National Science Foundation.
Notice.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to request renewed clearance of this collection. In accordance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are providing opportunity for public comment on this action. After obtaining and considering public comment, NSF will prepare the submission requesting OMB clearance of this collection for no longer than 3 years.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Written comments should be received by October 23, 2007 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent practicable.
Written comments regarding the information collection and requests for copies of the proposed information collection request should be addressed to Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Rm. 295, Arlington, VA 22030, or by e-mail to
Suzanne Plimpton on (703) 292–7556 or send e-mail to
The Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), a unit within NSF, promotes rigor and vitality within the Nation's STEM education enterprise to further the development of the 21st century's STEM workforce and public scientific literacy. EHR does this through diverse projects and programs that support research, extension, outreach, and hands-on activities service STEM learning and research at all institutional (e.g., pre-school through postdoctoral) levels in formal and informal settings; and individuals of all ages (birth and beyond). EHR also focuses on broadening participation in STEM learning and careers among United STates citizens, permanent residents and nationals, particularly those individuals traditionally underemployed in the STEM research workforce, including but not limited to women, persons with disabilities, and racial and ethnic minorities.
At the request of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) an EHR Generic Clearance was established in 1995 to integrate management, monitoring and evaluation information pertaining to the NSF's Education and Training (E&T) portfolio in response to the Government Performance and Results Acts (GPRA) of 1993. Under this generic survey clearance (OMB 3145–0136), data from the NSF administrative databases are incorporated with findings gathered through initiative-, divisional-, and program-specific data collections. The scope of the EHR Generic Clearance primarily covers descriptive information gathered from education and training projects that are funded by NSF. Most programs subject to EHR Generic data collection are funded by the EHR Directorate, but some are funded in whole or in part by disciplinary directorates or multi-disciplinary or cross-cutting programs. Since 2001 in accordance with OMB's Terms of Clearance, NSF primarily uses the data from the EHR Generic Clearance for program planning, management and audit purposes to respond to queries from the Congress, the public, NSF's external merit reviewers who serve as advisors, including Committees of Visitors, and the NSF's Office of the Inspector General.
OMB has limited the collection to three categories of descriptive data: (1) Staff and project participants (data that are also necessary to determine individual-level treatment and control groups for future third-party study); (2) project implementation characteristics (also necessary for future use to identify well-matched comparison groups) and (3) project outputs (necessary to measure baseline for pre- and post- NSF-funding-level impacts).
The work of the multi-agency ACC employed a methodological framework to determine STEM education program effectiveness. The ACC was chaired by the Department of Education and other agencies that participated included the NSF and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The ACC suggested cross-agency STEM education goals and metrics and developed a framework or “Hierarchy of Study Designs” under three scientific categories: (1) Experimental (often called randomized controlled trails—RCT) (2) quasi-experimental (such as well-matched comparison group studies) and (3) other (such as pre and post-test and multiple methodologies). Further details on the participating agencies and the ACC's recommendations are available at:
Since the EHR Generic Clearance research is primarily used for accountability purposes, including responding from queries from Committees of Visitors and other scientific experts, a census rather than sampling design typically is necessary. At the individual project level funding can be adjusted based on individual project's responses to some of the surveys. Some data collected under the EHR Clearance serve as baseline data for separate research and evaluation studies. The EHR Generic Clearance may be used to clear data collections for other ACC agencies, such as NASA. In February 2007 NASA and NSF signed a
In order to conduct program or portfolio level evaluations, however, both experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation research studies on STEM education interventions require researchers to identify individual-level and organization or project-level control and treatment groups or comparison groups. NSF-funded contract or grantee researchers and evaluators in part may identify control, comparison, or treatment groups for NSF's E&T portfolio using some of the descriptive data gathered through OMB 3145–0136 to conduct well-designed, rigorous research and portfolio evaluation studies.
In accordance with the 2001 and 2005 OMB terms of clearance, NSF requests separate stand-alone clearance (and separately announces for comment in the