Sec. 4625. Experimental programs
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Section 487A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1094a ) is amended to read as follows: The Secretary is authorized to periodically select a limited number of institutions for voluntary participation as experimental sites to test the effectiveness of approaches to statutory and regulatory flexibility that— to the extent appropriate, may lead to a reduction of regulatory burden on institutions of higher education or the Department of Education, except that the Secretary shall not waive any requirement of this title for any institution participating as an experimental site that would reduce the protections or the information provided to a student under this Act; and aim to increase student success, as determined in accordance with subsection (g).
The Secretary may continue any experiment or the voluntary participation of any experimental site in existence as of the date of enactment of the College Affordability Act , unless the Secretary determines that such experiment or site has not been successful in increasing student success as determined in accordance with subsection (g). Any experiment or experimental site approved by the Secretary prior to the date of enactment of the College Affordability Act that has not been successful in increasing student success shall be discontinued before the first day of the first ward year beginning after such date.
The Secretary is authorized to waive, for any institution participating as an experimental site under subsection (a), any requirements in this title, including requirements related to the award process and disbursement of student financial aid (such as innovative delivery systems for modular or compressed courses, or other innovative systems), verification of student financial aid application data, entrance and exit interviews, or other management procedures or processes as determined in the negotiated rulemaking process under section 492, or regulations prescribed under this title, that will bias the results of the experiment, except that the Secretary shall not waive any provisions with respect to award rules (other than an award rule related to an experiment in modular or compressed schedules), grant and loan maximum award amounts, and need analysis requirements unless the waiver of such provisions is authorized by another provision under this title.
Before notifying institutions of the intent of the Secretary to carry out an experiment under this section, the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, shall develop an evaluation plan for the experiment. The evaluation plan shall include the following: Identification of the methodology to be used for collecting data on the experiment which shall include, to the extent practicable, a methodology that allows for the disaggregation of data by age, race, gender, disability status, status as a veteran or member of the Armed Forces, status as a first generation college student, and status as a recipient of a Federal Pell Grant under section 401.
Identification of the rigorous evaluation methods to be used for determining the impact of the experiment, which shall include, to the extent practicable— a randomized controlled design; and an assessment of whether the experiment has a differential impact on any group described in paragraph (1). A schedule for conducting the experiment in accordance with the duration limit specified in subsection (f). An estimate of the cost of conducting the experiment, to the extent practicable.
An estimate of the size of the study sample (such as the number of participating students or institutions) needed to determine if the experiment has statistically significant effects. The Secretary may not carry out an experiment at an experimental site under this section until a period of 60 days has elapsed following the date on which the Secretary submits to the authorizing committees the notice described in paragraph (2). The notice described in this paragraph is a written notice that includes— a description of the experiment proposed to be carried out by the Secretary, including the rationale for the proposed experiment; the policy-relevant questions the Secretary intends to evaluate through the experiment and an explanation of how the design of the experiment will allow the Secretary to best answer those questions; a list of the specific statutory and regulatory requirements that the Secretary intends to waive with respect to an institution participating as an experimental site and the legal authority for such waivers; an explanation of how the statutory and regulatory flexibility provided to an institution participating as an experimental site is expected to increase student success, as required under subsection (a); and a copy of the evaluation plan developed under subsection (d).
Except as provided in paragraph (2), the duration of an experiment under this section shall not exceed a period of four years beginning with the first award year for which Federal financial aid is disbursed to students participating in the experiment. The Secretary may extend an experiment for up to two years beyond the four-year period specified in paragraph
(1)on a case-by-case basis. For the purposes of subsection (a), the Secretary shall make a determination of success regarding an institution’s participation as an experimental site based on— whether, and to what extent, student outcomes improve as a direct result of the experiment; whether the experimental site improves the delivery of services to, or otherwise benefitted, students; and the extent to which the experiment reduces administrative burdens on institutions participating as experimental sites, as documented in the Secretary’s annual report under subsection (h)(3), without harming students. Each institution participating as an experimental site shall submit to the Secretary, on a periodic basis to be determined by the Secretary, data on outcomes relating to the experiment carried out at the site. Subject to subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall review and rigorously evaluate the activities of each institution participating as an experimental site. To the extent practicable, the evaluation under subparagraph
(A)shall be based on data collected in accordance with the data collection methodology specified in the evaluation plan for the experiment under subsection (d)(1). On an annual basis, the Secretary shall submit to the authorizing committees a report based on the review and evaluation carried out under paragraph (2). Each report shall include, with respect to each experiment carried out by the Secretary during the period covered by the report, the following: A summary of the status of the experiment. A list identifying each institution participating as an experimental site. The specific statutory or regulatory waivers granted to each institution participating as an experimental site. In a case in which data on the experiment is not collected in accordance with the methodology specified in the evaluation plan under subsection (d)(1)— the reasons that such methodology was not used to collect data on the experiment; and a description of the alternative data collection methodology used for the experiment. An evaluation of the quality of data yielded by the experiment. A summary and analysis of the findings, to date, of the experiment. An assessment of whether the experiment has had a differential impact on any group listed in subsection (d)(1). An explanation of any current or foreseen barriers to conducting the experiment. In the case of an experiment for which the Secretary determines there is sufficient value in continuing the experiment past the duration limit specified in subsection (f)(1), adequate documentation to justify such continuation. Not later than 180 days after the conclusion of each experiment, the Secretary shall submit to the authorizing committees a report that includes the following: A summary of the data yielded by the experiment, including, to the extent practicable, data on the results of the experiment disaggregated by age, race, gender, disability status, status as a veteran or member of the Armed Forces, status as a first generation college student, and status as a recipient of a Federal Pell Grant under section 401. The conclusions reached regarding each experiment conducted. Recommendations, based on the results of the experiment— to improve and streamline relevant statutes, including this Act; and for improvements to relevant regulations. An explanation of any changes to regulations that the Secretary intends to make as a result of the experiment. Each report submitted under paragraphs
(3)and
(4)shall be made available on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Education. The requirements of section 3507 of title 44, United States Code, shall not apply to the collection of information by the Department of Education on experiments carried out in accordance with this section. .
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Sec. 4625
Experimental programs
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