83 FR 64338 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 240 (December 14, 2018)

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), the Department of Education (the Department) publishes this notice of a new system of records entitled ``Text Ed: A Study of Text Messaging to Improve College Enrollment Rates among Disadvantaged Adults (18-13-41).'' This system contains individually identifying information voluntarily provided by grantees under the Department of Education's (Department') Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) program which were selected to participate in the study and adult participants who receive services from those grantees. The EOC program is one of the Department's TRIO programs and primarily focuses on disadvantaged adults. The information in this system will be used to conduct a rigorous study of the effectiveness of customized text messages as an enhancement to EOC services, examining whether the messages lead to increased college enrollment and Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates among adults receiving support from EOCs.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 240 (Friday, December 14, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64338-64340]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27144]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2017-IES-0081]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the Department of Education (the Department) publishes 
this notice of a new system of records entitled ``Text Ed: A Study of 
Text Messaging to Improve College Enrollment Rates among Disadvantaged 
Adults (18-13-41).'' This system contains individually identifying 
information voluntarily provided by grantees under the Department of 
Education's (Department') Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) program 
which were selected to participate in the study and adult participants 
who receive services from those grantees. The EOC program is one of the 
Department's TRIO programs and primarily focuses on disadvantaged 
adults. The information in this system will be used to conduct a 
rigorous study of the effectiveness of customized text messages as an 
enhancement to EOC services, examining whether the messages lead to 
increased college enrollment and Free Application for Federal Student 
Aid (FAFSA) completion rates among adults receiving support from EOCs.

DATES: Submit your comments on this new system of records notice on or 
before January 14, 2019.
    This new system of records will become applicable upon publication 
in the Federal Register on December 14, 2018, unless the new system of 
records notice needs to be changed as a result of public comment. All 
proposed routine uses in the paragraph entitled ``ROUTINE USES OF 
RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND 
PURPOSES OF SUCH USES'' will become applicable on January 14, 2019, 
unless the new system of records notice needs to be changed as a result 
of public comment. The Department will publish any changes to the 
system of records or routine uses that result from public comment.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the 
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under the ``Help'' tab.
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about this modified system of records, 
address them to: SORN Coordinator, Institute of Education Sciences, 
U.S. Department of Education, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW, 
Room 4126, Washington, DC 20202.

    Privacy Note:  The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to 
include in their comments only information that they wish to make 
publicly available.

    Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate 
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who 
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the 
public rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an 
appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please 
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teresa Cahalan, Institute of Education 
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th 
Street SW, Room 4126, Washington, DC 20202, or by email at 
[email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), you may call the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-
8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The information contained in the system will be used to conduct a 
study of the effectiveness of personalized text messaging in improving 
the college enrollment and FAFSA completion rates of disadvantaged 
adults. The messaging will be implemented as an enhancement to services 
provided by Educational Opportunity Centers. The information collected 
will be used to describe the implementation of the study's text

[[Page 64339]]

messaging intervention and to estimate the impact of the intervention 
on study participants' rates of FAFSA completion and college 
enrollment.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., Braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at: www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To 
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Dated: December 11, 2018.
Mark Schneider,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.
SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    Text Ed: A Study of Text Messaging to Improve College Enrollment 
Rates among Disadvantaged Adults (18-13-41).

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    MDRC, 19th Floor, 16 East 34th Street, New York City, NY 10016-4326 
(contractor).
    Signal Vine, 811 North Royal Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1715 
(subcontractor).

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
    Project's contracting officer representative, Institute of 
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Potomac Center Plaza, 
550 12th Street SW, Room 4105, Washington, DC 20202.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The study is authorized under sections 171(b) and 173 of the 
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) (20 U.S.C. 9561(b) and 
9563) and title IV, part A, subpart 2, chapter 1 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11-1070a18).

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    The information contained in the records maintained in this system 
will be used to conduct a rigorous study of customized text messaging 
to improve the college enrollment and Free Application for Federal 
Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates of adult participants in 
Educational Opportunity Centers (EOCs).
    The study will address the following central research questions: 
Does providing personalized messages to EOC participants increase FAFSA 
completion rates? Does it increase college enrollment rates? What are 
participants' experiences with the text messages (for instance, how 
often do they receive the messages? How often do they text back in 
response?)? Secondary research questions for the study are: To what 
extent does the effectiveness of the messaging vary across EOC grantee 
sites? To what extent does the effectiveness vary across participant 
subgroups?

