60D Comment Response

Responses to Public Comment

Supporting Excellence in Adult Education (1830-NEW)

Comment: The commenter expressed opposition to what the commenter characterized as “mandatory surveying.”

Response: The commenter is mistaken; this is a voluntary ICR.

Comment: The commenter maintained that the time burden for projects of this kind “are often far too short because they assume idealized information/data systems which are ready to produce reports associated with the data request.”

Response: This ICR does not assume “idealized information/data systems” because it relies heavily on existing adult learner outcome data that is collected under another ICR, Measures and Methods for the National Reporting System for Adult Education (1830-0027).

Comment: The commenter contended that the cost of the collection outweighed its benefits because it will not provide “actionable data for them [schools] to improve their operations.”

Response: Innovative practices identified through this ICR will be disseminated using the U.S. Department of Education’s Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS), which has nearly 14,000 regular users. The large number of LINCS users is an indication that many adult education practitioners consider its resources to be useful and actionable.

Comment: The commenter stated that “the government is not the most effective actor for collecting this information nor will it be effective in getting any best practices which could be derived from this data implemented in schools.”

Response: Section 242 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act directs the U.S. Department of Education to identify and evaluate “effective adult education and literacy activities.” Pursuant to that requirement, this ICR is seeking innovations that may merit rigorous research and evaluation.