi-annually on the ED 524B. Semi-annual reporting via the proposed data collection form will provide a standardized means for grantees to report on project activities and outcomes as described in their grant proposal and reduce variation in data provided on program outcomes.

A7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that would require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

A8. Federal Register Comments and Persons Consultants Outside the Agency

We will publish the 60-day Federal Register notice and provide this document when available.

[INSERT FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE HERE.]

Current FLAP project directors were contacted to review the draft APR for feedback on the availability of data, frequency of data collection, the clarity of instruction, and recordkeeping. The project directors were:

• Evangeline Jordan, Houston Independent School District

• Jack Hayes, Fayette County Public Schools

• Michael Hibbeln, Rockford Public Schools

• Donna Podgorny, Union County School District

Further, all grantees will be encouraged to submit feedback during the 60-day public comment period.

A9. Payments or Gifts

There are no payments or gifts to grantees in support of the data collection.

A10. Assurances of Confidentiality

There are no assurances of confidentiality to grantees.

A11. Justification of Sensitive Questions

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

A12. Estimates of Hour Burden

Exhibit A-1 below presents a summary of estimated response burden for the data collection in terms of both total estimated hours and total estimated cost.

Data Source	Estimated Number of Respondents	Estimated Burden (in Hours)	Total Estimated Annual Cost (in Dollars)1
1st data collection
New grantees	12	10	$4,800
Current grantees	115	10	$46,000
2nd data collection
New grantees	12	40	$19,200
Current grantees	115	40	$184,000
Total	127	50	$254,000

¹Based on an estimated hourly rate of $40.

A13. Estimate of Cost Burden to Respondents

There are no additional costs to respondents or record-keepers resulting from each collection other than that already reported in A12 and A14, including capital or start-up costs, or operation, maintenance, or purchase of services.

A14. Estimate of Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The FLAP program office staff will conduct the data collection for the APR. There are currently 115 grantees, and 12 new grants will be awarded. Assuming that the response for each grantee takes an average of one hour of program office staff time for each data collection, and that each hour of program office staff time (including overhead) costs the federal government about $42 (grade 13, step 5), the annualized federal cost will be approximately $10,668.

A15. Program Changes or Adjustments

In previous years, the program office collected similar information through the ED 524B. The reporting templates in the new customized APR will increase data quality and will allow the program office to aggregate information for reporting on the program’s GPRA measures.

A16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication of Results

There are no plans for publication beyond reporting results to ED’s Budget Service for compliance with GPRA. Should this opportunity arise, the program office will follow OMB recommended steps to ensure information quality. Following this, the program office will engage in peer review by Education Department colleagues as well as experts in the field for any publication of analyses resulting from APRs.

A17. Approval to Not Display the OMB Expiration Date

The OMB number and expiration date will be displayed on the data collection form.

A18. Explanation of Exceptions

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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