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system will contain records on adults participating in an 
impact study of customized text messaging to improve college enrollment 
and FAFSA completion rates. The system will contain records on 
approximately 6,000 adult participants at up to 20 EOCs.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The information in the records in this system will include, but 
will not necessarily be limited to the following information about 
participants: Full name, address, telephone number, email address, date 
of birth, sex, race/ethnicity, income, Social Security number, 
educational background and plans, whether the participant is a 
caretaker for children, parents' educational background, primary 
language spoken, FAFSA completion status, and college enrollment 
status. Participants' contact and background information will be used 
to send out the text messages and customize the content of the 
messages. Social Security numbers will be used, along with 
participants' names and dates of birth, to extract college enrollment 
statuses and FAFSA completion statuses from the databases of the 
National Student Clearinghouse and the Department's Federal Student Aid 
office (FSA), respectively.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Participant background data will be obtained through administrative 
records maintained by study EOCs and through a survey of study 
participants. College enrollment data will be obtained through the 
National Student Clearinghouse. FAFSA completion data will be obtained 
through administrative records maintained by FSA. Participants' texting 
records will be obtained from the study's text message provider, Signal 
Vine.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record in 
this system of records under the routine uses listed in this system of 
records without the consent of the individual if the disclosure is 
compatible with the purposes for which the record was collected. The 
Department may make these disclosures on a case-by-case basis or, if 
the Department has complied with the computer matching requirements of 
the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), under a computer 
matching agreement. Any disclosure of individually identifiable 
information from a record in this system must also comply with the 
requirements of section 183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573) providing for 
confidentiality standards that apply to all collection, reporting, and 
publication of data by the Institute of Education Sciences.
    (1) Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity 
for the purpose of performing any function that requires disclosure of 
records in this system to employees of the contractor, the Department 
may disclose the records to those employees. As part of such a 
contract, the Department will require the contractor to agree to 
maintain safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of the 
records disclosed from the system.
    (2) Obtaining Participants' Academic Records Disclosure. In order 
to permit the Department or its contractor to obtain a participant's 
academic records from the National Student Clearinghouse consistent 
with the purpose of the study, the Department or its contractor may 
disclose records to the National Student Clearinghouse.
    (3) Participant Identification Disclosure. In order to permit EOC 
staff to communicate via text message with participants assigned to 
receive text messages consistent with the purpose of the study, the 
Department may disclose to each participating EOC the identities of the 
Center's adults assigned to receive text messages.
    (4) Research Disclosure. The Department may disclose information 
from this system of records to qualified researchers solely for the 
purpose of carrying out specific research that is

[[Page 64340]]

compatible with the purpose(s) of this system of records. The 
researcher must agree to maintain safeguards to protect the security 
and confidentiality of such records.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    Records in this system are maintained in a secure, password-
protected electronic system.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Records in this system will be indexed and retrieved by a unique 
number assigned to each individual that will be cross-referenced by the 
individual's name on a separate list.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    The Department will submit a retention and disposition schedule 
that covers the records contained in this system to the National 
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for review. The records will 
not be destroyed until such time as NARA approves said schedule.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Security protocols for this system of records meet all required 
security standards. The contractor will be required to ensure that 
information identifying individuals is in files physically separated 
from other research data and electronic files identifying individuals 
are separated from other electronic research data files. The contractor 
and subcontractor will maintain security of the complete set of all 
master data files and documentation. Access to individually 
identifiable data will be strictly controlled. All information will be 
kept in locked file cabinets during nonworking hours, and work on 
hardcopy data will take place in a single room, except for data entry.
    Physical security of electronic data also will be maintained. 
Security features that protect project data will include: Password-
protected accounts that authorize users to use the contractor's and 
subcontractor's systems but to access only specific network directories 
and network software; user rights and directory and file attributes 
that limit those who can use particular directories and files and 
determine how they can use them; and additional security features that 
the network administrators will establish for projects as needed. The 
contractor's and subcontractor's employees who ``maintain'' (collect, 
maintain, use, or disseminate) data in this system must comply with the 
requirements of the Privacy Act and the confidentiality standards in 
section 183 of the ESRA (20 U.S.C. 9573).

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    If you wish to request access to your records, you must contact the 
system manager at the address listed above. Your request must provide 
necessary particulars of your full name, address, telephone number, and 
any other identifying information requested by the Department while 
processing the request, to distinguish between individuals with the 
same name. Your request must meet the requirements of regulations in 34 
CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you in the 
system of records, contact the system manager at the address listed 
above. Your request must meet the requirements of the regulations in 34 
CFR 5b.7.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    If you wish to inquire whether a record exists regarding you in 
this system, you must contact the system manager at the address listed 
above. You must provide necessary particulars of your full name, 
address, and telephone number, and any other identifying information 
requested by the Department while processing the request, to 
distinguish between individuals with the same name. Your request must 
meet the requirements of the Department's Privacy Act regulations at 34 
CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

HISTORY:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2018-27144 Filed 12-13-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P