Proposed Data Collection System and State AT Programs

Deborah Buck
dbuck@nycap.rr.com

I wanted to make sure that you were aware that the Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) recently issued a notice in the Federal Register regarding the opportunity for public comment on the proposed data collection system for State AT Programs. For a PDF copy of the notice, follow this link: http://www.connsensebulletin.com/datacollection.pdf

There are 30 days for public comment before RSA will forward the proposed system to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval. Comments are due on or before July 31, 2006. Since many ATA centers are affiliated with their state AT Program and will in all likelihood be required via their subcontract agreements to collect some of this data, I thought it was important for the organization to see the proposal and take advantage of the opportunity to submit comments. ATAP will be submitting comments I expect that some of our comments will probably be complementary and duplicative.

Requests for copies of the proposed information collection request may be accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, by selecting the ''Browse Pending Collections'' link and by clicking on link number 3125. When you access the information collection, click on ''Download Attachments'' to view. On this same site you can see some of the data requirements for other federally funded programs if you are interested. The comparison alone is interesting.

Deborah V. Buck, Executive Director
Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP)
PO Box 32
Delmar, NY 12054|
518.439.1263 voice/TTY
dbuck@nycap.rr.com
http://www.ataporg.org