30-day Comment Response Summary

Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement (McNair) Program

Summary of Public Comments on Proposed Changes to the

2018-19 McNair Annual Performance Report (APR)

Following 30-Day Review Period

On October 30, 2019, the Department of Education (Department) published a Notice of Proposed Information Collection Request (Notice) in the Federal Register inviting comments by November 29, 2019, on the proposed annual performance report (APR) for the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement (McNair) Program. The Department received four (4) comments, two (2) of which were determined to be “substantive” in nature. The two other comments were related to specific fields regarding the participants’ academic and degree status information. The Department reviewed each of the comments and provided responses as well as made revisions to the APR, where applicable.

A summary and discussion of the comments on the proposed McNair APR as well as information on the actions taken follows. Some minor changes to the APR that are of a technical nature (e.g., typographical errors) are not discussed below but have been made to the revised form and instructions.

SECTION II.F. PARTICIPANTS’ ACADEMIC AND DEGREE STATUS INFORMATION

Field 42 - Graduate Assistantships (For 1^st year graduate students only)

Comments: One commenter noted that several of their students are funded through a fellowship for more than one year and have no teaching or research assistantship obligations at that time; however, there is currently no option available to identify this distinction in funding. Therefore, they recommended the addition of another option to Field 42 that captures fellowship support.

Discussion: Duly noted.

Action Taken: The Department has revised Field 42, Option 3, “Other,” as follows:

3 = Other (such as fellowship support)

Comments: One commenter expressed appreciation for the Department’s responsiveness to the McNair community’s comments generated during the 60-day public comment period, which resulted in the addition of Option 3, “Other,” to Field 42 that captures other types of funding, such as fellowship support, for first year graduate students.

Discussion: Duly noted.

Action Taken: None.

Summary of Comments on the 2018-19 Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program APR Page 2