OMB Memo

To: Bridget Dooling

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Through: Alan Schiff

Chief of Staff

Higher Education Programs

From: Linda Byrd-Johnson

Director

Federal TRIO Programs

Subject: Request for Reinstatement with Change of the Annual Performance

Report Form for the Upward Bound programs (Upward Bound,

Upward Bound Math-Science, and Veterans Upward Bound)

(OMB No. 1840-0762)

We are requesting that the annual performance report form for the Upward Bound programs be reinstated for three years. All Upward Bound grantees must submit an annual performance report as a condition of their awards. The Department of Education needs OMB's approval of the report form so as to collect 2007–08 performance data in late fall 2008. The previous form was discontinued as of December 31, 2007; no one has used it since that date.

The report provides the Department with information needed to evaluate each grantee's performance and compliance with the programs' requirements, to make funding decisions, and to award prior experience points in accordance with the programs' regulations. The data collected are also aggregated to allow the Department to report on each program as a whole, particularly for purposes of the Government Performance and Results Act.

Some changes have been made in the previously approved report. New standard objectives were established in the four-year grant cycle that began in fall 2007; the revised report reflects those objectives and will allow TRIO staff to determine whether grantees met their target percentages for them. Revisions will also allow the Department to determine the extent to which grantees have followed the absolute priority under which regular Upward Bound (but not Upward Bound Math-Science or Veterans Upward Bound) is operating. Another change is the significant reduction in the number of fields in the report (from 100 to 53 in Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math-Science, and from 65 to 31 in Veterans Upward Bound), which TRIO staff members were able to achieve by taking a hard look at what data had proved to be truly needed in the past. Burden hours per respondent are therefore reduced, as are total hours despite the increase in number of respondents from 950 to 1,143.

The Information Collection Submission Worksheet and supporting documents are also being submitted as required. If additional information is needed, please call Kathy Fuller at 202-219-7114.

Attachments:

ICR Part I

ICR Part II

Certification for Paperwork Reduction

Act Submissions

Supporting Statement

Draft Upward Bound annual performance report:

Sections I and II

Instructions

Letter to project directors