On December 23, 2011, the President
signed into law the FY 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012
(Public Law 112-74), which provides appropriations for the U.S.
Department of Education for fiscal year (FY) 2012. The legislation
appropriates $284,461,350 for Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF)
competitive grants that must be awarded by September 30, 2012. The
data provided through this information collection will be used by
application reviewers and the Department to assess the extent to
which an applicant meets the priorities, requirements, and
selection criteria of the TIF program competition and determine
which applicants should receive grants. The Department used
information collected under this control number to award TIF grants
in FY 2010. The information to be collected in project applications
with regard to funds appropriated to the Department for FY 2012
under Pub. L. 112-74 is different from the information collected
for purposes of the award of appropriated funds provided for FY
2010. The data provided through this information collection will be
used by application reviewers and the Department to assess the
extent to which an applicant meets the priorities, requirements,
and selection criteria of the TIF program competition and determine
which applicants should receive grants. In addition, ED will use
the information provided in this collection to prepare summaries of
the activities each grantee will carry out and will disseminate to
members of Congress and the general public. ED will also use this
information to monitor the progress and performance of each grantee
in carrying out the activities described in the
application.
The increase in burden hours is
due to a program change. Specifically, the revised collection
requires each applicant to submit an application reference chart
that identifies where in the applicant's application peer reviewers
and program staff can find various required elements of the
application, including where the applicant addressed the priorities
and program requirements, where it provided a list of "high-need"
schools, and, for group applications, the required memorandum of
understanding or other binding agreement among the parties to the
application. This change is intended to facilitate the review of
applications, as well as to ensure that applicants do not
unintentionally omit a required element of the application. The
application reference chart appears in Appendix 1 of the
application package.
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.
TIF Application