This evaluation will focus on the
impacts of Upward Bound on students applying to enter the program
as early as the summer of 2007. The current OMB package requests
clearance for the instruments to be used in gathering
information.
The Department is
requesting emergency clearance to begin collection of parental and
student consent forms, baseline information forms, and student
selection forms. If the evaluation has to go through the normal
clearance process, ED's notification to work with grantees on data
collection could not begin until late March or early April 2007,
where many grantees are completing their application periods. This
schedule would likely mean that summer programs would need to be
delayed or perhaps cancelled for new students, creating hostility
toward the evaluation, undermining the validity of the evaluation
and harming its ability to draw conclusions about the effectiveness
of the redesigned Upward Bound program. Emergency processing would
allow the Department to contact sampled grantees to be in the
evaluation in late January or early February 2007, allowing more
time for the evaluator to work with grantees selected for the
evaluation (contingent on their receipt of funding for 2007),
ensure that a sufficient number of eligible students are recruited
to form a control group, and obtain the necessary consent and
baseline student data required before random assignment can
occur.
PL:
Pub.L. 105 - 244 404A Name of Law: Higher Education Act of
1965, 1998, Higher Education Act Amendments
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.
83C Change Sheet1.doc
Student Selection Forms