Program for the International
Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Cycle II 2022 Tribal
Communications Materials
New
collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)
No
Emergency
05/16/2022
05/10/2022
Requested
Previously Approved
6 Months From Approved
1
0
1
0
0
0
This is an emergency request (under 5
CFR 1320.13(a)) to approve new recruitment and communication
materials to contact six Native American tribal leaders to request
the cooperation of their communities in an upcoming data
collection. The Program for the International Assessment of Adult
Competencies (PIAAC) is a cyclical, large-scale study of adult
skills and life experiences focusing on education and employment.
PIAAC is an international study designed to assess adults in
different countries over a broad range of abilities, from simple
reading to complex problem-solving skills, and to collect
information on individuals’ skill use and background. The U.S. will
administer the PIAAC 2022 assessment to a nationally representative
sample of adults, along with a background questionnaire with
questions about their education background, work history, the
skills they use on the job and at home, their civic engagement, and
sense of their health and well-being. The results are used to
compare the skills capacities of the workforce-aged adults in
participating countries, and to learn more about relationships
between educational background, employment, and other outcomes.
PIAAC is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) and developed by participating countries
with the support of the OECD. In the United States, the National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department
of Education (ED) conducts PIAAC. In preparation for the main study
collection, PIAAC Cycle II began with an Operational Field Test in
2021, in which 32 countries are expected to participate with the
primary goal of testing the PIAAC 2022 planned operations (OMB#
1850-0870 v.10). In February 2022, NCES published a Federal
Register Notice soliciting 60 days of public comment on the
materials for the PIAAC Cycle II 2022 Main Study (87 FR 9330-9331).
Upon clearance of this Emergency Submission, the materials
contained here will be added to the package of the materials for
the PIAAC Cycle II 2022 Main Study and a Federal Register Notice
soliciting an additional 30 days of public comment will be
published. That final submission (OMB# 1850-0870 v.11) will
describe the complete and final plans for the administration of the
PIAAC Cycle II 2022 Main Study. For that reason, NCES will not
publish a Federal Register Notice soliciting comment solely on
these communication materials. This extremely time-sensitive
situation has arisen because, for the first time, part of PIAAC’s
U.S. sample for this administration is in tribal lands and
territories, and so NCES needs to ask permission and cooperation to
enter and collect data in those areas. At the time of the 60-day
submission, the primary sampling unit (PSU) selection process had
not yet begun. Once the PSUs and secondary sampling units (SSUs)
were selected, the geographies were overlaid with information on
tribal areas revealing that six tribal territories fell into the
sample. The higher-than-expected number of PSUs in tribal
territories may be due in part to the augmented Cycle II sample
design which facilitates small area estimates and includes at least
two PSUs in every state.
The primary purpose of
this memo is to demonstrate the need for an emergency review under
5 CFR 1320.13(a) of new contact and recruitment materials to
contact six Native American tribal leaders. The need for immediate
clearance is due to the time sensitivity of these communications,
as these relationships take time to establish and PIAAC 2022 is due
to begin data collection in September 2022. Normal clearance
procedures would not allow NCES to follow the mandates set by the
sponsoring international organization and make the required changes
to the data collection while also respecting the timeline specified
for this data collection.
US Code:
20
USC 9573 Name of Law: Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.