This information collection request
covers requirements for applications to the School Improvement
Grants program. On January 21, 2010, the U.S. Department of
Education (Department) published final requirements and a State
educational agency (SEA) application for the School Improvement
Grants (SIG) program authorized under section 1003(g) of Title I of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as
amended, and funded through the Department of Education
Appropriations Act, 2009, and the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (FY 2009). The final requirements
defined the criteria that an SEA must use to award FY 2013 SIG
funds to local educational agencies (LEAs). In awarding these
funds, an SEA must give priority to the LEAs with the
lowest-achieving schools that demonstrate the greatest need for the
funds and the strongest commitment to using the funds to provide
adequate resources to their lowest-achieving schools that are
eligible to receive services provided through SIG funds in order to
raise substantially the achievement of the students attending those
schools. The information collection activities consist of: (1)
applications for an SEA to submit to the Department to apply for FY
2013 SIG funds; (2) the reporting of specific school-level data on
the use of SIG funds and specific interventions implemented in LEAs
receiving SIG funds that the Department currently collects through
EDFacts; (3) the process for an LEA to apply to its SEA for SIG
funds; and (4) the SEAs posting its LEAs applications on the SEAs
website.
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.